Back in 2014, one of the Oak Hill mission team, Peter Snow, preached this excellent sermon at Warbleton while still at Vicar-Factory.
It would do good to your soul and has things the Rector could well recycle for Sunday.
Some jottings:
Can you resist the irresistible?
The Chocolate Cake Poem
How to resist temptation
And why Jesus came
(1) The devil is a vicious tempter
Clever and vicious
Using a simple ordinary
situation
The temptation to power
Using lies
Using Scripture
If the devil went to work
on you, would you stand a chance?
To those sceptical about the existence of the devil:
Of course it is one of the
devil’s greatest tricks that he doesn’t exist
The Bible and Jesus take
the devil seriously
There seems to be real
evil in the world…
(2) The Son of God is our temptation beater
Jesus is the true Adam
Cf. Eden
The issues of food and power
and testing God are the same in Eden and in the wilderness
V13 – The devil gave up
for a while
Jesus does what Adam and
Eve couldn’t do
Jesus is the true Israel
Cf. the desert wanderings
of Israel
40 days / 40 years
The issue of food - bread
in the desert
Quotations from Deuteronomy
Jesus’ resources and ours:
The Holy Spirit vv1 &
v14
The Bible
https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=59
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Ash Wednesday 2020: A draft homily on mortality
Look away now if you are coming to Warbleton church for the Ash Wednesday service.
Audio sermon here: https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=340
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
I’m afraid this probably won’t be the most jolly sermon you’ve ever heard!
I’m sorry about that, but there it is.
If there is a time for a certain amount of doom and gloom, I suppose it’s Ash Wednesday evening.
Come back on Easter Sunday for lots of rejoicing!
This evening I want to mention to you something which is almost unmentionable in our day and age, and that’s death.
I’ve been provoked to this social faux pas by the words traditionally used in the imposition of ashes:
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
What a happy uplifting thought!
But, I think, an important one.
One which might help to put us in our place:
A good dose of humility might be an excellent way to begin Lent.
Yes, you and I are basically, from a biblical point of view, walking dust:
We are mud, yes, animated by the Spirit or breath of God himself, but mud never the less:
We are created stuff – matter.
And that matters.
We are not God.
We are not the Uncreated Creator.
None of us is self-made.
We are dust.
Yes, wonderfully, dust loved and given life by Almighty God:
Dusty glorious children of God and heirs of immortality in Christ, but still dust.
And to dust we shall return.
We are all going to die!
In Victorian times, one did not speak of the facts of life.
But today sex is everywhere and we do not speak of the fact of death.
Death is much more medicalised and sanitized and hidden away than it once was.
How many of us have even seen a dead body?
Understandably we don’t like to think about death, but it will come to us all.
The Ash Wednesday Liturgy and the Bible think that we ought to remember that we are dust and that to dust we shall return.
Along with taxes, death is the only real certainty in life.
Death is the ultimate statistic.
One in one people die.
The death rate is 100%.
That’s why the sinister undertaker could sign all his letters, “Yours eventually!”
In Medieval times, they realised that it was important to us to remember that we are all going to die.
Paintings sometimes included a memento mori – a reminder of death.
There is the great person pictured in all their splendour and pomp.
Normally it’s a rather flattering likeness: their best self, looking full of life.
They’re paying for the painting, after all.
But there on their desk there might be a skull.
Remember your mortality, it says.
This’ll be you, O Great One, in a few short years.
At your funeral, the Vicar may well read Psalm 103 at your graveside:
“As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children—
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.”
Of course, we will all admit that theoretically in the abstract we know that people die.
But am I willing to take a long hard look at the fact that I myself and going to die?
And that even as your youthful and energetic Rector, I may have more years behind me than before me.
What difference would it make if we were to live each day in the light of our deaths?
I invite you to dare to meditate on mortality – and on your own mortality in particular.
In the light of our coming deaths, maybe there are some things that would matter rather less.
And some things that would matter rather more.
After all, life is short and eternity is long.
It is appointed to all human beings to die once and after that to face the judgement.
We will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ.
So what would the Bible say about death?
From a biblical point of view, death is an enemy, an intruder.
Death is not God’s original intention for humanity.
It is the penalty of sin.
God warned our first parents, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
Satan’s great lie was that there would be no judgement, no death.
Did God really say that? (Genesis 3:1)
“You will not surely die!” (Genesis 3:4)
“Perhaps God’s word wasn’t true!”
“Maybe there’s some way you can cheat death”
And people have been dreaming of immortality and eternal youth ever since.
But no matter what face cream you use, or what diet you adopt, or how faithful you are at the gym, it is only a matter of time.
As the Burial Service in The Book of Common Prayer has it:
“Man, that is born of a woman, hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery.
He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay.
In the midst of life we are in death”
In the instant of that first rebellion, Adam and Eve died spiritually.
Before, all had been love and joy.
But now all was guilt and shame.
They had once loved to walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day, but now they ran and hid and they blamed one another.
Their relationships with God, and with one another, and with the whole created order were broken.
Their work would become toil and sweat, and the ground would produce thorns and thistles.
And eventually they would die physically.
Death is the parting of body and soul.
The breath of life, the Spirit, returns to God who gave it.
And our bodies sleep in the earth.
As children of Adam we are born to die.
Before our time comes, we would do well to have made our peace with God.
There is nothing that matters more than that.
It is a preacher’s cliché that you could go out of here today and be knocked over by a bus.
I know it’s unlikely in a rural area because of the reduction of bus services, but never the less, the point still stands.
Human life is wonderful and glorious.
But it’s so very fragile.
Even the young and fit aren’t guaranteed even the next breath.
The Psalmist would have us pray: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
Each breathe, each heart beat is a gift of God’s grace, but we would be foolish to presume on tomorrow.
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.
We are not promised length of days.
Adam and Eve’s sin led to their deaths.
But it was also followed by the death of an animal.
God killed an animal to provide animal skins for them to cover their nakedness and take away their shame.
He didn’t have to do that!
There was judgement but judgement was accompanied by mercy.
And similarly, God has covered our sins by the death of Jesus:
All who trust in Jesus are clothed with his perfect righteousness.
The Rock of Ages will indeed hide all our sin and protect us from the storm of God’s wrath.
Jesus took on our mortality that he might take our immorality upon himself.
On the sinless one, every sin of his people was laid.
The Ever-Living Son of God took on frail flesh and blood that he might die in our place that we might live.
Jesus has defeated the last enemy, death, so that for us, death is nothing to fear.
For the Christian, death is the sleep of the body – and who’s afraid of a nap?
The ogre Death is tamed.
He has become a servant who merely ushers us into the nearer presence of Jesus.
Through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, Death has lost his sting.
His ancient power is broken.
The Christian can laugh at the supposed tyranny of death.
The first Easter was the death of death in the death of Christ.
Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Yes, we must all die, but we know that after Good Friday comes Easter Sunday.
This story ends not with a tomb but with the bursting forth of the Lord of Life!
Of course death could not hold Him!
Yes, one day, death; but in the morning, Resurrection!
This Lent, God calls us to die to sin and live for righteousness.
Jesus bids us die to self and live for him.
He is no fool who gives up the supposed life he cannot keep to gain the eternal life he cannot lose.
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Turn away from sin, and be faithful to Christ.
In the death of Christ, may you know life to the full which will last for ever.
Because of Christ, this dust will be transformed and glorified.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are….
2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
(1 John 3:1ff)
And so to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory and power, now and to all eternity. Amen.
Audio sermon here: https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=340
Genesis 2:4-7, 15-17; 3:17-end (pages 4-6)
Hebrews 2:10-end (page 1202)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
I’m afraid this probably won’t be the most jolly sermon you’ve ever heard!
I’m sorry about that, but there it is.
If there is a time for a certain amount of doom and gloom, I suppose it’s Ash Wednesday evening.
Come back on Easter Sunday for lots of rejoicing!
This evening I want to mention to you something which is almost unmentionable in our day and age, and that’s death.
I’ve been provoked to this social faux pas by the words traditionally used in the imposition of ashes:
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
What a happy uplifting thought!
But, I think, an important one.
One which might help to put us in our place:
A good dose of humility might be an excellent way to begin Lent.
Yes, you and I are basically, from a biblical point of view, walking dust:
We are mud, yes, animated by the Spirit or breath of God himself, but mud never the less:
We are created stuff – matter.
And that matters.
We are not God.
We are not the Uncreated Creator.
None of us is self-made.
We are dust.
Yes, wonderfully, dust loved and given life by Almighty God:
Dusty glorious children of God and heirs of immortality in Christ, but still dust.
And to dust we shall return.
We are all going to die!
In Victorian times, one did not speak of the facts of life.
But today sex is everywhere and we do not speak of the fact of death.
Death is much more medicalised and sanitized and hidden away than it once was.
