Mindarie Park, Lane Cove North

Be honest now – who is not a sucker for free coffee?

Coffee was on this morning at the opening of Mindarie Park, Lane Cove North.  Mocha was my chosen brew and it was very fine too. And, cupcakes and fruit and the odd speech ado.

The rain held off long enough for a crowd of about 150 people to enjoy the wonderful park and play equipment. It is a credit to all involved in the project in that it is an all-inclusive park suitable to all abilities and all ages.

The parked is fenced and well landscaped. The fencing will make the park a destination of choice for toddler parties. The park includes public bathrooms, an elders set of tactile sporting equipment and an electric barbecue. Two stages of the park are yet to open. The park is a welcome relief from the explosion of high-rise apartment growth that has been a recent feature of the vicinity.

It was an all celebrity affair with the Lane Cove Mayor in attendance, the State Member for Lane Cove and various Lane Cove Council Councillors, manager and staff. I was pleased to see Mrs ITC (visible in the first photograph above) dressed in her finest and sporting a very modern piece of technology that allowed her to film the affair.

All the fine speeches aside, I nonetheless felt that the tall trees and green surrounds called for a different opening speech. The satirical Monty Python crew knew best - this speech would have completed the opening:

"This here's the wattle,

the emblem of our land,

You can stick it in a bottle,

you can hold it in your hand."

The only downside to this park is the amount of available parking. I don’t suspect that such lack will be an issue for immediate locals; however, it may be a hindrance to people attending as party groups.

It is a great pleasure to be part of a municipality that is opening new facilities. I hope that Mindarie Park brings much pleasure to everyone that uses it.

Shalom,

Ozhamada

[330 words] #inthecove #park #opening #anthonyroberts #lanecovecouncil #lanecove

Review of book: Wild at Heart

I had a hard time with this book. On struggling through the early chapters, I was ready to put the book down. It was of risk of addition to those books that I did not finish. In persisting, the book revealed some good elements.

The biggest issue I had with it was a lack of depth of development of the central notion central of the book – that the author had not satisfactorily identified men as ‘wild at heart’.

Then there was the author’s selection of Biblical text – a mix from worthy versions like NIV and NKJV and then from the paraphrased work of The Message. Why can’t a single Bible version be chosen? On choosing a Bible version could it be used consistently?

I felt that the author did some discredit to his argument that men were wild at heart. It is one thing to build the argument using positive measures (which included some good Biblical exposition) yet it is another to try to build the argument in the negative – by making some glib references to men’s dissatisfaction of being tied daily to a work desk. 

The book does have some very worthy parts. In Chapter Nine, set well within an structured argument, is this gem:

“Against the flesh, the traitor within, a warrior uses discipline. We have a two-dimensional version of this now, which we call a “quiet time”. But most men have a hard time sustaining any sort of devotional life because it has no vital connection to recovering and protecting their strength; it feels about as important as flossing. But if you saw your life as a great battle and you knew you needed time with God for your very survival, you would do it.”

That quote is a gem in that it aptly uses analogy and in its recognition of the Christian walk as a spiritual battle. The analogy matches “quiet time” to flossing – men need complete both and yet they both seem laborious. The general perception is that they both pay poorly on the effort/reward spectrum. The spiritual battle identifies with God’s daily provision to a Christian to allow endurance in the battle. And, note how the author identifies “quiet time” as two-dimensional as a means of alluding to the day when Christian comes into Christ’s glory to enjoy devotional time of three or four or more dimensions.

In developing the argument through to the quote listed above, I appreciate how the author recognised the distinction between justification and sanctification. On receiving Christ into your life justification is offered fully. Sanctification is not offered fully at first. Where justification is instant and complete, sanctification is gradual and never fulfilled in this life. The author identifies the gradualness of sanctification to the Old Testament – a parallel to the story of taking the promised land and sustaining control of it. So, Joshua’s conquest of Jericho is likened to sanctification in that God had required that the people fight for possession of their land. King David’s reign is likened to  sanctification in that David had to exercise, and maintain, disciplined systems (systems of justice and economics and security).

Overall, I was glad I persisted through the whole of the book.

Shalom,

Ozhamada

The book’s full title is: Wild at Heart; Discovering the secret of a man’s soul; Elderedge, John; 2001, Thomson Nelson, Inc. Paperback, 220 pages

[532 words] #jesus #heisrisen #book #reading #read #wildatheart #bible #life

Dark Emu plant identification

On reading a wonderful Australian book "Dark Emu" I was keen to create a list of all plant species listed within it. This page links from my Goodreads review of the book. 

Table depicting plants identified in “Dark Emu; Aboriginal Australia and the birth of agriculture”, Bruce Pascoe, 2018, paperback, 277 pages, Magabala Books, as edible

Identified to whether the plant is also identified in “Wild Food in Australia”, A.B & J.W. Cribb, paperback, 2^nd edition, 1987, 284 pages, Fontana

Common name	Latin Name	In Wild Food	Comment
Warran plant	Discorea hastifolia		A yam
Muroong	Microsons lanceolata		A yam
	Panicum laevinode		Grass
Barley grass or native millet	Panicum decompositum	Yes
Coopers clover	Trigonella sauvissima	Yes
Nardoo	Marsilea drummondi	Yes
Onion grass	Cyperus bulbosus
Australian banana	Musa acuminana
Kurumi	Tetracornia avancea
Bulrush	Balyan	Yes
Native catgrass	Themeda arborea
Native sorghum	Sorghum leiocladum
Vanilla lily	Arthropodium milleforum	Yes
Kangaroo grass	Themeda triandra

Shalom,

Ozhamada
#readAustralian

Opening sermon illustration; 2 Chronicles 12

I’m keen for feedback. Please offer your thoughts. 

