This video has been doing the rounds the past few months. It became viral pretty quick and this particular youtube version has already had over 4 million hits!

I love this video. I know that probably sounds kinda lame, but I do. This morning I was reflecting on why it is so engaging? Lots of things come to mind; it’s real, it’s emotional, it’s surprisingly funny but the real kicker is one simple line; “Dear 16 year old me”.

And there it is.

It’s the fantasy of the future self being able to send a video back to the 16 year old self.

Just the idea of that almost brings a tear to my eye.

All the things you would say.

Underneath the whole concept is a recognition that at 16 you think you are the fullest version of yourself. At 16 you cannot conceive of yourself as an adult. You know that you want to be an adult, but the idea of you being 32 is just not a concept that can be grasped.

And so here you are, as the 32 year old – the same man, the same woman who 16 years earlier could not even conceive of your present reality – talking to yourself.

A message that life exists beyond school. That life exists beyond youth. That one day you will need to grow up and one day you will wish you had done some things differently.

All the things you would say.

I would tell myself to be more confident with girls. To not be SO afraid of rejection as if my whole life depended upon it.

I would tell myself to harden up in year 12 and play through the virus  – to skip the Knox match and play the Alloy’s match – where the selectors were watching!

I would tell myself to never walk away from Jesus, even when you’re angry at him – because with him is real life.

I would tell myself to not bother with the whole hemp clothing thing in my early 20s.

I would tell myself that rebellion can cause deep wounds and that purity is powerful and beautiful.

I would tell myself to ditch the ‘flat-top’ haircut – it never did anything for anyone.

I would tell myself to never let go of someone you are genuinely in love with.

I would tell myself that everything the Bible says about life and death, blessings and curses, the way of the flesh and the way of the Spirit are absolutely 100% true.

I would tell myself to save money.

I would tell myself to spend money.

I would tell myself to love.

Yet here is the reason why this video has gone viral and drawn so many millions of hits.

I can’t say any of this to my 16 year old me.

My 16 year old me is in a garden blocked off by the angels of time and no matter how much or how little I want to reach him, I can’t.

The complexity of life is that the decisions we make which affect our future lives – that shape our future lives – are rarely decisions that we think through, that we meditate upon, that we consider the consequences of. Primarily because you can’t live life that way! You don’t know what choices will stick and which ones will not. Life is a messy mash of decisions and it is not until you reach the future that you look back and see with such clarity which 10 of the 10,000 choices were the game changers for your life.

I guess this is why we really need the book of Proverbs.

Daily life is full of choices and there is no way of ever knowing what will stick and what will not.

Proverbs is the ancient version of Dear 16 year old me written by an older man to his son, written by the older to the younger.

It is written by someone who knows the complexity of timing, the long term destruction of short term lust, the way of life and the way of death.

Throughout the book, I can’t help but feel a deep yearning from the author to have these words when he was 16, but since that garden is blocked the wisest thing he can do is speak now of all the things he has seen and heard and knows.

Someday you will wish you could tell your current self a whole bunch of things.

Why not get a head start on this and have a read of Proverbs. Hear the musings of the wise, hear the words of God.

A couple of years ago my friend Rowan had a ‘Christmas in July’ celebration and I spent $110 on a Santa suit and turned up mid way through the dinner with a bag of gifts for everyone.

That was lots of fun, but this Christmas I’m feeling led to do something with a little more substance.

So I’m thinking about the incarnation.

In my experience, most Christmas sermons I’ve heard have actually been Easter sermons ‘veiled’ with some tinsel and Christmas lights. I love Easter because I love chocolate and I think Jesus death and resurrection have been the two most important events in human history.

Yet Christmas has been the time (classically) for Christians to remember Jesus birth, not his death and resurrection.

Most of the time I hear sermons which talk about the birth of Jesus for 10min and then move to explaining that ultimately his birth was so that he could die on the cross for us. As a result in the last 30min the preachers switches to their Easter sermon.

Which is ok, except they never offer chocolate.

So with 7 weeks to go, I want to think through what it might mean that the God of the universe entered this world – our world. I think the whole idea of the incarnation is weird. If the Christmas story is true, it means the most powerful being in the universe showed up in his own created world as a baby in a backwater part of the Middle East.

 Something has to be wrong with that?

Either he has taken touch typing to a whole new level or he has an army of literary Umpa-Lumpa’s working over time.