How many of us have even seen a dead body?
Understandably we don’t like to think about death, but it will come to us all.
The Ash Wednesday Liturgy and the Bible think that we ought to remember that we are dust and that to dust we shall return.
Along with taxes, death is the only real certainty in life.
Death is the ultimate statistic.
One in one people die.
The death rate is 100%.
That’s why the sinister undertaker could sign all his letters, “Yours eventually!”
In Medieval times, they realised that it was important to us to remember that we are all going to die.
Paintings sometimes included a memento mori – a reminder of death.
There is the great person pictured in all their splendour and pomp.
Normally it’s a rather flattering likeness: their best self, looking full of life.
They’re paying for the painting, after all.
But there on their desk there might be a skull.
Remember your mortality, it says.
This’ll be you, O Great One, in a few short years.
At your funeral, the Vicar may well read Psalm 103 at your graveside:
“As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children—
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.”
Of course, we will all admit that theoretically in the abstract we know that people die.
But am I willing to take a long hard look at the fact that I myself and going to die?
And that even as your youthful and energetic Rector, I may have more years behind me than before me.
What difference would it make if we were to live each day in the light of our deaths?
I invite you to dare to meditate on mortality – and on your own mortality in particular.
In the light of our coming deaths, maybe there are some things that would matter rather less.
And some things that would matter rather more.
After all, life is short and eternity is long.
It is appointed to all human beings to die once and after that to face the judgement.
We will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ.
So what would the Bible say about death?
From a biblical point of view, death is an enemy, an intruder.
Death is not God’s original intention for humanity.
It is the penalty of sin.
God warned our first parents, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
Satan’s great lie was that there would be no judgement, no death.
Did God really say that? (Genesis 3:1)
“You will not surely die!” (Genesis 3:4)
“Perhaps God’s word wasn’t true!”
“Maybe there’s some way you can cheat death”
And people have been dreaming of immortality and eternal youth ever since.
But no matter what face cream you use, or what diet you adopt, or how faithful you are at the gym, it is only a matter of time.
As the Burial Service in The Book of Common Prayer has it:
“Man, that is born of a woman, hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery.
He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay.
In the midst of life we are in death”
In the instant of that first rebellion, Adam and Eve died spiritually.
Before, all had been love and joy.
But now all was guilt and shame.
They had once loved to walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day, but now they ran and hid and they blamed one another.
Their relationships with God, and with one another, and with the whole created order were broken.
Their work would become toil and sweat, and the ground would produce thorns and thistles.
And eventually they would die physically.
Death is the parting of body and soul.
The breath of life, the Spirit, returns to God who gave it.
And our bodies sleep in the earth.
As children of Adam we are born to die.
Before our time comes, we would do well to have made our peace with God.
There is nothing that matters more than that.
It is a preacher’s cliché that you could go out of here today and be knocked over by a bus.
I know it’s unlikely in a rural area because of the reduction of bus services, but never the less, the point still stands.
Human life is wonderful and glorious.
But it’s so very fragile.
Even the young and fit aren’t guaranteed even the next breath.
The Psalmist would have us pray: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
Each breathe, each heart beat is a gift of God’s grace, but we would be foolish to presume on tomorrow.
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.
We are not promised length of days.
Adam and Eve’s sin led to their deaths.
But it was also followed by the death of an animal.
God killed an animal to provide animal skins for them to cover their nakedness and take away their shame.
He didn’t have to do that!
There was judgement but judgement was accompanied by mercy.
And similarly, God has covered our sins by the death of Jesus:
All who trust in Jesus are clothed with his perfect righteousness.
The Rock of Ages will indeed hide all our sin and protect us from the storm of God’s wrath.
Jesus took on our mortality that he might take our immorality upon himself.
On the sinless one, every sin of his people was laid.
The Ever-Living Son of God took on frail flesh and blood that he might die in our place that we might live.
Jesus has defeated the last enemy, death, so that for us, death is nothing to fear.
For the Christian, death is the sleep of the body – and who’s afraid of a nap?
The ogre Death is tamed.
He has become a servant who merely ushers us into the nearer presence of Jesus.
Through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, Death has lost his sting.
His ancient power is broken.
The Christian can laugh at the supposed tyranny of death.
The first Easter was the death of death in the death of Christ.
Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Yes, we must all die, but we know that after Good Friday comes Easter Sunday.
This story ends not with a tomb but with the bursting forth of the Lord of Life!
Of course death could not hold Him!
Yes, one day, death; but in the morning, Resurrection!
This Lent, God calls us to die to sin and live for righteousness.
Jesus bids us die to self and live for him.
He is no fool who gives up the supposed life he cannot keep to gain the eternal life he cannot lose.
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Turn away from sin, and be faithful to Christ.
In the death of Christ, may you know life to the full which will last for ever.
Because of Christ, this dust will be transformed and glorified.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are….
2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
(1 John 3:1ff)
And so to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory and power, now and to all eternity. Amen.
Thursday, February 20, 2020
The Cross and Works
The cross is, of course, in a sense the ultimate good work. Christ's sacrifice is of infinite merit.
But from another point of view, the cross is something inflicted on Christ which he passively accepts. It is violence done to him. It is not possible to crucify oneself. Sinners crucify Jesus and the Father pours out his wrath on his beloved Son in our place.
On the cross, Christ is utterly immobile. He cannot do anything. The cross is a wicked thing done to God the Son. It is a no to human works.
In the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father raises the Son from the tomb. This is the work of God intervening and over turning human works.
But from another point of view, the cross is something inflicted on Christ which he passively accepts. It is violence done to him. It is not possible to crucify oneself. Sinners crucify Jesus and the Father pours out his wrath on his beloved Son in our place.
On the cross, Christ is utterly immobile. He cannot do anything. The cross is a wicked thing done to God the Son. It is a no to human works.
In the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father raises the Son from the tomb. This is the work of God intervening and over turning human works.
Senkbeil, The Care of Souls - a review
Harold L. Senkbeil, The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart (Lexham Press, 2019)
ISBN: 9781683593010
US $21.99
290pp, hb
I very much enjoyed this book as a reminder of the noble craft and art of the pastor. Senkbeil believes we need the Holy Spirit to cultivate a pastoral temperament or character in us. He urges us to recall that we are the authorised representatives and servants of Jesus who are to be about his business and act in his stead. We act as his agents as stewards or proxies administering gifts which are not our own. We are the emissaries, the errand boys of Jesus, the sheep dogs of the Good Shepherd, and as such we ought to be loyal to him and spend time in his presence. We should seek to cultivate Christ’s love for the sheep in our own hearts.
Senkbeil makes what he calls the classical model of pastoral care and the cure of souls seem attractive. The Word of God is the source and norm. Attentive diagnosis, with careful listening which takes time to avoid leaping to conclusions, is to move towards intentional treatment. The minister is not a psychologist or therapist (and these may be helpful to our people). The pastor’s vocation is to minister the Word and Sacraments, which give what they promise. He must carefully distinguish guilt and shame in those whom he treats. Almost always we are both sinning and sinned against, but it is harmful to confuse these and to produce a false guilt or fail to deal with a sense of shame, however unjustified that might be. Holiness is Christ’s gift and the goal of pastoral care. The pastor and the Christian are engaged in spiritual warfare and require the armour of Christ their hero. The cure of souls also goes hand in hand with mission. Of course, those who come to believe will require soul care. There is helpful teaching here on how to pray for people in response to the Scriptures and how to teach others to pray. We might particularly remember that we pray “Our Father” not only in solidarity with other believers but in Christ. Senkbeil encourages steadiness in the face of inevitable opposition from the world, and joy in the pastor.
With his high view of the pastoral office, Senkbeil is convinced that the pastor needs a pastor and that it is normally best if this person is not also the pastor’s ministerial supervisor.
Senkbeil is a Lutheran and some contemporary evangelicals might balk at the emphasis on baptism and “the sacrament of the altar”, Holy Communion, and on the ministry of absolution and blessing. But Michael Horton of Westminster Seminary as written the foreword, so this must be approved reading for the Reformed!
A life time of pastoral experience has gone into this book, which includes anecdotes and examples / case studies. Senkbeil also draws winsomely on his upbringing in rural western Minnesota to provide analogies pertinent to the minister of the Word.
I think any pastor could benefit from this counsel.
Senkbeil is the executive director of Doxology: The Lutheran Centre for Spiritual Care - www.doxology.us
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Acts 10 & 11 - some further jottings
At Joppa, Jonah had disobeyed God concerning taking God’s message to the Gentiles (Jonah 1:3), whereas in Joppa Peter (eventually / after some reluctance) obeys God and God’s message goes to the Gentiles. Jonah fled from the word of God to Joppa; Peter came from Joppa in response to and with the Word of God.
