In Via Christian community in Somerset West - a beautiful place and people

This morning @TheoGeyser spoke on John 1.48-51 at the first In Via service at In the Vineyard on the R44 between Somerset West and Stellenbosch. Such a beautiful place of worship and community.

@Lukiedebeer led us in the most amazing worship.

Deeply moving words, liturgy, imagery and prayer. Beautiful! See the following link for details http://www.invia.org.za/m/

Why I am a pastor scholar

“[Theology] has often overshot its goal and degenerated into repeating the same empty phrases…. Sometimes it seemed to proceed from the idea that it could answer all questions and resolve all issues. It has often been lacking in modesty, tenderness, and simplicity. This was all the worse inasmuch as theology has to do with the deepest problems and comes into contact with the most delicate stirrings of the human heart. More than any other science, it has to take to heart the admonition ‘not to think of itself more highly than it ought’ (cf. Rom. 12:3). It is better honestly to admit that a thing is not clear than to make a wild guess.”

—
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), p. 605.

This is why I am a 'pastor scholar' - my desire is to think deeply about faith and the world in order to serve, not to merely 'tell' or 'teach'.

The value of education?

I came across this great quote today.

Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.

— G. K. Chesterton

I used to tell my students the following (in jest of course!)

In my Bachelor's Degree I came to learn a little bit about quite a lot. Then in my Honours degree I read a little bit more about a little bit less. I my Masters degree I came to know quite a lot about very little… And, in my Doctoral studies I got to know everything about nothing!

Of course a good education is a worthy thing! But, the purpose of education is to gain knowledge, skills and values that can serve humanity. Some tend to think that the purpose of education is to become 'important', or to distinguish themselves from others.

Learn in order to serve. And, serve in order to learn. It makes your education much more useful to society. What do you think?

Leica 365 - a Photo a day with my Leica M8 camera

I love my Leica M8 camera! It has such a tactile photographic experience - all manual! It reminds me a bit of famous John's Pizzeria in New York (I ate at the Times Square pizzeria with my friend Steve Johnstone from Unashamedly Ethical recently. John's Pizzeria does traditional pizza pies - no slices, no delivery, no credit cards! It was awesome Pizza!)

My M8 feels a bit like that! No autofocus, a fixed focal length, not even a built in flash on the camera. But boy, oh boy, the images that come from the camera are so beautiful! And Incan't take much credit for the photos. There is something about the Leica design, the Kodak sensor and that German glass that makes it beautiful. I love the feeling of raising the camera to my eye, framing the shot, setting the aperture, the ISO and shutter speed and then lining up the two images in the rangefinder until I get perfect focus!

In order to improve my photography I have decided to take a photo a day with this camera and this lens. You can follow those posts on my tumblr blog at http://digitaldion.tumblr.com

Update on Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 8:25PM by Dr Dion Forster

I have added a gallery to my blog to upload the photos for my Leica 365 project.  I upload most of my photos directly to my Tumblr account.  So please do check that for the most up to date photos.  However, the gallery below will also be updated.

I'd love to hear your feedback, advice and any other feedback you may have!

Cleaning dirt from the sensor of a Leica M8

I am loving my Leica! It goes everywhere with me (just in case I spot something that I can photograph).

Recently I noticed that I had a few small blemishes, and what looked like a hair, on all of my photographs. Take a look at the top left corner of this image that I took of Table Mountain in Cape Town from Robben Island (the blemishes are particularly visible when I have my Color Skopar lens on a high F stop - this photo was taken on F22).

I removed the lens and cleaned it just in case the dirt was on the lens itself. However, that made no difference. So after a little bit of investigation online I discovered that the M series cameras are prone to getting dirt on the sensor when not treated carefully. If you remove the lens in a dusty or dirty environment it is quite easy to get dirt onto the sensor.

Personally I never open my camera in a windy or dusty environment, and if I remove the lens I always put the lens cover on both ends of the lens and on the camera.

So, here's how I CAREFULLY cleaned the dirt off my Leica sensor (WARNING! This is a very delicate procedure and you do it at your own risk! The sensor is a precision piece of kit and is extremely fragile and easy to damage).

1. Purchase dust removal spray from your camera shop. Note, it should be just plain air - Don't use anything that has a solvent in it! It is also important that you test the can to ensure that only room temperature air comes out when you spray it (if the air is moist, or too cold it will leave droplets on the sensor that will damage it).

2. Remove the lens from your camera in a dust free environment. Please the lens caps on the end of your lens to protect it.

