So we had a fundraiser the other night. It was organized by our team at Torquay Salvos and designed to raise money and awareness for the Stop the Traffik Campaign.
We got a group of people (there ended up being 57 of us!) down to Warun Ponds cinema to see "Amazing Grace" It was a fantastic night, and the movie is brilliant. Here's a clip for those of you who haven't seen it:
One of the best things about being able to make this movie a fundraiser was that we got to raise awareness about the Human Traffiking trade that still happens in our society. So many people were outraged (as Shane & Dan would say - my rageous had never been so outed!) by that thought, and you know what - they should be!
We all should be. That William Wilberforce spent his life fighting to put an end to slavery and yet people can still be bought and sold for cheap labour & to be used as sex slaves is just wrong. And add to that, the fact that most people bought & sold are women and children - how can we as a western culture allow that to happen? And yet here in Australia, the work of charities such as Stop the Traffik and UNICEF to end child slavery is relatively unknown. And while we sit in our comfortable homes, with our ipods, x-boxes and playstations, and we eat and drink and hang out with our friends - thousands of children are being exploited.
Please take a moment to watch this heartbreaking video:
My friend James & I were talking on Sunday about how amazing it was that William Wilberforce spent his entire life fighting to abolish slavery. How many of us can actually say that we have given up our lives fighting against an injustice? Literally our lives. Years upon years upon years yelling, and begging and pleading with people to stand up for those without a voice.
As for me... I want to live my life as an act of worship to a God who cares about those children. A God who cares about all the injustice in the world. A God who wants the kind of worship that is ACTIVE not PASSIVE. A God who doesn't want to hear us sing about how much we love Him, but wants to see us SHOW how much we love Him. I want to fight, and yell and scream and DO something. I'm tired of sitting back and thinking it's up to others. It's up to us. So get out there, raise awareness, raise money, yell and scream - get petitions signed. It might not seem like much but if enough of us do it - maybe it will make a difference.
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves..."
(Proverbs 31:8)
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The Abortion Holocaust?! Really?!
I have to vent for a moment - knowing that it will make me quite unpopular with both sides of the Abortion debate. We had a phonecall and an email about the Pro-Life movement in Geelong wanting us to get on board and go into the Politicians to lobby Pro-Life, as a statement of faith of course. My problem is - it's not a statement of faith at all. It's a political nightmare, which cares more for agendas than for people.
I'm sick of the debtate... I'm honestly tired of it. Christians who have no idea what either side of the story is choose a side and debate hard core "facts" based on their limited knowledge of the issue.
Let's start with the Pro-Life movement. I read this today:
"Since abortion became legal in the US 40 years ago there have been over 43 million surgical abortions performed; that is more people than the entire population of Canada. We view abortion as America’s hidden holocaust and we want to voice our opinion about it. Those who want abortion to be legal want to silence our voice but we will not be silenced. The killing of small innocent children by dismemberment and burning is an extremely mean act."
And on the same site:
"We have tolerated the beheading of the unborn for over 33 years. We have tolerated the killing of four thousand innocent children each day in our land. The number of people who died on 9/11 is the same number as babies who are killed from abortion each day, and most of us don't even think twice about it.The definition of terrorism is the use of violence without warning against those who are utterly defenseless. It is a willingness to act without regard to the claims or loss of innocent human life. That definition captures the act of abortion."
And finally the clincher:
" If we would believe the Scriptures, then there is no “choice” -- abortion is murder and a violation of God’s Law given through Moses. "
Now I'm sorry... comparing abortion to 9/11 is just cruel and incredibly inaccurate. How for goodness sake do they think this sort of message is going to stop a girl from having an abortion? How is calling her a murderer going to help a woman make any informed choice on what she does?
And as for Pro-Choice...well once upon a time, I thought I was Pro-Choice, I honestly believed that I whilst I personally wouldn't choose to have an abortion, I still believed the choice should be that of the woman who was pregnant.