* * *
At Joppa, Jonah had disobeyed God concerning taking God’s message to the Gentiles (Jonah 1:3), whereas in Joppa Peter (eventually / after some reluctance) obeys God and God’s message goes to the Gentiles. Jonah fled from the word of God to Joppa; Peter came from Joppa in response to and with the Word of God.
* * *
Certainly Cornelius and his family needed to be converted, but so, in a manner of speaking, did Peter and the church. Cornelius is eager to hear the Word of God; Peter needs a bit of convincing to put it into practice.
* * *
We could call this passage a case of double vision, because both Cornelius and Peter see visions.
Cornelius’ vision (10v3-6)
Cornelius’ obedience to the vision (10v7-8)
Peter’s vision (10vv9-16)
Peter’s obedience to the vision (10v17-
* * *
Stott: Four hammer blows of divine revelation were required to persuade Peter:
The divine vision (11:4-10)
The divine command (11:11-12)
The divine preparation (11:13-14)
The divine action (11:15-17)
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Free Audio Suggestions
I asked Facebook for free audio suggestions.
Here are a few of the responses:
Oerdrive or Libby for local authority library members
99% Invisible
Planet Money
Reply All
Cooper and Cary Have Words
Revisionist History
Futility Closet - amazing stories
The Anthropocene Reviewed
Mere Fidelity
Quantum - The Wee Flea Podcast
Unbelievable with Justin Brierley
The Church Society Podcast
Free audio books at Librivox - anything read by "Mark F Smith" - https://librivox.org/reader/204?primary_key=204 - Treasure Island, Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, Swiss Family Robinson, The Lost World, Huckleberry Finn
One free book a month from ChristianAudio.com
The first two seasons of the Revolutions podcast cover the English Civil War and the War of Independence.
BBC Sounds - In Our Time, More or Less and many more
The Spectator Podcasts
Here are a few of the responses:
Oerdrive or Libby for local authority library members
99% Invisible
Planet Money
Reply All
Cooper and Cary Have Words
Revisionist History
Futility Closet - amazing stories
The Anthropocene Reviewed
Mere Fidelity
Quantum - The Wee Flea Podcast
Unbelievable with Justin Brierley
The Church Society Podcast
Free audio books at Librivox - anything read by "Mark F Smith" - https://librivox.org/reader/204?primary_key=204 - Treasure Island, Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, Swiss Family Robinson, The Lost World, Huckleberry Finn
One free book a month from ChristianAudio.com
The first two seasons of the Revolutions podcast cover the English Civil War and the War of Independence.
BBC Sounds - In Our Time, More or Less and many more
The Spectator Podcasts
Tom Wright on Acts 10
I've found Tom Wright especially helpful on these passages:
Tom Wright: “People today sometimes refer to this present story [of the conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10] as a sign that, within the New Testament, there is a recognition that ‘all religions lead to God’, or even that all religions are basically the same. This is certainly not what Luke intends, and both Cornelius himself and Peter himself would have been shocked at such a suggestion. The reason Cornelius was a devout worshiper of Israel’s God was precisely that he was fed up with the normal Roman gods and eager to follow what seemed to him the real one. It is not the case, then, that God simply ‘accepts us as we are’. He invites us as we are; but responding to that invitation always involves the complete transformation which is acted out in repentance, forgiveness, baptism, and receiving the spirit.” (Acts for Everyone part 1, p164)
Peter’s message in vv34ff is a message all about God and what he has done
NT Wright’s points:
God sent the message of peace (v36)
God anointed Jesus (v38)
God was with him (v38)
God raised him from the dead (v40)
God chose us as witnesses (v41)
God told us to preach (v42)
God ordained Jesus as judge (v42)
“… the opening line of Peter’s speech, ‘God has no favourites.’ [Acts 10:34]… doesn’t mean that God runs the world as a democracy, or that he simply validated and accepts everyone’s opinion about everything, or everyone’s chosen lifestyle. It means that there no ethnic, geographical, cultural or moral barriers any longer in the way of anyone and everyone being offered forgiveness and new life. That is a message far more powerful than the easy-going laissez-faire tolerance which contemporary Western society so easily embraces. Cornelius didn’t want God (or Peter) to tolerate him. He wanted to be welcomed, forgiven, healed, transformed. And he was.” (p170)
Acts 11:14 – “Luke clearly does not suppose that Cornelius was ‘saved’ already and needed merely to be informed of the message about Jesus as an interesting addendum to the ‘salvation’ he already possessed.” (p174)
Tom Wright: “People today sometimes refer to this present story [of the conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10] as a sign that, within the New Testament, there is a recognition that ‘all religions lead to God’, or even that all religions are basically the same. This is certainly not what Luke intends, and both Cornelius himself and Peter himself would have been shocked at such a suggestion. The reason Cornelius was a devout worshiper of Israel’s God was precisely that he was fed up with the normal Roman gods and eager to follow what seemed to him the real one. It is not the case, then, that God simply ‘accepts us as we are’. He invites us as we are; but responding to that invitation always involves the complete transformation which is acted out in repentance, forgiveness, baptism, and receiving the spirit.” (Acts for Everyone part 1, p164)
Peter’s message in vv34ff is a message all about God and what he has done
NT Wright’s points:
God sent the message of peace (v36)
God anointed Jesus (v38)
God was with him (v38)
God raised him from the dead (v40)
God chose us as witnesses (v41)
God told us to preach (v42)
God ordained Jesus as judge (v42)
“… the opening line of Peter’s speech, ‘God has no favourites.’ [Acts 10:34]… doesn’t mean that God runs the world as a democracy, or that he simply validated and accepts everyone’s opinion about everything, or everyone’s chosen lifestyle. It means that there no ethnic, geographical, cultural or moral barriers any longer in the way of anyone and everyone being offered forgiveness and new life. That is a message far more powerful than the easy-going laissez-faire tolerance which contemporary Western society so easily embraces. Cornelius didn’t want God (or Peter) to tolerate him. He wanted to be welcomed, forgiven, healed, transformed. And he was.” (p170)
Acts 11:14 – “Luke clearly does not suppose that Cornelius was ‘saved’ already and needed merely to be informed of the message about Jesus as an interesting addendum to the ‘salvation’ he already possessed.” (p174)
Parish Magazine Item for March
(A development of the previous post!)
From The Rectory
It’s striking, if we stop to think about it, how much, for good or for ill, we are formed by our habits. I guess we don’t always realise their power. During the recent power cut, I still found myself walking into the loo and trying to turn on the light, although, of course, if I’d paused, I would have known that nothing was going to happen. It seems we are hard-wired to be creatures of habit, and so it’s worth asking to what extent our ways of doing things are healthy or harmful. Maybe these things sometimes seem neutral, but it could be a valuable exercise, for example, to reflect on our morning or bedtime routines, or our way of going about meals, or interacting with others, or our use of technology, or whatever. I potter round doing various things first thing in the morning, opening curtains and unlocking the door and so on, but pretty soon I normally head to my computer with a large coffee. It might be good for me to insert a brief prayer and a Bible text even before the first email of the day.
This season of Lent (which runs from Ash Wednesday on 26th February through the weeks approaching Easter) might be a good time for such self-examination and re-evaluation. Habits are not easy to break, but studies show that within a month a new habit can be pretty well established. It seems likely that you could make a change by Easter Sunday on 12th April.
I’ve been helped in thinking about this by a paperback by Justin Whitmel Earley, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2019). Its very practical and readable. The Common part of the title comes from the conviction that these practices are best adopted communally, with others, but also that these things can be lived out in ordinary life, not just by super-spiritual monastics. Earley, an American mergers and acquisitions lawyer, realised he had to make some changes when he found himself overdoing it at work, anxious, experiencing insomnia, with his family life suffering.
He suggests eight possible habits, four daily and four weekly, of resistance and embrace. The daily habits are: (1) Kneeling prayer at morning, midday and bedtime; (2) One meal with others; (3) One hour with phone off; (4) Scripture before phone. And the weekly ones are: (1) One hour of conversation with a friend; (2) Curate media to four hours; (3) Fast from something for twenty-four hours; (4) Sabbath.
Of course, most of these things are issues of practical wisdom rather than biblical law. These ideas may not fit your particular circumstances and needs. And you wouldn’t have to buy into the whole package all at once. I haven’t! You could just give one or two of these things a go for a while. For example, if, like me, you aspire to pray but you find it harder to actually pray, Earley has the helpful suggestion of setting an alarm (e.g. on your phone) for some time each day when you are likely to be able to take a few moments to pray.
Earley suggests that just a couple of these small changes could make an enormous difference: he calls them key-stone habits. Your approach to the day might be radically altered by two or three minutes of quiet and prayer framing and punctuating your other activities. And the Bible is meant to be daily food for our souls. That doesn’t necessarily mean hours of Bible study at the crack of dawn (though I’m all for that!). A few moments each day, say with a verse from the Psalms, could be transforming. Lots of resources such as Bible reading notes or little devotional books are available to help us engage with the Scriptures. Videos and other resources for using the habits / to accompany the book can be found at the website: https://www.thecommonrule.org/. Why not give one of these things a go? And perhaps invite a friend or family member to try it with you.