Does this text work as a sermon introduction? Is the illustration and the transition from illustration to exegesis sound? 

--/--

TEXT: 2 Chronicles 12

TITLE: Discipline as necessary as grace

DATE: 18 October 2018

I am in the process of taking my child through 120 hours of driving instruction while on L plates. It is a long process. My child has reached the 80 hour mark. Now, the 80 hour mark is a very dangerous one. With it, there is a certain confident attitude. My child knows enough to be road safe; enough to steer, change lines, contemplate what other drivers are doing, but she does not have depth of experience. Being confident of your abilities before time can be a very dangerous thing. At worse, it can cut you off from further learning.

[Slide #X; Extract of child’s Learner logbook depicting 80 hour total]

Now, King Rehoboam, was a bit like my child at the 80 hour mark. Chapter 12 of 2 Chronicles opens after three years of very good kingship. Rehoboam had walked with God and had prospered. During those three years, Rehoboam had fortified cities, built the priesthood of the kingdom and placed his sons into the cities that surrounded Jerusalem. But, Rehoboam had became too confident with himself and with his own abilities. He neglected the dependency that he and his kingdom had on God. He had not reached the 120 hour mark. Rehoboam would never reach it. He cut himself off.

 --/--

This is in preparation of a third sermon in a series of twelve on sin. The sermon is due to be presented in October 2018.



{Previous in series on sin}
{Next in series on sin}



Shalom,
Ozhamada



[213 words] 
#Bible #heisrisen #jesus #Christ #messiah #preaching #sermon #homiletic
#2CHRONICLES 

Review of book; Keep Christianity Weird

“Keep Christianity Weird – Embracing the Discipline of Being Different” by Michael Frost is a delight. The book has the chance of shaking the church to a realisation. The realisation is that the church, for all the weirdness of the message it counter-culturally is tasked to present, can fall into a stasis of its own conventionality. Christ was weird for his time, indeed for now, so it follows that the church should be weird. That is, the church should stand apart from the world and call the world for what it is. Frost uses weird as in ‘eccentric’, rather than as in ‘zany’.

 

Image source: https://goo.gl/images/dQ9kVe

The book is timely in that much of the church in the Western World runs to close to point with the world. In this respect Frost captures a similar notion to another current book: God is Good for You, by Greg Sheridan. Indeed, I found that Frost and Sheridan have quoted similar sources.

The high point of the book was in respect two concepts; threshold of collective behaviour and level of collective disinhibition. I would very much like to see Frost explore these further in another book. I appreciate these for clarifying a reading of Bonhoeffer.

In The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer makes the point that man is lost in the crowd of the world up until such point as he finds Christ. In finding Christ*, man then recognises that his identity is in Christ. Man then leaves the comfort of the crowd to live in Christ and in Christ communities (church). To Frost’s first concept the man must have a break in his threshold of collective behaviour to turn from the crowd and to approach Christ. To Frost’s second concept, man must cognitively accept data that is beyond his customary filters. This is the step of faith – to accept the unseen.

The book has a great depth of research but never falls into the trap of sounding academic. It is readable by all. The Chapters flow well and there is a neat symmetry in word count from one chapter to the next which makes it easy to compartmentalise a journey through the book.

I follow Frost on Facebook and read his blog posts. I do not always agree with him. This was the first of his books that I have read. I hope to read more.

Shalom,

Ozhamada

*Theologically, Christ finds the man rather than the other way round.

This review follows from reading: “Keep Christianity Weird – Embracing the Discipline of Being Different” by Michael Frost. I read the paperback version, 2018, Navpress, ISBN 978-1-63146-851-3. The book was purchased from Book Depositary.

This page indexes from a title page. It also indexes from my http://www.goodreads.com/ review of the book.

[412 words] #jesus #weird #heisrisen #keepchristianityweird #book #reading #read #wyrd

 #BookDepositary

King Parrot, Alisterus scapularis

What an amazing birdlife Australia has! The King Parrot is named appropriately for both its size and colour. It is the king of all its kind.

 

Male King Parrot, Lane Cove, 17 September 2019, within tree that it was feeding
 from, and of a group of approximately ten birds.

Some King Parrots have visited a Lane Cove street. They have taken a liking to an Australian native tree that is seeding.

 

The male is unique amongst Australian parrots in that it is the only parrot to have red head colouring. It is distinguished from the female in this way in that she has green colouring for her head. In common, both male and female have a red belly and green back.

 

King Parrots habitat is principally in rainforests; they feed within tree canopies. They eat both seeds and fruit. They will travel from rainforest environs when food is in short supply. King Parrots are found on the East Coast of Australia from the tropics through to Victoria. This makes them a common sight within Sydney. They largely live their entire lives in a tight geographic area.  King Parrots will eat from feeding trays and may often be seen drinking from backyard ponds.

 

The King Parrot prefers to nest in hollow trees. They will often have a nest that is within fifty centimetres of ground level where the entry point to the hollowed tree is ten metres or more high!

 

A surprising feature of the King Parrot is that some colouring patterns are visible only the ultra-violet wave-lengths. While King Parrots look very much alike to human observers, they look quite unique to King Parrots whose vision includes the ultra-violet spectrum. That is a helpful way for a King Parrot in the darkness of a nest to know whether the King Parrot entering the nest is your mate!

 

The location of the King Parrots; corner of Finlayson Street and Centennial Avenue; image: Google Maps.

Photographing the King Parrots proved difficult with a camera that had no credible zoom ability. The birds would scatter if I came too close. With some patience, a single photograph of a male was taken.

 

Reference: http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Alisterus-scapularis

 

Shalom,

Ozhamada

 

[324 words] #parrot #sydney #sydneylocal #lanecove #lovewhereyoulive #inthecove #sydneyflorist #birding #twitching