To be honest I don’t mind either option because he continues to bless us with helpful thoughts and life changing truths. Reading Keller is a little like a first date. There is nervous excitement. A nervous excitement that only comes from a knowledge that the person sitting across the table is smart enough, beautiful enough to potentially change your life.

Kings Cross: The story of the world in the life of Jesus, is a broad brush overview of the Gospel of Mark. He embraces the tools of narrative criticism and upfront divides the book in two halves;

1. The identity of the King over all things
2. His purpose in dying on the cross.

Now, if you’ve completed the PTC Course NT1 or sat 1st term of 1st year at Moore Theological College, you’d already have this framework firmly in place for Marks story of Jesus. Nothing new there.

Yet beyond the structure, Keller’s gift is to connect the narrative to our daily lives. Whether it’s asking us to consider whether our deepest wishes are deep enough p.35 or pleading with us to recognize our deepest wounds are not beyond healing p.94, Keller invites us into the gospel story.

Personally I was challenged by the way he flips Mark 10 around to invite us to see Jesus as the rich young ruler who never asks us to give up anything he already hasn’t. He also provided a great excursion into the world of real love, suggesting that “all real, life-changing love is a substitutionary sacrifice” p. 143. In classic Keller style he then proves this from real life examples – a girl defending a ‘nerd’ in high school, a parent properly raising a child – that substitutionary sacrifice is the only way of real love – worth a read.

You’ll be relieved to know that my nervous first date excitement was not directed at Timothy Keller – although I know many who would admit to such a man-crush. Instead I was thankful to have some time to sit down at the table with Jesus and realize this is a man both powerful enough and beautiful enough to change my life.

I recommend a read.

My veggie patch is 5 weeks old, it looks far more confident than it did a month ago. The Broccoli is broad and tall, the cherry tomatoes have almost out grown their frame, the peas have flowered and the strawberries are starting to fatten.

I came out here to relax and to write.

As I sat down with my coffee I  turned on my iphone. Smudging my finger across the screen I summoned my itunes and after having music in my ears I smudge the screen again to summon my Bible app, flicking to Ecclesiastes. My goal had been to write a reflection of the beautiful garden that lay before me. But as has always been the case this last year, my mind was racing; garden, music, bible, coffee.

Ding; so and so has just commented on your photo

Ding; you are invited to the event…….

I came out here to relax and to write but I was restless and a clouded mind paralyzes the pen. In fact, I felt rude and immature planting my scattered self amidst the quiet, contended garden bed.

A veggie garden does not self promote, nor does it interrupt you with meaningless banter.

It simply grows.

Some weeks faster, some weeks slower.

It grows.

And it grows according to its kind.

The small head of Broccoli stands proud upon the stalk, whilst the strawberries lie amongst the soil. The peas search relentlessly for a lattice or fence to grasp to vainly displaying their white petals, while the carrots develop their beauty underground.

By the grace of God I take my headphones off, ignore the ding of my phone and just sit for a while.

This is far more beautiful.

Jesus and the apostles use this image of agricultural growth so often in their teaching. The farmer scattering seed, the tree and its fruit, the parable of the sower, Paul the seed sower, Apollos the waterer and God the grower. No doubt this was because it was an obvious example that was prominent in the life of any 1st Century man or woman, in the same way that the internet, iphones and self service supermarket lanes are to us today. But I do wonder, is there something more to the agricultural imagery than just familiarity?

Over the next few weeks I want to explore some of these and in true blogger style Ill accompany each post with an update or a reflection of my own veggie garden. For anyone who reads these posts, Ill throw a dinner party for you all in a few weeks where we can feast on Gods good provision to us through this garden.

But my thought for today is this; real growth is slow and sporadic.

I know we all expect instant results these days but Im afraid discipleship doesnt work that way.

Jesus said; I am the vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.

Ive been watching my veggie patch for weeks now, it grows each day but still not much fruit. Thats ok though, because I know that the fruit is coming and in the meantime I must continue to tend the plants and be patient.

Ive found that my tendency is turn away from Jesus when I dont see any immediate results. I want the Spirits work to be more like a business transaction than a garden. But God is far more loving than a suit and tie shifting numbers. He tends those branches attached to the vine, he provides men and woman to come water the plant and over time, in His time, He brings the growth that he has planned.