However you plan to observe it or not, a happy and holy Lent and Easter to you!
From The Rectory
It’s striking, if we stop to think about it, how much, for good or for ill, we are formed by our habits. I guess we don’t always realise their power. During the recent power cut, I still found myself walking into the loo and trying to turn on the light, although, of course, if I’d paused, I would have known that nothing was going to happen. It seems we are hard-wired to be creatures of habit, and so it’s worth asking to what extent our ways of doing things are healthy or harmful. Maybe these things sometimes seem neutral, but it could be a valuable exercise, for example, to reflect on our morning or bedtime routines, or our way of going about meals, or interacting with others, or our use of technology, or whatever. I potter round doing various things first thing in the morning, opening curtains and unlocking the door and so on, but pretty soon I normally head to my computer with a large coffee. It might be good for me to insert a brief prayer and a Bible text even before the first email of the day.
This season of Lent (which runs from Ash Wednesday on 26th February through the weeks approaching Easter) might be a good time for such self-examination and re-evaluation. Habits are not easy to break, but studies show that within a month a new habit can be pretty well established. It seems likely that you could make a change by Easter Sunday on 12th April.
I’ve been helped in thinking about this by a paperback by Justin Whitmel Earley, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2019). Its very practical and readable. The Common part of the title comes from the conviction that these practices are best adopted communally, with others, but also that these things can be lived out in ordinary life, not just by super-spiritual monastics. Earley, an American mergers and acquisitions lawyer, realised he had to make some changes when he found himself overdoing it at work, anxious, experiencing insomnia, with his family life suffering.
He suggests eight possible habits, four daily and four weekly, of resistance and embrace. The daily habits are: (1) Kneeling prayer at morning, midday and bedtime; (2) One meal with others; (3) One hour with phone off; (4) Scripture before phone. And the weekly ones are: (1) One hour of conversation with a friend; (2) Curate media to four hours; (3) Fast from something for twenty-four hours; (4) Sabbath.
Of course, most of these things are issues of practical wisdom rather than biblical law. These ideas may not fit your particular circumstances and needs. And you wouldn’t have to buy into the whole package all at once. I haven’t! You could just give one or two of these things a go for a while. For example, if, like me, you aspire to pray but you find it harder to actually pray, Earley has the helpful suggestion of setting an alarm (e.g. on your phone) for some time each day when you are likely to be able to take a few moments to pray.
Earley suggests that just a couple of these small changes could make an enormous difference: he calls them key-stone habits. Your approach to the day might be radically altered by two or three minutes of quiet and prayer framing and punctuating your other activities. And the Bible is meant to be daily food for our souls. That doesn’t necessarily mean hours of Bible study at the crack of dawn (though I’m all for that!). A few moments each day, say with a verse from the Psalms, could be transforming. Lots of resources such as Bible reading notes or little devotional books are available to help us engage with the Scriptures. Videos and other resources for using the habits / to accompany the book can be found at the website: https://www.thecommonrule.org/. Why not give one of these things a go? And perhaps invite a friend or family member to try it with you.
However you plan to observe it or not, a happy and holy Lent and Easter to you!
The Revd Marc Lloyd
Tuesday, February 04, 2020
Optimal AM Habit: Coffee and Computer?
I have just finished reading Justin Whitmel Earley's, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2019), which I'm due to discuss with a couple of local pastors in a couple of weeks time.
Earley, an American mergers and acquisitions lawyer, has written an immensely readable and practical book.
He suggests eight possible habits, four daily and four weekly, of resistance and embrace:
Daily:
Kneeling prayer at morning, midday and bedtime
One meal with others
One hour with phone off
Scripture before phone
Weekly:
One hour of conversation with a friend
Curate media to four hours
Fast from something for twenty-four hours
Sabbath
There is lots that's helpful here, although of course much more could be said about each of these topics. The book is somewhat autobiographical and anecdotal rather than massively theological and exegetical but Earley suggests further reading at the end of each chapter where one could dig deeper into these things.
I'm sure Earley is right about the power of habit. Make a coffee and head for the computer pretty early on in the morning is pretty ingrained in me. It would be excellent, I think, perhaps to insert a brief kneeling prayer and a short passage of Scripture in there between bed and screen. Whether it comes before or with the coffee is another question! But it's not easy to change our habits.
Earley says: "Studies show that it takes at least two to three weeks to turn new practices into habits." (p21). He suggests trying one or more of these habits for a month, ideally with others.
It's all very well reading a book and mentally ticking it off as sound and helpful. It is another thing to try change!
If, like me, you aspire to pray but you find it harder to actually pray, Earley has the helpful suggestion of setting an alarm (on your phone) for some time each day when you are likely to be able to take a few moments to pray.
If starting today seems a little hasty, Lent, which begins this year on Wednesday 26th February might be an excellent time to give one or more of these things a go.
Videos and other resources for using the habits / to accompany the book can be found at: https://www.thecommonrule.org/
Earley, an American mergers and acquisitions lawyer, has written an immensely readable and practical book.
He suggests eight possible habits, four daily and four weekly, of resistance and embrace:
Daily:
Kneeling prayer at morning, midday and bedtime
One meal with others
One hour with phone off
Scripture before phone
Weekly:
One hour of conversation with a friend
Curate media to four hours
Fast from something for twenty-four hours
Sabbath
There is lots that's helpful here, although of course much more could be said about each of these topics. The book is somewhat autobiographical and anecdotal rather than massively theological and exegetical but Earley suggests further reading at the end of each chapter where one could dig deeper into these things.
I'm sure Earley is right about the power of habit. Make a coffee and head for the computer pretty early on in the morning is pretty ingrained in me. It would be excellent, I think, perhaps to insert a brief kneeling prayer and a short passage of Scripture in there between bed and screen. Whether it comes before or with the coffee is another question! But it's not easy to change our habits.
Earley says: "Studies show that it takes at least two to three weeks to turn new practices into habits." (p21). He suggests trying one or more of these habits for a month, ideally with others.
It's all very well reading a book and mentally ticking it off as sound and helpful. It is another thing to try change!
If, like me, you aspire to pray but you find it harder to actually pray, Earley has the helpful suggestion of setting an alarm (on your phone) for some time each day when you are likely to be able to take a few moments to pray.
If starting today seems a little hasty, Lent, which begins this year on Wednesday 26th February might be an excellent time to give one or more of these things a go.
Videos and other resources for using the habits / to accompany the book can be found at: https://www.thecommonrule.org/
Saturday, February 01, 2020
Speaking notes / jottings on Psalm 24
Accompanied by death by PowerPoint for our all age service:
(Audio version: https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=335 - I actually found having fuller notes than I sometime do for an all age service rather distracting so you might notice some long pauses!)
Vv1-2: “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
The world, and all who live in it;
For he has founded it upon the seas
And established it on the waters.”
God is the creator, owner, ruler and sustainer of all places and people
Everything, everyone, everywhere belongs to God who made them
The earth, fruitful, peopled, solid and established is the Lord’s
There is not a centremeter of the universe over which God doesn’t rightly say “mine!”
Seas / waters (v2) suggest threat / chaos
God rules over them
His rule is certain and secure
Vv3-4 zoom in from all people and all places to a particular place and some particular people
V3: “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?”
Ascend = go up
The hill of the LORD? - mount Zion
God’s holy place ? the temple?
God’s holy presence
Holiness
We sometimes imagine that God would happily welcome everyone, like a kind of friendly grandfather giving out Werther’s Originals
But the temple in Jerusalem spoke of both welcome and no entry
God was present to bless his people
He wanted to meet with them
And he called them to come to him
But the temple also had a series of no entry signs
For the Gentile nations
For non-priests
For everyone except the high priest once a year carrying the blood of sacrifice
It is very hard for a sinful people to come into the presence of a Holy God
Terms and Conditions apply!
See v4
God’s guest list (v4):
The Entry requirements:
Clean hands? – actions
Pure heart
Pure worship – he “who does not lift up his soul to an idol”
Pure lips – “or swear by what is false”
We might say it covers:
Right living
Right thinking
Right relationship with God
Right relationship with others
None of us perfectly meet those requirements
But God promises blessing and vindication (justice / righteousness / justification) to those who sincerely seek him in his appointed way (vv5-6)
In the Old Testament, faithful covenant keeping sinners could come into God’s presence on the basis of sacrifice
The innocent animal died in their place so that they could be forgiven
And they trusted God for vindication
Only Jesus perfectly meets the requirements of v4
He is the ultimate sacrifice for sin, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world
When we trust in him, we receive the gift of his righteousness, which is by God’s grace to all those who have faith in Jesus
Vv7-10 zoom in again to focus on the LORD Almighty the King of Glory
Imagine a city greeting the LORD as the victorious king, a warrior mighty in battle (v7-)
Do we think of God as a warrior?
