The Match Factory | Sept-Oct, 2008

Ideas for selected
Match Factory dates
over the next two months
by Lucy AitkenRead

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elcome to another installment of ideas for commemorating some important days and issues found in September and October.  This is a small selection of a few of the dates taken from the longer list that can be found here.

September 12 | International Literacy Day

‘Literacy is the best remedy’ proclaims the slogan of the UN’s International Literacy Day, for there are robust links between literacy levels and health. Perhaps unsurprisingly the ability to read has a major effect on the contracting of diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis in developing nations. In industrialised nations we are aware the impact literacy has on life chances, missing out on those key reading stages can have serious future implications such as joblessness, homelessness and poverty.  Yet these are only the most severe consequences of illiteracy - consider at the other end of the scale the enlightenment and sheer pleasure of reading a great book! The thought that millions of people are deprived of even this can make the heart heavy.  And, sadly, illiteracy is the case for far too many people:

• 774 million adults lack minimum literacy skills
• one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women

Raise it: Hold a Read-a-thon to make some cash for a world literacy charity such as Room to Read.  Add a twist by getting your entire church involved to read as many books as possible on one day or give it a theme and have people dress up and read material only in the area of…. Salvation Army heroes?!
Change it: Most local schools have a programme that needs volunteer readers to come in once a week and help those who struggle most with their reading. How about getting your home group involved in volunteering for this for a few months? There is a list of UK based programmes here and there is a similar US programme here, but a bit of googling should get you more specific results.
Do it: Begin a library in honour of world literacy day! With just a little time and effort you can set aside a little room in your church or community centre in order to 1) give access to books for a wider range of people in your area and 2) promote the beautiful  mindset of sharing goods and resources. Gather books donated from church members, second hand stores and garage/car boot sales. There is a comprehensive guide to setting up a small library here and some free software for churches available here.
Promote it: There is a quirky trend at the moment in bookcrossing, where thousands across the world register their favourite books online and then leave them in public places for strangers to find and read. Because of the registration it is possible to track your books as they make their way across the globe. Celebrate literacy and create awareness of the illiterate one fifth of the world by doing some bookcrossing. As well as putting the website and registration number in the front cover, add a statistic from above and a little message about the need for change. You might just inspire a stranger!

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We’ll be back

theRubicon has:

a) gone fishing

b) headed to the beach

c) is slacking off

d) succumbed to the deeply-rooted laziness and lack of discipline that courses through our veins.

You choose the explanation you like best.

This means that we will not be posting from Monday, August 25 through Saturday, August 30. We’ll be back, suntanned, well rested and ready to go, on Sunday, August 31.

In the meantime, feel free to browse through theRubicon’s recently improved archives and catch up on some great material you might have missed over the last couple of years.

Even better… write something yourself and send it in. We are always in need of good material.

Surfs up!

theRubicon team

Thinkaloud | shelter in the storm

The household of faith

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ife has many storms. There are the dark and lonely days when God seems far away and everything goes wrong. There are the fierce attacks which almost shake the foundations, and when doubt seems to be more certain than certainty itself.

There are times of misunderstanding when thoughts are inadequate and words tumble out in awkward lumps of sound. On such days, when Satan presses hard, there is the tendency to overload our personal life with negative thoughts and unhappy feelings.

For every storm, though, there is a safe harbour waiting; a secure port where energies can be released from the battle for survival to more productive pursuits. Such a harbour, such a shelter, is the family - that God-given and God-blessed grouping of human beings.
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Double~take | great big God

Becoming more childlike

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his week my campers got into a discussion about the bible sessions we have at Salvation Army camps, and a few of them mentioned that they liked to dance around a lot, and sing like they have at previous camps. They very enthusiastically and unanimously declared their favourite bible song to be “Great Big God”, and launched into the chorus, complete with actions, before volunteering to lead the rest of the campers in singing it the following afternoon. I would’ve recommended them too, but Thursdays are the days that we re-enact the Stations of the Cross, and we don’t have any singing.

It’s a pity that the worship team doesn’t know that song anyway, because we can never have too many reminders that Our God is a Great Big God. Time after time I have seen reminders in seemingly unrelated passages.

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Skillful culture making

Moving the horizons of culture

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friend of mine likes to quote G.K Chesterton, who said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” I’ve just published a book called Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling (which may or may not illustrate Chesterton’s axiom). So you might think that I’m eager for Christians - and any member of our society who cares about its preservation and renewal - to get out there and make something, anything, rather than simply marinating in the consumption and critique that so often are our default postures in the world.