That was until I was faced with helping a young woman who decided to have an abortion. And all that changed. You see, it started becoming less of a "grey" issue and a whole lot more "black and white" to me. As I sat in the hospital, waiting for the girl to finish, I realized, "I know this is not God's best for her" and I felt ill. Physically and spiritually ill. I'd done everything in my power to stop her from going in there (short of calling her a murderer and telling her that she was partaking in a holocaust or an act of terrorism!), sharing with her that of all the women I knew who had gone through with abortions (and trust me, there are a fair few!) not one of them has ever said it was "nothing" or an "easy" choice to make... every one of them have told me that afterwards they felt "empty" and regretted the decision. And some of them had a lot more reason to go for one than this poor young girl who was frightened of the family and cultural implications of her pregnancy... she was young and frightened and thought she was alone.
When debriefing what had happened (I'd never actually done the pre and post-counselling of an abortion before this time), my friend and mentor said to me "Sarah the thing is, God's best really is black and white - there is no grey, only Grace"... There is no grey...only grace.
How beautiful is that? I wish that both sides of the Abortion debate would stop and think about that. They sit there arguing about the rights of an unborn child, with very little regard for the woman involved. Most of them have never cared for a woman who's had an abortion. Never heard her story, or journeyed with her. Never hugged her as she's walked out of the room. Never held her hand and weeped with her as she struggles to come to terms with whatever situations lead to her unwanted pregnancy (and those situations in themselves are not just "oops I got knocked up, best go in for a quickie abortion" - they're always long and hard decisions to make). So who are they to debate either way?
My Christian friends who are reading this, and thinking of weighing in on the abortion debate - be aware that your words can do much harm to fragile souls. Your words can bring more damage and turn people away from Christ more quickly than they can turn her to Him. Your actions - showing love and grace and peace and support for her, regardless of the choices she made will show her Christ and turn her to Him.
The Message Translation (or as Shane calls it - the Gospel According to Eugene Peterson!) of Proverbs 15:4
"Kind words help and heal;
cutting words wound and maim"
I simply argue that if you are going to weigh into this debate...stop looking at abortion as an "issue"and start looking at the people involved. Do you think God cares about the issue or the person? Is God up there in heaven on His throne saying "Yeah, go you Pro-Lifers Go!" or is God sending Jesus to sit next to the woman in crisis saying "My beautiful daughter, I'm here, you're not alone, you can call on me, I love you, I want what's best for you"...
There is no grey - only grace.
Grace - not judgement - GRACE.
I'm sick of the debtate... I'm honestly tired of it. Christians who have no idea what either side of the story is choose a side and debate hard core "facts" based on their limited knowledge of the issue.
Let's start with the Pro-Life movement. I read this today:
"Since abortion became legal in the US 40 years ago there have been over 43 million surgical abortions performed; that is more people than the entire population of Canada. We view abortion as America’s hidden holocaust and we want to voice our opinion about it. Those who want abortion to be legal want to silence our voice but we will not be silenced. The killing of small innocent children by dismemberment and burning is an extremely mean act."
And on the same site:
"We have tolerated the beheading of the unborn for over 33 years. We have tolerated the killing of four thousand innocent children each day in our land. The number of people who died on 9/11 is the same number as babies who are killed from abortion each day, and most of us don't even think twice about it.The definition of terrorism is the use of violence without warning against those who are utterly defenseless. It is a willingness to act without regard to the claims or loss of innocent human life. That definition captures the act of abortion."
And finally the clincher:
" If we would believe the Scriptures, then there is no “choice” -- abortion is murder and a violation of God’s Law given through Moses. "
Now I'm sorry... comparing abortion to 9/11 is just cruel and incredibly inaccurate. How for goodness sake do they think this sort of message is going to stop a girl from having an abortion? How is calling her a murderer going to help a woman make any informed choice on what she does?
