Rod Liddle on the C of E and Islam

In an article in the Spectator dated Tues 7^th April, Rod Liddle argues that the C of E has accommodated itself far too much to pleasing society at large and has sold out to modern liberalism, current political fashions and multiculturalism. It’s horray for the Bishop of Rochester and for the Bishop of London and boo to the Bishops of Oxford and Manchester and the ABC.

The C of E has forgotten its purpose. Why, exactly, does it exist?

Rod Liddle offers an Easter message to the leaders of the Church, who have ditched its traditions and reduced it to a sort of superannuated ad-hoc branch of social services. It has lost all sense of mission and direction. Whatever happened to muscular Christianity?

…

We do not hear very much from the Church of England about the plight of Christians, and particularly Anglicans, in hostile foreign environments. Under the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the church does not like to make too much of a fuss about murdered priests in the Sudan, the constant fears of samizdat believers in Riyadh, the continued state persecution in Turkey, the perpetual discrimination in Indonesia and Malaysia and Bangladesh. Or about the Punjabi Christian dragged before a court in Pakistan accused of having sent a blasphemous message on his mobile phone, the Muslim hordes screaming for the death sentence outside the court. The thousands of Christians in Bauchi, Nigeria, watching their homes burned to the ground and their leaders attacked by, again, Muslim mobs. The beatings and murders in liberated — yea, praise the lord! — Afghanistan. We don’t hear much about that stuff from anyone, be it the BBC, our politicians or most notably the Church of England.

You might expect the C of E to feel at least a little bit uncomfortable that Anglicans were being strung up or burned alive in the middle east and elsewhere. But it does not seem to be an enormous issue for the prelates. The problem being that it would bring Rowan, and the church, into conflict with the very Islamists with whom they are thoroughly enjoying their important ‘inter-faith dialogues’, by which they seem to set so much store. These inter-faith dialogues have never, ever, to my knowledge, touched upon Islamic persecution of Christians: all the traffic is in the other direction, and the Church of England thinks it is all going swimmingly.

The C of E is very pleased and proud of its inter-faith dialogues — largely, I suppose, because when conducting them it always adopts a strategy of total capitulation, much as it does before any and every assault upon its ideology, be it from Islam or from the decadent depredations of modern Britain.

There may be another reason for Nazir-Ali’s Lenten undertaking, then. It may be that he is sick to the back teeth of the leadership of the Church of England. He has not said that he is, but he is a polite and affable chap apparently. But he has had this to say recently; he has lamented a ‘gradual loss of identity and cohesiveness in (British) society’ which he feels is down to the abandonment of biblical values. He thinks that we reside in a ‘values vacuum’. He has also complained that British people suffer from a ‘historical amnesia’ — by which he means that we prostrate ourselves to apologise for slavery while forgetting that we also ended slavery, while the Africans cheerfully continued with it.

We forget to celebrate our tolerance and diversity, our willingness to allow the freedom of speech and the freedom of worship. Nazir-Ali concluded by saying: ‘The church is seen simply as the religious aspect of society, there to endorse any change which politicians deem fit to impose upon the public.’ You could not get a better description of the Church of England today, I would argue. It is a church which has manipulated itself into a position whereby it can accommodate any adjustment to its own faith and ideology in order to make sure that it is in step with what it believes to be popular thinking.

…

But that is the view the Church of England, or much of it, has of itself these days. As a sort of superannuated ad-hoc branch of social services: non-judgmental, non-partisan, wholly secular, not Christian at all really, when it comes down to it.

Good Friday Poem?

I'm thinking of including a poem in our Good Friday "Hour at the Cross" service. Any suggestions?

It would be good if it was fairly accessible and not too long.

The "sermonettes" might be on Old Testament types of the cross, perhaps Gen 3:15, 21; 22; Ex 12.

Collect for Good Friday (Updated)

Will you be using the 3rd BCP Collect for Good Friday?

O Merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor wouldst the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live: Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The second and third collects seem to have disappeared from Common Worship.

The second Collect can be found in Daily Prayer, p542, the Collect for the ministry of all Christian people.

The prayers of intercession for the liturgy of Good Friday in Times and Seasons (pp316-8) seem partly to be based on the collects for Good Friday, though you may detect a change of emphasis:

Let us pray for God’s ancient people, the Jews,
the first to hear his word:
for greater understanding between Christian and Jew,
for the removal of our blindness and bitterness of heart,
that God will grant us grace to be faithful to his covenant
and to grow in the love of his name.

Lord God of Abraham,
bless the children of your covenant, both Jew and Christian;
take from us all blindness and bitterness of heart,
and hasten the coming of your kingdom,
when the Gentiles shall be gathered in,
all Israel shall be saved,
and we shall dwell together in mutual love and peace
under the one God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us pray for those who do not believe the gospel of Christ:
for those who have not heard the message of salvation,
for all who have lost faith,
for the contemptuous and scornful,
for those who are enemies of Christ and persecute those who follow him,
for all who deny the faith of Christ crucified,
that God will open their hearts to the truth
and lead them to faith and obedience.

Merciful God,
creator of all the people of the earth,
have compassion on all who do not know you,
and by the preaching of your gospel with grace and power,
gather them into the one fold of the one Shepherd;
Christ our Lord.

Here's an attempt at a modern language version of the third collect for Good Friday from the BCP:

Merciful God,

who made all people,

and who hates nothing that you have made,

nor desires the death of a sinner,

but rather that they should be converted and live,

have mercy upon all Jews, Muslims, unbelievers and heretics,

and take from them all ignorance,

hardness of heart,

and contempt for your word;

and so bring them home, blessed Lord, to your flock,

that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israel,

and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, world without end. Amen.

Spurgeon's evangelistic stratergy

Apparently CHS said:

To try to win a soul for Christ by keeping that soul in ignorance of any truth, is contrary to the mind of the Spirit; and to endeavor to save men by mere claptrap, or excitement, or oratorical display, is as foolish as to hope to hold an angel with bird-lime, or lure a star with music. The best attraction is the gospel in its purity. The weapon with which the Lord conquers men is the truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel will be found equal to every emergency; an arrow which can pierce the hardest heart, a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Preach it, and preach nothing else.

Jesus calls witnesses for the defence

Here are some jottings for a sermon I'm about to preach on John 5:31-47. The audio should appear on our church sermon page in due course.

Jesus on Trial (II): Jesus calls Defence Witnesses

The innocent Jesus takes the place of the accused man (vv9-17)

Jesus accuses his accusers (vv35, 37-40, 42, 43-47)

We are & will be on trial. Jesus will be the judge (vv22, 27, 30)

The case for Christ / Reasons to believe / Evidence for Jesus

Witnesses for the defence / testimony in Jesus’ favour (Dt 19:15; Jn 8:13-18):

(1) John the Baptist (vv33-35)

John’s example; 1:6-9, 19-35; 3:27-36;

A light on the True Light: a torch shinning at the sun

V34 – the role of human testimony – our testimony?

Mt 11:7-19 – is our response fickle / superficial?

(2) Jesus’ works (v36)

vv17, 19-20 – the signs (miracles);

Consistency (words & works) – Integrity – no hypocrisy

(3) The Father (vv32, 37-38)

Cf. Dt 4:12 – Jesus uniquely reveals the Father - 1:18; 5:19f; 6:46; 14:9 - voice from heaven (12:28-30; Mt 3:17; 17:5); resurrection

We must accept God’s word in our hearts (1:1)

(4) The Scriptures (vv39-40)

The content of the Bible: The point of the whole Bible: v39 – Jesus! v46, 1:45; Lk 24:25-27; Lk 16:29-31

Evidence of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus

The purpose of the Bible: The whole point of the Bible: v40 – come to Jesus for life; 20:31; 12:21

Peer pressure? Praise (glory) from men or from God? (v44)

(5) Moses (vv45-47)

Jesus the Prophet like Moses Dt 18:15 cf. Jn 6:14 – Listen to him!

Evidence that demands a verdict

Our verdict on Jesus determines God’s verdict on us

Parish Resources

C of E parishes may apparently find helpful stuff at:

www.parishresources.org.uk

Calvin on Sacramental Knowledge of God

From Randall C. Zachman:

“Dawn de Vries concurs with this description, stating that the Word itself is sacramental – that is, the means of grace – for Calvin, making the Word “the primary means of grace.” Jesus Christ in the Preaching of Calvin and Schleirmacher (Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 1996) p15 (p5)

“T. H. L. Parker has argued that “Calvin’s theology is, … throughout his life, a theology of the Sacraments. God will not encounter man directly but by means of that which is already a human term of reference, the human means of communication and visible symbols.” (p6) John Calvin: A Biography (Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1975), p42

Parker says: “Revelation is indirect, as we have said; knowledge is always by way of the sacramental form of revelation. We know God in His Word and in His works, because they are the image of God, mirroring his effigies, His portrait.” Calvin’s Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1959) p116 (p6)

“… Calvin’s understanding of living icons and symbols… extends Augustine’s understanding of sacraments as “visible words” to all forms of divine self-manifestation, from the universe itself to the symbols and visions given the fathers under the Law to the symbols and visions of the Gospel.” (p14)

“Roman Catholic theologians, such as David Tracy and Hans Urs von Balthasar, have contrasted Catholic and Protestant forms of thought by saying that the former emphasizes manifestation and a sacramental way of thinking, whereas the latter emphasizes proclamation and a verbally oriented way of thinking. This study shows that Calvin thinks in terms of the essential interrelationship of manifestation and proclamation, which may provide interesting bridges between the Protestant and Catholic Churches, without ignoring the major differences between them. Calvin may (p21) not agree with Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox theologians about how many “living images of God” there may be, but it is nonetheless significant that he urges his readers to contemplate the living images of God as an essential part of their piety. Calvin always claimed that his theology was both evangelical and orthodox, and it is my hope that by highlighting the sacramental character of the entirety of Calvin’s theology, Calvin may be able to claim his place as a member of the broarder catholic tradition.” (p22)

Zachman, Randall C., Image and Word in the Theology of John Calvin (Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2007)

Calvin on Living & Dead Images

According to Zachman, Calvin rejected man-made dead images for the sake of living God-given images including creation, Christ, the Word of God and the sacraments.

Zachman argues that Calvin understood the contrast between dead and living images thus:

Living images are created by the Word of God and unlike dead man-made images do not limit God but act as ladders of vehicles by which we may ascend to heaven.

Living images transform us into the likeness of God whereas dead images try to make God in our likeness.

Living images point beyond themselves having an analogical relationship with the reality they represent, which they are both like and unlike. Dead images contradict the reality they seek to represent.

Living images raise the mind anagogically to heaven whereas dead images trap the mind on earth. Living images offer and present the realities they represent whereas dead images are empty.

Image and Word in the Theology of John Calvin (Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2007) p8

Calvin's Catechism

Here is Randall C. Zachman’s take on Calvin’s Catechism of the Church of Geneva 1545, which can be found at Reformed.org:

Calvin’s 1545 Catechism begins with the question: “What is the chief end of human life?”

The child answers that the purpose of knowing God is to honour or worship God and is asked what the right way of honouring God would be.

The fourfold answer is that God is to be trusted, obeyed, invoked and acknowledged as the source of all good things.

These four provide the framework for the catechism which expounds the Creed (trust), the law (obey), the Lord’s Prayer (invoke) and the sacraments (acknowledge).

The catechism thus focuses on the right worship of God, which is the chief end of human life, rather than mastery of all the rudiments of pious doctrine.

