A new favourite vegetable

I have official changed my favourite vegetable to....wait for it...drum roll...the eggplant.

Perhaps a strange choice- but let me illustrate. An eggplant is versatile because it is not so much the taste itself that is in its power, but the way that it absorbs other flavours. I put it in my Thai-green curry, and my Indian Korma curry. It makes a mean dip flavour and is such a great staple in middle-eastern/Greek cuisine. I even had fried egg-plant at a Japanese restaurant, and it was in that same Japanese Restaurant- mopping up some sort of sweet Japanese mayo with the afore mentioned vegetable- that I realised that it was now at the top of the list.

It used to be the cucumber, but I recently discovered it was technically a fruit (isn't everything!), and besides, since there aren't any cucumbers listening I might as well admit it- eggplant still wins.

I was thinking about vegetables today because I was reading once again Jasper Fforde's "The Fourth Bear"- of which cucumbers play a central role. Jasper Fforde is my favourite author- which is a massive call, but I think he deserves it. I say this with a caution because as much as I love him, he is not every ones cup of tea. He is very weird and not quite logical-and I've had people dislike his books because they don't really make proper sense. His books can't really fit into any genre. They involve very improbably scientific situations- but they aren't Sci-Fi. They are funny, but in a weird- "Belinda thinks it's funny" kind of way. His first series "The Thursday Next" books involve a detective who is in charge of looking at Literature related crimes- inside and outside of Fiction. The "Jack Spratt" series is all about a police department that looks at Nursery Rhyme related crimes.

Jasper Fforde, before starting his Thursday Next series- had been reading up on the Crimean War, and was thinking that would be very interesting in his book- except that his book was set 100 years after the war ended. Then he thought "I'm a fiction writer, I can do anything I want" so he created a 1985 when England was still at War with Russia. From there he created this bizarre alternate universe; where Dodo birds are being genetically re sequenced, time travel is carefully monitored by the government, and some people have the ability to move into the world of fiction. Very, very weird but very, very entertaining

And the best bit was, when me and my fellow groupie friends went to his books signing some four years ago, while I was excited to meet him and perhaps to get to ask him a question (which I did), I figured that I would be disappointed. Surely someone who is so witty and weird in his writing would not be in his personality. But he was! He was funny and clever and fascinating and friendly and I asked him a question about writing which he answered brilliantly. Since then he's always been in my answer for "If you could have dinner with any three people in the world, who would you pick?"

But all this discussion of vegies is making me hunger- and I'm off to the shops, hoping at least one owner is a republican!
B

The Cross

Hi Friends,
I am not having the best of weeks. Just one of those weeks, not that different from the week before, but one where I feel overwhelmed with study, my own sin and my prayers not being answered. God has come through in so many ways this week and yet...I am so glad this week is over.

But today was also the day when me and my friend Jen got to dramatically tell the Crucifixion story. Jen was in tears during her bit- she choked up as she spoke of Pilot who had Jesus crucified purely out of fear of the crowds. And I told of the actual crucifixion. I choked up as I spoke of Jesus breathing his last: him, my God and my king, my saviour and my friend. My perfect, perfect God- and they murdered him like a criminal. It was such an amazing opportunity- and it changed me. And I looked back over my yucky, yucky week and I thought- Jesus died for me. And it was still a bad week, but it was bearable.
His grace is sufficient for me

Look, he is calling for Ellijah!

I peak forward wearily at a massive week of work to be done.

But there is one thing that I have to do that I am very excited by. Our Gospel of Mark lecturer each week gets someone from the class to "story-tell" a part of Marks gospel. And this week, myself and another girl Jen from the class will be combining to 'perform' Mark 15

This has meant that over the last month I have been memorising the crucifixion scene from Mark's perspective. This is an amazing resource to have stored in my brain- think of the benefit of evangelism! But thinking it through and working out how best to express it has thrown me head-long into the text- and I wanted to share some of my findings.

The whole scene is dripping with hidden meaning that those who participate in it (besides Jesus) are oblivious too. The mocking and the death that Jesus previously described was going to happen is seen as a failer by one and all.
Those passing by say:
"So, you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, come down from that cross and save yourself"
They don't realise that the temple he was talking about was his body- which that the moment was being destroyed
The Chief priest and teachers say:
"He saved others, but he can't even save himself"
Yet it is by staying on that cross that Jesus is able to save people from their sins.

But one aspect of the passage that puzzled me for a while is the curious word mix-up that occurs when Jesus cries out (in Aramaic) "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me".

The people around think he is calling for Elijah (whose name is similar to the word God)- and wait to see if Elijah will come and take him down (from the cross). There is this high point of expectation that Elijah will come to save him - then suddenly Jesus cries out and dies.

As I practiced saying this- I wondered at the movement. The whole of the gospel has been working its way towards the point of this death- and then there is this strange interruption that ends up leaving the death as almost an anti-climax?

