helpful

Preaching

I've also just finished listening to a lecture about preaching by Keller. He notes that there are 3 components to preaching. Content/Knowledge, Art/technique/rhetorical skill and life/virtue (of the speaker). Within each component, he specifies what needs to be done: The knowledge component needs to proclaim Christ not just biblical principles (using his and Carson's 'inter-canonical themes' to show how Christ is the fulfilment of that theme), the rhetorical component needs to make Jesus' achievement real, not just clear, to change the listener's heart 'on the spot' (stories, etc). And the message needs to lead the listener to adore Jesus while he speaks and the effect of the message needs to be seen the speaker's life.

So, he says, proclaim Christ and apply to life/how they need to change >> show that faith in Christ is required for change rather than just trying harder (moralism) >> make it REAL not just clear.

A note in passing- in his own mind Keller is clear that we all have our own idols to which we surrender to (or 'idols of the heart'), instead of worshipping the true God seen in Jesus. So Keller seeks to present Jesus and his substitution on our behalf so adoringly that our hearts are moved to grasp him, rather than the idol. It's when we do this that we grow and move on in our spirituality.

A ramification of this view is that we need to know our culture intimately to not only know its major idols, but to know how to effectively contextualise the message so that it can move hearts.

Life in Jesus

I've been getting right into Tim Keller's 'Centre Church' book and it's certainly re-kindled the aim for ministry; a certain purposefulness. What I mean by this is that it's easy to get caught in ideas and scholarship, progressive thought and (maybe) 'liberal theology' and begin to get a little hazy on the goal, a bit overwhelmed by conflicting and sometimes complex ideas or maybe a bit over enthused with new and significant understandings. Keller certainly (and a lot of reformed 'movers') maintain the purpose for which they write/speak/work (ie. knowing Jesus and making Him known) and have a certain momentum and trajectory in what they do. I've been reminded that life is in Jesus and people are rejuvenated, enliven, 'born again' (!), when they see truth in Him. That's the purpose of the ministry!

Golf lessons

I've just concluded my 5x 30mins golf lessons @ Cypress Lakes Golf Club.  James, my teacher, was great and I learnt a lot!

Things I learnt and don't want to forget:

Lessons #1 & #2:

• Ensure that my shoulders and feet are square to target. I had a tendency to have open shoulders.
• Roll the wrists when contacting the ball, in order to close the face and avoid a fade.
• Setup: Driving/wood: ball on inside of left ankle. Irons: Ball left of centre stance.
• Don't try to hit the ball too hard!
• 2 drills: complete a half swing with an iron just focusing on closing the face with the hands. Try to achieve a slight hook on the ball. The other drill: assume the position that the body assumes during ball strike: open shoulders, head over ball, right knee rotated inwards. Stay in this position and strike ball with a small swing. 

Lesson #3: 

• Swing first with the body and let the (relaxed!) arms lag behind. This means having the shoulders lead the swing, and arms coming second. James would talk about setting up carefully, and then just turning the body (letting the relaxed arms follow) ensuring that his body (shoulders) would open and so face the target. 
• Continue to focus on rolling hands over

Lessons #4 & #5:

• On the course: don't worry about technical stuff: leave that for the driving range! Just focus on aim and rhythm. For me, rhythm is really important! When I get tired I lose rhythm: I rush my back swing, don't go back far enough and I'm into my actually forward swing too early. To ensure rhythm use the practise swings to achieve it. 'Backswing', 'Forward swing'; 'Backswing', 'Forward swing': say it slowly. Or count 'one' (back), 'two' (forward). Then just replicate it for that actual swing. ALSO, during a game, setup and just before swinging, visualise the shot before playing it. 
• Putting: eyes directly over the ball (you need to be closer than you think). Aim line on ball to when you are aiming (eg. 2 inches right of hole) and line it up with the line on the putter.
• Chipping: 2 different swings: the normal (obviously much softer) swing (ie. shoulder through the ball, relaxed arms, face target) for lower trajectory shot with greater roll. OR achieve a sharp angle with the wrists and break when contacting the ball for greater loft and spin.
• Backswing: the backswing on an iron/driver shot stops when you can no longer keep your left arm straight.

NB. What was learnt during lesson 3 were most key!