God loves colour

I (Amie) was away this weekend in the beautiful Taupo... seriosuly beautiful taupo. I was there with a heap of amazing people who work with young people around the country. One thought that seemed to be on manys hearts, minds and lips was the mono cultural ness of the group who sat in the room. That if this very white group was a representation of the army, we need to wake up. I think about the young people i work with and love, they are a real mixture of cultures, and im sure this is representative of the country. We are not working with a mono cutlural group so how then is the leadership so mono cultural. THis challenges me in how and who we are identifying as leaders adn then what are we doing with them , this challenges the way our youth ministry operates, is it in practise very monocultural (a representaqtive of the co ordiantor- who is me and i am pakeha). God is not white. Jesus was a Jew. our expression of our chirstian spirituality needs to take into account cultural frameworks, and at the least be open to and operate inclusivly with/in partnership with other cultures.
Some ways im thinking this is outworked
*Prayer in very different ways- different languages
*Asking other leaders of other cultures how and why they do things- when shaping an event or programme---or asking them to take the lead!!
*Embracing some of the amazing attributes of other cultures- such as care for people, whanau and collectivity. like sharing meals and really caring for one another together as a group

Practicing inclusion and partnership and unity across the board I think is good. its a start to building and understanding and restoration and peacemaking. A whole lot of words eh? big ones. but theres something in it im sure...

AND....

12 June is World Day against Child Labour

checking out www.stopthetraffik.org could give you an insight and some tips for advocating in your area/sphere

bits and pieces

A mag on environmental issues with practical how toos...

http://good.net.nz/

I jsut posted a rant on www.justcomment.org that was ment for here! but i cnat figure out how to get it back here so you may need to visit jsut comment to view (which is not a bad blog may i add).

Agriculture forecasts may interest you : OECD REPORT HERE

Peace!

Homelessness

I have been doing some reading around young people and homelessness. it is apparent that as young people transition from state care (CYFS Care), to adult hood, this is a very vunrable time. For those already vunrable, at the age of 17, and often ill prepared, young people must begin to build their lives- a home, friend/support networks, job/training, manage money etc. This is a a huge call for someone of this age, and who has not had the support, stability and security of family home. So often this is where young people end up struggling and one of the possiblitites is homelessness.

Many researchers emphasise the need for support and a longer transitional period for young people from care into independant living. A question then goes off in my heart. Where is the communtiy to support these young people, where is the place of grace, love and support. Perhaps isntead of isolation and an individualistic appraoch, the church needs to embrace partnerships in its approach to the community, and provide quality support where the needs are. ANother thought is that there is a nother level of personal response from us. If this is an issue in our communities, lets be moved individually be moved to care and support those who need it, sacraficing time, perhaps opening our homes, mentoring someone, even just befriending!

in such a complex big issue, there are complex responses also... but maybe there are also simple ones...?

Driving Cont.

Well today i did the car pool... Its the begining of a beautiful friendship between myself and my work mate. What a small world, we live down the road from each other! So naturally it made sense.

The down side? ITs only one day... mondays... car pooling mondays.. ahs a ring to it dont you think?

However overall its a small move to save taking one more car on the road.

Thanks to all those who had bright ideas about my carbon emissions!

Righteousness

I have this week been out at the bible college in west Auckland doing a block course titled 'transformational development' among many highlights, and pondering moments, one has stuck with me a bit....

Righteousness

What is the corelation of righteousness to justice? Are they two very seperate things?

It was suggested that righteousness is a inward personal 'rightness' with God while justice is very outward focussed.

Two very distinct elements.

At this point we was informed that the greek word for righteousness was 'diakosume' which is actually bettered translated as righteousness and justice. Which i found really quite interesting.

So I went to my bible to say how this changed a few of the more well known versus that included the word righteousness. If we look through this lense.... then this leads to a foundational shift.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (and justice)

Ephesians 6:14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness (and justice) in place,

italics added

Righteousness does not alone come from being made right with God, it has to also include justice, acting justly, seeing justice done in our world. Matthew 6:33 says to seek His kingdom, His righteouness and His justice. In terms of spiritual warfare, justice now becomes an integral part of our armour. If justice was done in our world, how much would the principles and powers suffer, how much power would satan lose if in all we did, we acted justly.

Righteousness or being right with God should not or can not be distinct from justice. the two are inexplicably linked. Righeousness can not be an inward focus alone, it must look outwards too.

These among others are the thoughts i have been having.....I apologize if this is all old news... or if it does not make any sense. Any thoughts?

Driving

I was driving to work the other day- i tell you what for someone who drives 30kms to work, across Auckland City in Peak hour traffic- the school holidays have been a huge relief. It has only taken (possibly a record) 35 minutes!

Ill let you all catch your breath at that amazing fact...

But as i was driving to work the other day- i realised the stupidity of what i was doing. I drive 60km a day in total, by myself, in my 5 seater car, i use $40 gas. I look across at my fellow travellers- and they are in the same boat (or car). This however is jsut taken as normal, status quo.. infact its taken as a necessary part of life.

But im challenged to think about this, seriously. If you live in Auckland you will understand that it would take three times the time and price to catch a train or bus (which i did do for a while, may i add), and im 'way to busy' after work to consider car pooling.

I have sucsessfully ruled out the two real options to bring justice in this sistuation of excessiveness, just like that. Money and Time. Possibly the primary life stranglers of the first world.

Where is the freedom in that? Nowhere! because i have dug myself into a hole, that makes those horrible words come out of my mouth...'i neeeeeeed to drive'.

Usually a nice piece of writting wil tie up nicely with a conclusion we all say 'ahhhh thats nice too' and everything is ok. Realistically i dont ahve one for this. Because im still driving 60km a day, using lots of gas, by myself in my car.

Any comments? suggestions? thoughts?

im trapped in my own spiderweb it seems...