And what is that growth?

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son. Rom.8:29

Over time He grows us to be more like his Son Jesus.

Some years faster, some years slower.

We grow.

In obedience to the Father and in love for each other.

My prayer is that I may find joy in this slow, Jesus focussed, growth. That I may critique my often shallow, instant-result driven heart with the slow, powerful, transforming weight of Jesus and his Spirit. And that in doing so I may never take my eyes of him.

I love the essays in Spectrum, always engaging and always challenging. Here are 3 reflections on todays article.

1. We need to learn our heritage before we criticize it.

Throughout this article there seems to be confusion as to why “monogamy is held up as society’s ideal”. There is a brief mention to Dr. Weerakoon and Kamal weekakoon’s observations that “Our bodies are wired to operate best with one sexual partner for life”, but beyond that single quote there is no delving into how this ‘ideal’ came to be deeply entrenched in the Western world.

Perhaps it is our Christian heritage that has crafted such a view to monogamy. And therefore a helpful place to start would be a genuine investigation as to why the Bible may make such a claim.

One unfortunate result of the West becoming a ‘post-Christian’ society is that we have become Biblically illiterate. We question and query our social heritage without taking the time to give serious research into the words that have shaped it.

Any serious questioning of the Western World cannot stick its head in the sand and avoid the person of Jesus. I’ll be the first to admit that people don’t have to agree with Jesus, but we can’t simply throw our hands up in the air and say that the West’s obsession with monogamy is a mystery.

2. If we become any more soft we’ll be jelly.

The premise for this article was a confusion over why as a society we have softened on drugs, illicit sex tapes, violence and blood diamonds but we have not softened our view towards adultery.

Could it be that instead of asking why our acceptance of adultery hasn’t caught up with our acceptance of other social ills, we should be asking why as a society we are softening our expectations of our neighbour? Especially those who reside in Hollywood? I agree 100% with the social observations that the article has made. But why does this mean we should soften on adultery rather than be challenged to harden up on our approach to destructive drugs, violence and trade abuse?

3. I know my dog because he eats PAL and poo’s on the lawn.

Holly Hill is given two paragraphs in this article. Holly spent a year as a mistress-for-hire and has experienced infidelity in her own life. She argues that men should be allowed to ‘get their rocks off’ now and then, adultery is healthy for men. She concludes; “It’s better to walk the dog on a leash than let it escape through an unseen hole in the back fence”.

Once again, I agree 100% with her view on dogs. I’ve recently planted a large vegetable garden and to think a dog may get into my yard and destroy the hard work makes me all the more supportive of leashes!

But as a man, I am not a dog.

To set the bar of expectations for men in our society so low is an insult not only to the men in our society but to the wives and girlfriends they must be ‘leashed’ by. I wonder whether we could ask more of our men, perhaps even demand that they show responsibility and self control.

Final Thoughts

One of the main reasons I love the Bible is that it gives a genuine and deep framework to the complex workings of people and societies. Judith titled her article; Cheating Hearts and to be fair she hit the nail on the head.

The Bible doesnt paint humans as evil, hell bent barbarians. Yet at the same time it doesnt paint us as saints either. Instead humanity is explained as being made in the image of God – wonderful in our capacity and creativity. Yet at the same time we are cursed by the consequence of sin.

We are amazing creatures with a terrible problem.

One massive consequence of our sin is an inward focussed gaze, or to put it another way; we are selfish.

Our hearts will always seek self above and before the other. And in the process of doing this we will rationalise and justify our actions as being ok. The voice of the majority, biology, pleasure or happiness are always great tools in the chamber of a selfish heart.

Could it be that our ability to elaborately justify adultery is again another example that we are amazing creatures with a terrible problem?

Sixty years ago anthropologists separated us from the apes on the basis of our ability to use tools, but we’ve since seen that chimps are also tool-users. Up until the 1970’s it was language that held us at a clear distance but then our primate friends were found to use symbolic representations for objects – a form of language. As recently as 2007 a study has shown (in Psychological Science) that monkeys have meta-cognitive abilities – that is they have the ability to think about how they think! Long assumed to be a ‘human only’ phenomenon.

So what does separate us from the monkeys? 4% DNA difference is about all it seems. So, we pack up our bruised ego and stop trying to show we are different. Instead we seek separation by way of our Prada handbags, McMansions, iphones and general glut of

 consumption. We hopelessly conclude that we may be no different to the monkeys, but at least we look better in skinny jeans.

