Prince Caspian cast chosen

The cast for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian have been selected and filming commenced on Feb 12 in New Zealand. See details of the cast here.

Lent

It is now Lent, so I thought that these might be helpful for those wishing to be more reflective:

1. A journey into wholeness: a study for Lent by Christine Sine, download here.

2. A poem I wrote in 2003:

Sit quiet and still before the Lord.
Listen for His whispers.
Sit there for as long as you need.

God bless you.

Wilberforce abolished slavery... or did he?

With Amazing Grace in the cinemas in America, there are some great articles emerging about slavery. The article Free at last on Christianity Today.com is truely worth a read. Here are some snippets...

Two hundred years after William Wilberforce campaigned to abolish the slave trade within the British Empire, slavery continues. Experts estimate there are 27 million slaves worldwide today, probably more than at any time in human history. About 17,000 are trafficked annually into the United States.
"They are not slaves in a metaphorical sense," notes International Justice Mission founder Gary Haugen. "They are held in forced servitude by other human beings."

Modern-day slave trading, called human trafficking, funnels slaves into two types of forced servitude: sex and labor.

Between the 1700s and 1860s, lawmakers banned slave trade and ownership in Europe and the Americas. In 1948, the United Nations condemned it in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Worldwide, many Christians have considered the victory complete and have found other causes to champion. The laws, however, merely drove slavery underground, and some nations do not enforce existing laws.
Modern slavery thrives through deception and secrecy. Traffickers lure millions of victims through lies, fraud, and coercion. A trafficker may offer to smuggle someone into a nation for legitimate work, such as becoming a waitress or nanny. Later, the unsuspecting target discovers the evil bait-and-switch: The actual labor is sinister and exploitive, with no pay, insane hours, and physical brutality. By then, escape is nearly impossible. Traffickers confiscate passports.
They relocate captives where they cannot speak the local language. In one infamous case, police caught traffickers after they had enslaved 1,000 mute or deaf Mexicans, whom they had lured into the U.S. to beg.
Traffickers instill hopelessness through violence and death threats against the slave or his or her family members. Bribed law enforcement officials look the other way.
Bonded labor is another ancient form of slavery that survives. Also known as "debt bondage," it is rampant in certain parts of Asia. A loan shark or trafficker lends money to someone who works at a very low wage to pay it back. The debt may not be paid off for decades and can be passed along to family members, sometimes enslaving generations.

Read the full article here.

William Wilberforce movie

There is a new movie out about William Wilberforce and his efforts to end the slave trade. It is called Amazing Grace. For a trailer, see here.

"Compassion"

I am not interested in picking up the crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights. If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu South Africa

What I'm up to

I have been attending Melton Baptist with David since we were dating, and now that I live here, I have enjoyed becoming a part of the community here.

David and I have decided to take a less busy year (focussing on our marriage getting established and setting up home) and as part of that, we are choosing were to focus our combined and individual energies.

David is not studying this year and continues to teach fulltime. I am looking for work, while doing some casual work with Baptist World Aid Australia. I have taken a semester break from studying, and plan to pick up one subject in semester two, providing the subjects I want/need to do are on offer.

At church, David and I are joining another couple in leading Young Adult-ish home groups. They have been running one for quite a while now, and it is getting too big, and not everyone can make it on the one night. So, David and I are hosting the new group.

We had a BBQ all together on Monday night, letting everyone know about the new group, and we will invite others not already in home groups to join one of the groups. We are now up to the stage of finding the night of the week for ours and discovering who will go where. We also decided at the BBQ that there will be combined events, social events and weekends away and the like. David and I are happy to head that up with whoever is interested joining in the organising.

The group seem pretty keen that it is all expanding. They like the thought that if they miss their usual group because of a work meeting or wahtever they can join the other group that week. They like that it is an expansion and not an us and them.

And I am excited!!! I loved co-leading and being a part of Anything Goes with Matt Stone, and the gang at Pendle Hill, and I am keen to get into a new group! Can't wait!!

Other than that, I will join the music team at church in two weeks as a backing singer. I have also been asked if I mind being put on the preaching roster later in the year. Who knows what the future holds at Melton for me :)

We are still looking for a new fulltime pastor, so please pray for us finding the right person/family for that position. Our Interim pastor leaves us this weekend.

The Amnesty International e-magezine issue 11 says...

"Close!""¡Cierren!" "Schliess!" "Fermez!"