And as for Pro-Choice...well once upon a time, I thought I was Pro-Choice, I honestly believed that I whilst I personally wouldn't choose to have an abortion, I still believed the choice should be that of the woman who was pregnant.
That was until I was faced with helping a young woman who decided to have an abortion. And all that changed. You see, it started becoming less of a "grey" issue and a whole lot more "black and white" to me. As I sat in the hospital, waiting for the girl to finish, I realized, "I know this is not God's best for her" and I felt ill. Physically and spiritually ill. I'd done everything in my power to stop her from going in there (short of calling her a murderer and telling her that she was partaking in a holocaust or an act of terrorism!), sharing with her that of all the women I knew who had gone through with abortions (and trust me, there are a fair few!) not one of them has ever said it was "nothing" or an "easy" choice to make... every one of them have told me that afterwards they felt "empty" and regretted the decision. And some of them had a lot more reason to go for one than this poor young girl who was frightened of the family and cultural implications of her pregnancy... she was young and frightened and thought she was alone.
When debriefing what had happened (I'd never actually done the pre and post-counselling of an abortion before this time), my friend and mentor said to me "Sarah the thing is, God's best really is black and white - there is no grey, only Grace"... There is no grey...only grace.
How beautiful is that? I wish that both sides of the Abortion debate would stop and think about that. They sit there arguing about the rights of an unborn child, with very little regard for the woman involved. Most of them have never cared for a woman who's had an abortion. Never heard her story, or journeyed with her. Never hugged her as she's walked out of the room. Never held her hand and weeped with her as she struggles to come to terms with whatever situations lead to her unwanted pregnancy (and those situations in themselves are not just "oops I got knocked up, best go in for a quickie abortion" - they're always long and hard decisions to make). So who are they to debate either way?
My Christian friends who are reading this, and thinking of weighing in on the abortion debate - be aware that your words can do much harm to fragile souls. Your words can bring more damage and turn people away from Christ more quickly than they can turn her to Him. Your actions - showing love and grace and peace and support for her, regardless of the choices she made will show her Christ and turn her to Him.
The Message Translation (or as Shane calls it - the Gospel According to Eugene Peterson!) of Proverbs 15:4
"Kind words help and heal;
cutting words wound and maim"
I simply argue that if you are going to weigh into this debate...stop looking at abortion as an "issue"and start looking at the people involved. Do you think God cares about the issue or the person? Is God up there in heaven on His throne saying "Yeah, go you Pro-Lifers Go!" or is God sending Jesus to sit next to the woman in crisis saying "My beautiful daughter, I'm here, you're not alone, you can call on me, I love you, I want what's best for you"...
There is no grey - only grace.
Grace - not judgement - GRACE.
Friday, July 13, 2007
YERUCHAM or CHAVIVA!
Interested huh?! The title of my blog today means the same thing, and it's something I've been toying with for quite a while. It means "Loved by God" (actually they're Hebrew names meaning "Loved by God" or "Beloved of God" - I'm obsessed with Hebrew names - seriously I think it's becoming an addiction!)
Okay so I digress. Many of you know that I've just started as the Youth & Children's Ministry Co-ordinator (worker/pastor/ministry assistant?!) at Torquay Salvation Army. I started this position on July 1st. I had a baptism of fire - whereby I technically started on June 29th at Transformers Creative Kids Camp - our Divisional Creative Arts Camp. OH MY GOODNESS - what fun I had! I completely fell in love with Western Vic's kids and leaders...seriously - I thought I'd be a Melbourne Central girl forever, but Western Vic ROCKS! Of course we're only as good as our DY (like that Joel?!) - and I have to say, for his first Kids Camp - Joel did a BRILLIANT job!
I left the camp early (taking Chloe & Jack with me) as a group of us from Torquay Salvos were heading up to Hillsong for the week. Tough life huh?! My first day officially at Torquay Salvos was spent travelling up to Sydney. I have to say though, I'm so glad that it worked out this way. Not only was it an opportunity for me to "rest" for a week (though getting up at 6am and not going to bed until 11pm at least is hardly a rest!), but it gave me a chance to get to know the rest of the team more... um... intimately?! (as only sharing a house with them for a week can do!)
