Cruciformity

 

I made a very brisk trip to Canberra on Thursday morning only to return on Saturday morning.

On my return leg I was reminded of the charm of catching the train. Apart from needing to get up at sparrow to battle the FREEZING cold of Canberra that I’ve come to forget (or repress), just about everyone is peacefully sleeping, slack jawed and awkwardly positioned in their chairs. It just seems to drift along almost silently and infrequently stopping. Perhaps the think I enjoyed most this morning was the sunrise and spectacular scenery. Charming, really.

I also had a wonderful opportunity to see my family and a couple of friends. Having not seen them since Christmas, it was good to experience their love for me and to be able to express it to them also. It showed me how refreshing it is to have people in your life that really love you and care for you despite your foibles.

Have you seen ‘Legends of the fall’? There’s a lot that I didn’t like about Brad Pitt’s character but one thing that he does is really love his family. I’m reminded of this also from ‘the Godfather’. Maybe not the first place you’d usually think of looking for role models but it really was challenging for to think about how I treat people close to me.

I think that a combination of these things left me wanting to love people more. I remember preaching on 1 John and really struggling to know how to apply it to people’s lives. How do you teach and motivate people to love each other? I still don’t really know how to love people myself. But I feel that I’ve learnt something of a lesson. My friends and family and Brad taught me something about this. I finished reading John’s Gospel this morning and found another good example to follow there too. 

I’m confident in the power of words to communicate love, but I’m struggling. I guess it’s hard to explain love without actions… In any case, there’s no doubt that love is charming when it’s understood….

Hi folks. It has been a long time between posts… Yes, hard at work again. I’ll show the picture of the fish I caught in Darwin really soon.

Actually, I’ve just finished an essay for Church History that just about knocked me out cold. The Anabaptists. To be honest, my constant frustration during this essay was reading Mennonite scholars who read their current ideals back into their forebears’ stories. Thankfully there were a couple of writers with some sense.

However, with that rant out of the way I have to say, in reflection, that the 16th Century Anabaptists had some remarkable stories! Interestingly, they were one of most feared and persecuted groups in the time of the Reformation by Catholics and Protestants. Yet there is a high correspondance between some of their ideas and the ideas of most of the churches we go to today.

One group of Anabaptists decided that their Christian calling involved violently invading a city called Münster and establishing it as the New Jerusalem. They set up some guy as a Messianic King and aimed to forcefully (and polygamously) bring the Kingdom in.

Thankfully, there were other winsome examples. of people labelled ‘Anabaptist’. One story that has struck me and goes well above and beyond my behaviour as a Christian is depicted in this picture here. Facing arrest, Dirck Willems fled for his life across a frozen lake. When his pursuer broke through the ice, Willems gave up his chance to escape by turning to save his persecutor. He was then captured, imprisoned and burned at the stake in 1569.

You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemiesa and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:43-5)