SALT CELLAR April 2016

‘...Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.’ Mark 9:50

Editorial Last weekend was Easter. An opportunity to take a break from ordinary life, but also an opportunity to think of the life and death of Jesus. Among other things, I went to the Melbourne Passion Play, dramatising Jesus’ teachings, his suffering, and his death on the cross. I found it surprisingly moving. Even when you know the wounds lining the actor's back, the stumbling walk, the brutality and the jeering are pretence; that the three crosses are not holding corpses; and that everything will be OK, even then it is hard to ignore how sad the event was. Particularly when it is shown that his death was largely due to the jealousy and fear of the authorities, in spite of his good teachings rather than because of them. At one point during Jesus’ trial there is an interesting exchange between Jesus and Pilate: Then Pilate said, “So you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world — to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked, “What is truth?” John 18:37 ­ 38 Part of the reason Jesus was on trial was because he was teaching the truth, and there were too many people who felt threatened by it. Sometimes we talk confidently about having “The Truth”. But do we ever feel threatened by truth, like those who heard Jesus but preferred to condemn him rather than to change? Would we try to get rid of voices of truth if their messages made us feel uncomfortable? It is certain that Jesus’ teachings were not meant to be abstract doctrines, lines on a piece of paper to be argued over, re­interpreted, then upheld as true. If they are true, they must be put into practice. Jesus taught this in his story of the wise man and the foolish man, now immortalised in song. Both the wise man and the foolish man listened to Jesus. What set the wise man apart was that he then did what he had heard. Sometimes, as a young person, searching for truth seems like a very theoretical subject. Something that those older and wiser than us can worry about while we just get on with our lives. Just do what our parents taught us or what other young people are doing, and everything will be fine. But it’s Salt Cellar

CONTENTS Editorial......................................... 2 Rec Camp 2016..............................3 Book review................................... 4 From the Secretary; Reminisce.....5 Upcoming Events; Grapevine....... 6 actually really practical, because it is meant to change our behaviour. Yes, Jesus said truth could give us freedom, but it can also give us the responsibility to do what we know to be right, no matter what the cost. Are we ready for this truth? A comment I’ve heard many times is “I’d like to believe such­and­such about a particular Bible character or event”. Such discussion can be useful (I do it too), but it is not truth. Truth is about what we have reason to believe, not what we’d like to believe, and it should lead us to action. Sometimes we need to ask questions. To explore new things. To challenge ourselves. And sometimes that can be really hard. Yes, we may end up with the same conclusion as everyone else who has looked at the same evidence and the same scripture. But that doesn’t mean it is wasted time. It is hard to overestimate how valuable it is to understand why something is true rather than just being told it is true. And if we find a thing to be false, it is better to know it now rather than continuing to pass it on to others. If we see a problem, it’s not enough to say “Everyone else seems OK with this, so maybe it’s not really a problem”. We need to look, because if we stand by and do nothing, we are actually encouraging others to also stand by and do nothing. So let us speak about and follow truth as Jesus did. JON MORGAN

Test everything; hold fast what is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21

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Rec Camp 2016 This year Rec Camp (or, as some of us called it, “Kids Camp for older kids”) was centred on our CYC theme for the year: “Journey to the Promised Land”, and in particular on the Exodus from Egypt. We spent the weekend doing a lot of recreational activities such as several team based games – all counting towards the big prize presented on Sunday – over the course of camp, many games of Avalon (a mafia like game), a water slide, Storm the Lantern, and many other activities. These were interspersed with Discussion groups, a meditation, and the Memorial Meeting, as well as many spiritually minded conversations. The camp ended with a farewell meeting, which included the prize presentation to Team 4 who won, followed by everyone departing back to their normal lives. ASH SYMES

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Book Review: Reformation So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth … therefore be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:16, 19

I don’t like to count how many times I’ve read this little yellow book. Upwards of twenty times, at least. I’ve never been an avid reader of Christadelphian books, but when I was eleven or twelve, I read it once… and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve always been frustrated by how much we all – myself especially – live as if Christianity was a little ‘fries on the side’ addition to our juicy main course, our ‘real’ life. And how we can get so focused on ‘doctrine’ that we forget the equal importance of how we live. How often have you felt ashamed to be a part of ‘The Christadelphians’, when our actions are so often inconsistent with our words? In Reformation, Bro Harry Whittaker (who was quite an … original thinker) exposes a number of ways we ignore Christ’s calls to a life of true idealistic dedication, and challenges us to live radically. Expect to be confronted at times when he paints your motives in black and white. His style is chatty and easy to follow, but can be quite scathing; he doesn’t mince words! No matter how many times I read it, he still wakes me up to my apathy and inconsistency without fail. Some key things he suggests that we should change, to become hot rather than lukewarm, include: • Praying more, and making prayer real, both individually and congregationally • Reading, studying and pondering on God’s word more • Coming along as much as possible to share fellowship, and talking about the Bible with each other

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• Giving, helping each other and sacrificing till it hurts • Wasting less time on relaxation and TV, so we can spend spare time working for God • Giving up our over­comfortable and selfish lives I never read Reformation without being fired up, once more, to actually put my beliefs into action. Do you want to be inspired to break out of our general stagnation and actually ‘take up your cross and follow Christ’, rather than just talking about it? Then this book is for you.

