Cool things to find

Time to 'fess up - I really like (in a sort of oddly twisted way) - 'Dumb Ways To Die' - a safety video from Metro Trains in Melbourne that if you come to it without any introduction seems a bit odd and grisly, but then gets its message across in the last few lines of the song.  The message being that messing about on railways is a really dumb way to die.


You can watch it here on YouTube: Dumb Ways To Die

But in a flash of inspiration there is an alternative, a sort of 'positive parody'. It celebrates all the wonder, joy, enthusiasm and excitement of finding out about this wonderful wild world we live in.  I think it is pretty much pitch-perfect.  To me this also represents something I love about the journey of faith - it is an adventure, it is exciting, is sometimes joyful, sometimes confusing, sometimes bemusing.  But it should also go hand in hand with a sense of wonder and awe.

I also think the idea of taking something good (the original makes an important point and does it well) and renewing it is a nice little parable of what Christians are called to do.  I don't believe God wants us to  condemn and criticise the world, but (with God's help) to redeem, transform and renew.  We are so often accused of being 'holier than thou', or hypocritical, yet the authentic Church shares its brokenness along with its hope, its questions along with its truth, its fears along with its joys, its failures along with its love.  As such we take this world, the stuff of it, the grit and the dirt as well as the wonder and the beauty and, with God's help, we sculpt a model of redemption.

Enjoy the discoveries along the way!  There are so many cool things to find.

Comments

Sank said…
This reminds me of a concept in Judaism, Tikkun Olam, the repair of the world. The idea that creation is an ongoing process that we are partners with G-d in the work of creating. This has come to mean in more Liberal Jewish circles to mean social justice, building a just society. In the Mishna there is a quote “It is not upon you to finish the work, but you are not free to ignore it”.
Thanks for the nice thoughts this morning.
1:34 pm
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