John Calvin as Teacher, Pastor and Theologian: The Shape of his Writings and Thought (Baker Academic, 2006) p141

An exciting new book on Scripture

I received Revd Dr Timothy Ward’s Words of Life: Scripture as the living and active Word of God (IVP, 2009), which looks excellent, to review for Ecclesia Reformanda today. Pleasingly, “the Reformation maxim ecclesia semper reformanda” gets quoted with approval on p14.

The blurb on the IVP website, where you can also read an excerpt, is here.

And why bother to read a book before reviewing it?!

I dare not criticise a book which…

Peter Adam calls “… a landmark…. … splendid…. I thank God for it.”

Paul Helm calls “… very fine…. …. well-written, clear-headed, thoughtful and judicious”.

David Jackman says its “important”, so you better read it!

Donald Macleod calls it “a great read and a sterling work of scholarship. … comprehensive … rich … Text-book and treat”.

J. I. Packer calls it “well-informed and thoroughly thought through…. Rarely has a book on this subject stirred me to such emphatic agreement and admiration.”

Jonathan Stephens calls it “brilliantly conceived, academically aware and beautifully written.”

You get the idea! Now get the book! Only £6.59 on Amazon UK.

Fortunately, I’m not anticipating having to disagree.

There’s some stuff on the Bible’s view of the Bible and later on the kind of doctrinal headings you’d expect (necessity, sufficiency, clarity, authority) and it looks like you’ll get interesting stuff along the way (Preaching and a clear Bible; Diverse interpretations and a clear Bible). The book is practically oriented and particularly appealing is the chapter on ‘The Bible and Christian life: the doctrine of Scripture applied’ where there’s stuff on the church, preaching, the Spirit and the aim of Bible reading.

Revd Tim Ward is a Vicar in Leicestershire who trained at Oak Hill, no less!

Dr Ward knows his onions when it comes to the doctrine of the Bible. His 1999 PhD from Edinburgh under Kevin Vanhoozer resulted in Word and Supplement (OUP).

Devoted followers of Dr Ward’s work may wish to know that “earlier versions of some parts of this book have been previously published in” Word and Supplement; The Word Became Flesh; Reformed Theology in Contemporary Perspective and Spirit of Truth and Power. (p10)

Sadly no subject index – though at 186 pages its not a long book and it looks easy to find your way around.

In my copy there’s a sticker which says “ERRATUM Please note that all page number entries in the indexes [author & Scripture, that is] should be increased by 2.”

Ward examines the doctrine of Scripture first from the contents of the Bible, keeping in mind the Bible plot-line of redemptive history and the events of the gospel (what some would call a biblical theological approach), then theologically in relation to the Trinity. He hopes thereby to show that the doctrine of Scripture is more than a mere preface or appendix to theology proper, but intimately related to God and his action in Christ.

Lurking in the background is how the written and incarnate Words of God relate and how evangelicals can avoid bibliolatry (p12).

Ward says he will draw primarily on the work of Calvin, Turretin, Warfield and Bavinck, though Packer also gets an honourable mention (p20).

I fear I may be looking for things to quibble with in this book. This is pedantic in the extreme but what Ward calls “that great slogan from the Reformation, sola scriptura (Scripture alone)” (p19) is, according to Tony Lane, strictly speaking a post-Reformation slogan. See Anthony N. S. Lane, ‘Sola Scriptura? Making Sense of a Post-Reformation Slogan’, in A Pathway Into the Holy Scripture (ed. by Philip E. Satterthwaite & David F Wright; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994).

