Divine Drama Queen (!)

A good friend and I have debated the Martha and Mary story in Luke 10 more than once. I have a tendency to side with Martha and puzzle over Jesus' reaction to her request. My friend tells me that I should be siding with what Mary does.

This morning I came across a wonderful poem by U A Fanthorpe, an English poet who gives us a picture of Martha from Mary's point of view. It isn't the usual picture. You can see my comments here, plus links to the poem, some background to Fanthorpe, and also to a sermon by Colin Gibson, which discusses the same poem.

When I sent a copy of this poem to my friend, he replied with an article by Mark Galli from Christianity Today. It's called Divine Drama Queen, and presents a picture of a God who isn't emotionally reticent - not in the least. Here are some extracts:

A God who doesn't fly off the handle at the least provocation. A God who lives one step above the fray. A God who has that British stiff upper lip even when disaster is looming.

This God is like the volatile Italian woman who, upon discovering her husband's unfaithfulness, yells and throws dishes, refuses to sleep in the same bed, and doesn't speak to him for 40 days and 40 nights.

When God sees the space shuttle hurtling toward its destruction, he weeps, he rants, he pulls his hair out. And something inside him dies.

He yells and throws dishes, and walks off in a huff, slamming the door behind him—and then he turns around and gives his life for us.

He's like the crazy uncle in the family. At some point, you have to let your friends know about him, but you'd just as soon avoid having to introduce him.

And the reason why God acts like this? Because humans are 'mere' humans. We're something vastly more special than that....

So you thought you just bought and sold on TradeMe?

TradeMe isn't just a place to buy and sell - it turns out that the message board area has a life of its own, quite unrelated to retail therapy. Stuff.co.nz tells us:

* Between 5000 and 20,000 messages are posted on the message board every day.
* The average age of someone who posts a message is 35-plus.
* The boards are largely self-censored, with 98 per cent of threads monitored by the online community and every member able to ''vote'' to remove a thread if they believe it is not suitable.
* Message topics are most active on personal or social issues, be they grief or happiness.
* There are 20 different categories for messages, from books to parenting. General and Opinion tend to be the most frequented.

Greer McDonald, in an article entitled, Web of support for the grieving, writes about the way in which Julie Adams happened on the TradeMe message board almost by chance, and discovered a world of fellow New Zealanders who were prepared to go the extra mile, offer support and encouragement, and even try and discover what had happened to Julie's missing husband. (His overturned car was eventually found on its roof in dense bush 50 metres down a steep bank just below the summit of Rimutaka Hill, Upper Hutt.)

It may not be 'church' as we know it, and it may not be 'community' as we know it, but it's certainly a place for Christians to be keeping tabs on.

More: 18 Obstacles to Evangelism in Australia

Two more of Mark Driscoll's 18 obstacles.

13. There is a lack of missiologists. A missiologist evaluates the culture and uses discernment to find the idols, "so missionaries can be employed and churches can be missional". "Theologians defend the truth of the gospel and missiologists then take it to the streets." When you stack the team with theologians and not missiologists... lots of people still don't know Jesus.

14. There is a proclivity to try to raise ministers before making them husbands and fathers. Many men delay marriage and children so they can enter college and ministry. They need to learn to be good husbands and fathers and shepherd a little flock. If they are not good husbands and fathers, they are not going to be good ministers. "In fact... being a husband and father trains you more for ministry than any college." You should really press young men to take responsibility early, be good husbands and fathers, and then encourage them into ministry. Otherwise their priorities end up being God, ministry, wife, children, rather than God, wife, children, ministry. If you delay marriage for ministry, you are organising a paradigm that is dangerous.

I love this last one. Being a good husband and father is prime for community, whether the ordinary everyday community, or the church community.