3. Press the Menu button on your Leica and scroll down to the Menu item 'Sensor cleaning'.

4. Press the 'Set' button and you will be asked if you want to inspect the sensor. Select 'Yes'.

5. If your battery has sufficient charge in it (I would suggest at least 60% charge) you will be presented with a Menu screen that reads: 'Press Release Button. After inspection switch off camera'. If your battery is not full enough the camera will not allow you to inspect the sensor and you will have to charge the battery first.

6. Next press the shutter button as if you're taking a photograph. The shutter will now open revealing the M8's sensor. Whatever you do, don't allow anything to touch the sensor!!! You have been warned! Next take your dust removal spray and hold it a good distance away from the camera (in my case I held it about 50cm away from the camera). Then gently spray room temperature air onto the sensor to remove any dust or residue from the sensor. Remember, you're doing this at your own risk! I my case I could see the hair on the sensor and as I sprayed it with the air the hair and some dust particles were removed from the sensor.

Warning! I discovered that you MUST NOT shake the aerosol can or even move it too quickly before or during the spraying process. Since it contains compressed air it gets extremely cold if you shake or move it too vigorously. That could be disastrous! It could leave droplets on your sensor. I also first sprayed the air onto my hand to feel that it was not too cold and make sure that any moisture was sprayed away before I sprayed into the camera body.

7. Having removed the grit from the sensor simply switch the camera off and you will hear the shutter closing. Next replace your lens. I then took some test photographs using a high aperture (F22) setting. It is best if the photograph is of something with a consistent texture and a light color (I actually photographed the back of a beige door). This will allow you to see any blemishes that remain on the image. I was able to see that small hair and the majority of the dust particles on my sensor had been cleaned with the air!

So, that's how I cleaned my sensor on my Leica M8 - now I can continue to take lovely photographs without having to photoshop out blemishes! Once again, this is a very delicate procedure that you do at your own risk! However, if you do have success (or failure!) please drop me a line and let me know how it goes!

A true blessing for a truthful life

This is a deeply challenging blessing from the Franciscan tradition. It is 'meaty' enough to sustain one along life's daily journey:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, and starvation, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

— Franciscan Blessing

May God bless you...

Making memories ice-cream at Strand beach (Leica M8, 50mm Voigtlander Color Skopar)

First we have Liam eating his ice-cream - that's the way it should be eaten! Face full of chocolate!

Next it is my beautiful wife Megan and our special little girl Courtney. If you look carefully you can see that Megan is standing on her 'tip-toes' to try and look taller than Courts! Ha ha! Beautiful!

Last up is Courts and I. Megan took this photograph - she is so great with the rangefinder focus on the Leica M8.

I just love the way this camera and lens give 'warm' colours. The bokeh in the background is fantastic when compared to the sharpness of the in focus scenes. Beautiful. Taking pictures with this camera is fun! Tweaking the aperture, changing the shutter speed and ISO to see how each shot differs. I love it! I have noticed a 'hair' on my pictures (top left corner when shooting at higher F stops). I need to get the camera cleaned.

The start of a love affair - Leica M8

Love is a wonderful thing! Of course this is not truly a love affair, but I think it comes pretty close!

On Thursday the 14th of July 2011 a package arrived from Gauteng Johannesburg.  It had been sent by a Dutch Reformed Pastor.  The package contained a Leica M8 digital camera and a Voigtlander 50mm Color Skopar lens. I was so excited to open the package! And, my excitement was surpassed with joy with what I found.  My very own Leica rangefinder camera! My camera came with the hand grip base plate. It is such a beauty! See the image below.

The Leica camera is a thing of great beauty.  It is carefuly hand crafted from a solid piece of metal.  Unlike the Nikons, Canons and Sony cameras it has no automatic functions. Yet, it is one of the most sought after cameras in the world.

I had to sell my brand new Apple Macbook Air, a secondhand Sony Vaio laptop and my almost new Leica D Lux 5 digital camera (with electronic viewfinder and leather case) to fund the purchase.  It was worth every cent!

The M8 makes you want to take photographs.  It is heavy in your hand and feels absolutely solid.  The rangefinder is amazingly simple to operate. And, once you get the hang of aperture and shutter speed you can take beautiful pictures.  The Leica has a very distinctive picture style - the Voigtlander 50mm Color Skopar lens just adds to that refinded beauty.  The pictures are full of colour, super sharp and have a certain kind of warmth to them.  It is strange to try and explain it.  Take a look at this photograph of my son, Liam, as an example.

Here is a picture of my daughter Courtney and I.

The rangefinder takes a little getting used to.  Unlike a DSLR camera one looks through the viewfinder and there are 2 differences.  First, what you see in the viewfinder is not what you see through the lens.  There are framing lines (related to your lens) that help you to frame your shot.  However, you can see what is outside of your frame as well.  That helps to see what is coming into your shot in case you need to adjust your framing for a better picture.  Secondly, the rangefinder has a small 'patch' in the center of the picuture as you adjust the focus on the lens two pictures in that patch need to line up perfectly in order for the picture to be in focus.  This makes it super fast for focusing on any object within your depth of field.  Simply focuss on a distant object to have that in focus and foreground out of focuss, or focuss on a closer object to have that in focus and the background out of focus.  It is super accurate, and once you get the hang of it you can get quite quick at focussing the camera just by judging how far your subject is from the lens and 'pre focusing' the camera as you lift it to your eye.  

Of course manual focus does mean that the quality of your image is dependent on your skill!  I have a Nikon D50 which can take lovely pictures without any effort. Just point it in the direction of the object you want to film and the camera does the rest.  While that can be quick it does take some of the fun out of photography.  Plus, if the camera decides to focus on the wrong point you have to do some 'trickery' to get your focal point corrected within the frame.

Lastly, the Leica is just so beautifullly made.  It is solid, heavy and has a feeling of absolute quality. A classic style icon - just see how lovely that 'Red Dot' looks!  This photo was taken using my iPhone 4 camera and adjusted using instagram's 'tilt shift' function to higlight the Leica logo.

This is a classic camera.  It doesn't do video.  It can shoot in JPG and Raw (DNG) format. My 11 year old daughter and wife have already mastered some of the manual controls.

Does anyone else out there have a Leica camera?  I know there are quite a few film camears, but how about anyone with an M8 or M9? I'd love to hear from you and hear about your experiences, tips and tricks, and any advice you may have for shooting with the M8 and carng for it.

Evangelism, discipleship and the Kingdom of God

What good is 'good news' that never comes to pass? I have heard many wonderful sermons about God's Kingdom. Sadly I have encountered far fewer 'good news' communities and Churches - groups of disciples who seek to be agents of God's good news. I am convinced that our mission is to do what Jesus himself came to do. Christians are called to establish God's Kingdom of loving and transforming grace in tangible and practical ways.

The following quote (via @invisibleforeigner) resonates strongly with me:

“If the Good News is the presence of the kingdom of God, then ‘evangelism’ is much more than ‘saving souls.’ Evangelism means sharing and showing to the world how to realistically, faithfully, and creatively respond to the real needs of the world laboring under ongoing rebellion. Evangelism means living according to the ways of the kingdom of God and inviting others to join us on the way. Evangelism is not selling Jesus, but showing Jesus; evangelism is not mere telling about Christ, but about being Christ.”

— Lee Camp, Mere Discipleship

Of course there are many wonderful Christian communities and groups that are visible expressions of God's 'good news'. I want to be part of such a community!

Francis Chan and Rob Bell: A good review of Francis Chan's book 'Erasing Hell'

In April I reposted a review of Rob Bell's book 'Love Wins' (follow the previous link to read that post).

Today I would like to repost a great review by invisibleforeigner of Francis Chan's book 'Erasing Hell'.

Last week I participated in a radio interview on this topic - there were three perspectives, a conservative, a moderate and my own. In my view Rob Bell does make some mistakes in his reasoning and presentation. However, the wonderful challenge that he raises must not be discounted! He reminds us that God cares about this world. He reminds us that our lives have consequences today (not just in the afterlife). He reminds Christians that we are called to be part of God's transforming, healing, and renewing mission for the earth and all that lives on it and in it.

Here is invisibleforeigner's book review of Francis Chan's book which seeks to present an alternative to Rob Bell's 'Love Wins'.

Francis Chan’s new book, Erasing Hell, written with Preston Sprinkle, clearly aims to respond to and refute Rob Bell’s Love Wins. While Erasing Hell is written in Chan’s annoying conversational style, which made it hard to take seriously, I was glad to see the extensive use of Bible passages, as well as a more in-depth look at the historical context of first-century Israel. Whereas Rob Bell seemed determined to avoid any definitive statements about hell or universalism, Francis Chan is not afraid to say what he thinks the Bible says about hell. He also sees fit to take unnecessary digs at more traditional, liturgically-heavy denominations: “If hell is some primitive myth left over from conservative tradition, then let’s set it on that dusty shelf next to other traditional beliefs that have no basis in Scripture” (16). This was, of course, an early signal that Chan’s understanding of hell ultimately comes down to how he reads the Bible.