As I begin reading the book, I find myself wanting to type most of it out! Here are some bits from the introductions and conclusion:

“Throughout Christian history, the overwhelmingly predominant view of the Bible has been that it is itself the living and active Word of God. To say that the Bible is the Word of God is to say, putting it another way, that ‘what the Bible says, God says’.” (p11)

“… the heart of what I am attempting to do in this book: I want to articulate, explain and defend what we are really saying when we proclaim, as we must, that the Bible is God’s Word. In particular, this is how I want to go about this: I am attempting to describe the nature of the relationship between God and Scripture.” (p13)

“… the words of the Bible are a significant aspect of God’s action in the world. The relationship between God and the Bible is at heart to do with the actions God uses the Bible to perform…. Heb. 4:12” (p14)

“Scripture, by which we mean the speech acts performed by means of the words of Scripture, is the primary means by which God presents himself to us, in such a way that we can know him and remain in a faithful relationship to him…. … Scripture is God in communicative action. Therefore to encounter the words of Scripture is to encounter God in action.” (p179)

“Theologically Scripture is the means by which the Father presents his covenant to us, and therefore the means by which he presents himself to us as the faithful God of the covenant. It is also in the words of Scripture that the Word of God, Jesus Christ, comes to us so that we may know him and remain in him. And it is through the Scripture, which he authored, preserved and now illumines, that the Holy Spirit speaks to us most reliably. All this is what we are saying when we confess, simply, that ‘The Bible is the Word of God.’” (p179)

History of cessationism / tongues and prophecy?

I asked about this a couple of years ago, but does anyone know where one might find a history of cessationism / claims to speak in tongues or prophecy?

Last time I quoted this from Packer:

Seventeenth-century England did not, to my knowledge, produce anyone who claimed the gift of tongues, and though claimants to prophetic and healing powers were not unknown, particularly in the wild days of the forties and fifties, the signs of 'enthusiasm' (fanatical delusion) and mental unbalance were all too evident.

(Among God's Giants, p290)

And for John Owen:

gifts which in their own nature exceed the whole power of all our faculties" [tongues, prophecy, healing powers] belong to "that dispensation of the Spirit [which] is long since ceased, and where it is now pretended unto by any, it may justly be suspected as an enthusiastical delusion

(Owen, Works, IV:518)

There's also Jonathan Edwards:

Since the canon of the Scripture has been completed, and the Christian Church fully founded and established, these extraordinary gifts have ceased.

(Jonathan Edwards, Charity & Its Fruits, 29)

The Westminster Confession of Faith, of course says:

I. Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church; and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.

(Chapter 1. Of the holy Scripture)

How much is cessationism the consensus position of the Reformed church? Or the Catholic church for that matter?

I guess one place to look would be:

B. B. Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles (New York: Charles Scribners, 1918).

The Wikipedia artilcle on Cessationism gives some leads and also links to some Cessationist articles at the Highway, including those by Charles Hodge, J. Gresham Machen and Richard Gaffin.

I could have done with a few lectures on this at Vicar factory!

Tim Ambrose has been blogging

There are riches at Rev'd Tim Ambrose's blog, Timothy Titus:

http://timotheostitos.blogspot.com/

And I'm looking forward to further goodies.

Roger Carswell Audio

Evangelist and author Roger Carswell is due to be the main speaker at the Sussex Gospel Partnership Passion for Life Mission in 2010. He's a very engaging and biblically faithful speaker. But you may not want to take my word for it. You can hear him for yourself all over the internet before you invite your friends, family, neighbours, colleages, dog and budgey to hear him in the flesh.

Googleing something like "Roger Carswell audio" yields the kind of things you might be interested in.

Here are some of the things I hastily gleaned from there. Sometimes a bit of scrolling down, looking around or searching is needed:

http://www.emw.org.uk/resources/audio/en/?preacher=16

http://www.sucu.org.uk/resources/audio-recordings

2006-2007

Tuesday 20th February Forgiven - Can God really forgive me for ...? - Roger Carswell 14MB mp3

Monday 19th February Me Myself and I - Who am I? - Roger Carswell 18MB mp3

Monday 19th February Where is God in a messed up World - Roger Carswell 11MB mp3

Sunday 10th December Away in a Manger or here with us now? - Roger Carswell 3.8MB mp3

Saturday 4th November Houseparty Talk 3 - 1 Thessalonians 4 - Roger Carswell 11MB mp3

