to be frank

Fruits of the Spirit: Self-control

At the end of this series comes 'self-control'.
In the garden of the Spirit, we find the fruit of self-control. What can this mean?
First, this is a huge challenge to all those who see religion as the deprecation of self: 'all of God and nothing of me'. Here we are told that the Spirit wants us to be self-determining people, people who are in fact able to manage our lives, not people who abandon responsibility for ourselves. This is good news!
It is customary amongst the critics of modernity, the era of thought and development since the 'Enlightenment' period of the 18th century, to see this time as one which championed human autonomy. 'The age of reason' sought to replace the era of church authority over all learning and cultural expression. Some see this as a great mistake, and suggest that an appropriate alternative is 'theonomy', rule by God's authority.
Yet here we have the idea that the Spirit calls us and enables us to be in 'self-control'.

Fruits of the Spirit: Gentleness

The harvest of the Spirit includes gentleness.
This is surely a greatly mis-understood idea, supported for example by the imagery of 'gentle Jesus, meek and mild'.
It is this kind of thinking that associates faith, or more precisely Christian faith, with weakness, perhaps femininity (of the genteel prescription) and general ineffectiveness. Those who want to get on with life, who deal in 'the real world', and want to be genuine about what is possible and what is pretence, know that this kind of religion is of little use to anyone.
Is this what we mean by 'gentleness'? I hope not. On the contrary, I believe it takes great strength to be gentle. Indeed, it needs divine presence and power to be gentle with the realities of life. It is the Spirit who enables and gives such gentleness.

Helpful ideas on leadership

Recently I attended a conference from which I took a number of helpful ideas about leadership, and I to pass them on.
The central focus is upon the person, not so much technique and style of leadership.
Here are some of the key ideas:

1. The leader needs to be completely clear of their own identity and therefore clear about where their personal security lies.

A thrill of hope

Every year in December our family purchases a CD called 'The Spirit of Christmas', produced by the Myer Corporation to raise funds for the Salvation Army's children and youth programs. The tracks are of varying qualities, but this year's CD has given me some special joy.
First, because again it includes my favourite Christmas song, 'O Holy Night', this year sung by Olivia Newton John. Not the best rendition, but still enjoyable. That's where the line, 'A thrill of hope' comes from.
Another good track is Archie Roach's rendition of 'Silent Night'. I love the simplicity of this song, along with my childhood memories of my Dad singing it on Christmas eve. I love, too, the story of its composer, Joseph Mohr needing to compose (in a hurry) a simple tune for his church choir to sing,   because the organ had broken down and they needed to be able to pick up the harmonies without its support. It's also great to have an indigenous Australian singing in the style so many of the excellent indigenous musicians have developed.
But this is not the best thing about the album this year. It's a song I had not heard before, 'The rebel Jesus'.

Attitude!

I heard this quotation during one of the case studies we did at Harvard earlier this year:

People are assets when they are born into this world and they become liabilities. I want to keep making them assets.