Set Apart In Christ

I was in the car today and happened to have one of "my" channels on because no one else was with me. You know what I mean. Whenever my wife and/or kids are in the car these are the channels I'm not allowed to listen to because they don't play "good" music... at least in their opinion. I have two such stations that normally play a selection of classical, operatic and jazz (the latter being the option I'm normally hoping for). Today there was an interview with Australian Opera conductor, Antony Walker . Who's he? Well, to be honest I  don't really know. I've never heard of him before, and I wasn't really listening attentively, but I did pick up one comment that I found really interesting. Talking about the role of the conductor he said this As an opera conductor I have two main tasks; one is to help the singers sing as well as they possibly can, and two, to be the composer’s advocate, and I take that role very seriously. Who knew that cond...

Some more footage from High Councils of the past. No sound on these, but in the first clip you will see inside the High Council of 1954. In the second  General-elect Wilfred Kitching exits to great those waiting, shortly after the retiring General Albert Orsborn greets the new General. Clip 1 Clip 2 Enjoy! Adam

A step back in time to when Evangeline Booth was elected General of The Salvation Army. Fascinating stuff.

1954 High Council Looking at the latest update  from the High Council is mind boggling. The stats on how many people are accessing information about this important event are incredible. Keep in mind that the High Council has only been going for just on a week now, and yet there are thousands of people all over the world engaged in online discussions about it. 

Arguably Gregory of Nyssa's most famous contribution to Christian theology, next to his involvement with the other Cappadocian Fathers in the solidification of the doctrine of the Trinity, is his famous "fish-hook" theory of the atonement. It goes a little something like this... Humanity is enslaved to sin and the devil by their own free choice to turn away from the Good (i.e. God) and towards evil. God could free humanity arbitrarily, but this would deny his own justice, since it was the free choice of humanity to be enslaved. The slave-master (even if it is the devil) must receive a payment for the slave.  What would he accept in exchange for the thing which he held but something... higher and better in the way of ransom. (Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism , NPNF 5, 493) .

Tomorrow sees the commencement of the 17th High Council of The Salvation Army to elect the 19th General of The Salvation Army. For those unaware there is only ever one active General in The Salvation Army, and technically (since General John Gowans) Generals are the only officers to have an (R) signifying "retired" after their name. Further, this is the only place within the Army where voting is permitted. Gowans believed that officership was for life. Generals are elected for a period of five years, but are not permitted to go past the age of 68. Gowans and Larsson were two whose terms were shorter than the 5 year period due to their age. It is possible at the end of their 5 year term for the General to be extended, if enough support is given from Commissioners throughout the world. This occurred for General Eva Burrows back in the early nineties; her term being extended by 2 years.

Happy New Year! It has been some time since my last post as I've been enjoying some time off with the family. I pray that 2011 will be a great year for you and your family and that the Lord will bless you and be blessed by you. Issues relating to social justice have, in recent years, received a considerable amount of attention, and rightly so. We should all be concerned about issues of equality, fairness, justice and righteousness in our world, and the biggest shift in this regard is the accessibility that we each have to the solutions. Simple things, like the items we purchase at the supermarket can and do make a difference to real people living in unjust situations. I thank God for that. One thing that may be of interest, though, is that issues of what I prefer to call "social sanctification" have always been on the minds of Christians (and indeed the people of Israel in the Old Testament). Admittedly, they haven't always known how  to address the issues at hand...