Saturday 4th November Houseparty Talk 2 - 1 Thessalonians 2 - Roger Carswell 14MB mp3

Friday 3rd November Houseparty Talk 1 - 1 Thessalonians 1 - Roger Carswell 14MB mp3

http://www.nucu.org/recordings.php?list&series=Reality

http://www.uccf.org.uk/resources/life-roger-carswell.htm

http://www.septemberbibleschool.org.uk/audio.html

http://www.atthecastle.org.uk/audio/

If anyone knows of any other Roger Carswell stuff (especially perhaps a typical evangelistic talk!) which is available for free on the interweb, please feel free to add a comment.

Update: see also

www.theevangelist.org.uk & www.tell-me-more.org (includes some audio)

History of Paedocommunion

Here is the conclusion of Tommy Lee's "The History of Paedocommunion: From the Early Church Until 1500”: (emphasis added) From the third century until the twelfth and thirteenth century there is overwhelming evidence that the Western Church regularly brought her infants and young children to participate in the Lord's Supper. This is evidenced by several primary sources and substantiated by numerous secondary sources. Before this time, "we have no unambiguous evidence about the practice"⁸³ of paedocommunion. However, not even the most ardent opponents of infant and young child communion have been able to adequately explain why it "suddenly" became the common and universal practice of the church in the third century. The most logical explanation of the church's third century paedocommunion practice is that it was the same as the church's first and second century paedocommunion practice. The efforts of Coppes and others to shed doubt on the presence of infant and young child communion in the first and second centuries have been ineffective. We do not have any direct references to paedocommunion in first or second century documents, but as soon as references to this practice appear, (far from being considered novel) they are accidental remarks about a practice as common and ordinary as going to sleep at night.

In the West, history records the infants and young children of the church being denied the Lord's Supper for the first time in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It is important to note that "the Lord's Supper was lost to the church's children in the west not as a result of a purification of the church's practice of the sacrament but rather as the result of a horrible corruption of it."⁸⁴ There were three or four minor realities that deterred people from having their infants and children communed, but the primary reason for their exclusion was the superstitious fear of the elements provoked by the theory of transubstantiation.

In Eastern Christianity , there has never been a reason to discontinue the ancient tradition of paedocommunion which has been handed down to them from the early church. "Still today in the Eastern Orthodox Church, infants [receive]... the three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist, within a few minutes of each other, and in that order."⁸⁵

There have been a few reformational attempts in the West to restore the early church's custom of communing her infants and young children, but these endeavours have never totally won the day. The most famous of these attempts came from the fifteenth century Hussites. The following is a portion of one of their communion hymns:

"You gave us his body to eat, His holy blood to drink What more could he have done for us?

"Let us not deny it to little children Nor forbid them When they eat Jesus' body.

"Of such is the kingdom of heaven As Christ himself told us, And holy David says also:

"From the mouths of small children And of all innocent babes Has come forth God's praise That the adversary may be cast down.

***

"Praise God, you children You tiny babes, For he will not drive you away, But feed you on his holy body."⁸⁶

----------

⁸² Ibid., 35. ⁸³ Leithart, 34. ⁸⁴ Robert S. Rayburn, "Report of the Ad-Interim Committee to Study the Question of Paedocommunion," in PCA Digest Position Papers 1973-1993 Part V, ed. Paul R. Gilchrist (Atlanta: Presbyterian Church in America, 1993), 513.

⁸⁵ DeMolen, 54-55. ⁸⁶Cited in Rayburn, 514.

The Feeding of the 5000

Some headings for a brief sermon on John 6:1-14 in our BCP Communion service today:

The people's need

The disciples' inability

Jesus' ability

Jesus chooses to use his disciples

So let us come to the Lord's table:
Knowing that we are hungry and needy
Ackowledging our inability and our pathetic resources
Trusting Jesus' limitless power, depending on him to feed us and keep us going to the promised land
Daring to offer him the little that we have and willing to be used by him, getting involved in what he is doing.

