Something to ponder

This morning I attended my first Anzac Day dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. Thousands of Australians attended similar events in most Australian capitals, not to mention numerous smaller services held at memorial halls and RSL clubs around the country, and military bases both in Australia and overseas. It was a very moving experience to take part in a time of solemn reflection and commemoration of our war dead.

Driving home afterwards, I listened to ABC radio’s Anzac Day coverage. They interviewed the great grandson of a war veteran. He said something very profound when he described this day as “sacred” to him.  Sacred is a spiritual word. I dare say that many Australians would feel the same way as this man. The service itself had quasi-religious elements, with choral music and a responsive reading. The atheist movement tells us that religious belief is declining. In particular, some of its proponents are presumptuously and arrogantly forecasting the end of Christianity. Australians are typically apathetic about organised religion, but social researchers tell us that Australians’ level of interest in spirituality remains healthy and shows no signs of dying out.

This is not an original observation, but based on what i saw this morning, surrounded by thousands of people, and seeing how moved they all were by the ceremony, it seems to me that this day has a deeper spiritual meaning that binds people together and transcends whatever differences they have. While some people try to deny or denigrate it, spirituality is an intrinsic part of humanity. Perhaps this is part of the reason why Anzac Day resonates so powerfully with ordinary Australians who are compelled to get up early on a cold, dark Autumn morning and participate in its rituals.

Cantillate

The Essentials by the Association

Over the weekend I downloaded The Association's 1966 number one hit Cherish from Xbox Live for use with Microsoft's karaoke game, Lips. Unlike its rival Sony, Microsoft is not a consumer electronics and entertainment conglomerate. Hence many of the songs and music videos used in Sony's SingStar games are by artists from Sony Music, which means there are no licensing issues. It also means that SingStar has a larger selection of downloadable songs than Lips.

Screen shot from the clip for Cherish on Lips for Xbox 360

As I scrolled through the list of downloadable songs on the Lips music store, I noticed that many of them did not have music videos; only lyrics and audio. A music video was never made for Cherish, so Microsoft have used generic video footage and animation to accompany the song, presumably because it was available cheaply. That would not be a problem if that footage was appropriate. Whose idea was it to use fluffy white puppets, one of whom cries tears that magically turn into rubies? It's all very abstract, and fantastical, and very distracting when you're trying to concentrate on singing the song, and would be even more so if you were a man who had a fair maiden to sing it to as a declaration of lurve, and wanted her to take you seriously.

Onya, Jacki

In the wake of her recent best supporting actress Academy Award nomination for Animal Kingdom, veteran Australian actress Jacki Weaver has broken into Hollywood. Deadline reports that she has been cast in Nicholas Stoller's next film, Five Year Engagement, to be produced by Judd Apatow, and co-starring Jason Segal, Emily Blunt, and Rhys Ifans. With talent of this calibre involved, it certainly promising.

Will she be as funny as Eric Bana was in Funny People (2009)? Until that time, Bana had mostly appeared in dramatic films, and his role as Aussie alpha male Clark, was a chance for him to return to his comedy roots, have some fun with American perceptions of what Australians are like, and almost steal the show in the process.

Paganism corner

This quiz might give my Christian friends cause to start worrying about my spiritual welfare.

Which God or Goddess are you? Your Result: Hades Greek God of the Underworld   You enjoy judging the good dead from the bad dead and sending them to their appropriate dwellings. You are neither good or evil. You don't mind spending time alone in the dark or away from living people.
Artemis Greek Goddess of the Hunt	 
Ares Greek God of War	 
Aphrodite Greek Goddess of Love	 
Zeus Greek King of the Gods	 
Dionsyus Greek God of Wine	 
Which God or Goddess are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Give it a rest

A friend of mine sent me this devotional from the late Ray Stedman (1917-1992). I've re-posted it here (with attribution, of course) because of its clear explanation of how the Sabbath applies to Christians.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work (Genesis 2:2).

We must recognize that the weekly Sabbath is not the real Sabbath. It is a picture or a reminder of the real Sabbath. The true Sabbath is a rest; the Jewish Sabbath is a shadow, a picture of that rest. All the Old Testament shadows pointed to Christ. When the work of Jesus Christ was finished, the shadows were no longer needed.

Some years ago when I was serving in the military in Hawaii, I found myself engaged to a lovely girl who lived in Montana and whom I hadn't seen for three or four years. We were writing back and forth in those lonely days, and she sent me her picture. It was all I had to remind me of her, and it served moderately well for that purpose. But one wonderful day she arrived in Hawaii, and I saw her face to face. When the real thing came, there was no longer any need for the picture.

This is what happened with these Old Testament shadows, including the Sabbath. When the Lord came and His work was ended, the picture was no longer needed. The weekly Sabbath ended at the cross. In the letter to the Colossians, Paul confirms it to us. He says, Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).

The shadow-Sabbath ended at the cross. The next day was the day of resurrection, the day when the Lord Jesus came from the tomb. That was the beginning of a new day--the Lord's Day. Christians immediately began to observe the Lord's Day on the first day of the week. They ceased observing the Sabbath because it was ended by the fulfillment of its reality in the cross, and they began to observe the first day of the week.
Though this shadow-Sabbath ended at the cross, the true Sabbath, the rest of God, continues today. That Sabbath is defined for us in Hebrews 4, There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God [it is available to us now]; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9-10)

That is what the true Sabbath is: to cease from your own efforts and your own works. Well, you say, if I did that I would be nothing but a blob. But the implication is that you cease from your own efforts and depend on the work of Another. This is why Paul cries, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). This was also the secret of the life of Jesus, as we have seen. He Himself said, It is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work (John 14:10). This is the secret of the Christian who learns it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13). So the secret of true Christian life is to cease from dependence on one's own activity and to rest in dependence upon the activity of another who dwells within. That is fulfilling the Sabbath.

Lord, teach me to enter into Your true Sabbath rest by ceasing my efforts to please You and serve You in my own strength.

Life Application: Jesus can do much more through us than we can ever do for Him. How do we cease from our own efforts and our own works? Have we found true Sabbath rest in Christ?

 

From your friends at

www.RayStedman.org

Suggestion box

Rhys Darby as Norman in Yes Man (2008)

At first I thought this was an April Fool's day joke, but it's actually true. Apparently Bret McKenzie, one half of New Zealand comedy band Flight of the Conchords, had a small part as a hobbit named Figwit in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Film news websites are abuzz with speculation over whether or not he will be reprising his role in the upcoming film adaptations of The Hobbit, which are now shooting in New Zealand.

I'm wondering why they're not going to offer a part to actor and comedian Rhys Darby. He was hilarious as the inept manager and New Zealand consulate deputy cultural attache Murray Hewitt in the Flight of the Conchords HBO series. Perhaps it's because these films will be fantasy epics, and Darby usually plays nerdy, kooky characters. With his distinctive screen persona, perhaps he'd be out of place in this kind of film, that presumably will want to be taken seriously.