Jamin Binning
Do you ever put God in a box? As Christians, there are times we try to figure out what God is like and we come to a conclusion that we know what He is capable of doing in our life.

Religion has put God into a four-walled box, which we attend weekly and know as church. The church should help facilitate an extra understanding of Christ and His teachings but it should not be creating boxes to put your faith in. Unfortunately at times we have fallen into being box-making Christians.

Each day, we have our doubts, struggles and questions and we sometimes try to work them out. I know in the past few days I have struggled to understand an angle of prayer that the bible portrays but I came to realise that it is not there to be figured out. By putting God in a box and trying to create a perfect Christian understanding we are not fulfilling ourselves in the truth.
Rob Bell says from his book Velvet Elvis, “The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God.” When we put God in boxes we are creating a false God. I feel selfish when I dwell so much on the unknown, when I try to create a box.

God is everything. He is the Creator, He is the Redeemer, He is the giver of life. He is everlasting. We could read the whole bible and every piece of Christian literature ever written and we would still not be able to fully understand the essence of who our God is. There simply would not be enough boxes to try to fit all our doubts, struggles and questions in.

I rejoice in the fact that God is love. His love and grace washes away all the boxes we have tried to put Him in. He is almighty and He is undefined!
Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Kirsten Bolinger

If you were at Festival of Faith a couple of weeks ago you may have noticed a cute little brunette co-hosting the week-long celebration.

And if you noticed that you might have also noticed the energy, humour, and passion this theology student brought to the stage.

Miranda Leijser hails from the big state of WA, specifically a little town named Mahogany Creek. This is where, at the age of 15, Miranda’s holistic worship journey began.

“I saw that teens were leaving my church at home, they said it was boring, so I said to myself what can I do to change it?” she says. The teen church that Miranda started grew and eventually they had 60 to 80 people worshipping with them.

Miranda believes in holistic worship. She says, “I try to make everything I do a worship to God. One hour a week isn’t enough.”

When I ask Miranda about Adventism she says, “I don’t think it’s a matter of being an Adventist, but rather it’s a matter of serving God.”

Miranda’s favourite animal is an echidna because, in her words, “They’re intelligent and they’re a little ball of muscle with spikes on it.”

Miranda obviously doesn’t have spikes on her (although she has been seen sporting a mohawk), but I think her and an echidna have a lot in common. They are cute, tough, intelligent, and every time I see an echidna it is walking purposefully.

“God keeps opening the doors and I just keep on walking,” says Miranda.

Josh Zyderveld

“Morality, for the artist, is a sort of sex appeal. He seduces and embellishes himself with it – himself and his work.” – Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist, 1904.

Evil isn’t the only negation of morality. Nearly as nauseating is the exploitation of morality for the vain purposes common to the artist, the entertainer, the editorialist, the politician, or the conversationalist. Apart from power, nothing is so lusted after as moral purity, for the contemptuous indignation it permits one to feel for others in this sordid, ordinary world. We all seek it.

In Gombrowicz’s day, it was necessary to be – in some usually phony sense – a revolutionary. In ours, it is useful to acquire ‘victimhood’, which elevates in stature, ennobles, and sanctifies. It absolves one, too, of the superficiality of the culture at large. While one may share in the luxury of bourgeois life, one remains forever elect by virtue of one’s suffering.

Whatever the percentage of atheists, agnostics and practitioners of other religions in the West, the culture retains strands of Christian thought at its core. One such notion is what Nietzsche described as the ‘slave-morality’ of inverting all natural values; nothing is so honored in the West as suffering, loss, addiction, defeat, collapse, failure, or victimhood. We do not think highly of those who acquire or wield power or attain success; we think highly of those smashed by chance.

Thus it is that the acquisition of some great trauma confers both suffering and some privilege, to the secret shame of those who consciously or unconsciously exploit it. But perhaps it is the only redemption available for an injury, and who would begrudge a victim the right to transact upon their own pain? I have done it with the pitifully meagre difficulties I’ve faced, and I see at times in the televised treacle of preening anguish an awareness in the faces of those who have made the same choice. They know, as do we all, that as the master and slave moralities in our culture compete, it is the case that sometimes a victim vaults a victor.

So proudly confess to some slick stigma, to a hidden wound that has become like buried treasure, to an ennobling flaw! We may wonder later if there remains any tragedy not trafficked in, any silent suffering unused for moral advantage.