And indeed there’s something to that. The best and most important things most of us will do with our lives - friendship, marriage and parenthood, not to mention cooking, gardening, singing, and praying - will probably not be the things we do best, especially at first. They are worth doing badly, especially if the alternative is not daring to do them at all.

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The welcome table

Heeding the call for social justice

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ono, the lead singer of U2, tells this story: “Before I had kids, I visited an Ethiopian camp/feeding station. A man came up to me with his little boy, a beautiful boy, and proud of his son, the man begged me to take his son home and through the translator he just repeated over and over, ‘You take him with you.  If he stays here, he will surely die.’ The rules of the camp are that you can’t take children home with you, you can’t adopt them. But in some strange way that day, I did take that little boy home with me. That interface with extreme poverty that day has driven me to call people of influence, power and wealth to account for what they are doing or not doing for their poor brothers and sisters around the world.”
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Deeper shade of grey | confusion

Are you enlightened?

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s I waited for the bus to make my journey to Faith House I thought of Dan. I hoped he would be there. I met Dan for the first time last week and had quite a conversation. 
 It started when Dan asked me if I was a Christian and then proceeded to tell me that he had never met a Christian who was enlightened. I have to admit that the next hour and a half was heavy stuff!

He explains his concept of entering the ‘gap’; of techniques, methods of meditation; his desire to achieve this enlightenment.

“Dan if you are talking about fulfillment, peace, purpose I’ve found it.” 
 Dan’s eyes widen in excitement - “what’s your technique?” 
 His disappointment was almost palpable as I said “Look I’m not trying to evangelise you but, I found it in the life and purpose of Jesus and in the hope that is mine through that life and discovering my own purpose.”

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Book review | Culture Making

Andy Crouch
Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling.
Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Books, 2008. 284 pages

Reviewed by Mark Petersen

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ndy Crouch’s creative energies have been simmering and are ready to be brought to the patio table this summer in his latest book, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. This thought-provoking, accessibly written work confronts a simplistic understanding of how Christians make a difference in our world. Rather than an ostrich-like burying of one’s head in the sand, placarding the excesses of our fallen world, or over-spiritualizing solutions, Crouch contributes both language and framework for thoughtful engagement as Christians. It is far easier to ignore our world’s dysfunction or, conversely, be angry, but Crouch demonstrates the more arduous and ultimately rewarding pathway of constructive engagement.

The author presents his thesis in three parts-culture, Gospel, and calling. He defines culture, demonstrates how it is an integral part of the Gospel and is woven throughout Scripture, and finally invites the reader to awake to the possibilities that the Gospel we embrace also calls us to engage intentionally with our world through the creation of cultural goods. Following Jesus is all about creating alternative, life-giving expressions of culture for the mainstream culture.
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Ragamuffin: untamed

To love what is untamed inside of us

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ot too long ago I watched the movie Flicka. The 2006 film is a sweet type of movie, one for all ages.

The story is about Katy. She is the only daughter of a rancher who hopes to take over the family ranch someday. Her father hopes that the older brother will take over the ranch. After failing to complete an essay for her school exam Katy returns home to face her father’s disapproval. Her love for a black Mustang filly starts her on a new adventure.

Katy’s father does not approve of her actions with Flicka and Katy disobeys him by training and riding the horse behind his back. Later Flicka is sold to the rodeo. Katy rescues her beloved horse with the assistance of her brother by posing as a man and entering the race. The film ends with Katy and Flicka riding together through the Wyoming mountains. It is a wonderful movie. But this quote hit me…

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Thinkaloud | looking to Jesus

The source of holy joy

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sn’t it simply marvelous to be a child of God, to belong to Him, to experience moment by moment the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and to have Jesus Christ the Saviour as our companion through all that life brings and beyond?

Our highest duty is to praise God, to glorify Him by our life and to honour Him by our thoughts and words as we make Him the centre of our affections. When we live as if He alone exists, then all else will be well and all other relationships will be sound.

In praising God we thank Him for the matchless gift of His Son Jesus, who lived a sinless life, died for our sins, rose from death and who now lives forever. Without Jesus we are lost; we are of no more consequence than a speck of sand on the world’s largest beach. Yet with Him, we share His glory as God’s children; we are members of the heavenly family, and we bear the family likeness.

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