The LORD of hosts, the LORD of armies
A triumphal procession
Cf. Palm Sunday – Jerusalem greets Jesus as the king
Cf. Jesus’ triumph by his cross and resurrection
Welcome Jesus the victorious King of Glory who defeated sin and death for us!
Praise God trusting in Jesus, the victorious King of Glory, the perfect sacrifice for sin.
Clothed in Jesus’ righteousness, we are welcomed in and we rejoice to stand forgiven and clean in God’s holy presence.
* * *
Kidner:
King of Glory
Vv1-2: The All-Creating
Vv3-6: The All-Holy
Vv7-10: The All-Victorious
* * *
Motyer:
Fling Wide The Gates
Approaching (vv1-2)
Welcoming (vv3-6)
Personal integrity (v4)
Spiritual integrity (v4b)
Social integrity (4b-6)
Entering (vv7-10)
Request (v7)
Interrogation (v8a)
Reply (v8b)
Request (v9)
Interrogation (v10a)
Reply (v10b)
(Audio version: https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=335 - I actually found having fuller notes than I sometime do for an all age service rather distracting so you might notice some long pauses!)
Vv1-2: “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
The world, and all who live in it;
For he has founded it upon the seas
And established it on the waters.”
God is the creator, owner, ruler and sustainer of all places and people
Everything, everyone, everywhere belongs to God who made them
The earth, fruitful, peopled, solid and established is the Lord’s
There is not a centremeter of the universe over which God doesn’t rightly say “mine!”
Seas / waters (v2) suggest threat / chaos
God rules over them
His rule is certain and secure
Vv3-4 zoom in from all people and all places to a particular place and some particular people
V3: “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?”
Ascend = go up
The hill of the LORD? - mount Zion
God’s holy place ? the temple?
God’s holy presence
Holiness
We sometimes imagine that God would happily welcome everyone, like a kind of friendly grandfather giving out Werther’s Originals
But the temple in Jerusalem spoke of both welcome and no entry
God was present to bless his people
He wanted to meet with them
And he called them to come to him
But the temple also had a series of no entry signs
For the Gentile nations
For non-priests
For everyone except the high priest once a year carrying the blood of sacrifice
It is very hard for a sinful people to come into the presence of a Holy God
Terms and Conditions apply!
See v4
God’s guest list (v4):
The Entry requirements:
Clean hands? – actions
Pure heart
Pure worship – he “who does not lift up his soul to an idol”
Pure lips – “or swear by what is false”
We might say it covers:
Right living
Right thinking
Right relationship with God
Right relationship with others
None of us perfectly meet those requirements
But God promises blessing and vindication (justice / righteousness / justification) to those who sincerely seek him in his appointed way (vv5-6)
In the Old Testament, faithful covenant keeping sinners could come into God’s presence on the basis of sacrifice
The innocent animal died in their place so that they could be forgiven
And they trusted God for vindication
Only Jesus perfectly meets the requirements of v4
He is the ultimate sacrifice for sin, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world
When we trust in him, we receive the gift of his righteousness, which is by God’s grace to all those who have faith in Jesus
Vv7-10 zoom in again to focus on the LORD Almighty the King of Glory
Imagine a city greeting the LORD as the victorious king, a warrior mighty in battle (v7-)
Do we think of God as a warrior?
The LORD of hosts, the LORD of armies
A triumphal procession
Cf. Palm Sunday – Jerusalem greets Jesus as the king
Cf. Jesus’ triumph by his cross and resurrection
Welcome Jesus the victorious King of Glory who defeated sin and death for us!
Praise God trusting in Jesus, the victorious King of Glory, the perfect sacrifice for sin.
Clothed in Jesus’ righteousness, we are welcomed in and we rejoice to stand forgiven and clean in God’s holy presence.
* * *
Kidner:
King of Glory
A tiny hymn about the
power of God the creator
An entrance liturgy about
the holiness of God the Lord
A procession liturgy about
the victories of God the King
Vv1-2: The All-Creating
Vv3-6: The All-Holy
Vv7-10: The All-Victorious
* * *
Motyer:
Fling Wide The Gates
Approaching (vv1-2)
Welcoming (vv3-6)
Personal integrity (v4)
Spiritual integrity (v4b)
Social integrity (4b-6)
Entering (vv7-10)
Request (v7)
Interrogation (v8a)
Reply (v8b)
Request (v9)
Interrogation (v10a)
Reply (v10b)
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Psalm 27 - Headings / Outline
God willing, I am preaching on Psalm 27 in the morning.
I might go for something like:
(1) Confidence in the LORD: faith not fear (vv1-3)
(2) Seek the shelter of God’s house: he will keep you safe (vv4-6)
(3) Seek the smile of God’s face: he will not forsake you (vv7-12)
(4) Confidence in the LORD: take heart and wait for him (vv13-14)
[Update: and here is how it went - audio: https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=334]
* * *
Goldingay:
Prayer arising out of Testimony
Based on Goldingay p391:
Vv1-2 presumably address the congregation, making a declaration of confidence based on the past event
Vv3-6 develop this logic at greater length
Vv7-12 address Yahweh with a plea for deliverance and reasons for confidence
Vv13-14 address the self, returning to urging confidence in Yahweh
* * *
Expositor’s Bible Commentary:
Confidence in the Lord
(1) Confidence in God’s presence (vv1-3)
(2) Prayer for God’s presence (vv4-6)
(3) Prayer for God’s presence (vv7-12)
(4) Confidence in God’s presence (vv13-14)
* * *
Wilson:
(1) Confidence in Yahweh (vv1-3)
(2) Desire to dwell in the house of Yahweh (vv4-6)
(3) Plea for deliverance from enemies (vv7-12)
(4) Confidence and encouragement (vv13-14)
* * *
Wilcock:
(1) Confidence (vv1-3)
(2) Seeking: focused on God (vv4-6)
(3) Seeking: stressed by circumstances (vv7-12)
(4) Confidence (vv13-14)
* * *
Kidner:
(1) Whom shall I fear? (vv1-3)
(2) Sanctuary (vv4-6)
(3) Thy face…, Thy way (vv7-12)
(4) Believe and wait (vv13-14)
* * *
Motyer: The Confident Life
A1: Confidence (vv1-3)
B1: Yahweh’s house, my security in his shelter (vv4-6)
B2: Yahweh’s face, my security in his favour (vv7-12)
A2: Confidence (vv13-14)
* * *
Spurgeon:
The Psalmist’s sure confidence in his God (vv1-3)
His love of communion with his God (vv4-6)
Prayer (vv7-12)
Acknowledgement of the sustaining power of faith and encouragement for others to follow his example (vv7-12)
Thursday, January 09, 2020
EFS of the Son
Could there be something in this?
https://www.academia.edu/21050414/Intra-Trinitarian_Obedience_and_Nicene-Chalcedonian_Christology
https://www.academia.edu/21050414/Intra-Trinitarian_Obedience_and_Nicene-Chalcedonian_Christology
Extraordinary ordinary
The parish magazine item for February
From The Rectory
As I write, it’s one of those especially dark and gloomy winter mornings. From my study I have an excellent view of the drizzle, which seems to have set in for the day. And I’ve got a few bits of boring admin, which I’ve been putting off, which I ought to grind through.
Some Christians in other parts of the world live their lives in a dramatic context of fierce persecution, but for us things are often pretty hum drum. Maybe from time to time we’re conscious of acute temptations where we might feel everything hangs in the balance and we risk throwing it all away. But I guess for most of us most of the time life, and the Christian life, often feels pretty mundane and ordinary.
And let’s face it, it is. It’s in our ordinary day to day contexts of work, family and friends that we are called to live for Jesus. Loving God and our neighbour is often repetitive. I pray and read my Bible without Damascus Road experiences of flashes of light and voices from heaven. Sometimes it doesn’t feel as if it’s doing me much good, and I can’t say I necessarily have a wonderful moving sense of the presence and power of God. Often I just plod on. And there are the routine tasks of changing a nappy, or doing the shopping, the same old commute to work, or pile of dishes or paperwork, or whatever it may be which we have to deal with. The Christian life is a long obedience in the same direction mostly in the ordinary day by day stuff of life. But these things matter to God. They’re the arena of our discipleship. Our love for God is to be worked out in how we treat our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues in the daily interactions of life, how we do our work when no one is watching, and so on.
