Muddled through Hebrew

A quick update on this week...

1. Thankfully, my Hebrew mini-exam went pretty well. The questions were basically what I expected, and I think my answers were ok, too. That's two Hebrew mini-exams down; two to go.
   
2. Still working on my sermon for Sunday. Plenty of work ahead :)
   

Drug Dealers Hassling your Kids?

These posters, which suddenly popped up all over the Inner West last week, made me laugh out loud.

Term 1 Resumes...

Back at College for the last week of Term 1 (to be immediately followed by the first week of Term 2. Go figure).

This week is set to be rather busy on account of two deadlines:

1. A Hebrew test on Thursday. I basically need to know all the weak-verb paradigms. For those who are in the know, it's geminates and hollows that are doing my head in at the moment.
2. A sermon to write for church this Sunday. It's on the opening paragraph of Galatians. I should go work on that right now...
   

Plenty there for prayer folks :)

In other news, a couple of church planters spoke at college this afternoon. I've posted a small reflection on the session over at the MTS Tasmania blog.

The Vibe at Bondi

I have to admit I was a bit surprised by the vibe of Bondi. I know it's not exactly peak season, but I had probably expected the glam-but-soulless feel of Surfers. It was not to be, I am glad to say.


The place was remarkably... real, settled. I guess there aren't massive hotels. And you don't get the sense that every shop just appeared yesterday and might be gone tomorrow. That permanence begets a certain depth to the cultural experience of it all, I think.

Bondi Gastronomy

This last week we enjoyed some good times house-sitting in Bondi. The Foodies' Guide to Sydney was thick with recommendations as to how we should spend our time.

First stop was my birthday cake, thanks to Katie, a chocolate and carrot torte with muscovado cream. The Wrights were on hand (they stayed several days with us) to ensure none went to waste :)


Jai and I discovered a chocolate shop on Bondi Road, which was open late into the evening - very convenient. It reminded me heaps of the Renown in North Hobart.


Now we get serious. The salt and pepper squid at Doyles (the wharf take-away, only, not the restaurant, alas!) was exceptional. Definitely among the best seafood takeaway we've had.


The best coffee -and we tasted a few- was from gertrude & alice. Campos beans. Brilliant. Lily spilled my (almost full) piccolo, and they kindly made me another, which was bang-on the mark again.

Bondi is a bit of a Jewish enclave, and that mean bagels. Glick's All Seeds bagel was a bit a stand-out. It boasts cumin seeds (!), unless my taste buds (and eyes) deceive me.

I also followed Nick's example:


Back home now: the snow peas are still alive and growing. A few flowers herald the happiness to come.

Flying Guillotine

Master of the Flying Guillotine (1974) was hot. Not blow-your-mind material. But great old-school kung fu. It had all the elements:

• Evil white-bearded hermit.
• Some ridiculous characters (an Indian Rubber man, several one-armed boxers...).
• A very thin plot-device to introduce the bulk of the actual fighting.
  
• Ugly scenery typical of the kung fu of that era.

Interestingly, the hero (the real one-armed boxer) was content to use some seriously not-honourable schemes to get his man. For western cinema that's fine. For kung fu of that era... well, it stood out to me as pretty odd.

I notice that Block Cinema is getting underway (spectacularly good idea, guys). The question is: Can it truly hope to go the distance if it doesn't embrace kung fu? (I jest). I suggest either 36th Chamber or some early Bruce Lee ;)

Out from under the Essay-Shaped Cloud

I just submitted an essay on infant baptism. I'm loving the fact that college has the techno-funk in place for me to submit (some) stuff online these days.

Here's what I'd consider the cream of my bibliography, in case you're interested.

• Beasley-Murray, G. R., Baptism in the New Testament - This is a smokin', but very thorough, critique of the Reformed arguments. Some of his critiques are stronger than others.
• Bavinck, Herman, Reformed Dogmatics - Ahhh, the Dutch. This guy presents a really clear presentation of the range of Reformed views. Clearer than Calvin or Reymond.
  
• Barth, Karl, Church Dogmatics IV.4. - (My essay question quoted Barth). Gosh he's long-winded, but he's very thorough in both detail and big-picture.
  