But the more I thought about it- the more I realised that by including this aspect of the crucifixion- Mark helps to put us into the shoes of those who were there. They had perhaps heard Jesus, saw his miracles, and heard or believed that he could be the King they had been waiting for. They were puzzling why someone who appeared to have such power would let himself be crucified. They mock or hear others mocking and wonder- why won't he save himself?

Then- as they hear him cry- rather than understanding the meaning of the scripture he quotes (that he is at that moment experiencing the wrath of God over the worlds sin)- they assume this must be the last ditch effort to escape. He cries for Elijah- and surely if he is really God's Messiah Elijah will come and rescue him?

And then he dies. We are left, like those there, to wonder how things could have turned out like this, to assume because Elijah didn't come- that Jesus is in fact a failer.

But Mark doesn't leave it there. The curtain in the temple is torn in two-showing that his death has made a way for people to be in the presence of God. And a centurion, a Gentile- sees the way he died and realised what all those there (laughing at his failer) should have known: "Surely this man was the Son of God".

Praise God that Jesus didn't get down from that cross and save himself. Praise God that in this moment of apparent weakness and failer-that Christ was paying for our own.

I encourage whoever reads this to get out there Bible and read Mark's account. Sit with me at the foot of the cross- be there at that moment of greatest shame and purest glory.

"Oh what a mystery
Meakness and majesty
Bow down and worship
For this is your God
This is your God"

Cousin Mary and the Emphatic future negative

This weekend, my cousin Mary died. She is actually my Grandfathers Cousin, but she is alot closer to my family than that particular title would suggest. With no children of her own- my Mum and her sisters have been very dear to her, and she has been part of Sandy and my life as long as I can remember. My first memory of her was while doing a school project on my family tree- and sitting for hours and hours with Mary as she shared the details of our carefully researched family history- one of the passions of her life.

It is a sad and happy time, because Mary was a devoted Christian. She was one of the most supportive of all our relatives of Tim and my decision to go into ministry- and her kind words of affirmation stired us on in that difficult process. It is great to know that she is with Jesus.

Today in Greek we were looking at a concept of the technically named Emphatic future negative. It is a method of expression in Greek to talk about something that will never happen in the future. But the expression "it will never happen" doesn't really capture the force of it. A better way is to say "It will definately not happen" or even better "It will never ever happen". It is a concret promise of what has no possibility of ever happening.

So, with dear cousin Mary in mind- how exciting it was today to read the words of Jesus in John- that use this emphatic future negative:

"...and anyone would comes to be I will never ever drive away" John 6:37

"The one who follows me will never ever walk in darkness, but have the light of life" John 8:12

Isn't that so cool! Mary has died, but she has the light of life, and will never ever walk in darkness!

Greek exam

Good news!
Greek went fairly well for me and Tim, praise God! The highlight was going out to a Greek restaurant afterwards and eating fried halomi- yum. But in all seriousness, as frustrating as Greek has been to study for- it is amazing to think of how much we have learnt and particularly how much of the Bible we can now read. What a privilege to study and I am so thankful for your prayers!

Me and one of the girls I was translating with were really excited because we were given a passage we'd never seen before, from somewhere in the Bible, and we were able to translate it in around 2 minutes. Such a buzz. Until the other guy in our group (who had done Greek before) sat down, took a quick glance at the sentence in Greek and said "That's from John's Gospel!"
Looks like we still have a way to go. But we are getting there.
love B

Pray for Greek and Godliness

Dear Friends,
I wanted to ask for two quick prayer points. First, please pray that I study and learn well for my Greek exam this Friday. Secondly, can you pray for my godliness. I am finding it hard not to be caught up with marks. Pray that I study to learn, and that I deal with whatever marks I get with a godly attitude.
Ta,
love B

Lessons about marriage to be learned from the Gilmore girls

My sister has got me very much hooked to the Gilmore Girls. So entertain, such witty humour and some really facinating relationships. But its got me asking the question that used to bugged me during my somewhat embarrassing day-time soap phase, "How come television characters are so smart about most things but so dumb about relationships?". I have a sneaky suspicion it might have to do with the need for interesting story lines- but it bugs me non the less.

This is the typical situation in a television show:

Man A is dating the women of his dreams Lady A. Man A does something stupid or wrong but is afraid to tell Lady A and ruin the relationship and so keeps it a scret and even lies about it. Time passes. Stupid Male friend B lets the cat out of the bag and Man A and Lady A break up- and she admits she could forgive him for the mistake-but not for hiding it. Time passes. After a miserable time apart they get back together. But then Man A starts doing something that frustrates Lady A, and she decides not to say anything for the sake of the relationship. Time passes. They grow apart as Lady A doesn't really open up about things anymore due to her frustration, and Man A doesn't know what he's doing wrong. So Man A starts spending more time with Stupid Male friend B or Attractive Lady friend B- and Lady A spends all her time complaining about Man A to whoever will listen. It all blows up and they break up. Time passes...

Communication people! It makes for less exciting television shows but much more rewarding relationships!