Yet, if we could see it with the eyes of faith, there is great drama even in this. For spiritually speaking, the Bible tells us that if we are believers in Jesus we have been blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We are united to Christ by faith in the Holy Spirit. We have died and risen with Christ and our life is hidden with Christ in God. We might sometimes feel rather lifeless, but the resurrection power of Christ is at work in us. His Spirit empowers and animates us and wants to make us more like Jesus. God looks at us in Christ and says to us, “You are my child, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.” We seek to live for Jesus in the mundane day to day, not as those who have something to earn or prove. We’re not trying to pay back a debt. We’re already more loved than we can possibly imagine. In Jesus we are rich and full. God can do more than all we ask or imagine, and he means to bring us to eternal glory.
And our domestic obedience is part of a great cosmic drama. It’s striking that in his letter to the Ephesian Christians, the Apostle Paul can go from talking about relationships between wives and husbands, parents and children, masters and slaves to spiritual warfare, the battle between good and evil, angels and demons. The village shop, the kitchen sink and the factory floor can be the frontline of something much bigger. Every person we encounter is, after all, an immortal soul, someone uniquely created in the image of God and intended to reveal something of his glory. Will we pray that God would help us to see and treat them as such?
The Apostle Paul tells us that because of the resurrection of Jesus, our labour in the Lord is not in vain. Nothing done for Jesus, motivated by faith, in the power of the Spirit, to the glory of God will be lost. Our faithfulness to Jesus is part of the vision of the Lord’s Prayer that God’s will might be done on earth as it is in heaven and that his kingdom might come. One day Jesus will transform and renew all things in the New Creation. And all those who trust in Jesus will be taken up into that wonderful future.
It might be grey and drizzly, but yet the believer has a mind-blowing song of praise and thanks to sing. The admin is no less boring and necessary, but the call to walk with Jesus and to look to the Heavenly City is an exciting one. May God open our eyes afresh to the extraordinary in the ordinary and give us grace to plod on faithfully with a supernatural joy.
From The Rectory
As I write, it’s one of those especially dark and gloomy winter mornings. From my study I have an excellent view of the drizzle, which seems to have set in for the day. And I’ve got a few bits of boring admin, which I’ve been putting off, which I ought to grind through.
Some Christians in other parts of the world live their lives in a dramatic context of fierce persecution, but for us things are often pretty hum drum. Maybe from time to time we’re conscious of acute temptations where we might feel everything hangs in the balance and we risk throwing it all away. But I guess for most of us most of the time life, and the Christian life, often feels pretty mundane and ordinary.
And let’s face it, it is. It’s in our ordinary day to day contexts of work, family and friends that we are called to live for Jesus. Loving God and our neighbour is often repetitive. I pray and read my Bible without Damascus Road experiences of flashes of light and voices from heaven. Sometimes it doesn’t feel as if it’s doing me much good, and I can’t say I necessarily have a wonderful moving sense of the presence and power of God. Often I just plod on. And there are the routine tasks of changing a nappy, or doing the shopping, the same old commute to work, or pile of dishes or paperwork, or whatever it may be which we have to deal with. The Christian life is a long obedience in the same direction mostly in the ordinary day by day stuff of life. But these things matter to God. They’re the arena of our discipleship. Our love for God is to be worked out in how we treat our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues in the daily interactions of life, how we do our work when no one is watching, and so on.
Yet, if we could see it with the eyes of faith, there is great drama even in this. For spiritually speaking, the Bible tells us that if we are believers in Jesus we have been blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We are united to Christ by faith in the Holy Spirit. We have died and risen with Christ and our life is hidden with Christ in God. We might sometimes feel rather lifeless, but the resurrection power of Christ is at work in us. His Spirit empowers and animates us and wants to make us more like Jesus. God looks at us in Christ and says to us, “You are my child, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.” We seek to live for Jesus in the mundane day to day, not as those who have something to earn or prove. We’re not trying to pay back a debt. We’re already more loved than we can possibly imagine. In Jesus we are rich and full. God can do more than all we ask or imagine, and he means to bring us to eternal glory.
And our domestic obedience is part of a great cosmic drama. It’s striking that in his letter to the Ephesian Christians, the Apostle Paul can go from talking about relationships between wives and husbands, parents and children, masters and slaves to spiritual warfare, the battle between good and evil, angels and demons. The village shop, the kitchen sink and the factory floor can be the frontline of something much bigger. Every person we encounter is, after all, an immortal soul, someone uniquely created in the image of God and intended to reveal something of his glory. Will we pray that God would help us to see and treat them as such?
The Apostle Paul tells us that because of the resurrection of Jesus, our labour in the Lord is not in vain. Nothing done for Jesus, motivated by faith, in the power of the Spirit, to the glory of God will be lost. Our faithfulness to Jesus is part of the vision of the Lord’s Prayer that God’s will might be done on earth as it is in heaven and that his kingdom might come. One day Jesus will transform and renew all things in the New Creation. And all those who trust in Jesus will be taken up into that wonderful future.
It might be grey and drizzly, but yet the believer has a mind-blowing song of praise and thanks to sing. The admin is no less boring and necessary, but the call to walk with Jesus and to look to the Heavenly City is an exciting one. May God open our eyes afresh to the extraordinary in the ordinary and give us grace to plod on faithfully with a supernatural joy.
The Revd Marc Lloyd
Thursday, January 02, 2020
A Pastoral Exhortation for 2020
If you don’t already…
… make it your top priority to get along to your church’s main Sunday service each week unless prevented from doing so by illness or some other genuine necessity. Go prayerfully seeking to meet with Jesus and his people. Pray for the ministers and for others. Go wanting to hear and apply God’s word. And go in the hope of being able to encourage and serve others. Try to arrive a bit early and linger for a cuppa afterwards and especially look out for anyone who seems to be new or on their own.
… try to get to your church’s monthly mid-week prayer meeting if at all possible. Prayer is vital to the health of the church and it ought to be a good time of fellowship too. Likely it will help you to feel much more part of things and get a sense of the vision of the leaders.
… aim to read your Bible and pray most days. Little and often would be good. Maybe start with a gospel or a Psalm. What does the passage tell us about God and his purposes? How might it inform our prayers? Perhaps say and reflect on the Lord’s Prayer. A little outline like the following might help you to PRAY:
Praise and thank God for who he is and all he has done for you
Repent of any known sins of thought, word or deed or things you have failed to do
Ask God to help and bless others
Pray for Yourself, especially for love and God and for others and growth in Christlikeness.
I bet your pastor or a Christian friend would love to help you to read the Bible and pray. Why not ask them?
… if possible, consider giving a mid-week home group / Bible study a try.
… have a Christian book on the go. Try 10ofthose.com or ask a for a recommendation.
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Matthew 11vv2-19
A little outline of what's going on in tomorrow's Gospel reading. It is a section full of questions.
In vv4-6, Jesus responds to John’s question about Jesus.
Then in vv7-15, we’ll find that Jesus asks the crowd some questions about John.
And then finally in vv16-19, Jesus questions the crowd’s responses both to John and to Jesus.
In vv4-6, Jesus responds to John’s question about Jesus.
Then in vv7-15, we’ll find that Jesus asks the crowd some questions about John.
And then finally in vv16-19, Jesus questions the crowd’s responses both to John and to Jesus.
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
A reed swayed by the wind (Matthew 11v7)
I've consulted a few commentaries about Jesus' rhetorical question to the crowds about John the Baptist in Matthew 11:7, "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?". The implied answer is no.
The options so far seem to be the following, or I guess just possibly some combination of the following:
Did they go just to admire the scenery of reeds blowing in the breeze? (R. T. France mentions this option)
Or something (someone) unstable, slight, inconsistent, easily moved, someone who adapted themselves to the prevailing opinions of the day or to the political weather? (France / Leon Morris)
Or perhaps the word "reed", the wind and the watery / wilderness context is meant to echo Israel’s experience in the wilderness and the wind blowing back the Sea of Reeds so that Israel could come out of Egypt. In this case, Jesus would be asking, is John a new Moses? (Jesus might then ask, is John the Davidic king? see v8) (This suggestion is in Peter Leithart. France thinks this less plausible but cites Davies and Allison 2:247 as supporting it.)
Or a Galilean reed blown in the wind is a symbol of King Herod Antipas' emblem, as used on his coins. It is this Herod who has John the Baptist in prison, of course, and this would fit with the mention of king's houses in v8. (This is N. T. Wright's view. Again, France thinks this is a less plausible but cites G. Theissen, Gospels, 25-42 for it).
The options so far seem to be the following, or I guess just possibly some combination of the following:
Did they go just to admire the scenery of reeds blowing in the breeze? (R. T. France mentions this option)
Or something (someone) unstable, slight, inconsistent, easily moved, someone who adapted themselves to the prevailing opinions of the day or to the political weather? (France / Leon Morris)
Or perhaps the word "reed", the wind and the watery / wilderness context is meant to echo Israel’s experience in the wilderness and the wind blowing back the Sea of Reeds so that Israel could come out of Egypt. In this case, Jesus would be asking, is John a new Moses? (Jesus might then ask, is John the Davidic king? see v8) (This suggestion is in Peter Leithart. France thinks this less plausible but cites Davies and Allison 2:247 as supporting it.)
