Invite to come!

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God give us wisdom from yourself to share

in ways that are appropriate and true,

that mirror you "the God who is still there”,

though these days yet we find we don't see you.

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feelings before facings

(pre-face*)

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Conceptions which are underlying for

our further understanding here - as such:

Ontologies are central if we’d more

relate in ways that grasp, but do not clutch.

The purpose of our grasping-well affects

the way we use and interact, and know.

The ways we interface and share reflect

the kinds of stuff appropriate to show

and tell within these times we learn & teach

and form each other, or deform stuff too.

Re-forming right relating here with each -

as much as it depends on me (& you).

Affecting our Epistemologies, 

our Pedagogy, Ethics will flow on..

Communities that practice truth will please

not power mongers, people who belong

to such communities that listen well, 

yet do not lose their voice by doing so;

in fact their service, fighting all the hell

that thoughtlessness does spawn, will go to show

and tell these stories, of the others here,

because we’re tuning in to their own speech

or lack of it. Acts make options appear,

creative, they make space for all & each.

And tuning in ourselves to deeper things

that colour all our acting, speech, and thought:

The "hidden wholeness" & imaginings

we wake up to brings more than what we brought.

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Footnote

e* - Reflecting on the Preface (entitled “Recovery of Community in Education”) to the Paperback Edition of Parker Palmer’s book “To know as we are known - Education as a spiritual journey”, which was first published in 1993.

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Practice

 being Godly

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It's not the thinking of good thoughts* alone 

that makes me good (as even man may be*). 

And speaking of good words can’t flesh the bones

of glory, honour, immortality.

There must be actions in this world, but not

just once or twice*, the flukes of happenstance.

And there must be intent to get to what

has baited humans through the years: The chance

of seeking honour, glory immortal-

ity by doing good repeatedly,

till it’s our character, habit settled,

and almost programmed into us steadily.

This is the way YaHWeH has chosen to

now partner with us in creating more

reflections of him-self in me & you:

his love’s creative discipline gets poured

around the place by creatures on themselves.

Authority of him, is shared with us

to make a creature who can work for health

somehow by ways that act more than they fuss.

Appearances are NOT what “floats his boat”! -

unless we think “appearing on the stage”,

but there's a set of “skills” to learn (by rote),

till our whole selves are able to engage

in acting out the part he’s picked for us - 

to re-present creative love itself

in all the settings of a life that does;

to show an instance of a life with health!

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Footnotes

ts* - though the process clearly does involve choosing to “think about what is good” (Philippians 4:8)

be* - “a good man, full of the holy spirit and faith” (see Micah 6:8; Acts 11:24; I Tim 3:8, 2 Cor 1:12; Gal6:7-10; )

ce* - (see above footnote, with emphasis on “all of life” or “in every way”) & this sort of passage: “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life.”(NIVUK, with italic font added by me; Rom 2:7)

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(T)hankering

This hankering for recognition which

I find is deep within myself, inside; 

I’ll recognise, and name. It’s like a twitch,

or ‘tick’, or stutter. Not to be denied, 

but not to be the focus of my life.

My life is like a lens to focus on…

not me, but “good-ness”, in “good” times & “strife”:

good things to recognise, to think upon,

to give thanks for, & then good works to do,

because they’d help not me, but this cosmos,

where God has put me, at this time - where you

& I affect folk here for good, or loss.

I now recall what Pete*, or was it Paul*

said in the scriptures that we read today,

“God is my witness*” and too these words fall

quite nat-ur-al-ly, as a way to say

that this is really true, not “for affect” -

to garner praise or well-wishing from folk. 

He lived his life before the one who checked

him out and judges ev’ry Sheila/ Bloke.

And so I think I'll take a leaf from them,

or learn a lesson from the way they spelled

things out, God sees, & knows what I do, when,

and where & why as well.

Don't think that recognition’s not that good!

That cannot be, unless God’s not around.

But as, in Jesus’s words, God is, and should

be trusted. I’ll walk gladly on (t)his ground!

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Footnotes

e* - 2 Peter 1:3-11 and the rest of the chapter…

l* - Ephesians 2:10; Titus 3:8

s* - e.g. Galatians 1:20; 2 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:5; Romans 1:9

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Growing

Responsiveness to God

---

Dad, after our brief talk on the phone Sunday Arvo, 

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this morning I read through one of the 20 (?) different things that have helped me get or nurture the right attitude, or mindfulness to tune in to God through a day. This (The Examen) is one, maybe Laurie passed on to us:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/0B-x3YoQ3OQpLM2xMbjBUbHRZTDA/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=100279994004385559468&resourcekey=0-movByCwoDYI-SMYvPRWWpQ&rtpof=true&sd=true

.