When it comes to saying "Close Guantánamo!", few people have been as creative as Make Some Noise supporters. At home, on the bus, in parks and from rooftops, with the widest array of props (candles, flags, puppets, cakes, pebbles, glasses, ball pools (!)), alone, with family or in groups, you have expressed your outrage at the legal blackhole that is the US detention centre of Guantánamo Bay, demonstrated your solidarity with detainees who have been held for up to five years without charge or trial, and demanded that human rights violation there stop immediately.
You have taken the message to the four corners of the world, from New Zealand to Canada via Peru and Cyprus, in more languages than one could ever master. The first video came from Birmingham, England, less than 24 hours after we posted our call. The latest came a few days ago from Québec. Join in and add your voice to the international chorus of protest.
You can also sign the Guantánamo animated online petition , where you can customise your avatar and check out comments from other activists. Keep making some noise and lend a voice to people who are being silenced. You can make a difference.

"Amnesty International has been very supportive of our efforts to get a trial for my son. Their Make Some Noise campaign is very exciting to me. While I don't know much about music, I recommend it."(Khaled al Odah, father of Guantánamo detainee Fawzi al Odah)

I have added my voice (and animated character) by signing the Guantánamo animated online petition . (My character is Jennifer Reed from Australia, if you want to see my character).

Will you add you voice?

Fun kids aid & development website

I stubbled across this great website designed for kids (and parents/teachers). It is all about children around the world and the issues they face, like poverty, agriculture, human rights, fair trade, etc. It is full of fun stories, activities, lesson plans, homework helps and... games. David played some of the games last night and said they were probably more for upper primary and older.

The site is developed by Christian Aid in the UK.

Global Gang Homepage

It is certainly a fun and well put together site... have a play!

Water wise

With the "greater" restrictions on water use that have been shared with us Victorians during this drought and hot summer, check out this info on the new rebates for water tanks and grey water...
Rebate Information

Small Groups study on poverty & justice

I found this on the Catalyst website. I am considering using it for my small group from church if they are keen...

Small Group Studies
Interested in getting a discussion going on global justice and advocacy? Then why not try our discussion guides?
A Time to Speak
This four part guide will help participants explore what it means to build their lives around God's heart for a just world and recover the prophetic vocation of calling on leaders to enact justice. The format is four articles that are read and then discussed. Both the articles and the discussion questions are provided.

Get into it! :)

Visitors!!

On Sunday night David and I were joined by our first visitors from Sydney!! We were surprised by a phone call earlier that day when they said they were on holidays in Victoria and just nearby and can we catch up. And I have been buzzing and telling everybody ever since!

Thanks Carolyn and Stu for your wonderful surprise and fabulous company! We had a ball having you for dinner in our new house. God bless you in you life and ministry in Sydney.

Narnia online

For those who love The Chronicles of Narnia just as much as me and can't wait for the next movie to be made, check out NarniaWeb for all the goss on the new movie Prince Caspian and future Narnia movies. You can even sign up to get Narnia movies updates by email!!!

Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!

"Licence for prayer"

I found this article in my local paper Melton Leader this week (Tues Jan 30 2007), written by Gabrielle Hodson:

SKIPPING church for the pub won't be such a sin in Gordon [Victoria] anymore. Now you can have a beer as you listen to the weekly church sermon. Anglican minister David Oulton will lead the first Sunday service at the Gordon Hotel this weekend then again on the first Sunday of each month.
I've done mass in many homes and on camps in the bush, but never in a pub," the Ballan-based minister said. "It's generated an enormous amount of conversation already."
Fr Oulton said the idea came after talking to a series of people about religious services in hotels everywhere, Gordon's population boom, its location as the centre of Ballan-Bungaree-Morrisons parish and sale of the town's former Anglican church.
"The Bishop agreed to the idea and the hotel owners were also OK," he said. Sunday's service will include pre-recorded music and communion - but there will be no alcohol from the bar.
"Parents will be responsible for making sure alcohol is not serviced to children at the hotel, but they should be OK if they wish to have wine at communion," Fr Oulton said. "This will be for anyone who for whatever reason is afraid to cross the threshold of a church and everyone is welcome."
The 5pm Gordon service will be reviewed at the end of the year.

I am quite interested to see how this service turns out. I am impressed by the research by the pastor, but I question its contextualisation with the "pre-recorded music" and all.

I am reminded by "A tale of two pubs" that Mike and Allan review in their book The shaping of things to come, pp.9-13 which discusses the contextual approach of churches and pubs.

I think I will go along at some time to check it out.

What are you thoughts on the article above?