Lament

In studying the Psalms we have come to the laments. And our lecturer raised an interesting point – If they Psalms are an example of corporate worship, and they have laments in them, shouldn’t we also have laments in our corporate gatherings?

The Psalms show us the emotions of followers of God in all different times and situations in life. Lament is often the way we feel about life and the Psalms show that this is an appropriate emotion to have...

So, do you know any songs of lament sung in churches?
Is it appropriate to sing laments corporately?

Reality...

Well we finally have some clean air back into our lungs! Well that was once we got over the cold shock! :)

We have just come back from a very brief trip back to Tassie!! Sadly we didn’t really get to catch up with people well – but we had lots of fun with their children :)

On coming back to Sydney, we were hit with a few realities...

Firstly... we are now pretty much in the middle of second semester… deep into assessments and the content of our classes. So for example... this week I’m preaching from Ephesians 3 to the other women in my class, and we are both working on essay based on one of Paul’s letters.

Secondly... spring (which really feels like summer) is here! :)

Thirdly... We do really miss our Tassie family & friends. Going there was so great cause it felt so natural - which just makes us realise how much we miss you all!

But... now we are warm! :)

relevance vs purity

Well it seems that the Bible College Dilemma (see last post) has caused my brain to explode :)

So, thought I would just leave you with a interesting quote I heard this week:

"The contemporary church seems more concerned with relevance than with purity"

The Bible College Dilemma...

When learning from the Bible every day how much of it can you really take in? So, not just learn & know it, but really take it in & apply it to your life?

We have 10 different subjects this semester. This means each week we hear 10 lectures on different aspects of ministry & the Bible. Then we hear 3-4 sermons a week! So within a few days you could go from discussing the accuracy & authority of the Bible, to looking at the whole book of Job! Its not light stuff! It’s stuff that demands reading, thinking, & meditating upon.

Don’t get me wrong – I love studying the Bible, & learning all the things that we are. I feel so privileged to be able to do this! But how do you do it properly? How do you not allow the learning to just become knowledge & therefore leave out the heart?

Right back into it...

Well we are back from holidays and straight back into the daily grind of college.

From fishing, surfing, grazing, watching the sunrises & sunsets, to huge amounts of washing, lectures, and the constant reminder of assignments due not to far into the future...
It’s amazing how quickly life can change!

We have had a really nice restful holiday catching up with family & friends from Tassie, & also got a chance to explore more of this great country. But now, we are really excited about getting more deeply into Gods word & learning heaps of new things this semester.

Holidays!

We are finally out of the vacuum and back into the real world!!

Back to socializing and talking to people… showing family the sites of Sydney… Watching TV & relaxing!

Take today for example... we got up early, caught a train to the city, met Mel & Kochie, then had breakfast at the Lindt Cafe! :)

It’s a very nice feeling!

StuVac

So we are in StuVac at the moment. But what exactly is StuVac?

Is it study vacation? That is a bit of an oxymoron don’t you think!?! Since when has studying been associated with a vacation? Well some students seem to be taking the vacation part very seriously :)

Maybe it means study vacuum? This sounds a little bit more like me. I get up, study all day, & rest at night. This means that I am totally unable to talk to people, & am very vague (yes - even more than normal!), cause all I have been doing is reading & studying.

So, it’s definitely more like a study vacuum for me - even with only 1 day down!