Another thing is to kind of be a midwife for them as they look over their interactions with God, to start to develop a personalised discipline or "Way" that is helpful for them at this stage of their journey.. ie. To make or develop good "habits of responsiveness" ( based on the critter they are at the moment, and the critter they sense God wants them to become more of - to spread the life of Jesus more into the world.

Another example for me has been that little summative (& formative) passage of general advice the Apostle Paul says to the Thessalonian Jesus Followers: "Be JOYFUL always,  PRAY at all times, be THANKFUL in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; https://bible.com/bible/296/1th.5.16-18.GNBUK, plus then, the rest of the chapter)...

 I found it worked backwards for me... i.e. when I PRAYED in all circumstances, then I found I was THANKFUL to God for his help and gifts through every circumstance, and then I found I was JOYFUL (about something, even if it wasn't some change of circumstances, but simply the chance to share that part of life with God himself)...

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Lamb & Lager ..

..& the Larger One..

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Prologue:

Text2me: “…Not sure if this might interest you but we're having a men’s Lamb and Lager dinner on the 23 May. 6:30 at Holy trinity. $20. We'll hear from a local shepherd..”..

Text from me: Thanks brother, I like both lamb, lager, & the larger One. I may have a VIP visitor then, & if so, it probably won’t work. But if not, and if God brings me in touch with someone else who would appreciate company at such an event, I'd love to come.

 

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GOD, may your people who bear your good name

and image in this town be yours, and its -

as Jesus wept for those towns* and inflamed

their leadership against him bit by bit

so in the end they killed him dead before 

the blocks of their great building were knocked down.

Oh may the people you love love you more

than all the stuff we gain from those around.

Oh grow, please God, some hearts of "flesh" that beat

as your heart does, to beat of diff'rent drum

that helped Him hear your voice out in the street

and at the table where who loved would come.

And may the King of Love who shepherds still

his sheep, and knows each lamb to care for it,

send out more shepherds to this town who will

find needy folk who feel they hardly fit

in set-ups under those who found "their niche",

(by which they don't mean ways to suffer well).

This Christ you sent to us, and too to each,

that we might learn to live "absorbing hell".

Or in the words of those who came around

to follow Him whom you said we should 'hear',

"love covers over piles of sin". They found

forgiveness is for giving out. He's near!

That’s He whose goodness never fails or falls

off just because he doesn’t find his match.

He’s faithful, so he builds; and he will call

and then equip, and also bind and patch.

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Footnote

s* - e.g. Luke 10:13-15; 13:34-35; Matt 11: 20-30; 23:37-39 …

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What's the RSVP date?

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Inconvenience..

..or Adventure

---

Today the weather’s somewhat colder and

it might just snow sometime the bureau says.

The wind is chilly, and so I have planned

to wear a cap on head, for I can guess

my lunch-time duty will require I stand

out in the weather at the “lower front”.

So here I am in company so grand

as those around about me in this hunt.

This hunt I say, for “Truth (through Knowledge)” here

is hunted down, as gold is sought from ore.

For motivation’s key, it would appear,

and more is found the more it is looked for.

And things are truly looked for in this world

when they are really prized, or treasured in

themselves, or some good function they hold furled

within their nature, or where they have been,

or else because of their relationships 

to other things or people round about. 

So attitudes of honour, care, friendships,

or mis-trust can affect what is found out.

And many things will not be even sought

for, just because our models don’t yet let

those inputs in, so outputs can’t be brought

to match experience we can’t forget.

So sometimes fresh friendship, or love, or hate,

or even pain, discomfort brings me back

to live out in this real world, of late.

instead of just my model that’s off track!

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Performing chants/ chance

to make a brand new world!

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Well KHESED-love performs such deeds and words;

such words, and deeds then come to pass as well

the essence of intent before they’re heard

when mouth that formed the word was soon to tell

it out into the world, as spark of fire, 

(or seed of living animal or plant).

Its word speaks of intent and shares its ire,

or joy, or grief, and mind [not emptied out,

but teeming with what might be called desire,

if that means understandings, will, and plans 

to bless all others - creatures lower, higher.]

It starts with keeping its own word. It stands

to reason, and to creativity, to power to create (not just to change),

and understanding as with my kids, me.

It doesn’t help them if I am deranged.

And what en-love-en-ed father, though he be

as evil and mistaken as we are,

would try to “raise” his kids to hinder he

who gave them life? ..He hopes they shine as stars!

And I feel quite unlike that shining self; 

reactive and defensive when pain’s near.

My hopes and spirit, like a willing elf;

my “flesh” is weak to motivate and cheer.

