Uncategorized

Sharing Knowledge and Understanding

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Pieter Stok

As I promised, yesterday, I have a second story. This one is based upon observation and conjecture. On our short camping trip, my wife and I stopped at a remote and isolated  town on a river. As there were picnic tables at the local jetty we thought this was a good place to stop for our cuppa.

I will just give you the details: What I observed was a caucasian lady, whose husband was minding the small children, teaching a group of people, of middle eastern appearance, how to fish: including how to bait the hook and cast the line into the water. This was done through example, teaching and lots of encouragement – especially when the casting of the line didn’t go as planned. There was also plenty of laughter and cajoling. It was obvious that there was joy in this mini learning community.

The conjecture is about the   origin of these middle eastern people and why they are in such a remote town. What I found heart warming was the scene where one person was sharing with others a knowledge they didn’t have: “How to fish”.

There are so many metaphors and lessons in this whimsical picture and it doesn’t require me to set them out. I’ll just finish by saying, I was mesmerised and challenged by the scene.

Categories: Christianity, Church, Faith, Family, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The Nelson Nongs

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Pieter Stok

I have two stories from this weekend’s camping trip.
Number one: My wife and I went camping this weekend and we encountered a group of 60 men at a remote campsite on the Glenelg river. These past workers of a, now defunct, Australian clothing manufacturer, we discovered, gather on this weekend ever year. Their language was colourful, their drinking copious and their fishing, largely unsuccessful. I suggested that they had come down to watch the water. They didn’t disagree. My theory is that the fish heard them coming.

These men were far away from their wives and were genuinely enjoying and celebrating (in liquid fashion), each other’s company.

Now I don’t condone their language or the the excess of alcoholic intake, but I loved the fact that these same men have been doing this every year for many years; apart from the first year when they wrecked the Nelson pub and were told not to come back again.

As a society we have lost a sense of community and celebration. We hear horror stories of people dying, lonely and alone. We cross each others paths without communicating.

I believe, with a passion, that the heart of this community should be the church, or at least, it should be exemplified by the church. A place where we can meet and enjoy community, with just less of the language and alcohol! If we genuinely celebrated and enjoyed the unity and oneness we have in Christ, we would be called hypocrites, humorless and legalistic, far less often.

Remember our Lord’s first miracle was at a party. Let’s keep the party going!
The second story, tomorrow.

Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Living for the Will of God

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Pieter Stok

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:2&3

In Peter’s first letter, chapter 4, there is an amazing challenge. Peter challenges the Christian to live for the will of God. His reason, because Christ has suffered on our behalf.

In our everyday lives there are often clashes of wills. We don’t want to submit to to others – it goes against the grain. It goes against our stubborn human natures. We see it in two year olds, in teenagers and in ourselves. But here Peter says, submit you will to God. Live for God. It is the sign that you have understood and grasped for yourself the enormity of Christ’s sacrifice for you.

So our challenge today and tomorrow and everyday after that is to reveal that Christ is Lord of all. Of ALL! Nothing omitted.

Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Answers

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Pieter Stok
There was a time
I had an answer for everything.
Theology, Life,
the “right” thing to do,
and I had an
“informed” opinion.
I was quick,
(now I say, hasty)
to bless others with
my astute and “learned” mind.
And then life came.
Real life.
With dilemmas and conundrums
grey areas,
tough and impossible choices.
And life came with
death, and pain,
sorrow and grief,
parting and separation.
My earlier answers didn’t fit,
or work
or fulfill.
The words just added to the
emptiness.
Now I find that
faith and hope
contentment and security
family and friends
outweigh
past certainties.
Childlike faith
outshines
adult arrogance.
Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Do You Feel the Wind?

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Pieter Stok

When I ride my bike there are occasions when I have to battle a fierce breeze and I need to force myself to go on. Then I turn a corner and the breeze seems to have disappeared. In reality it hasn’t. I just happen to be going with the wind at wind speed.

In western churches I believe we need to feel more of the wind – the resistance of the world around us. Our problem, too often, is that we are traveling in the same direction and roughly, at the same speed, that the world is.

