Saturday, July 28, 2018

The Calling of Levi All Age Gimmicks

So can anyone help me on all age gimmicks on the calling of Levi and the passage that follows, please? (Luke 5:27-end)

It could be something about surprises or appearances and reality. Or the right and wrong sort of people / unexpected choices.

Surprisingly, Jesus calls someone who seems the wrong sort of person who does the right thing.

And those who might seem the right people do the wrong thing and reject Jesus.

We are all spiritually sick to the heart, but those who think they are healthy risk rejecting the great Doctor.

We won't see our need of Jesus until we admit the seriousness of our spiritual illness.

I might have to plagiarise Glen Scrivener's sermon which goes something like:

Jesus is the ultimate commander in chief who calls you.
Jesus is the ultimate happy host at the party who throws a banquet for sinners.
Jesus is the ultimate doctor who came to make sinners whole.

Then there could be something around eating or eating together or new and old etc.

No screen is available.

Who knows how many children / willing volunteers there will be!

Thursday, July 26, 2018

The Psalms on You Tube in various styles and languages

https://wjdw.nl/2018/07/25/psalms-on-youtube/

HT: TR on FB.

Friday, July 20, 2018

Parish Magazine Item for August


I don’t know how much the academic year impinges on your consciousness. The ages of our children mean that the summer holidays are a big deal for us. From September, for just one year, our 4 will all be at Dallington C of E Primary school. Our youngest, Thomas, is starting school for the first time, so it seems like the end of a long era for us!


For many, August and September are a time of transition, whether it’s new classes and/or teachers, new schools, colleges or universities. Let’s especially be praying for the young people from our benefice who are about to leave home for the first time and for the work of The Universities’ and Colleges’ Christian Fellowship (UCCF), the Christian Unions. You can read more about them at: uccf.org.uk.



We’ve presented those Year 6s leaving Warblers, our after-school club at Punnetts Town School, with bibles and the Year 6 leavers at Dallington and Punnetts Town schools and elsewhere receive a copy of the Scripture Union book, It’s Your Move, all about starting secondary school.



Many of our young people will see these changes as exciting new challenges, but its perfectly normal if there’s also a little anxiety about the unfamiliar.



Whether or not this summer sees great change for us, for everyone, the future is uncertain. Anything could happen! Indeed, as I’ve thought about writing this article, I’ve wondered whether there will be further cabinet resignations before its published, how much Brexit turmoil there will be, and perhaps even whether the government will somehow have fallen. Who knows?!



As we face an uncertain future, I’ve encouraged the children at Dallington School to remember two biblical texts from the letter to the Hebrew Christians. Here they are:



(1) “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and for ever.” (Hebrews 13:8)



Everything changes, but God never does. Jesus is utterly reliable and trustworthy. Whatever happens, he has promised to be with his people. He will not leave those who trust in him comfortless.



So, as the writer to the Hebrews says:



(2) “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2)



Jesus told his followers not to worry about tomorrow. So many things might concern us, but if we are wise, we wont waste our energies speculating about what might or might not happen. Rather, whatever we face, we face it looking to Jesus, inspired by his example and confident in his care. All our circumstances might change in an instant, and Christians are not insulated even from terrible disaster, but we do have Jesus’ promise that he will help and sustain us. He walked the path of change and the most dreadful suffering before us, and through his victory over sin and death, he is more than able to save us completely, to bring us safely through to glory. We really can rely on him.



Whether your summer is tranquil or full of turmoil, perhaps you’ll find a moment this August to sit in the garden or lay on the beach and reflect on those two great Bible truths. They point us to Jesus, a sure anchor in a world of change. The new academic year is perhaps an opportunity for a fresh start: to pray for God’s grace that by the help of his Holy Spirit we might be able to face the future confidently knowing that Jesus does not change. He has gone before us and will be with us even to the end of the age. If we are believers, our security in Jesus Christ is absolute and that unalterable fact is a stronghold against fear of the future. The future belongs to our loving Lord. Much along the way may be painful, but the wonderful final outcome of all things is not in doubt.


Friday, July 06, 2018

Echoes of Exodus

Alistair J. Roberts and Andrew Wilson, Echoes of Exodus: Tracing Themes of Redemption through Scripture (Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway, 2018)

Amazon from £8.98

Over the last couple of days on holiday I have read this little book (176pp) and I really loved it. Short, readable chapters on how the Bible uses and develops the themes of the Exodus. Full of insights. Engagingly written. Doesn't waste words. Pastoral and doxological orientation too. The book will wow you with the Bible but it should also do your soul good and drive you to praise the Word who has brought us from slavery to sin and death that we might worship him with hearts and lives set free.

The authors advocate a musical reading of the Scriptures which is attentive to patterns, echoes, key changes, transpositions, crescendo and so on. The metaphor is worth reading about and dwelling on.

This book is extremely worthwhile for its specific content: it helped me to notice lots of things I had not seen before. But I find the whole approach convincing too: the Bible is surely meant to be read as a unity with differentiation, with attention to the use and re-use of themes and imagery. The argument for this kind of reading is made by hearing it done.

The book would repay close study with a re-reading of the passages mentioned. It will make you want to read the Bible more and again, I think. Sometimes you will have to track down the allusions yourself as not every single reference is given every time. Naturally the better you know the Bible the easier it will be to benefit from the book.

Whenever I am teaching a particular Bible book I might well check what Wilson and Roberts have to say about the Exodus themes in it. Genesis - Revelation is pretty much covered here, obviously in some cases very briefly, but their thoughts seemed on track and useful to me.

Incidentally, the book also shows off the wonderful unity, intricacy and artistry of the Bible. Although not a logical proof, the kind of reading offered here surely makes the case for the divine inspiration of Scripture. Only God could have caused such a number of different authors over such a variety of times and places to produce such a coherent masterpiece which speaks to all generations and cultures of the Redeemer.

There are helpful questions for review and further thought. Subject and Scripture index.

Get and read this brilliant book! I hope you can tell I really liked it and think it is fab.