Amen.

I'm going to have another crack at preaching on John 6:1-15 on 10th May, d.v., so I'll let you know if I think its meaning has changed. The Vicar also preached a brief sermon on it on 8th March (along similar lines, I seem to remember) entitled 'Into all the world' at a service which had a world mission focus. John's sermon is available on our church website sermon page.

Best job in the world

Thomas Carlyle apparently said:

Who, having been called to be a preacher, would stoop to be a king?

Quoted in Bruce Milne, The Message of John, BST (IVP, 1993), p100

Art and the Bible

There's lots of great stuff at Art and the Bible, searchable by Scripture passage and so on.

Church Dogmatics

Barth's Church Dogmatics appears to be available online.

Thanks to Philip Sumpter for the pointer.

Update: Ah, they seem to be requiring a password now. Shame.

Passion for Life Mission Videos

Videos promoting the Passion for Life mission are now available to view at:

http://www.youtube.com/apassionforlife2010

How much is 200 denarii?

In preparing to preach on John 6 I've spent far too long trying to work out how much 200 denarri (which Philip says in v7 it would cost to feed the crowd of about 5000 men) would be worth in Britain today, and I'm not sure I'm much the wiser. Unless my sums fail me, which they probably do (!), I reckon 200 denarri might be somewhere between 8 and 23 thousand pounds, which seems an absurdly wide range! I might plump for £15 000 as a guestimate.

Based on the minimum wage:

From 1 October 2008 the UK minimum wage for workers aged 22 years and older is £5.73 per hour.

ESV: a denarius was a daily wage for a worker

£5.73 X 7 hours for a day: £40.11 a day

£40.11 days wage X200 denarrii = £8 000

NIV: 200 denarrii = 8 months wages (= aprox 240 days wages)

£5.73 X 7 hours for a day: £40.11 a day

£40.11 a day X (8 months = 240 days) = £9 626.40

Based on the median wage:

Median weekly pay for full-time employees in the UK in April 2008 was £479.

ESV: a denarius was a daily wage for a worker

£479 per week / 5 = £95.80 a day ; 95.80X200 denarri = £19 160

NIV: 200 denarrii = 8 months wages (= aprox 240 days wages)

£479 per week /5 days X 240 days = £22 992

Since doing these sums, I notice that Tom Wright (John for Everyone, SPCK, p71) "translates" 200 denarrii as "six months' pay".

In Mark 6, Tom Wright "translates" 200 denarrii as "£10 000".

Simnel Sunday

Since we finished our Christmas cake on 2nd Feb I've been looking forward in hope to a Simnel cake for Easter, but it turns out that I need not have waited so long. If Wikipedia is to be believed, Mothering Sunday has also traditionally been known as Simnel Sunday and Refreshment Sunday. Families would often get together on this day and Simnel cake would be enjoyed in a lessening of the austerities of Lent. I'm afraid I've no Lentern fast to set aside, but any excuse for some Simnel cake...

Where to look at Communion?

John, our vicar, has lost his voice so I was asked to preach a one-off at short notice on Sunday. As it was going to be a Communion service I thought it might be good to think about the Lord's Supper together.

Here are some jottings from my handout. (The audio sermon should appear on our church website in due course).

Perspectives on the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 10:14-22; 11:17-34)

PAST:

Ø Look back to the Lord’s death (11:23-26)

Last Supper; Passover; Remember (11:24, 25) – Visible Word

PRESENT:

Ø Look up to the Lord (11:24)

His Supper – not mine or yours, not the minister’s, not the church’s

Give thanks (10:16; 11:24) – “Eucharist” = “thanksgiving”

A participation / sharing / fellowship / “communion” in Christ (10:16) – enjoy his (spiritual) presence

Ø Look away from idols / demons (10:14, 20-21)

Ø Look within to yourselves (11:26-32)

Examine yourself (11:28); Confession; Humility

Ø Look around to the body of Christ (11:7-22, 29, 33)

A family meal; Unity (10:17)

Ø Look out to the world (11:26, 32)

“Mass” = “go”, sent out (in mission)

FUTURE:

Ø Look forward to the Lord’s return (11:26)

The Wedding Supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9)

Preaching Plans

In addition to some midweek BCP Communion services (using the lectionary), here are my preaching plans for May - Aug '09. Basically I'm continuing my series in the 10 commandments and John's Gospel. No "clever" titles, I'm afraid.