While I admire his willingness to reconsider the doctrine of hell, Chan basically reaffirms the traditional understanding: it will be painful, most likely everyone who isn’t Christian will be there, and the punishment will not be corrective but retributive. The only thing he remains unsure about, in the end, is whether or not hell will be eternal. “While I lean heavily on the side that says it is everlasting, I am not ready to claim that with complete certainty” (86).

As I read the book, I realized that there were two main questions that any book on theology and doctrine should probably attempt to address. First, what does the Bible say about hell? Chan and his coauthor do an admirable job of trying to work through the scriptures. However, they don’t really address the issue that I think is deeper, and frankly, more interesting: Is the Bible the final word on this issue? The second question is far harder to answer, particularly if you are Protestant and like to emphasize sola scriptura. Chan will obviously answer yes, demonstrated by his emphasis on the Bible, and in particular on the words of Jesus.

If Chan is right, and if his reading of the Bible really is correct, there really isn’t much wiggle room. Ultimately, the answer for unanswerable doctrinal issues, such hell, becomes: first, God reveals himself in the Bible, and, second, “God has the right to do WHATEVER he pleases” (18). The lack of scriptural evidence for second chances for salvation after death, in particular, means that we have to at least provisionally conclude that those second chances don’t exist. Whatever injustice we see in this scheme of salvation cannot be answered on this earth, Chan says, because “It’s incredibly arrogant to pick and choose which incomprehensible truths we embrace” (136).

I found this answer, in the end, unsatisfying. God created us with reason and with intelligence, he gave us the Bible and tradition and human institutions, however flawed they may be, to struggle over critical issues. While ultimately we will probably say, as Job did, that we spoke of things too wonderful to understand, we should still speak of them. It’s not arrogant to find the traditional understanding of hell repugnant, and Chan’s ultimate dismissal of those who still find the Bible’s answer unsatisfying was disappointing. Simply because God is too big to grasp doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on either Rob Bell's book 'Love Wins', or Francis Chan's book 'Erasing Hell'.

Be a servant, and be free.

In recent months I have become quite fond of tumblr - of course it is the people that one follows that make tumblr so worthwhile. One of the people whose posts most resonate with my own theology and spirituality is invisibleforeigner. I find such depth, encouragement and challenges in the posts from this person.

Today invisibleforeigner posted the following deeply challenging quote:

Be both a servant, and free: a servant in that you are subject to God, but free in that you are not enslaved to anything – either to empty praise or to any of the passions. Release your soul from the bonds of sin; abide in liberty, for Christ has liberated you; acquire the freedom of the New World during this temporal life of yours. Do not be enslaved to love of money or to the praise resulting from pleasing people.

Do not lay down a law for yourself, otherwise you may become enslaved to these laws of yours. Be a free person, one who is in a position to do what he likes. Do not become like those who have their own law, and are unable to turn aside from it, either out of fear in their own minds, or because of the wish to please others; in this way they have enslaved themselves to the coercion of their law, with their necks yoked to their own law, seeing that they have decreed for themselves their own special law – just when Christ had released them from the yoke of the Law!

Do not make hard and fast decisions over anything in the future, for you are a created being and your will is subject to changes. Decide in whatever matters you have to reach a decision, but without fixing in your mind that you will not be moved to other things. For it is not by small changes in what you eat that your faithfulness is altered: your service to the Lord of all is performed in the mind, in your inner person; that is where the ministry to Christ takes place.

— St. John the Solitary, Letter to Hesychias

This is a very challenging way to live - to live as a servant and to live as a free person. Our world encourages us to live as free Lords, Lords of our own destiny and making, not as free servants.

Over the last four years I have struggled to choose the path of service - perhaps it is because I am so addicted to being a 'Lord'. I qualified early in a unique and interesting discipline. I was afforded great opportunity and favor within the Church. This was not good for me. My ego sought the recognition and affirmation that others gave. I soon realised that I was becoming less and less Christ-like as I lived the life of a Lord, instead of the life of service, living like Jesus. So, I took up a post that called for service. I decided to give my energy, training and ability to serve the ideas of others. I dedicated myself to helping other people to become the best that they could be. It has often been a challenging journey.

My wife and I were wise enough to make some small commitments that have helped us. We have turned away opportunities for greater earning capacity - simply stated we did not want to be owned by money. We want to be free to respond to God's call to ministry, wherever and whenever it may come.

It is not always easy. But, we are striving to be free servants - choosing to serve. Sometimes we get it right. Often we don't.

When the world is a storm...

“When the world is storm-driven and the bad that happens and the worse that threatens are so urgent as to shut out everything else from view, then we need to know all the strong fortresses of the spirit which men have built through the ages.”

~ Edith Hamilton via veareflejos.