Chloe Pryor: Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and the F-word that comes to mind...

Before you get your knickers in a twist, no I am not writing an article about what you think I am...Just needed your attention. Thanks.

It was your usual Friday afternoon; I was standing in line at the supermarket buying treats for the weekend. Of course, I had chosen the line where there was a toddler throwing a high pitched temper tantrum. Screaming, yelling, throwing. Ugh. So, instead of being wise and changing lanes, I decided to avoid the unnerving embarrassing stare from the mother and stick it out.

And actually, the latest Women’s Day had caught my eye. More importantly than drowning out the horrendous noise, it was imperative that I knew the latest on Tom and Katie’s divorce. After all, it made headlines in our evening news, it was that important. Ha. So I read the article about the millions that is going down the drain in this divorce and the speculations of what Tom could have possibly done. It was all very epic and at the same time it was all very depressing. Confession: I bought the magazine.

After reading the whole article about five times I got thinking about forgiveness. I don’t know why forgiveness popped into my head, but for some reason I felt very sad. I started thinking (as if I knew them myself...) Could Tom and Katie forgive each other? Do they really need to go through what will only be immense pain and money? And that little girl? It all seemed so catastrophic. Disastrous. Okay, it is likely that I got caught in the hype, but maybe this pain could have been avoided if someone had embraced forgiveness and reconciliation? I try to be optimistic.

These words are big and scary. I don’t know a whole lot about these words. Forgiveness scares me. I think sometimes I try to be mature and understand forgiveness, but often this concept only makes it as a thought in my life. Sometimes it is just too hard.

When I think about forgiveness I ultimately think about Jesus

I think about an innocent man taking the weight of my wrongs and wiping it clean. I think about a man who loves me so much that he doesn’t look at my life counting up the wrongs but rather has shown me how those wrongs can teach, grow and heal me, all because of his forgiveness.

So then I take this concept of forgiveness and place it in my world. And it seems lost. I look around at the hurt and chaos and feel nauseous. Do people even forgive each other any more? Can we forgive? Will we ever ‘turn the other check’? Again, I’m optimistic.

I want to experience and know this forgiveness in my day to day life and in my relationships because I have seen the fruit that forgiving can produce. Unfortunately it seems so unattainable. It seems like an ideal that will never quite hit planet earth. It seems like an abstract concept that goes against every bone in my body, especially when someone has seriously wronged me. It seems like something I will never achieve.

And then I remember; the forgiveness that Jesus has shown me is perfect, I am not.

I realise that I will never ‘forgive and forget’ like Jesus, but I can only hope to do my best.

I want to learn to forgive well

Like many, I have watched people living in un-forgiveness.

It appears that bitterness seeps into every corner of their lives, the hurt hardens them. They lose touch of reality. In this state, we can lose touch of our humanness.
However, amongst the hurt and pain of being fallen, being human means we do have choice. We do have the choice to forgive and move forward.

Personally, I don’t want my hands to be tied by un-forgiveness. I don’t want to live in bitterness.

Someone once told me “Un-forgiveness is like living in a jail cell, only, your holding the key”. I can just picture it. I imagine sitting in there, cold, bruised, and banging against the walls yelling for someone to let me out. All the while, I’m holding the key... It’s that moment of realising, duh, I can let myself out.

To forgive, it starts with a choice. A commitment to forgiving. And then we need to ask Jesus to give us the strength on a daily basis to continue forgiving that person, because whether big or small, it’s going to be hard. It was painful (literally) for Jesus to forgive us, but the pain has made it worth it. And it will for us.

But the hope is this, we couldn’t ask for a better example, he’s the ultimate forgiver. He will show us how, everyday, through his own mercy and love.
It’s a challenge. It’s mighty hard. But personally, I don’t want to live life feeling like I’m trapped in a Jail cell when I could do something to get out.

I know I’m being idyllic, but one day I hope this “f word” can change the headlines in our news.

reasoning with spirituality

A friend of mine sent me this video a few months back and I've been waiting to stick it on the blog for some discussion. When you hear about spirituality talked about in these terms you can often feel rattled by the way in which our experiences are framed and placed into a different narrative.

Rather than simply labelling this as unsettling or deceptive, in order for us to be able to speak into the wider conversations that society is having about issues central to us as Christians we have to be able to engage well with stuff like this. It is uncomfortable, but if what we believe is true, then it is true in spite of views like this.

So as you watch it, think about what we mean by transcendence, about community and about "evolutionary truths". Is religion about losing ourselves? Simply just a means to give purpose? And what do we think about these assumptions around evolution, culture and the enlightenment? How is he using this rhetoric? And how do you feel when you hear this stuff?

Ben Wilson: The Problem With Christian Music

I discovered Life FM when I was fifteen. My Christian journey was starting to cement itself in the Jesus sub-culture; bible-reading, prayer and finally music. I had joined the God squad. It was exciting times - I did the Parachute thing and my brain became a neurological Ipod of worship songs and Christian rock.

Teenage enthusiasm doesn't stay long. The Christian music scene was getting dreary. My vigour for the 'Mumsdollars' and 'Hillsongs' declined as I realised Christian music can actually be quite crap. I started listening to The Rock and sure enough found the same to be true - but this was a different galaxy. The lyrics were raunchy, the emotions were raw and the suffering was real. We say we're to be honest and genuine as Christians. Our music should reflect this, so why are we still paraphrasing King David?

We're missing a crucial opportunity to connect with the world. Sometimes I look at the songs Christian (especially worship) bands write - and I've seen them a thousand times before. They use the same cliches, the same jargon we've whispered to God for thousands of years. Worship is an expression of love to God, but it seems we've limited what worship is allowed to be.

Something that continues to perplex me - is why we don't sing about sex. Ancient Greek writers were into it like swimwear and Songs of Solomon makes no apologies. Surely the most intimate act a person can engage in - created by God for a beautiful purpose deserves to be celebrated in another beautiful form of expression. It doesn't have to be rude, it doesn't have to be explicit. I've seen it done before. Why aren't we getting creative with our lyrics? Why aren't we exploring new and hard territory? I long for the day when Christians create their own Shit Town or Lightning Crashes.



Singing of a woman dying in child birth, her lost dreams, the baby's future. Doesn't that already honour God? Is that not close to His heart? There are so many harsh realities in life, so many things that aren't fair. So why don't we sing? Why does the secular scene do it so much better than us?

Perhaps it's because we try provide resolution when there isn't always. We give hope, saying God will pull through, that He's sovereign. God's truth is comforting, but it shouldn't be the way we tackle everything. Not every situation brings closure, nor should we. Sometimes grief and suffering need to be embraced, our emotions explored and life's problems acknowledged:



The inequity on this planet is overwhelming. In a perfect world there would be no poverty, women wouldn't need to sell their bodies, fathers wouldn't need to steal, orphanages wouldn't need to exist. In a perfect world I would be able to sing about these, but I can't, so I write instead.

The keyword in this article has been 'we'. I use it loosely as I'm not even a musician. Harping on about Christian music fells unfair when there's scarcely a thing I can do about it - but it's not just music. Our lives should reflect this kind of transparency and consideration to life and injustice - showing a people who engage with the crappy times.

I'm being mean - there are great Christian artists out there who already do this. Quite often it's ersatz, but when it's done right; the cadence is irresistible: