Post-rant: let’s get back to the program; I’ve recently stumbled upon a site called lookbook which is kind of a blog for people to post photos of what they’re wearing, and for the community to see, hype, comment and enquire. The majority of the participants seem quite indie, but there are some amazingly beautiful and stylistically sophisticated fashionistas on the site. From what I’ve seen so far my favorites would have to be:

• Betty from Paris especially in these looks:
  

  
  

  
  

You can visit Betty’s blog here: Le Blog de Betty

• Andy T from Mexico, living in Amsterdam especially in these looks:
  

  
  

  
  

You can visit Andy’s blog here: Style Scrapbook

I wonder if these kinds of looks are generally European and we’ve just not caught on downunder, or if the Christian circles I’m en are just not that way inclined. And if so, where do I have to go to meet such fashionistas??

Now there are some cool guy fashions floating around the site as well, but they all look extremely expensive (at least those that aren’t awful…), and something I doubt I’d be able to finance in my job.

I’ve been thinking about groups a fair bit of late, especially in the sense of being a part of them and how that looks. I think it is feasible that one can belong to a group without being supported by them. It’s not a popular or ideal place to be, but it happens nonetheless. For example, you have a particular role that requires that you be in that group, but those in the group do not particularly like you, or endorse that role, and therefore you’re not supported.

I’ve always found that group dynamics are not an easy thing to understand or get in to, and I really struggle to feel a part of a group. Mind you, picking up and moving cities has meant that it was a great deal harder, especially moving into groups that have long-standing relationships. I’m amazed at how easily people seem to gel with new people and can almost instantly become best friends and/or share intimate secrets with each other.

What are your secrets to belonging??

We effectively heard 2.5 talks from each of the speakers – a short introductory talk on the Friday night, followed by a full talk on the Saturday and Sunday mornings, breaking the normal tradition of a Saturday night talk. That talk was replaced with a panel of 5 people speaking through various experiences of work combined with a Q&A time. I didn’t find it particularly relevant or helpful, and subsequently fell asleep during it. After the Saturday night session the Steve Morrison Quartetplayed, joined by the talented Con Campbell and featuring an impromptu performance by Colin Buchannan.

The talks were based around good work and identity in Christ; following Jesus’ example and shaping the world from the margins. These things didn’t seem specifically targeted to the ‘young worker‘, they would have worked just as well with older workers. There was no push to how to go about doing this good work, or even what it was, it was just a kind of blanket command to do them….

One thing that was said from the pulpit that struck me was that

Within 2 years of working, many many many people turn away from Jesus. They disconnect.

This is a pretty short time in the scheme of things… And yet it appears to ring true. The world is a place in which you can lose yourself. I looked at the reasons why I was still a Christian, having spent 6 years in the workforce, most of those in a large corporate company, and came up with the following:

• I know and love Jesus Christ as my savior and redeemer, I know of the great sacrifice that He made by giving up His life in submission to God the Father.
• I’m involved in my church, and have found a way to be loving and serving the members on a regular basis.
• I’ve kept ‘the world‘ at arms length, by not relating as much as I could to it, because I know and have seen the great sin and temptation that flows out there. This has it’s disadvantages in that I’ve not been able to be a great witness to my non-Christian friends though.

I think that Engage needs to address some of these issues. Not just speak of how to do what the world expects us to do and take what we’re given there, but to stand up and make a difference and to know that we’re not alone out there. We have unity in Christ and unity in the Church as the Body of Christ. Some things that I’d like to see are:

• Talks on evangelism, targeted at method that can be used in the workplace. Encouragement towards events that have been setup to help evangelism, like City Bible Forum
• Examples of what people have done to continue to build themselves and each other in the workplace. When I was at the bank, I found a Christian in my workplace and ended up forming a group of 5 guys that met up with each other to read the bible and pray over lunch once a week. I was also able to gather people that attended my Church; past and present to meet up on occasion to share in fellowship over a meal.
• Talks on generosity and money. Young workers are in a unique position, generally single and looking at mortgages, or at least saving to buy a house. They have a responsibility to be good stewards of the financial gifts that God has bestowed on them. Why not be generous rather than materialistic??

First off was the seraphim that stood above the Lord who is seated upon the throne. He covers himself with 4 of his 6 wings in the presence of the Lord. How often do we find ourselves coming before the Lord without the same kind of reverence or respect??

