A few weeks ago Judith had a dream as well as some insights about the dream that are worth sharing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I was waking this morning, I was coming out of a dream which, although strangely mixed in its images, seemed to contain a depth of meaning.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the dream, Colin and I were visiting a certain place and seeking to minister together there. There seemed to be some confusion around what was expected of us but we also were puzzled as to how to move forward and who was to do what. The man we were working with made an attempt to focus our time together with three steps\/ideas\/actions in order to move forward. The ideas didn\u2019t seem practical to Colin but I was at least able to see where this leader was coming from. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then my perspective changed and I was looking in on a scene as the three of us chatted in an outdoor setting. The man\u2019s attention was drawn to a tree just behind us. As I turned and looked at the tree, it was tall and healthy, laden with fresh gum leaves, and absolutely jam-packed with koalas. They were all young healthy males with brightly-coloured youthful coats and no sign of disease. I turned to the man we were working with and said, \u201cThey are all males. It\u2019s the new breeding stock. We need to start again with new breeding stock to get rid of the diseases transmitted by in-breeding.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\nwas the end of my dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dream\nmade sense to me as we live in Redland City, once known for its vibrant,\nhealthy koala population. You would never see a tree full of young male koalas\nas they are territorial and fiercely guard their territory. However I\nimmediately sensed the meaning of the dream. Just near our front door we have a\nnumber of tall, majestic gum trees which koalas like and every year a couple of\nkoalas are active in these trees. We love to have them around, to see one\nscampering across a driveway or climbing a tree or sleeping in a fork way up in\nthe branches. But to us they are cute, interesting, easily photographed, topics\nof conversation. My neighbour who has lived her whole life in the area, sees\nand understands much more. She\u2019ll say, \u201cThere\u2019s a young koala running around.\nIt\u2019s a male but it\u2019s diseased.\u201d This means we should report it to authorities\nbecause it will continue to spread disease and contribute to the demise of this\nnow endangered species, severely impacted by disease from loss of habitat, loss\nof numbers and inbreeding. Foolishly, we balk at reporting it, fearing it might\nbe put down, and to us it\u2019s still cute and brings some pleasure and a sense of\ndoing our part by not cutting our trees down. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we are\nwrong. The koalas will disappear from our city if drastic action is not taken.\nWe need new breeding stock uncontaminated by the genetic inheritance of the\nlast 50 years. The current line is doomed to annihilation. And the new breeding\nstock needs an open fresh environment in which to freely move, grow, feed and\nreproduce. What has been will not suffice! \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what does\nthis have to do with discipleship?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\nNeed New Breading Stock<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We are\nlargely bred into the practices of late modernity which have mostly been\ninadequate in producing a next generation of young healthy reproducing\ndisciples of Jesus. New breeding stock is needed, fresh, passionate, untainted\nby the reduced church environment and practice of the 20th<\/sup> century.\nWe need to breed the disease of discipleship complacency out of the existing\nchurch by embracing and forming new disciples beyond the enculturation\nprocesses of the institutional church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are we game\nenough to do it? What are we willing to sacrifice? How strongly are we dictated\nto by our current levels of comfort, wealth and conformity to culture?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A few weeks ago Judith had a dream as well as some insights about the dream that are worth sharing. As I was waking this morning, I was coming out of a dream which, although strangely mixed in its images, seemed to contain a depth of meaning. In the dream, Colin and I were visiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n