Well, most of us at least.

There we were, the 25 of us sitting at desks circling our teacher Graham Goldsworthy. For the past 3 days we sat and listened as Graham meandered his way though our intensive: Gospel Centred Hermeneutics.

A river meanders; snaking its way through rock and vegetation. As you navigate you will be taken – first to the left, then to the right and eventually if you have stayed faithful to your vessel you will reach the delta and the open salt water.

Such was our experience. Having published our class notes last year in a book entitled Gospel Centred Hermeneutics, Graham slowly worked his way through the first 12 chapters, regularly stopping to tell a story about his time teaching at Moore College in the 1960’s or preaching up in Queensland or one of his many trips to the US or England. Every story had a point but there was never any rush to get there and so we spent 3 days doing theology the way it’s meant to be.

As with any river travel, it is difficult to capture in words the grandeur of the landscape we drifted through or the time spent on the deck reflecting on the world that was drifting past. Occasionally one picks up a few twigs off the stern. They have dropped from the beauty that surrounds, but in no way represent its true splendor.

That being said, at the end of a long 3 days I have a couple of twigs from my journey that I’ll pass on.  

  “We must understand with great clarity; 1^stly – what is the ‘for us’ work and 2^ndly what is the ‘in us’ work of God. So much confusion arises from a misunderstanding or a reversal of this – in hermeneutics, in preaching and in pastoral care. ”

“God is the only one who can interpret the reality he has created and God has revealed himself in the person of Jesus. Thus every fact in this universe has its ultimate reality in the person and work of Jesus.”

“There are only two positions that are available in hermeneutics. It is either;

1.     The theistic position  

2.     Another position based upon human autonomy.

And human autonomy is best defined in Gen 3 with the question; “has God really said…”.

 I hope in the next few days to give you some more twigs.

However, ‘cursed’ is the man who turns his back on the old school idea of a parish for greener pastures. Sure the Anglican parish has its roots in old English traditions and that may seem dated, but it is built on great principles and gives us more than we realise here in Sydney.

3 reasons to value the parish system

1. Its responsibility to the community. Whether you know it or not, the idea of a ‘parish’ is that the church is held responsible for the area in which it is located. That means, it is responsible for the gospel proclamation, the care for the poor and the general love of everyone in that area (usually a suburb or two). In recent times there has been this rediscovery that we should really be ‘engaging’ with our communities. We’ve had people from England and people from America come and bring us this revelation. Truth is, we’re already 10 steps ahead because we have churches all around this city with the responsibility for the local community around them. The parish system demands a church engages with its community.

2. Resources. Each parish has a building and in most cases a place for the minister to live. This is such a blessing! Sure, some of our buildings were constructed in the 1970′s and look somewhat offensive to modern eyes – but we’re well beyond the seeker sensitive model of church that needs neon lights and flashy paint to communicate the gospel. If Mars Hill had the number of buildings we own they would be over the moon! Our parish system has been established and resourced and we should take advantage of that.

3. Completely inclusive. That is, because a church is responsible for an area anyone in that area is welcome. It’s not an independent church set up for Chinese, nor for the ‘late 20′s’, nor for Anglo’s. A parish church has open doors to anyone in that area regardless of age, sex or nationality. Our parish system is beautifully inclusive.

A way forward:

We need to embrace people wanting to plant churches. BUT we must also reclaim the true power of the parish and start taking more responsibility for the area’s we have been given. Much of the recent hype could be achieved through local churches going back to basics. Ofcourse, at its very heart the connect09 campaign is simply a way to remind churches that they have a parish to look after. 

Just because your hip, doesn’t mean you can dish the parish.

Oh, and of course that raises another question – why are you young hipsters who are so concerned with ‘community’ not turing up to your local church?

This arvo I have to write a 1000 word paper on it and some supporting views of old school preacher J.C Ryle.

For the most part, we claim baptism is an ‘outward sign of an inward reality’. I know that could be a simplified description of what’s going on (wherein probably lies the answer to my confusion), but if it is the case, how can we celebrate the regeneration/new birth of a 6 month old? 

Some say it’s more for the parents than the child, but then that doesn’t seem to hold for me, because it’s the child who is being baptised. Is it meer wishful thinking?

thoughts?