The Book Launch: i, cover words

So, the brett “Fish” anderson written book, ‘i, church’ is coming soon and the teasers and pre-show snacks will continue to drop to hopefully give you all a taste and make you excited for what is to come…

i was hoping for an end Feb release, but in the interests of not rushing it and having the perfect launch i am now looking at the end of March and hoping this is the final date shift. Still some small mistakes to be fixed like an horrendous one you might find in this book cover pic, but otherwise we are good and ready to go.

Hopefully launch details will follow soon – definitely be a big party in Cape Town once i can figure out the venue and possibly an intimate one in Stellenbosch/Somerset West and then if i can find a not-too-crazy-expensive way to get to Durban, a launch there and ditto for Joburg/Pretoria…

i showed the cover pic last week which still has some tiny tweakage to be done, as does this back cover, but this is largely what it is going to look like, come release day.

i am super stoked for the work of my team [Heather Bailey and Linda Martindale with a class cameo performance by Kirsten Sims on Cover Design and big help from tbV with the wording] and something that was ‘pretty decent and ready to go’ even just a month ago feels like it is heading towards ‘Really great looking and feeling and can’t wait to release this on the masses.’ Which, as the author, is obviously a great feeling.

Does this look like something you’d be up to reading? Coming soon to a coffee-serving place near you…

The Book Launch: i, cover

You know Hollywood? A year and a half before a movie comes out, drops you a teaser trailer just to let you know the thing is happening but not giving you much more than a taste of what that thing is about…

Well i have been working on finishing up a book that i wrote years and years and years ago, and then rewrote years and years ago and then finally rewrote and finished three years ago just before we left to go to Americaland…

Since we returned to South Africa in August last year, just for the fun of it, i rewrote it again, or more just tightened it up and took out some stuff and added some stuff, and it has slowly been crawling its way towards self-publication since then.

But Aslan is on the move… or more excitingly [for me], ‘i, church’ is on the move and if everything comes together, then hoping for an end Feb release, but if not then more likely the end of March, as March is a bit of a busy month with Improv festivals and international family visits and cycle tours [eek!]

So as we head down the final straight, i thought it would be good to start sharing some glimpses of what there is to expect from ‘i, church’ when it finally arrives.

There is still a little bit of tweaking to be done to this, but consider this the teaser trailer for the cover of the book, with the title and possibly my name added at some stage – this stunning work of art [the robot man has stubble!!!] was done by my good friend Kirsten Sims who is an excellent artist…

So watch this space, or more importantly the spaces that will follow this space in the days and weeks to come, and i will hopefully see you at the launch or launches…

And for more of the amazing work that Kirsten does you can take a look at her page over here.

Orthodox-seat – a helpful view of God

This is an interesting clip that tbV showed me, by orthodox priest, Steve Robinson, attempting to show the difference between a Protestant and an Orthodox view of salvation. It is only 9 minutes long and really worth a quick watch:

For me, it feels like a tasty snack.

While i don’t think it gives much clarity to some of the harder questions in terms of the orthodox view [what happens to people who reject God and turn their back on Him? Or is he suggesting that everyone ‘makes it’ in the end? Because i think too many of the teachings of Jesus Himself stand in contradiction to that idea] there is one thing i really liked about this video.

The part where Steve places the God chair in front of the messed up human chair [through the stories of the woman caught in sin and the paralysed man etc] time and time again.

Mankind is messed up and broken and in need of help and that is where God shows up. When a person turns their back on God, God moves towards them and continues to pursue with love, forgiveness and life. That is the powerful heart of this video for me.

i’m not convinced that is a specifically orthodox view, because i don’t think i’m particularly orthodox and yet that is completely how i view God. Showing up in the places and situation where He is most needed. Often through the presence of other people. But also simply as Himself. Yes, we believe that God is everywhere, but all throughout Scripture we read time and time again of instances where ‘God showed up!’

So while i don’t think the clip is necessarily all-answering or even the most accurate depiction of the difference between orthodox and protestant [too many labels!], that part for me was a really good description of the incarnation – God being present.

What about you? What did you get from this video? 

[For another view of God straight out of Isaiah 55, check this out]

the most important prayer you will ever pray

i was inspired by this blog piece my friend Shae wrote over here where she spoke about a meeting she went to where the pastor proclaimed that the prayer the people would pray [to follow Jesus] was the most important prayer they would ever pray.

Shae was not convinced:

I’m not convinced. I’m open to the fact that I may be wrong in my disbelief here, but I’m still not convinced. What is the most powerful prayer you’ll ever pray? I’m not sure. Is there such a thing? I don’t know.

