Kenneth Birch, BA

is what I can now rightfully call myself.

This feels good.

Good and Bad Churches

The church is often compared to a family. Families are all different, ranging from near-perfect, over healthy, to strained, and dysfunctional. Unfortunately, churches are not all that different. It becomes apparent when you notice a striking contrast between different ones.

Of course no church is perfect, but I have been feeling more and more at home at the wonderful Fox Valley SDA Community Church in Sydney. Recently, the pastor’s wife sadly passed away after a prolonged period of illness. But amidst mourning, the reaction from the church body was magnificent. The members took care of this family in ways unimaginable and even paid the airfares for some of her family to come visit her from overseas. Even to a visitor the warmth of this church is evident.

This is in stark contrast to other churches I know of (naming them will serve no purpose). I know of cases when pastors’ families are going through crises but the church conciously decides to be part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Virtually killing off its members seems to have become a pastime for some churches.

How come? There is probably no simple answer. Some would say we need more of your choice of love, the Holy Spirit, fellowship, passion, commitment, etc. All can be true, but neither should turn into hobby-horses.

But on the subject of love, I think a church will never be healthy if it does not like spending time together. Talk of Christian Love may even lead to all kinds of excuses as to what not to do. We have to actually LIKE each other as people. That’s what Jesus did. And He’s the only one that can help us if we’re struggling with dislike or hate. Because any solution will inevitably begin also with ourselves. Not excluding me.

Da Vinci, Harry Potter, and Muhammad

Some people have nothing better to do with their lives then be upset about others, and seemingly have a very hard time distinguishing what is important or not. (So do I, of course

Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code need no further introduction. It’s an entertaining book, but if it hadn’t been for The Catholic Church’s vehement opposition, we would probably have never heard about it. I have even heard a fairly neutral commentator refer to the book as “an attack on the church”. No, it’s not. It’s a novel. End of story.

The same applies to Harry Potter. Sure, I won’t teach my kids magic if I ever have any. And HP is not exactly the Bible. But come on, people, it’s not any worse than most other books—so of course, if you don’t read any other books, please, by all means, be offended. Just don’t make such a fuss about it to everyone else.

Recently, one of Denmark’s largest newspapers published a series of satirical drawings of Muhammad (peace be upon him). In hindsight, probably not a smart thing to do. But suddenly Muslims worldwide turned their attention to Denmark and made a case out of it with idiotically high proportions. Read BBC or Al Jazeera’s coverage. Again, if you don’t agree, laugh, shrug it off, and move on.

My message to all these people is short: Relax—it’s fiction. Get over it.