• Robinson, Donald, Selected Works - Very crisp exegesis regarding baptism's symbolic significance. I don't go for some of his conclusions, though.
  

And if you're thinking of reading Barth, not having read him before, then follow this procedure. Stop. Read Geoffrey Bromiley's Introduction to the Theology of Karl Barth. Then read Barth.

Things to thank God for: preparing the essay was a really good time of reflecting on a whole range of stuff (parenting, the gospel, denominations, the faithfulness of God). A very positive experience. And holidays, thank Him for them, too ;)

Shanghai Showdown

For some time now, folks have touted the Chinese dumplings of Shanghai Night (in Ashfield) as the best in all the land. Well, I can't be sure, but it seems the place next door to them, New Shanghai, is their biggest rival in the best-dumpling stakes.

We went there last week while Kaylene was in town.


Noah ate dumplings like a professional.

Pork and chive dumplings. Shanghai mini pork dumplings. MMmmmm.

But do you really?

When I was in Tassie, Fi and I watched an episode of The Mighty Boosh. It was the episode where the presumed-dead former Zoo keeper kept on with banter like,

"You know. But do you really know?"
"You're ready. But are you really ready?"

Well, I've appropriated that banter for myself. In the following form:

"You lost the camera. But did you really lose the camera?"

Evidently not.

On the bright side, the camera that we bought to replace our presumed-lost old camera is really cool. It's a Canon IXUS 95IS. Let me tell you just one thing about it: it's fast (for a compact). Shot-to-shot is about 1.5 secs (no flash). And when the kids are doing cute stuff, that's when it counts.

Mission to Merrylands

Last week was Mission week for college. The whole student body is divided into mission teams. Each team is headed up by a chaplain (one of the faculty). And each team heads to a different church(es) to work with them for a week (Sunday to Sunday).

We went here, to St Anne's, Merrylands.


We were involved in heaps of stuff: a Men's dinner, a Seniors' Bible study, Scripture Seminars at a local school, preaching on the Sundays, ESL classes, scout groups, train station fliering (the fliers had chocolates attached), door knocking, the list goes on.

Two cool things about the week:

1. A couple from the church took the whole week off work to be embedded with the mission team. Awesome idea. So encouraging. It was so nice to have that kind of connection with actual people from the church.
2. St Anne's runs a Sudanese church service each week, which is almost entirely in Dinka (language). And just like MacDonalds in France, it's the little things that really caught my attention. (a) The service leader (and a deaconess?) sit on the stage in lounge chairs throughout the service. The preacher does the same thing, but on the opposite side of the stage. (b) They had several people talk (for 3-5mins each) about stuff that's going on in their life, rather than the service-leader give announcements about those things. (c) They sing loud, but they hardly move. (d) People were constantly whispering in the service-leader's ear or handing him notes, etc. I think at least some of those were requests for prayer.
   

It was a good week. But it's nice to have finished now, and to have caught my breath again.

Merrylands is pretty culturally and ethnically diverse. I bought some lebanese sweets at this joint... Yummy, but overpriced and not as good as my local. The coffee was undrinkable.

Dropping in for the Weekend

As some of you will know, I dropped in on Dad and Buzz for their birthdays the other week. The whole thing was a surprise for Dad. All I needed was one of these to make it happen:


Kate and the kids stayed home, though.

It was great to be back in Tassie, even if it was just for a couple of days. As you'd expect, I spent the whole time with family. (Sorry I didn't get to see more of you!)


We had a lovely lunch to celebrate the birthdays. I also spent a fair bit of time wandering around the veggie garden at Mum and Dad's. Much of their garden is thundering along. I've never seen as many apples on a single tree as this!


Luke was happy because I basically spent my baggage allowance ferrying Sydney's finest to him :) I consider it my duty and honour.


Fortuitously, my visit coincided with the Ten Days on the Island festival. With Jen and Funnel I caught a performance of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. Excellent. Music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. I recommend it. (I think it'll be in Sydney later this month).

Then back to Sydney, and straight into the Moore College Mission week!