Today I have decided to focus on what I did last weekend, to put some of what I learnt in writing before it fades from memory.
Last weekend I attended the "Men Only" bible convention at the Salvation Army's Collaroy Centre. Our guest speaker was a scotsman by the name of Chick Yuill, who brought his wife along to do the bible readings which she does from memory. The title of the camp was "Dynamic Discipleship With a little Jazz"
Chick told us that we shouldn't use the Bible as God's instruction manual but look at it the way that jazzmen look at music. Jazzmen listen to music, soak it in and then let it flow out and while the music that comes out may sound quite a bit different to what they heard the melody is still there. I the same way we are to listen to what the Bible tells us, soak it in and then let it flow out. It doesn't matter if it sound a little different as long as the message remains intact.
Another thing that Chick told us was that we shouldn't call ourselves "Christians". The word "Christian" was first used as a derogatory term. We should call ourselves "Disciples of Jesus Christ". Disciples at the time of Jesus' birth were told that they should follow their rabbi so close that they wore his dust. We should follow Jesus closely and learn everything that He has to tell us.
On the Saturday afternoon we got to choose from a set of electives and I chose to attend the "Being the Man in the Marriage" session. During this session I received a little more insight into a passage that is often abused my men. Ephesians 5:22&23 says "22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body." Two words in this passage are somewhat ambiguous and a lot of men take them to mean that they should be the boss of the household. The word "head" can refer to the "person in charge" or the "source" (as in the head of a river) and the word "submit" can be "allowing yourself to be dictated to" (as in submitting to authority) or "offering a proposal" (as in a builder submitting plans for approval). Personally, I don't want to be Sue's boss or have her submit to my authority (I doubt if she would anyway).
There was quite a bit more that happened during my weekend away but quite a bit of it can't be spoken about because "what happens at Men's Camp stays there". I didn't take any notes during the sessions so I have been relying on memory, at least until I can download the video and get it refreshed in my mind.
Richard.
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