Or a Galilean reed blown in the wind is a symbol of King Herod Antipas' emblem, as used on his coins. It is this Herod who has John the Baptist in prison, of course, and this would fit with the mention of king's houses in v8. (This is N. T. Wright's view. Again, France thinks this is a less plausible but cites G. Theissen, Gospels, 25-42 for it).
See?
Of course there are many miracles in the Bible. But Jesus is the one who gives the blind new sight. Apart from the ministry of Jesus, the only person to be cured of blindness in the Bible is Saul of Tarsus who recovers from a temporary blindness when scales fall from his eyes (Acts 9:17-18). He has come to see who Jesus is. Jesus came that people might see.
(See Leon Morris, Pillar Commentary on Matthew 11:5 p276)
Thursday, December 05, 2019
Calvin on Psalm 72
He is interesting on how the Psalm applies not exclusively but ultimately to Christ:
"Those who would interpret it simply as a prophecy of the kingdom of Christ, seem to put a construction upon the words which does violence to them; and then we must always beware of giving the Jews occasion of making an outcry, as if it were our purpose, sophistically, to apply to Christ those things which do not directly refer to him. But as David, who was anointed king by the commandment of God, knew that the terms upon which he and his posterity possessed the kingdom were, that the power and dominion should at length come to Christ; and as he farther knew that the temporal well-being of the people was, for the time, comprehended in this kingdom, as held by him and his posterity, and that from it, which was only a type or shadow, there should at length proceed something far superior — that is, spiritual and everlasting felicity; knowing, as he did, all this, he justly made the perpetual duration of this kingdom the object of his most intense solicitude, and prayed with the deepest earnestness in its behalf, — reiterating his prayer in his last moments, with the view of distinctly testifying, that of all his cares this was the greatest. What is here spoken of everlasting dominion cannot be limited to one man, or to a few, nor even to twenty ages; but there is pointed out the succession which had its end and its complete accomplishment in Christ."
"Those who would interpret it simply as a prophecy of the kingdom of Christ, seem to put a construction upon the words which does violence to them; and then we must always beware of giving the Jews occasion of making an outcry, as if it were our purpose, sophistically, to apply to Christ those things which do not directly refer to him. But as David, who was anointed king by the commandment of God, knew that the terms upon which he and his posterity possessed the kingdom were, that the power and dominion should at length come to Christ; and as he farther knew that the temporal well-being of the people was, for the time, comprehended in this kingdom, as held by him and his posterity, and that from it, which was only a type or shadow, there should at length proceed something far superior — that is, spiritual and everlasting felicity; knowing, as he did, all this, he justly made the perpetual duration of this kingdom the object of his most intense solicitude, and prayed with the deepest earnestness in its behalf, — reiterating his prayer in his last moments, with the view of distinctly testifying, that of all his cares this was the greatest. What is here spoken of everlasting dominion cannot be limited to one man, or to a few, nor even to twenty ages; but there is pointed out the succession which had its end and its complete accomplishment in Christ."
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Parish Magazine Item for January
I have been getting ahead.
From The Rectory
Just in case you are in want of a New Year’s resolution, how about this?
If you don’t already do so, why not take a few moments each day to STOP and pray.
It’s an amazing privilege for Christian believers that Almighty God, our loving heavenly Father, delights to hear us when we pray in faith. Given our needs and God’s power, it’s madness that we so often neglect to talk to him.
Saying the Lord’s Prayer daily and reflecting on it might be a great place to start. The Psalms and the Bible’s other prayers might be a help to us.
There are many ways to skin a cat, but let me suggest one approach to things about which to pray that could get you going. It’s a very easy to remember structure: STOP.
(1) Sorry
Are there ways you know you’ve blown it today? Things of which your conscious accuses you? Maybe things you’ve done or said or thought? Or good things you’ve failed to do? God stands ready to forgive because Jesus died for sinners like me and you. He offers us restored relationship and a fresh start. A mini daily spiritual check up might help us to make real progress this year in being more like Jesus. Pray for God’s help with these things in the day ahead and tomorrow.
(2) Thank you
Gratitude is such a secret to contentment. There may be great struggles and difficulties and you may not have all that you desire, but what could you give thanks for? Whatever your circumstances, praise God that he made you and loves you. Thank him for the blessings you have in Jesus your Saviour, for who he is, for what he’s done for you.
(3) Others
Who do you know who is in need or who has asked for your prayers? Maybe you want to keep a note of a few people to pray for. And here’s an opportunity to broaden out your vision too, maybe to pray for our nation and government or persecuted Christians on the other side of the world. You might use the church notice sheet or prayer diary, or The Sussex Gospel Partnership prayer diary to help you. Or newsletters from Mission Partners. I’m told many people find the Prayer Mate App very useful: www.prayermate.net. Operation World is another useful resource to help us pray for the nations.
(4) Please
Jesus told us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” so we should be unashamed about bringing our needs to Our Father. Pray about whatever bothers you, both for your physical and spiritual needs. Ask for help too know, love and follow Jesus and to share his love with others.
I’ll be praying that you may you know God’s blessing in 2020. Your prayers too could make all the difference. STOP and pray. Why not take a few moments to do so now?
Happy New Year!
From The Rectory
Just in case you are in want of a New Year’s resolution, how about this?
If you don’t already do so, why not take a few moments each day to STOP and pray.
It’s an amazing privilege for Christian believers that Almighty God, our loving heavenly Father, delights to hear us when we pray in faith. Given our needs and God’s power, it’s madness that we so often neglect to talk to him.
Saying the Lord’s Prayer daily and reflecting on it might be a great place to start. The Psalms and the Bible’s other prayers might be a help to us.
There are many ways to skin a cat, but let me suggest one approach to things about which to pray that could get you going. It’s a very easy to remember structure: STOP.
(1) Sorry
Are there ways you know you’ve blown it today? Things of which your conscious accuses you? Maybe things you’ve done or said or thought? Or good things you’ve failed to do? God stands ready to forgive because Jesus died for sinners like me and you. He offers us restored relationship and a fresh start. A mini daily spiritual check up might help us to make real progress this year in being more like Jesus. Pray for God’s help with these things in the day ahead and tomorrow.
(2) Thank you
Gratitude is such a secret to contentment. There may be great struggles and difficulties and you may not have all that you desire, but what could you give thanks for? Whatever your circumstances, praise God that he made you and loves you. Thank him for the blessings you have in Jesus your Saviour, for who he is, for what he’s done for you.
(3) Others
Who do you know who is in need or who has asked for your prayers? Maybe you want to keep a note of a few people to pray for. And here’s an opportunity to broaden out your vision too, maybe to pray for our nation and government or persecuted Christians on the other side of the world. You might use the church notice sheet or prayer diary, or The Sussex Gospel Partnership prayer diary to help you. Or newsletters from Mission Partners. I’m told many people find the Prayer Mate App very useful: www.prayermate.net. Operation World is another useful resource to help us pray for the nations.
(4) Please
Jesus told us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” so we should be unashamed about bringing our needs to Our Father. Pray about whatever bothers you, both for your physical and spiritual needs. Ask for help too know, love and follow Jesus and to share his love with others.
I’ll be praying that you may you know God’s blessing in 2020. Your prayers too could make all the difference. STOP and pray. Why not take a few moments to do so now?
Happy New Year!
The Revd Marc Lloyd
Monday, November 04, 2019
Privilege, Entitlement and Gratitude: Parish Magazine Item for December
From The Rectory
I’ve just had a nice hot shower, for which I’m particularly thankful, as yesterday morning the power was off. Our eldest almost needed a boat to get to the school bus today, but he lived through it! It’s great that there’s a good school virtually on our doorstep and transport so readily available.
Yet we so easily take all this and more for granted. Perhaps we wouldn’t say so, but we behave as if we feel entitled. We can readily fly into a rage if the internet is slow, or the laptop takes an age to update at an inconvenient moment. Or we can feel so disappointed if that meal or event isn’t just so. Or expectations are sometimes so high that nothing can please us.
This December, amidst all the feasting of Christmas and the uncertainty of a General Election, let’s pause to thank God for all that he has given us, for the innumerable blessings which we enjoy. If we do not have all that we desire, we certainly have far more than we deserve.
Remember Remembrance? Gratitude is something we can learn from those who found themselves in the mud of the Somme. That hell on earth showed them with new eyes all that there was to give thanks for at home. Many soldiers came from poverty, but the trenches revealed in a new way the horrors of which human beings are capable.
And in the Second World War, on the home front, the privations of rationing were a reminder to some of the plenty of better times.
