fruit from the vine

10:50 am - Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Sunday

At the cafe in the morning, our sister church (Glen Osmond Baptist) came and produced a children's activity. It was simple, really--coloring sheets, craft activities, and a short Bible lesson--but it brought in a crowd of people, some of them from the community around Soul Food. It provided many opportunities to converse with people in an intentional way, and many new relationships were built. It caused the Soul Food group to consider putting on similar activities once a month, because it was so successful. (It was also REALLY busy; it took us over an hour to clean up and shut the place down.)

At our service in the evening, I shared part of my testimony. I also told them that there are people in the United States who, as a result of me being part of Soul Food, are now aware of some of the situation and are praying for this little group. They were very thankful and couldn't believe that churches around the world in America were concerned about them and were praying for them. (They said to say thank you, that your prayers are very encouraging.)

Our service turned into a very thick discussion about John 15 (the Vine and the Branches, producing fruit in ministry). One of the members brought up the question, "What is fruit? What is this thing we're looking for? Is it producing converts, multiplying members, growing our congregation, discipling, putting on a good ministry, being accepted as a legitimate church, doing what God wants, or none of the above?"

Obviously, people have their opinions about it, but when it comes down to it, really, what IS "fruit?" What do we as churches or groups of believers strive towards? Is it about production, multiplication, and growth? Or is it about simply doing what God wants, even if the results are not what we expect?

Look at Jeremiah; his ministry was decades-long, and he was clearly doing exactly what God wanted him to do; yet he saw no converts in his entire ministry, no results of his preaching, no life-changes or drastic movements. Was Jeremiah a failure?

We so quickly say, "NO! He was not!", and yet we live our lives and serve in our churches as if he was. In the back of our minds, we secretly pray that our lives would not be as Jeremiah's. Some would make the case that this is human nature and thus unavoidable; I believe that it is possible to live one's life as if God's will is the only fruit we are seeking. There are stories of missionaries who trained for years to go on the field, and are killed the minute they set foot there. Do we look sadly on their lives as wasted, as lost potential? Or is it possible we can look at their time on the earth and praise God for their obedience, even if the results are not as we would have them?

Enough about that; I'm uncomfortable just thinking about it, even though I know I need to wrestle through it.

Monday

 Flick drove me to Tea Tree Plaza (the biggest shopping center here; I tend to spend alot of time there) and I got on a bus to the city center. It wasn't the prettiest of days, but I had some sights I wanted to go see!

First, I walked to North Adelaide (probably a good kilometer or so) to the St. Peter's Cathedral. (See pictures on Facebook, it's GORGEOUS!) The history of the cathedral is interesting; initially building began in the 1860s, but it had to be completed in pieces as the money was available. It took over 100 years to finish the cathedral, so there is mismatched woodwork, different styles of stained glass, and differently colored stonework. I was half expecting a modernized cathedral, but this was the old-style church--high stone arches, soaring ceilings, a massive and ornately carved wooden altar, and multiple smaller prayer rooms and chapels contained within the main building. I was probably in there for an hour, just staring at the craftsmanship and thinking about the people who are immortalized in the glass, stone, and wood.

When I left the cathedral to walk back to the city center, it had decided to rain. This made everything wet and cold, but it also provided alot of beautiful views. Being wet and nasty as it was (btw, apparently "nasty" is considered an "American" word?), I decided to go to the South Australian Museum which is a block away from Rundle Mall (the main shopping center). Entry is free, so I wasn't expecting much.

What I got was an education in fossils, opals, aboriginal life, and expeditions into Australia's interior in the early 1900s. The building itself is beautiful, a combination of brick and steel/glass. There are exhibits varying from a life-size giant squid model, to a skeleton gallery, to an entire hall of ancient Aboriginal tools of life, to the different minerals found in Australia.

Although it was heavily biased, I learned alot from the exhibits featuring Aboriginals, the original inhabitants of Australia. Having a bit of Native American in my ancestry and a lifelong fascination with American history, I am familiar with the struggles of the indigenous population in America against explorers, pioneers, and settlers. The situation in Australia is drastically different, and it's an issue that affects life even today. The first European settlers in Australia assumed that the land, though inhabited, had no claims on its property. They believed that God had given them this land to claim and take control of. (Sounds familiar so far.) When they first landed, they brought European diseases like smallpox and measles, as well as invasive species such as rabbits and rats. The Aboriginals rarely fought for their rights to the land; they usually just moved on and watched sadly as their ancestral grounds and sacred familial communities were destroyed in the path of European superiority.

As time went on, the European settlers began to notice that there were other people on the continent, and missionaries started their push into the indigenous communities. Just as in other parts of the word, the missionaries to the Aboriginal communities insisted on forcing the people to conform to "white" traditions and customs in order to be considered "saved" or employable. Today, the situation is almost as dismal, with the majority of the Aboriginal remnants living in rundown communities, fully dependent on the government for financial handouts, education, and means of survival (alcohol, drugs, etc.). The majority of people of Aboriginal descent now struggle against a system that is highly discriminatory, forcing them out of jobs, away from education, and giving them a life that destines them for failure. It's depressing, but that is the unfortunate foundation for much of the racism that is alive and well in Australia.

I left there and headed home, where I got to talk to my family via videochat for over two hours. It was good, because I got to see them, but in a way it was sortof not good, because it started me thinking that I've been here for 3 weeks already (away from home for 3 1/2). In a way it feels like I just got here; and in a way it feels like I've been here forever.