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HEIDI MORGAN

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From the Secretary It’s hard to believe we’re a quarter of the way through another year, but looking back, we’ve already had a good dose of CYC so far this year! We kicked off CYC 2016 with a casual games night at Ringwood, which was a good way to get back into gear, particularly with a number of young people having been to Sydney Conference, or on other holidays over the end of the year. That was closely followed by a beach day, for which we were blessed with some good weather (despite a patchy forecast) and a few of us were even lucky enough to spot a pair of dolphins swimming past! In February, Bro. Dan Yearsley started off our classes for the year, by presenting us with a choice that ultimately all who are called must face: to live in pleasure and ignore God’s call, or to accept the difficulties of a life following Christ, knowing that the reward will be far greater than any difficulties that can face us in this life. In our second class, we were led in a consideration of the Red Sea and Baptism by Graham Grieve, who encouraged us to be genuine in our decision to follow Christ. We all may think about Egypt from time to time, but we must keep our eyes on the promised land, and focus on the hope that has been given to us, to help us through our difficulties, and seek the encouragement that others can provide on our walk towards the Kingdom. We’ve also got a number of exciting things in the pipeline. In the next couple of months, we will be looking at the events that happened at Sinai, and how they demonstrate God’s attitude to his people: How he was loving and compassionate,

and yet would still deal justly with them, much the same as he deals with us. We all make mistakes, and often there are consequences, yet we can rely on the mercy and forgiveness of our heavenly Father. We also have the combined Ecclesial picnic coming up, which should be a great opportunity to spend some time with our Ecclesial family in Melbourne. It will be at Heritage College, on April 16th (keep your ears open for further announcements!) Plans for J Weekend are now taking shape, with Bro. Cam Crispin to speak on the theme “The Prophet Greater than Moses”, looking at ways that Moses foreshadows Christ, which will doubtless be an uplifting weekend! It will be on the 15th ­ 17th of July, at Camp Marysville again this year, and bookings will be opening shortly. Also, keep the 30th of April free (it’s a Saturday, starting at 7:30pm) ­ there will be an MYC fundraising auction at the Ringwood Community Centre, with proceeds going directly to the Conference. It will be a great opportunity to grab a bargain, and support the Youth Conference, which promises to be a great opportunity for young people from Melbourne and around Australia to spend a week together around God’s word! There’s definitely plenty going on at CYC, and we pray for God’s blessing on our activities as we journey together to the land of Promise! MARTY PITT

The Essence of Reminiscence We all dream about the perfect event. We dream about the ‘perfect’ wedding, the ‘perfect’ partner or the ‘perfect’ birthday.

So the next time you find yourself in an imperfect moment, remember that someday you’ll look back on it and laugh.

But when we really think about it, the funny stories we retell about our lives tend to be our memories of imperfection ­ the time when mum dropped the birthday cake, when your brother slipped face down in the mud while showing off, and the time he missed his surprise party.

Then tell yourself ­ if I’m going to laugh about this someday, I might as well laugh about it now.

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From the archives: April ­ May 1994

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Upcoming Events 16th April

Grape vine

Combined Ecclesial Picnic @ Heritage Class: The Golden Calf @ Boronia with Tom Mansfield

30th April

MYC Goods & Services Auction

7th May

CYC Car Wash @ Autumn Fair

Marriages: Ryan McLean to Vanessa Mogg Nick Loveday to Hannah Hayles

Class: Character of God @ Heathmont with Andrew Lawson 21st May

Song & Praise Night

4th June

Class: Approaching God in Prayer @ Heritage with Rob Crispin

18th June

Olivet Entertaining Class: Reluctant Leader with Shane Morrison @ Mt Waverley

Births: Heidi Arambulo Jolly to Peter & Ruby Jolly Amy Florence Thomas to Richard & Felicity Thomas

Baptisms: Rachel Morrison Chloe Brooker

Poem When Moses was born after so many years, All was fulfilled of Joseph's own fears, Israel was now, enslaved and dejected, To save them, by God, was Moses selected. Like Joseph he rose in the courts of the king, Yet he did not esteem this a very great thing, Earth's kingdoms he knew would all pass away, He lifted his eyes to the more perfect day. Moses faithfully stood ’gainst bitter resistance, That Israel must go was his constant insistence, In faith and in courage he won their release, And began that long journey to ultimate peace. HARRY LITTLER

Just to make you laugh Q: Which servant of God was the worst lawbreaker in the Bible? A: Moses: He broke all 10 commandments at once. Q: Where is medicine first mentioned in the Bible? A: When God gave Moses two tablets. Q: Who was known as a mathematician in the Bible? A: Moses: He wrote the book of Numbers. Q: Who was the only person in the Bible without a father? A: Joshua the son of Nun.

A headline for today: Crossing the Red Sea: WETLANDS TRAMPLED IN LABOR STRIKE Pursuing Environmentalists Killed From the archives: February ­ March 1985

Don’t let your worries overpower you: remember, Moses started out as a basket case.

Salt Cellar is published by the Melbourne CYC on behalf of all Christadelphian ecclesias in Melbourne. Please send all comments, questions, complaints and contributions to Jon Morgan at [email protected]. Salt Cellar

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