And as i commented on her blog about why i was convinced it was, i realised i also was convinced that it was not.

Huh? Yes, that.

You see, i think there is a whole lot of truth in that pastor’s statement that that prayer is a moment of the most extreme significance in the life of anyone who makes it. The decision and the commitment probably more than the actual prayer itself is what is the most important thing though – the prayer itself is more like a vehicle.

However, at the same time, i think that that moment of “This is the most important prayer you will ever pray.” can also be completely misleading in another way and this is an area where i feel the church has failed big time on many occasions.

In Luke 23, we see Jesus extending this invitation to His disciples:

²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

What is key in that verse is the word ‘daily’.

So while this is the most important prayer you will ever pray in your life the first time you pray it [true], it is ALSO the most important prayer you will pray in your life today. And tomorrow.

It is the prayer of invitation to Jesus to once again be King of your life for this day. It rests on the understanding that His command of ‘Love God, love people’ is going to be greater than anything you could come up with on your own and that despite the horrible mess christians have made of the name through the centuries, today there is another chance to redeem it and shine the spotlight back on Him.

The big problem of the church that i alluded to earlier was when we settled for converts over disciples.

People who would step forward and give Jesus a hug instead of those who would choose to live for Him every day. And even die for Him if it became necessary.

Jesus was never interested in short term conversion. His call was only ever for long life discipleship.

And so the most important prayer you will ever pray was the one you prayed that day when you decided to choose to follow Jesus and make a commitment to Him and His kingdom.

But the most important prayer you will ever pray is ALSO the one you pray every morning, consciously or not, when you choose to follow Jesus and His ways over your own.

Will you pray that prayer today?

The Story of My Tattoo

Following on from the previous post asking if it is okay for a follower of Jesus to get a tattoo, i thought i would share the story behind my tattoo:

THE PLACE

For the longest time i thought it was going to be tennis ball sized and on my left shoulder. Then quite recently, when i started seriously thinking about it [has been on and off thought for at least five years] i realised that the only time that would be seen would be when i wore a vest or took my shirt off. And since i don’t take my shirt off all that often, that seemed like a bit of a waste. Inspired by my wife, tbV’s tat on her left wrist, i started to think that something on my arm where people could see it [but where i could cover it up if necessary] might be a better idea.

THE DESIGN

The main reason i did not get a tattoo years ago, was that i could never figure out exactly what the design was going to be.

i mentioned in the previous post how, the time i felt i got permission from God to get a tattoo, the phrase ‘Seek first His Kingdom’ from Matthew 6.33 was in my head and so i always thought it would be that. It was very much a being marked for Jesus verse and would leave not too much doubt about the meaning of my tat.

i even started a Facebook group a while back and invited artistic friends of mine to submit ideas and drawings, but not enough people took that up and the ones that did were pretty awful [sorry, but they were!]

i spent a lot of time at different intervals searching around on Uncle Google, trying to see if he had any ideas, but mostly got ideas of things i didn’t want anywhere near my body, than things that i did.

Last year when i turned 40 i was given a bunch of money from some really great friends and i decided to put it towards my tattoo and so for a year i have had the inclination and now the opportunity and all i needed was the actual tattoo.

And then Val beat me to it while we were in Americaland, and while i was super happy for her getting a really great tattoo that she was happy with, i felt no closer to having something i was happy with.

Apart from the phrase, it was always going to be likely that i had something F.I.S.H. themed as my nickname is Fish which stands for Faithful In Serving Him and so i started to think that might be a viable option. i have always liked the Christian fish symbol, or Icthus, which represented the words for Jesus, Christ, God, Son, Saviour and so played around with ideas on that:

i had also played around with the idea of the crown of thorns [which Jesus was made to wear on the cross as a form of mocking Him claiming to be the King of the Jews] and the idea of using nails to make the fish symbol which i had seen and liked before:

Eventually, with my 41st birthday approaching, and having not gotten my tattoo done in Americaland, i decided i just needed to do something. So i put a call out on Facebook and a friend of mine suggested a friend, and found me an email address and i emailed her and arranged a meeting. i arrived for the meeting and the shop’s name was ‘The Devil’s Rejects’, which is a little bit of an off-putting name for a follower of Jesus, until i realised that as a follower of Jesus, that pretty much does qualify me as a devil’s reject and so how appropriate. i had emailed Christina some of my vague ideas and so felt pretty dumb when i sat in front of her and she asked me if i had any more and i said, “No, not really.” But as we chatted i moved from the idea of a picture of a fish to simply the letters of F.I.S.H. [one of my motivations was a conversation starter in terms of being able to share about my faith] and we spoke a bit about the kind of lettering i had imagined and even though we didn’t progress very far, by the time i left, i felt like i had some ideas to work with. My Facebook community suggested a place to hunt down some fonts and i discovered a few i thought might work and i sent her the idea for just the word F.I.S.H. and also my idea to have some crown of thorns type lines around the word as kind of edgy border. A day or two later, Christina sent me two potential designs. The first one pretty much fell into what i had asked for/suggested but was completely nothing like i was looking for. The second one in some ways was also not what i had been thinking at all, and yet it instantly dived off the page and into my heart and became exactly what i wanted. She had decided to go with the fish shape which i had given up on and i absolutely loved [and love] the design she came up with which kinda used the crown of thorns imagery i had sent her to create the shape of the fish. The writing was perfect and apart from moving the words ‘Faithful In Serving Him’ [which i had told her later i would like in cursive] from inside the fish to below the fish so it would be more legible and then lining it up with the curve of the fish, it was almost perfect. i scheduled an appointment for a few days later [to give me time to do a blood donation which i have missed for three years while in Americaland, cos, you know, African blood!] and every day i would open up the email with the design and just be in love with it all over again. i think one of my biggest fears was that i would get to the point of getting a tattoo done being okay with it and not absolutely stoked. Settling is one of my biggest fears. But having wanted this for so long and spent so long trying to figure out what i wanted and never being quite happy with what i came up with, it just felt like it would never come together. But every day, a few times a day, i would open up the email and smile and be in love all over again. I had found my tattoo. And i was 95% happy with it. Loved loved loved the whole thing, but was a little nervous about the ‘i’. i had asked for it to be a small ‘i’ as opposed to the capitals of the F, S and H. This has significant meaning as one of my favourite verses in the bible is John 3.30 where John the Baptist is talking and says about Jesus, ‘i must become smaller, He must become bigger.’ This is the main reason i always write my ‘i’s as small and always capitalise the He and Him when referring to God. Just a simple tradition i have in place to honour God and remind myself that it is all about Him.

THE FINAL TWEAK

So when i sat down in front of Christina for the tattooing to happen, i explained to her i didn’t want to derail the process or freak her out as we were about to begin [i imagine rule #1 of Getting a Tattoo done is ‘Don’t piss off your Tattoo Artist!’] but the smallness of the ‘i’ was the only thing stopping it from being absolutely perfect. She immediately suggested a solution and BOOM! Game on. i cannot recommend Christina Andrianatos enough [she is so good she even tattoos herself sometimes – and she would even improve your Spongebob Squarepants tattoo if you asked her to] – so gracious and patient when she had to deal with this clueless guy trying to figure out the tattoo – and then great in communicating back and forth until we had something i was happy with – completely gentle and reassuring throughout the whole process – answering questions and completely professional in every aspect. After all, when she was done with me, i had one of these: Exactly! How hot is THAT??? So super happy, worth the wait and can’t wait for it to be fully healed up so that i am ready to go.

[For the answer to the question, ‘Just how painful is getting a tattoo?, click here]

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 72

This is an interesting psalm: the heading in my bible says, ‘Of Solomon’ and yet verse 29 says ‘this concludes the prayers of David, son of Jesse’ so who actually wrote it?

And if you read the psalm it is talking about the king and how great he is going to be, so if Solomon did write this himself then it seems to smack of a little bit of ‘Look at me! Look how great i am!’ So i thort i would make a bit of a change and go and do some investigating and whereas it does seem there is some difference on opinion about who wrote it, this is something i found:

The psalm is clearly messianic and looks forward to the millennial reign of Christ when His kingdom of peace and righteousness wilt be established. It is one of the most wonderful psalms which heavily underlines all that we embrace in our millennial teaching.

It is best summed up in the words of Scroggie himself, who says, ‘,..so the prophecy of the father, and the prayer of the son, look onto a time still future when God’s kingdom on earth shall be perfect and universal’. 

[http://www.pwmi.org/cms/index.php?page=did-solomon-pen-psalm-72]

Which makes a lot more sense – there is also apparently a direct link to 2 Samuel 7, which as you know is ‘ David’s great messianic prophecy for kingdom rule.’ [Duh!]