Second was what Isaiah says in the presence of the Lord. He is lost; not belonging because he has unclean lips, and so the seraphim cleanses his lips with a burning coal.
Next is the Lord‘s call and Isaiah‘s answer of Here am I! Send me. It’s such a quick response, seemingly without hesitation or thought. Something I, and indeed we, don’t do often.
Lastly is the message the Lord gives to the people, through Isaiah, that they hear but not understand, see but not perceive and have dull hearts.

The premise of The Gate is an occasional event seeking to uncover and showcase some of the bands buried around the North Shore and Western Suburbs at an interesting DIY space in the inner suburbs.

First up on the bill last night was Telafonica. They style their music as “traditional (&non) song structures utilising live instruments, soundmachines and computers” while asserting that “the pop song lyric book is never far from hand“. I wasn’t particularly impressed by the stuff they played. To me it appeared to be an attempt to get as many unusual instruments and sounds as they could and mash them together into something that wasn’t particularly musical. Throw in some seemingly nonsensical or meaningful lyrics and there was the performance. The only real satisfaction I took from them was the pre-produced beats they had which were pretty jazzy and almost funky.

Garage Hymnal was the other act on the bill. Having only really seen them at KYCK twice, I was interested to see how/if they were any different as a performance band rather than a worship band.

They played a number of songs from their three albums, including Father’s World, The Light Has Found Us, Love, Like A River, Child’s Play, I Am, Take My Life and Hallelujah.
Despite the cold of being outside, the band really seemed to have fun with the gig, giving some insights into their writing process amongst other things. The members are all greatly talented musicians. I didn’t notice a great difference in their performance compared to leading worship, which I think was a bit of a shame, as I believe that there should be some kind of segregation of the two. For Garage Hymnal it is a hard line to draw, being a band that was formed to be a worship band.

I’m interested to see how things develop for The Gate down the track. It would be good if they are able to have a wide range of musical stylings as they continue to grow and develop this idea. Being a fairly intimate area though, some kind of a more personal touch would be nice. Last night felt a bit stand-offish having people from all sorts of places in attendance.

Another difficulty has been the limited time in which we are able to meet together, with people having to include travelling to the location of choice. As a result, dinner one evening was suggested, yet met with little enthusiasm. Adri was keen, being one who wasn’t often able to make it to the lunch meets since she worked fairly out of the way, and so tonight I met up with her and Simon to have dinner at the Redoak Brewery.

We met after work and opted to dine in the bar over the restaurant due to the price of the meals. We gentlemen opened with an Aussie Ale. Simon opted for the Tajima Wagyu, tomato and Root Vegetable Pie, Adri chose the Steak Sandwich on damper roll with homemade beer and tomato relish and hand-cut chips and I settled on the 9″ Redoak Pizza topped with Cinnamon and black tea smoked chicken, roasted pumpkin, salsa verde and Swiss cheese and roquette with Redoak Hand-Cut Chips. The meals were satisfactory, but not great…

Post dinner I settled in with a Blackberry Wheat Beer, not sure what exquisite beer Guthers enjoyed, I’m sure he’ll mention it here…, as we retired to the more comfortable loungey chairs… Despite the intriguing desserts on the menu, we decided that a cheaper alternative was required and so we left the Redoak in search of some form of frozen goodness.

After searching underneath the QVB to find places closed, we surfaced to find Passionflower. Simon had Chocolate Hazelnut, Adri went with the Strawberry Swirl and I gave up one of my favourites: Jaffa for Lychee Rose. The benefits of being a student even came into play to the tune of 10%, thank you Moore College!!!

All in all a pleasant evening with a lovely and extremely attractive couple, one that would welcome numerous repetitions. Love youse both!!

I’m happy to announce that starting the 6th of April I shall be employed by St Paul’s Carlingford as an Office Administrator/Receptionist.

The position has been available since the end of January and I’d been strongly encouraged to apply. After gathering together my resume and reference from work I put my application in on the 16th of February. I managed to grab a half day off on the 26th of February for my interview, just shy of heading up to Men’s Katoomba Convention.

Last Wednesday I got the call from my new boss, offering me the job!! After signing my letter of offer, I submitted my resignation to the bank, giving 3 weeks notice of my final days work.

It’s been an interesting time working for the NAB. I’ve definitely learnt a great deal and been stretched in my abilities. I’m a little sad to see the end of it, but definitely glad to be moving on, especially into administrative ministry.