The task of the church is to be counter cultural. That is, it needs to critique the society in which it lives (and itself) against the standards that God has given us in His Word. The church is called to show and live what a Biblical family is, what a Biblical view of work is, how to love the other as Christ would and so. If we were really doing that, wouldn’t we feel more of a breeze blowing directly, and fiercely at us?

Categories: christian, Christianity, Church, Devotional, Faith, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Model Trains and Life

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Pieter Stok

I did something yesterday that I hadn’t done before. I went to a model train exhibition. Shaun’s “Pop” had created a model railway in an old suitcase. He had another in a briefcase – even finer and smaller. It was very impressive. Many of the exhibitions were amazing to behold: a combination of hobby, craft, technology and imagination.

These people obviously had a passion for model trains that far outweighed any simple curiosity I had. Once again I see a lesson in this and it relates back to the posts I have written on family. If only we put the same time, energy, enthusiasm and care into the nurturing of our kids. I am sure that each individual who built the layouts, the engines and the trains didn’t learn their skills over night. They worked and worked until they got it right.

Our families deserve the same passion and endurance, and more.

P.S. I loved the way that dads and their children were mutually mesmerised by the exhibition. You could see father and child enjoying its wonder together. This too, is another lesson!

Categories: christian, Christianity, Faith, Family, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The Church in the 21st Century

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Pieter Stok

In this post I want to reflect on two books that I read over the summer holiday break – one from the UK and one from Australia. They both tackle the same issue: the relevance and mission of the church today.

Everyday Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis (IVP, 2011) continues on from an earlier book Total Church . The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and  Tony Payne (Matthais Media 2009) looks at how churches are often busy maitaining the trellis upon which the vine should live but forget about nurturing the very plant that should grow upon it. The metaphor suggests that we are so involved in institution and organisation, we lose sight of the mission of the church.

I am not going to summarise the books, rather, if you are interested in the health of the church I encourage you to read these challenging and practical books for yourself.

Everyday church is a study of 1 Peter and applies these lessons to us today. It asks, what should characterise church, how should it appear to the world in which we live and how do we the live the gospel in that world? It urges followers of Christ to be an active leaven in the environment in which God has placed us. Whereas the Everyday Church comes from more of a “home church” background, The Trellis and the Vine confronts the church as most of us would know it. It suggests a paradigm shift for those in pastoral and leadership roles which emphasises “equipping the saints” rather  being the “service providing” clergyman.

The reason that I don’t want to précis these books is because both are valuable and have many practical lessons. They need to be read, studied and digested, if not by every church member, certainly by every church leader and person interested in the health of the church.

My challenge: read these books and ask, how the health, vision and impact of your part of the body of Christ can be invigorated?

Categories: christian, Christianity, Church, Devotional, Faith, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

The Message in a Sunrise

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Pieter Stok

One for Rick A. Taken from Cape Liptrap Two Mornings Ago

Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Photo, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

Sorting Through Memories

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Pieter Stok
My brother and I 
sorted through our mother’s things today.
The big things,
not that there were many after years in a home,
were irrelevant.
The brooch I fiddled with as a child,
the picture that had always been
on the wall at home,
the tapestry sewn with arthritic fingers,
made me take notice.
 
My brother,
six years younger.
had memories with a different skew,
but memories all the same,
of times, events, words and warmth.
 
The photos and cards were carefully kept,
of birthdays, anniversaries and 
other people’s holidays.
The precious letters
set aside, revealed so much,
about mum
… and us.
 
 
Categories: Family, Poem, poetry, Reflections, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

Three Glimpses of England’s Christian Past

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Pieter Stok

Gwennap Pit

Gwennap Pit is an open air  “church” where John Wesley preached in Cornwall during the late 1700s. Many thousands would flock here to listen to him preach. The depression was caused by mining subsidence and was shaped into an amphitheatre.

Plaque in the Parish Church - Olney

John Newton, the writer of “Amazing Grace,” was a curate in Olney in 1779 when he wrote his famous hymn. He had grown up listening to Charles Wesley.

Bunyan Meeting House in Bedford

The Bunyan Meeting and Museum (next door) celebrates the life and work of the writer of Pilgrim’s Progress and many other works – John Bunyan. Bunyan lived in the 1600s and established this congregation , but this building dates from 1849.

Categories: christian, Christianity, Church, Faith, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

Blog at WordPress.com.