Kimberley Ellison

Has anybody else started to feel as though there’s some kind of conspiracy to focus every recent major college event around poverty, social injustice, and/or the environment?

I have certainly begun to feel as though there’s a theme developing. What with the justice-based message from Jo Darby during Festival of Faith, the increasingly prominent presence of COSMOS and their activities, Avondale’s new green policy, and last week’s Adventist Forum on poverty and social injustice, I’m beginning to think that either: a)Avondale’s administration has suddenly gained super-powers, b)Someone is trying to turn us all into hippies and is putting you-know-what in the caf food, or c)These problems are real and we (yes, that includes you!) are a part of a generation that is going to change the world for the better. Past experience and my own clarity of mind would suggest that a and b are invalid, so I’m going to go with c.

The fact is, our environment, poverty and social injustice are not just the incidental themes of Semester Two at Avondale College. They are the themes of Life. They are not fads, like yo-hos were in primary school or graffitied binders in high school. They are not going to go away by themselves like a mozzie in your bedroom at night. Sure, you can just ignore them, and maybe you’ll manage to get through your entire life without the plight of the rest of the world affecting you. Meanwhile, billions of children will die from preventable diseases, millions of girls will be sold as sex slaves, and countless men and women will lose their lives simply because they were born in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have been you.

We’ve been brought face-to-face with reality, and it’s time to stop taking our fortunes for granted.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.”
– Isaiah 58:6-8

Kimberley Ellison

Ah, September.

Daffodils, warm breeze, and birthdays. Lots of birthdays. So many birthdays that you start wondering what happened nine months ago, realise that it was summer and the season for goodwill and cheer, and quickly stop thinking about it again. Suddenly the year is waning instead of waxing, and all those things you said you were going to do this year are looking an awful lot less likely. Especially when the warm sunny days start tempting you out onto the lawn with a blanket and a good book.

It’s the season for new life and rejuvenation, and that goes for small student publications as well as human beings, birds, and bulbs. The Voice has been doing some growing and blossoming of its own, and this week we’re excited to announce that you will now be able to access it online! Now you can read whichever issue you want, whenever you want, and you don’t even have to walk the hundred metres to the caf to pick it up. Go to the Avondale website and click on the link to discover it for yourself.

We have another change underway too; unfortunately our wonderful designer, Shelley Poole, is so wonderful that the Jacaranda team has stolen her. Shelley has done an amazing job, and the Voice wouldn’t be what it is without her. Thank you Shelley.

Welcome to Evelyn Munoz, who is joining us to take Shelley’s place as designer. We’re excited to have her on the team!

Sometimes it’s hard to remember just how positive change and growth can be, but spring is one of the best reminders I can think of. A lot of people I know don’t like change, but I don’t know very many people who don’t enjoy spring.

Finally, a little suggestion. Take a moment to smell a blossom sometime this week, and breathe in a bit of spring. It will make your day better, guaranteed.

NOTE: For best results, this issue should be read outdoors, in the sunshine.

Trent McCrow

Avondale College is known for a strong spiritual culture and for being a Christian learning environment. The spiritual tone of the Avondale experience has been strongly evident through the many different worship opportunities for the staff and students.

Until 2009, there was a number of compulsory worship services that students were required to attend or face a possible fine. But a change in policy gave students the option to attend or not.

“Requiring people to attend worship is not biblical” says Assistant Director of Watson Hall Shane Roberts. “It’s something we wanted to change…that we can do worship in the way God wants it to be done.”

Since the change in policy there have been fluctuations in worship attendance but currently the spiritual tone of the campus is quite strong. Nikki Durham enjoys Wednesday night worship with the ladies residence. “We work together to help other ladies in need and spend time with God in worship together,” she said.

Another indicator of the spiritual strength of the Avondale Experience is the introduction of a new Sabbath School program – Wildfire. The new worship experience aims to fill the gap between the existing Young Adult Network Sabbath School and the Regeneration programs and provide a new worship experience for students and staff.

Rebekah Bamford is looking forward to Festival of Faith for semester two, which is just around the corner. “The vibe of college during the week of festival of Faith is really amazing. It’s quite spiritual. You’ll find people praying with each other. Others will be discussing what was just spoken about in the meeting before and there’s just a really good vibe because everybody loves to go to Festival of Faith and hang out and just get to know God a bit better.”

Click here for more information on Wildfire Sabbath School