On top of that, I was able to hear from some of the best speakers I've ever heard. Bishop TD Jakes (it was like being in Harlem or something hearing him preach!), Jentzen Franklin, John Bevere (loved him the first night, completely disagreed with him the next time he spoke!), Loui Giglio, Gary Skinner and Ed Young were all brilliant. But my favourite? My favourite was a preacher from Singapore, Joseph Prince.
He spoke about grace & love. You know, nice easy topics to get your head around! (haha!)
I'm going to write another time about his sermon about grace, because it really helped me to (a) let go of a lot of the pain I felt from my previous experiences and (b) forgive the person involved! But today I want to mainly focus on the love sermon.
Luke 10:27 says "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself".
It's a popular verse this one, probably one of the 10 most quoted I reckon. The biggest problem I've had my whole life is, how do you know when you are loving God that way? Do you read your bible more? Do you pray more? Do you do devotions morning and night? Do you never miss church? Do you go to church twice on Sunday? Do you join another bible study group? IS any of that really proving that you love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind? And I don't really love myself that much at all (which is in itself a problem, and completely unbiblical but we'll deal with that issue another day), so loving my neighbour as myself isn't that much of a problem, cos I don't have to love them that much... I know people who love themselves HEAPS so that's probably harder for them. And who is my neighbour anyway?
Joseph Prince said the most freeing thing ever at Hillsong... he told us to stop focussing on how much WE love God and start looking at the cross and focussing on how much GOD loves US! Because when we're really secure in a relationship, when we know we are loved, and we can let our guard down, and be the person who we usually are (take off the masks and stand there warts and all), it's a lot easier to love... When we look at the cross, and how much God loves us... so much He sent His Son (a part of Him, God made flesh) to the world to die for all the things I've said and done, for all my sins....not just my sins... but the sins of my neighbour... all the bad things that they have said and done to me that I find it hard to forgive...there at the cross they stand forgiven...because God loves my neighbour (and my enemies) just as much as He loves me... and He loves ME so much He'd die the most brutal horrible awful death imaginable so I don't have to carry the weight of my shortcomings! Man that's love!
The reality of knowing that I am God's beloved. His Chaviva. His Yerucham. His loved one. His Anya. His highly favoured one. Man, that's huge. It makes loving God so much easier. I know that whatever I've done, or continue to do, I am loved. And because of that, I can be Sarah. Warts and All. Princess. Reedeemed. Forgiven. Beautiful. In the eyes of the only man who should matter... I am loved!
Suddenly, I'm finding it easier to love God with all my mind, soul, strength and heart. I'm finding it easier to live according to God's plan. To believe I am worthy. To seek forgiveness for my sins. And more importantly... to forgive those who have sinned against me....which is what Grace is all about. Undeserved forgiveness. Undeserved love. And if my Father in heaven, my Saviour can love me, and show me grace, warts and all...who am I not to show love and grace to those who have hurt me?
Many know that I have "anya" written in hebrew on my wrist... "anya" means "Highly Favoured" in Hebrew. And for the first time in my life... at Hillsong, in that service where Joseph Prince was preaching to 22,000 people... it was just me and my Saviour. He was standing before me telling me that I was loved. I was precious. I was anya. And suddenly, being a Christian was no longer a burden... it was freedom!
Okay so I digress. Many of you know that I've just started as the Youth & Children's Ministry Co-ordinator (worker/pastor/ministry assistant?!) at Torquay Salvation Army. I started this position on July 1st. I had a baptism of fire - whereby I technically started on June 29th at Transformers Creative Kids Camp - our Divisional Creative Arts Camp. OH MY GOODNESS - what fun I had! I completely fell in love with Western Vic's kids and leaders...seriously - I thought I'd be a Melbourne Central girl forever, but Western Vic ROCKS! Of course we're only as good as our DY (like that Joel?!) - and I have to say, for his first Kids Camp - Joel did a BRILLIANT job!