But KHESED-love if you will enter me

and be my breath to take life further in,

and higher up, then I am glad to be

receptacle for your life. May it win!

---

EMOTIONS (as a result of our knowledge)...

..can smudge*, or bear witness to* KHESED-love’s actional communications.

---

To bear witness is not just to speak words

of language made by Hemisphere of brain 

that’s left (when pointing forward) - even birds

and reptiles, mammals might have to refrain

from learning just from sound-wave symbols when

they’re round about, and learn from acts, in fact

some things are best passed down the line again

by dramatised responses. For a pact

can be made that is binding, without words, 

though understanding’s necessary still.

And honour, glory can be seen, or heard

somehow by oft repeated acts that will

display the choices of a life well lived*.

It might be just the lack of fear, or else

the overbearing way the facts are sieved,

and seen in light of threats perceived from hell’s

capacity to taint the whole of life,

and lead to accusations and the like,

instead of questions, which can, like a knife,

cut out our immaturity and hike

on further than the accusations could

go, yet don’t need accuse at all, they leave

that for the ones who answering claim good-

ness at their beck and call. And on their sleeve

they wear emotions, and as humans would

be, they are vuln’rable to claiming judge-

-ment as their right, which may be well ‘n’ good,

when under-teamed with side that doesn’t fudge.

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Footnotes

e* -  interesting little phrase (“εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς”=“to bear witness to them”) seen in two scenes showing Jesus’ intentions - at least one (the first citation) where his hopes were un-realised (or at least smudged), the second referred to some time in the future (where Jesus’ hopes would be either fulfilled or not fulfilled): Mark 1:42-45 esp v.44; Mark 13:9-11,esp v.9.

o* - see footnote above - second citation)

d* - Rom 2:7

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Exploring

(a culturally "Jewish" lifestyle..)

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As we left, after sharing an evening last night, my new Jewish friend talked about an old fellow he knew in Sydney (whom he was probably  going to the birthday party of next weekend) who was about (or over) 80yrs, very sprightly, and creative, when he gets knocked over he gets going again, it’s like he is a model of persistence,  innovation and creativity in his approach to life, and he has a personal trainer. That got me thinking later the next morning about how good it could be to have a personal trainer..

How helpful the gymn has been for me, and how I've been kept at it. It’s almost like each person in our LTG has “a personal trainer” (or small group trainer) in the others, and my times in the nights and mornings with my heavenly father, where he acts as a personal trainer for me. Then I realised that I HAVE A PERSONAL TRAINER ALREADY! And therefore I understand the goodness of it - and the need for manifesting this principle on Earth (it’s not, “So I don’t need one.”) because it’s “as in heaven so on Earth” [seen in Noah’s experience of building the ark (to make it like the one God had already shown him - in principle, in plan, in a vision of the mind), and in Moses’ experience of building the tabernacle (where it was to be made like the one God had shown him already*), and Jesus’ teaching in answer to the request (of his talmudim) to teach them to pray, and Jesus’ personal practice of going away in the busiest times (e.g.Mark 1:21-39) to be alone with the creative KHESED-love that made the Universe, (not as our flat materialistic or monistic view of it communicates in that word “Universe”; but) as is communicated in the title  “the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1&2) . It almost looks to me like he was modelling letting that creative KHESED-love be his personal trainer!

An appreciation of culture, meant as a support for the growth of Human beings to maturity, in security, like the scaffolding around a building while it’s being built (till it is built). Then the disassembly of it and storage of the scaffold - till a new building needs to be built.

This (along with a general journey I have been on*)  made me want to understand “Jewishness” for its capacity to perform a beautiful and actual scaffold-making function. 

• as seen in the extraordinary lives of this Jewish couple, who are only the second, third, or fourth Jewish people I have personally met, & started to get to know, who stand out, and then later we find out that they have a Jewish heritage. 

• As seen in the extraordinary life of my master, boss, Lord, Anointed Leader, Yeshua [who grew up as a Galilean-village Jewish builder, in the days when Israel was seen as (maybe a recalcitrant) part of the Roman Empire].

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Footnotes

y* - Ai generated response on 02/05/2026: According to the Book of Exodus, Moses constructed the tabernacle (or Tent of Meeting) with meticulous detail, strictly following a divine blueprint or "pattern" (\(tabniyth\)) shown to him by God on Mount Sinai. This instruction, repeated seven times, ensured that the portable sanctuary exactly mirrored the heavenly reality intended to house God’s presence among the Israelites. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The Divine Pattern Revealed

• The Vision: Moses spent 40 days and nights on the mountain receiving the revelation, seeing not just a verbal description but a detailed model or "vision" of the sanctuary and its furnishings.

• The Command: God commanded, "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (Exodus 25:40; Hebrews 8:5).

