Power is about meaning, which is not infinitely translatable. And is incommensurate across translations.

People still out here spruiking Bourdieu like power is a uniform commodity and not a function of multi-dimensional schemas of meaning.

We treat power like money — "more" "less" "flow" — as if different expressions of power are ultimately commensurate.

Happy anniversary I suppose 🎉

I have annoyingly nuanced thoughts about making lay people in ministry as ministers, while also keeping transparent the important distinction between lay and ordained (viz. Different kinds of responsibility and power). Also I am not in any designated ministry in the Uniting Church — just a dude...

I also had a couple of awkward conversations recently, with two people telling me to go back ( ... no). And someone who seemed to think I did get ordained — an ordained minister asking me "how long it's been" since I became a minister. Odd.

I suppose it just sucks because it actually hurt being in a bad system with low trust, and inadequate support. And no one takes responsibility for that. You just kind of have to move on or whatever. And I can be circumspect about it, but it also just hurt and I often regret even going into that.

I wonder how much has been lost by the church because of failures to provide good pathways into leadership and other forms of participation. Which is not fully my story because I've found other avenues into opportunities.

Part of the challenge is that I'm sure my experience has fed back into changes in the process. But I still see a lot of those failures continuing, albeit from the outside which might not be fully accurate. And there's not a lot of admitting fault, it all just trundles along and makes changes.

I think my experience of the failure of the ministry formation process has been to trust the church a lot less; as I get out and about to different parts of the church I love it more — I love the people more, I love the church at its best more.

My relationship with the church is very odd. I'm very grateful for the places I get to spend my energy in the church — and very conscious that I don't face many of the barriers to opportunities that others do.

Been in a funk the last couple of weeks... Just realised I just passed the anniversary of quitting the whole ordination thing. The long tail of grief (even over right decisions) is probably part of the story.

Really tough. 🙏

Literally Macron.

In one election cycle swept the Presidency and the parliament with a new political party. Completely reshaped the French political landscape.

In the end turned out to be kind of disappointing.

When I'm in spaces like this I sometimes think wistfully about academia ... And then I remember how bad a student and academic I am, and how the theological academy is currently crumbling (and the secular academy isn't far behind).

And, oh yeah, that's right. Going into academia ... Not the move.

I've been doing a short course on critical theory this week for fun — focusing on Axel Honneth's theory of recognition. Great group for the class, really deep discussions, everyone's bringing something different.

Do Trad Caths look at breakfast menus and just say, "ah, the Benedict option."

Think I'm just going to put this essay on my blog.

I'm re-reading an essay I wrote a year and a half ago to stimulate some work I'm doing in my day job. Sometimes (just sometimes) I cook — with massive thanks to Amy Plantinga-Pauw:

In terms of church growth there are two choices:

Counting butts on seats or weighing souls.

It's a lot easier to count butts.

The liturgy should be like Barth's description of doctrine: like a cathedral. It's an open space to explore, not a linear message to receive and digest.

I've spent the last 2 years or so not writing new prayers for worship. Relying almost entirely on authorised resources, and some fan favourites (Gail Ramshaw, Jan Richardson, etc.). It's immensely freeing. And gives back some of the agency to the people to find their own meaning.

In my tradition (Uniting Church in Australia) the homespinning of new prayers each week is connected to the disappearance of ex tempore prayer (despite our Methodist roots), and the move towards didactic worship. The liturgy is used to reinforce the singular theme of the preacher.

At the same time, the assumptions need disrupting.

"I support church engagement and pastoral care."

"Oh, so you're a minister."

"No, I'm not ordained. I've done a few things in the church, and try to bring that to our work."

*them confused*

"So what actually is pastoral care?"

*me confused*

There are lots of times when being a rev would make my life easier. People assume I'm a rev, ask if I'm a rev or pastor. Saying, "yeah." Would be a lot easier than navigating the ambiguity.

Navigating the ambiguity is necessary and important work. It's challenging to disrupt people's assumptions.

The blessing of God
whose mercies are as manna
new each morning
food for the journey.

Broke: worshipping the economy
Woke: worshipping God
Bespoke: worshipping the economic Trinity

Opposing a 3 year transition to compliance for native logging to delay any changes to environmental laws is counter-productive. It will mean more logging for even more time.

#auspol #insiders

The simple binary between project approvals and environmental protection is a very unhelpful contribution to the current policy discussion. +

Sarah Hanson-Young on the new environmental laws, about coal and gas projects: "they'll be getting fast yeses, unless we put them in the slow lane."

Is she suggesting bureaucratic inefficiency is a deliberate policy of the Greens? +