Here is God’s message to David from that passage:

“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: ¹² When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He is the one who will build a house for my Name,and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. ¹⁵ But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”

Which is great and a time when i am grateful for people who read commentaries for fun and find these links because then suddenly, what i would have just read as another cool psalm, is found to be spreading out all over the bible and even into future times.

In a nutshell, this seems to be a comforting message from God that, ‘I’ve got this!’

So go and read the whole psalm and see it in this space of speaking both about a local, physical kingdom and a greater spiritual one that is to come. But let’s first be reminded of the first two verses:

¹ Endow the king with your justice, O God,
    the royal son with your righteousness.
² May he judge your people in righteousness,
    your afflicted ones with justice.

i like how straight away with this one, the focus is on God. It is ‘Your justice’ and ‘Your righteousness’ and this gives a clear reminder to us of how we are to live on this earth – am i reflecting God’s justice? am i shining His righteousness?

i know in South Africa [and echoing across the oceans in Americaland as well] right now, these questions of justice are huge – poverty and orphans and land distribution and equality. And we can see guidance in this very psalm. We are called to be beacons of God’s justice and righteousness. We should therefore be very wary of living lives that are disconnected to the plight of the poor, needy and those who have had their voices muted in our country.

So this psalm about the greatness of the king and what he will achieve [present and future] is sandwiched with focus on God and this final praise declaration is how it ends:

¹⁸ Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel,
    who alone does marvelous deeds.
¹⁹ Praise be to his glorious name forever;
    may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.

[For the rest of the Psalms and other Bible passages i have been walking through, click here]

Journey to Robben Island: Part i – an open door

i never particularly wanted to go to Robben Island. in fact, to be honest, for a time i particularly didn’t want to go to Robben Island.

Something about growing up in a not too politicized environment perhaps and then later not really seeing the point or perhaps thinking it was a ‘flavour of the month’ kind of vibe with everyone going and it being such a touristy thing.

But then somewhere along the line [maybe when i was in Americaland and we would drive past Alcatraz on the bridge and i’d think, ‘Well, i can’t go there cos i haven’t even been to Robben Island] it changed and it was ‘a thing i would like to do someday’. but it always seemed booked up and quite expensive and so never became an actually planned reality.

WHY THE CHANGE OF HEART?

On the 27th of November, tbV [the beautiful Val] and i received an email that contained this invitation:

“SACLI’s youth team, Freedom Mantle, is putting together a small event (about 20 younger leaders) on Robben Island for young Christian leaders who are passionate about coming together to transform the nation in their generation. I have attached some documents that give more details. The head of the Freedom Mantle team is Siki Dlanga, who is based in the Eastern Cape. 

The young leaders will aim to discern what God is doing in the nation at this moment, specifically around the identity of this new generation of leaders and the calling we have to achieve in our lifetime. The outcomes of the Imbizo will hopefully provide the beginning of some foundations for a deeper and broader process of discernment as we clarify how we understand the movement God is initiating in our nation at the present time. At this stage the participants are a mixture of artists, activists and academics. 

Could you join us on Robben Island from the morning of 5 December to 7 December and be part of this discernment process? December 5 is the one year anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s death and the 90th anniversary of the birth of Robert Sobukwe and we will include some symbolic spiritual acts around committing to picking up the Mantle of the older generation of Godly leaders in our nation. We will be sleeping in the prison. Most days will be facilitated prayer and conversation. On Dec 5 Archbishop Njongonkulu, who was a prisoner on the island for 10 years, will join us to lead some symbolic actions committing ourselves to picking up the leadership mantle of our elders.”

The invitation combined two things i am absolutely passionate about – God and South Africa and so it was a no brainer. The trip was fairly pricey in terms of what we’d want to spend on a weekend, but it included the expensive tickets to and back from the island and so was an easy purchase.

i imagine, in the next few days, as i try to put some words together to try and adequately give some kind of glimpse of the depth and significance of this week to me and us as a group, that i will fail dismally, but i will try. Suffice it to say it was an incredible group of people, some deep and involved conversations on a number of issues facing our country and the church, and some incredible food and profound experiences.

One of the highlights for me was getting to hang with my friend Nkosivumile Gola who has written a number of times for this blog, such as this piece on First Steps towards a Really New South Africa, to be able to eat together and have some back and forth conversations. And he was just one of the legendary young leaders that were brought together for this Indaba.

So glad i went – many reflections to come [both online and privately] and a copy of ‘Robert Sobukwe: How can Man Die Better’ by Benjamin Pogrund to dive into, as i start to increase and diversify my knowledge of the South African story thus far.

[To continue with this journey and read about my identity as an African, click here]