I left the camp early (taking Chloe & Jack with me) as a group of us from Torquay Salvos were heading up to Hillsong for the week. Tough life huh?! My first day officially at Torquay Salvos was spent travelling up to Sydney. I have to say though, I'm so glad that it worked out this way. Not only was it an opportunity for me to "rest" for a week (though getting up at 6am and not going to bed until 11pm at least is hardly a rest!), but it gave me a chance to get to know the rest of the team more... um... intimately?! (as only sharing a house with them for a week can do!)
On top of that, I was able to hear from some of the best speakers I've ever heard. Bishop TD Jakes (it was like being in Harlem or something hearing him preach!), Jentzen Franklin, John Bevere (loved him the first night, completely disagreed with him the next time he spoke!), Loui Giglio, Gary Skinner and Ed Young were all brilliant. But my favourite? My favourite was a preacher from Singapore, Joseph Prince.
He spoke about grace & love. You know, nice easy topics to get your head around! (haha!)
I'm going to write another time about his sermon about grace, because it really helped me to (a) let go of a lot of the pain I felt from my previous experiences and (b) forgive the person involved! But today I want to mainly focus on the love sermon.
Luke 10:27 says "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself".
It's a popular verse this one, probably one of the 10 most quoted I reckon. The biggest problem I've had my whole life is, how do you know when you are loving God that way? Do you read your bible more? Do you pray more? Do you do devotions morning and night? Do you never miss church? Do you go to church twice on Sunday? Do you join another bible study group? IS any of that really proving that you love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind? And I don't really love myself that much at all (which is in itself a problem, and completely unbiblical but we'll deal with that issue another day), so loving my neighbour as myself isn't that much of a problem, cos I don't have to love them that much... I know people who love themselves HEAPS so that's probably harder for them. And who is my neighbour anyway?
Joseph Prince said the most freeing thing ever at Hillsong... he told us to stop focussing on how much WE love God and start looking at the cross and focussing on how much GOD loves US! Because when we're really secure in a relationship, when we know we are loved, and we can let our guard down, and be the person who we usually are (take off the masks and stand there warts and all), it's a lot easier to love... When we look at the cross, and how much God loves us... so much He sent His Son (a part of Him, God made flesh) to the world to die for all the things I've said and done, for all my sins....not just my sins... but the sins of my neighbour... all the bad things that they have said and done to me that I find it hard to forgive...there at the cross they stand forgiven...because God loves my neighbour (and my enemies) just as much as He loves me... and He loves ME so much He'd die the most brutal horrible awful death imaginable so I don't have to carry the weight of my shortcomings! Man that's love!
The reality of knowing that I am God's beloved. His Chaviva. His Yerucham. His loved one. His Anya. His highly favoured one. Man, that's huge. It makes loving God so much easier. I know that whatever I've done, or continue to do, I am loved. And because of that, I can be Sarah. Warts and All. Princess. Reedeemed. Forgiven. Beautiful. In the eyes of the only man who should matter... I am loved!
Suddenly, I'm finding it easier to love God with all my mind, soul, strength and heart. I'm finding it easier to live according to God's plan. To believe I am worthy. To seek forgiveness for my sins. And more importantly... to forgive those who have sinned against me....which is what Grace is all about. Undeserved forgiveness. Undeserved love. And if my Father in heaven, my Saviour can love me, and show me grace, warts and all...who am I not to show love and grace to those who have hurt me?
Many know that I have "anya" written in hebrew on my wrist... "anya" means "Highly Favoured" in Hebrew. And for the first time in my life... at Hillsong, in that service where Joseph Prince was preaching to 22,000 people... it was just me and my Saviour. He was standing before me telling me that I was loved. I was precious. I was anya. And suddenly, being a Christian was no longer a burden... it was freedom!
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