Some natural wonders

The last post has prompted me to recall things which I have seen which have made me (metaphorically) breathless at the natural world we live in. Here's my top 10.

1. Accidentally seeing a total solar eclipse (see previous post).
2. Riding around country Denmark on the first warm spring day. I saw more green than I could remember, and the additions that humans have made to the environment there are delightful. I'm surprised that this innocuous day has made it onto this list, but it's my version of Wordsworth's daffodils.
3. Driving through a wintry Arizona, seeing only green firs heaped with white snow and then happening upon the orange tones of the Grand Canyon. Amazing.
4. Lying on my back at night just outside Canberra and watching shooting stars and satellites go by.
5. Seeing Kachenjunga (3rd tallest mountain in the world) from a few hundred kilometres away in Darjeeling.
6. Seeing the peak of Everest from a plane (it was the same height as our cruising altitude).
7. Seeing the rings of Saturn through a telescope.

And 8-10? I'm still waiting for those. I wonder what they'll be... any suggestions?

A Lucky Solar Eclipse

I got up early yesterday morning. I happened to be checking the news on smh.com.au and I saw that there was to be a total solar eclipse, and it happened to be in the part of the world I was in.

I read a bit further, yes, exactly where I would be...

I looked at what time it was supposed to be happening... I checked the time here... mmm that's about right.

I turned my head 90 degrees, and I could see, through the clouds, that the sun had almost disappeared. It was just a small sliver of sunlight that I could see on the underside. I wasn't sure if it was the sun or the moon, but then with a moment's reflection I realised that with a solar eclipse it's, of course, both! I'd always wanted to see a solar eclipse, so I was thankful that I had been woken early.

Then the sky went darker than I've seen even thunderous storm clouds darken the sky. It was eerie - we could see that there was bright sunlight still lighting the clouds on the horizon. Some people screamed as the sun disappeared. Some made their Hindu religious wailing noises. Then I could see the ring around the sun before it disappeared behind the clouds.

The darkness remained for about 3 minutes. It was a long time to be in that dark-but-daytime state. (Imagine the three hours of Matthew 27:45!)

Then, in the course of about 30 seconds we returned to what felt like full daytime (but of course the sun was still mostly hidden). It made us realise again how dark it had really been.

I asked my friend later what people thought about it, she said that people aren't scared, but they do think it's something unclean, and that after a solar eclipse they clean all of their plates and pots and pans to purify them.

Are our church planters forgetting something?

There's buzz going around these days about church planting. Al Stewart has been appointed as the Director of Evangelism ministries (in the Anglican church). He's going to focus on church planting.

 

Here's a quote from Al:

 

"I am absolutely committed to inspiring, recruiting, equipping and placing young men with a passion for church planting and reaching the lost."

 

Here's Michael Kellahan's take on Al's message from the recent Moore College Church Planting Conference:

 

"We have got to revitalise existing churches and plant more. The big middle chunk of our churches are not growing. The biggest factor is leadership. We need to support guys and get the right guys in the right places and the wrong guys out (Al Stewart soon to be ex bishop of Wollongong)"

 

My question is:

 

Where are the women in these discussions and conferences? Seems to me that half of our church is women, and that women also have gifts in leadership (even the most conservative amongst us hold that women are at least to lead and train other women.) Even for those who hold that a man should lead a church, couldn't his wife (if gifted and interested) also be actively included in the planning process?

 

I get a little worried that the inital planning is taking place from a very male perspective - and may lead to unbalanced, and therefore unsustainable churches.

 

What do you think? Does anyone else get this vibe?