10^th May PM – John 6:1-15 – The Feeding of the 5000

31^st May AM – Pentecost Holiday Club Family Service

We're using TnT's God's Miracle Worker: Elisha (Christian Focus, CF4 Kids) as our holiday club material.

14^th June PM – John 6:16-24 – Jesus walks on the water

21^st June AM – Exodus 20:12 – Honour your father and your mother

19^th July PM – John 6:25-59 – The Bread of Life

26^th July AM – Exodus 20:13 – You shall not murder

9^th Aug PM – John 6:60-71 – The words of eternal life

16^th Aug AM – Exodus 20:14 – You shall not commit adultery

Make them see & feel

Calvin said:

Let those who would discharge aright the ministry of the Gospel learn not merely to speak or to declaim, but to penetrate the consciences of men, and make them see Christ crucified, and feel the shedding of His blood. When the Church has painters such as these, she no longer needs dead images of wood and stone, she no longer requires pictures; both of which unquestionably were first admitted to Christian temples when the pastors had become dumb and been converted into mere idols, or when they uttered a few words from the pulpit in such a cold and careless manner that the power and efficacy of the ministry was utterly extinguished."

Commentary on Gal 3:1, CR 50:202-3, quoted in Wallace, Word and Sacrament etc. pp248-9

And for my next trick... !

Calvin says:

When I baptise, is it as if I had the Holy Ghost up my sleeve to produce at any time? or the body and blood of the Lord to offer to whom I please? It would be sheer presumption to seek to attribute to mortal creatures what belongs to Jesus Christ.

Sermon on Acts 1:4-5, CR 48:600 quoted in Wallace, Word and Sacrament etc. p172

You shall not bear / lift up the name of Yahweh in vain

Some jottings for my sermon tomorrow morning (audio on our church sermon page in the fullness of time):

Using God’s name / “Jesus” as a swear word - COED

Serious: “the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name”

“I don’t mean anything by it” – Thoughtless use of God’s name

Our thoughts and attitudes not just the sounds we make (“Golly”)

Names in the Bible describe - God’s name stands for his character (Ex 34:5-7)

Anything contrary to God’s character forbidden – the whole of creation bears his name (Acts 7:49; Mt 23:16-22; 5:33-37; Ps 8:1; 19)

God has revealed his name - The blessings of knowing God’s name - relationship

LORD = Yahweh / Jehovah – God’s unique personal covenant name - I am who I am (Ex 3) – God has the authority to name / define himself – he is self-existent / self-sufficient

We “bear” God’s name (Num 6:27; Dt 28:10; 2 Chron 7:14; Dan 9:18-19; Rev 13:6) – “Christians” – baptised in the Triune name (Mt 28:19)

God’s name / fame / reputation depends on us (Rm 2:24)

“Lift up” – “vain” / empty worship (Ps 24:4) – sincerity – hypocrisy – reverence & awe (Ecc 5:1-7)

A right use of God’s name – “Hallowed be your name” (Mt 6:9), not ours (Gen 11:4; Ps 115:1; Is 42:8) - Honour God with our speech (integrity) - Call on God’s name (Prov 18:10) – Proclaim his name

The name of Jesus – “I AM” (Jn 8:58) – powerful (Acts 3:6) – Pray in his name - bow, confess (Phil 2:9-11); be saved (Acts 4:12)

Jesus has borne the guilt of all his people who have misused God’s name – God acts for (the glory of) his name’s sake