I’m very thankful to God for His provisions in my career and it’s development, and to all those that have been praying for me about this work and the path that it’s taken.

My first unit is New Testament 1A with Peter Bolt lecturing us through the Gospel of Mark, with the view of equipping us with a foundation for New Testament study. Last week we also had Bill Sallier, as guest lecturer, jog us through the Gospel of John.
The class has roughly 20 people in it of varied experience and personalities, and it’s interesting relating to them. This is the third week, and so far it’s been quite an enjoyable time.

One of the down-sides of studying part time in this manner is that we tend to miss out a bit on the culture that Moore College offers. They definitely are inclusive of the part-timers, however work commitments tend to get in the way of involvement.

This morning I was fortunate enough to get the morning off of work as a half day RDO and head along to community chapel, joining in with the saints to sing praises to God, share in prayer, meet some international students and hear Richard Chin: Director of AFES Australia preach from Psalm 98.

Richard’s sermon highlighted some things about songs and singing that I hadn’t realized or thought about before:

1. Israel sang often as a form of rejoicing after they had been rescued by God. This ‘New Song‘ that they sung was featured 9 times in the bible, and each time was about the character of God that He reveals to us; His righteousness, His steadfast love and His faithfulness, in saving us.
2. This ‘New Song‘ was and is not limited to the saints only. ALL the peoples of the earth are to sing OUR song, that is inclusive of those that will face God’s wrath. He points out that this is a call to evangelism, to save those that will face judgement and the wrath of God. This ‘New Song‘ is to be sung by ALL CREATION. The seas roaring and all that is contained within it, the rivers clapping and mountains singing for joy.
3. This ‘New Song‘ is also about God coming to judge the earth, about His righteous judgement to come. Richard pointed to the fact that the word Hallelujah is only mentioned 4 times in the New Testament (in Revelation 19). Out of those 4 times, judgment is the context in which they are mentioned.

How many times do we sing Hallelujah in our modern day hymns and choruses?? How much more should we be singing Hallelujah about the judgement to come, and the salvation that we receive in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapel ended with an old hymn by Charles Wesley; Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending, sung to a new tune by one of the Moore College students. I’m hoping to get the music and get some congregational singing of it in action.

]]> http://chongland.com/2010/03/09/moore-college-community-chapel/feed/ 0 http://chongland.com/2010/03/09/moore-college-community-chapel/ http://feeds.chongland.com/~r/Chongland/~3/0qaUMAZv60M/ http://chongland.com/2010/03/04/hometown-glory/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:55:33 +0000 CHONG http://www.chongland.com/2010/03/hometown-glory/ Hometown Glory by Adele]]> I really love the lyrics of Hometown Glory by Adele. Whilst travelling home on the train from class, I’m currently listening to the High Contrast Remix as played by London Elektricity on his Radio1 Essential Mix in November 2008; lyrics slightly edited from the track:

Round my hometown
Memories are fresh
Round my hometown
Ooh the people I’ve met
Round my hometown
Memories are fresh
Round my hometown
Ooh the people I’ve met

I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque
I love to see everybody in short skirts, shorts and shades
I like it in the city when two worlds collide
You get the people and the government
Everybody taking different sides

Round my hometown
Memories are fresh
Round my hometown
Ooh the people I’ve met
Round my hometown
Memories are fresh
Round my hometown
Ooh the people I’ve met

]]> http://chongland.com/2010/03/04/hometown-glory/feed/ 0 http://chongland.com/2010/03/04/hometown-glory/ http://feeds.chongland.com/~r/Chongland/~3/rwrML4Aanzc/ http://chongland.com/2010/03/01/so-long-summer/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:15:17 +0000 CHONG http://www.chongland.com/?p=1390 I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last wrote here. The month of February has been seemingly long and extremely busy. Here’s a run-down on what has happened, with a view to potentially blog happenings at a later date:
• Graceat6 launched
• My sister Anna married Arthur
• Con Campbell gave an intro to Colossians
• Growth Groups started for the year
• I turned 30
• Moore College
• The Hurt Locker
• Mens Katoomba Convention
• One Night Only with Way Out West and John Digweed

I’m currently in the process of re-theming CHONGLAND again. This year should hopefully see an upgrade to HTML5 & CSS3 in the code as well as a mobile site for you iPhone users.

]]> http://chongland.com/2010/03/01/so-long-summer/feed/ 0 http://chongland.com/2010/03/01/so-long-summer/