• A Heavenly Copy: The earthly tabernacle was a "copy and shadow" of the true sanctuary in heaven. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

n* - in my own teaching & learning to understand ancient “occasional texts” (like the Judaeo Christian Scriptures) firstly (though not only) via the Historical, Grammatical, Cultural Hermeneutic with books like “How to read the Bible for all it’s Worth”, (with its recognition of History, Grammar, Culture, & Genre, & Louis Tverberg’s 3  books: “Sitting at the feet of/ Walking in the Dust of/ Reading the Bible with … Rabbi Jesus” with their recognition of Culture]

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Busy life

 

..and learning..

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God bless this man, your son, and father of

the children you have given them so far.

And give your grace to raise them to know love,

experience your khesed  where they are!

---

---

a friend goes in

for heart surgery..

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Lord, you're the one who gave us hearts of flesh.

We want them to beat right in time with yours.

To see the good around, and get enmeshed

in multiplying it in time, because

that's what you said to do, and your good word

is food and drink to us, the way to life

that's worth the living. But we've also heard

of your great grief* endured, 'coz of your "wife*".

We want to enter into joy and grief

in company with you who bears them both.

Your company is what brings our relief.

And also leads us on - to all our growth!

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Lord we love you too.

Footnotes

f* - “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humans was great in the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. [6] And the Lord was sorry that he had made humans on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”(Genesis 6:5-6 NRSVUE)

e* - God’s people are sometimes (metaphorically?) spoken of as his “children” taking on the family “trade”, and at other times they are (oddly, to our ears) spoken of as his “wife” (Isaiah 54:5-10; 62:5, Ezekiel 16), whom he wants to share life with intimately and who is bound by covenant to share life and focus and the creative purposes of YHWH, Creative Love himself …

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the two handed approach

(On the one hand…, On the other…)

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Oh God, I feel embarrassed about us,

the way we are so programed, so to speak,

& though we are in charge of Earth, we're dust.

I feel two kinds of shame: So strong! So weak!

And now I think a bit more (while in love),

I’m being led by you to understand,

stand under your authority above

what you have put me over, as you planned!

Some shame can come from immaturity

that’s right and proper, for that’s how all growth

must happen on this Earth, where limits be.

But some’s from wasting, slackness, even both.

And forward way that’s good today, for all

is “truth to tell” - to think! to say! as small,

as well as big, let human mind not fall

in one rut or the other. But stand tall*.

And be the little toddler that I am!

Both showing off my skills (and prowess too);

and laughing at myself as a “big man”

who’s “free*”, but glad to be a person who

is growing in a family who loves,

so here I need to stand under my Dad 

& Mum, and learn from hand that doesn’t shove

so much as lead and draw me on a tad…

I own my shame, then name the kind I see.

Then in the presence of the God of all,

I laugh, and smile, repent, forgiven be!

Move on, both kneeling down, AND standing tall.

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Footnotes

l* - “Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. Never say anything that isn't true. Have nothing to do with lies and misleading words. Look straight ahead with honest confidence; don't hang your head in shame. Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right. Avoid evil and walk straight ahead. Don't go one step off the right way.” (Proverbs 3:5, 23-27 GNBUK)

e* - my three year old grandson sometimes talks of his father and grandfathers as each being “a big man” compared to himself as much smaller, but in the next breath he will talk of himself as so much bigger and more grown up than the babies around him, because now he is a “big man” who’s “free*”

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renovating

downstairs

---

Please help, Lord of the heavens and the earth,

for me as builder of a dwelling place,

to understand our needs and what they’re worth

to value truly, minimise disgrace.

In working with the rules of this good land

& honouring our government’s job here,

to help us live responsibly, and stand

up on our legs, and not to just appear

that way, but have in fact, a good impact

on this world, as environment and web,

as ecosystem, so in word and act

we’ll use authority we have to tread

lightly, where we must, while serving all

with sense of that proportion which is tuned

to outcomes for the whole she-bang, not small-

ly thinking just to minimise our wound.

So using the resources of your world, 

and using our own income as He* would,

to value add in this place we’ve been hurled,

and make this whole adventure pretty good

for serving all the humans you put here,

to serve this Earth to bring your will as is

the case in heaven, as it does appear

from what he said to ask in prayer of his..

his teaching of his children to enact

the kind of life that manifests on Earth

the life which your eternal love has tracked

down here where we have all had our first birth.

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Footnotes

e* - He, being the model or leader of humanity, and of Manhood, the Christ or Messiah of God, Jesus of Nazareth., who was by trade, a builder (before he was a Teacher, then said as Father of a new people of God, a new Israel, “I will build my ekklesia”.

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