Or think instead of that first Christmas. Jesus was totally privileged. Absolutely and rightly entitled. He was by nature God the Son, the Second Person of the Eternal Trinity. Yet he chose to leave all the glory of heaven for the poverty of a no-where-place. In the words of the carol:
He was born in disgrace and fear, soon fleeing as a hunted refugee with a price on his head. A majestic throne was his by right, but he chose an animal’s feeding trough. Not only so, but for much of his short life he had no where to lay his head. He would die a shameful death for us, in our place.
May you and your family enjoy a very happy and thankful Christmas. May God give us grateful and joyful hearts that we may be content with little or much.
I’ve just had a nice hot shower, for which I’m particularly thankful, as yesterday morning the power was off. Our eldest almost needed a boat to get to the school bus today, but he lived through it! It’s great that there’s a good school virtually on our doorstep and transport so readily available.
And so we could
go on. There are so many things which we normally take for granted. Some of us
do not have what we might like, or some of the shiny new things we notice
others have. We may have to watch the pennies very carefully. But compared to
most people down through history or around the world we have so much. The vast
majority of the populations of Liberia, The Central
African Republic, or Burundi, would find our consumption and waste almost offensive.
A time traveller from Medieval or Victorian England would marvel at the
affluence and convenience of life in modern Sussex. The choice available in a
24-7 supermarket is almost ridiculous and can be bewildering. And I am tempted
to go and count the number of cheeses one could buy from our own village shop
to make the point.
Yet we so easily take all this and more for granted. Perhaps we wouldn’t say so, but we behave as if we feel entitled. We can readily fly into a rage if the internet is slow, or the laptop takes an age to update at an inconvenient moment. Or we can feel so disappointed if that meal or event isn’t just so. Or expectations are sometimes so high that nothing can please us.
This December, amidst all the feasting of Christmas and the uncertainty of a General Election, let’s pause to thank God for all that he has given us, for the innumerable blessings which we enjoy. If we do not have all that we desire, we certainly have far more than we deserve.
Remember Remembrance? Gratitude is something we can learn from those who found themselves in the mud of the Somme. That hell on earth showed them with new eyes all that there was to give thanks for at home. Many soldiers came from poverty, but the trenches revealed in a new way the horrors of which human beings are capable.
And in the Second World War, on the home front, the privations of rationing were a reminder to some of the plenty of better times.
Or think instead of that first Christmas. Jesus was totally privileged. Absolutely and rightly entitled. He was by nature God the Son, the Second Person of the Eternal Trinity. Yet he chose to leave all the glory of heaven for the poverty of a no-where-place. In the words of the carol:
God of God, Light
of Light,
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb.
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb.
He was born in disgrace and fear, soon fleeing as a hunted refugee with a price on his head. A majestic throne was his by right, but he chose an animal’s feeding trough. Not only so, but for much of his short life he had no where to lay his head. He would die a shameful death for us, in our place.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love’s sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love’s sake becomes poor.
All for love’s sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love’s sake becomes poor.
(From a Hymn
by Frank Houghton (1894-1972) based on 2 Corinthians 8v9)
May you and your family enjoy a very happy and thankful Christmas. May God give us grateful and joyful hearts that we may be content with little or much.
The Revd Marc Lloyd
Friday, October 25, 2019
Preaching the gospel from Acts 6:1-7
There are many true, useful and interesting things on could say from Acts 6:1-7.
For example, one might say:
And in particular how does it proclaim the biblical gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, for that is surely the purpose of Scripture and of all faithful preaching?
Yes, we need teaching about church life and how we might organise things and so on, but we need each Sunday to hear good news which will be life and joy to us as we trust in Christ.
So how would you do that from Acts 6:1-7. Oh, and one of the services is an all age too!
One of the issues with reading this and other passages in Acts might be expressed as the narrative / normative dilemma: when is Luke telling us what happened and when is he telling us what should happen? Or perhaps more accurately, how and in what respects is this narrative normative? Acts is not first of all a handbook for church government. Granted, for example, that the early church took a decision by casting lots, and even that it was right to do so, does not mean that all church decisions should be taken in this way in the future. Or to relate it to this passage, the seven were all men with Greek names. Does that mean that all deacons should (a) be men and / or (b) have Greek names? Thinking about this can alert us to our own assumptions. The whole of Scripture will help to inform our reading and applying of this passage. And we must do that with the good news of Jesus front and centre.
The spirit formed community of the church serving one another in love is one fruit and expression of that gospel. She is the New Israel experiencing new covenant blessings in which all are invited to partake.
For example, one might say:
- The church can grow despite persecution when the good news of Jesus is proclaimed.
- Growth can bring problems.
- The early church had problems which threatened the growth of the church.
- It is important to address issues which might impede the spread of God’s word.
- Prayer and ministry of the word are priorities for the church.
- Practical acts of caring and good administration are important too.
- Practical jobs should ideally be done by those who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.
- Leadership and service are shared with people having different responsibilities and roles.
- The Apostles led the church but everyone was involved in making / agreeing decisions.
And in particular how does it proclaim the biblical gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, for that is surely the purpose of Scripture and of all faithful preaching?
Yes, we need teaching about church life and how we might organise things and so on, but we need each Sunday to hear good news which will be life and joy to us as we trust in Christ.
So how would you do that from Acts 6:1-7. Oh, and one of the services is an all age too!
One of the issues with reading this and other passages in Acts might be expressed as the narrative / normative dilemma: when is Luke telling us what happened and when is he telling us what should happen? Or perhaps more accurately, how and in what respects is this narrative normative? Acts is not first of all a handbook for church government. Granted, for example, that the early church took a decision by casting lots, and even that it was right to do so, does not mean that all church decisions should be taken in this way in the future. Or to relate it to this passage, the seven were all men with Greek names. Does that mean that all deacons should (a) be men and / or (b) have Greek names? Thinking about this can alert us to our own assumptions. The whole of Scripture will help to inform our reading and applying of this passage. And we must do that with the good news of Jesus front and centre.
The spirit formed community of the church serving one another in love is one fruit and expression of that gospel. She is the New Israel experiencing new covenant blessings in which all are invited to partake.
Friday, October 04, 2019
Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds (Matthew 13) All Age Game / Intro.
Look away now if you are coming on Sunday!
I am planning to have a weed or not quiz, and then to go on to mention Jesus and the gospel!
I've got images of these plants on the screen and the idea is that everyone will have a red card to hold up for weed and a green card to hold up for not weed:
Weed or not quiz!
What is a weed?
A plant in the wrong place
OED: “a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants”
Aggressive, invasive, hard to get rid of, likely to take over
Stinging nettles - Urtica dioica
Daffodills – Narcissus - variety called King Alfred – deer resistant! / deter deer
Sticky weed - Galium aparine – goosegrass - The small, hairy seeds are produced in large quantities, of between 300-400 seeds per plant, are easily distributed and can persist in the soil for 6 years.
Sunflowers – Helianthus - some discussion online of whether or not they are weeds! – perennial sunflowers can grow wild, spread rapidly and be invasive causing problems for farmers
Mock strawberries - Duchesnea indica – not edible, yellow flowers
Aster – daisy like – come in white purple and red – often mistaken for a weed
Japanese knotweed - Reynoutria japonica – many common names: fleeceflower, Himalayan fleece vine, billyweed, monkeyweed, monkey fungus, elephant ears, pea shooters, donkey rhubarb, American bamboo, and Mexican bamboo
Orange hackweed - Pilosella aurantiaca - fox-and-cubs, orange hawk bit,[3]:208 devil's paintbrush, grim-the-collier – can be v invasive – notifiable in some parts of the world, eradication programmes
Mountain mint - Pycnanthemum muticum – often mistaken for a weed – leaves look like they’ve been dusted with icing sugar
I am planning to have a weed or not quiz, and then to go on to mention Jesus and the gospel!
I've got images of these plants on the screen and the idea is that everyone will have a red card to hold up for weed and a green card to hold up for not weed:
Weed or not quiz!
What is a weed?
A plant in the wrong place
OED: “a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants”
Aggressive, invasive, hard to get rid of, likely to take over
Stinging nettles - Urtica dioica
Daffodills – Narcissus - variety called King Alfred – deer resistant! / deter deer
Sticky weed - Galium aparine – goosegrass - The small, hairy seeds are produced in large quantities, of between 300-400 seeds per plant, are easily distributed and can persist in the soil for 6 years.
Sunflowers – Helianthus - some discussion online of whether or not they are weeds! – perennial sunflowers can grow wild, spread rapidly and be invasive causing problems for farmers
Mock strawberries - Duchesnea indica – not edible, yellow flowers
Aster – daisy like – come in white purple and red – often mistaken for a weed
Japanese knotweed - Reynoutria japonica – many common names: fleeceflower, Himalayan fleece vine, billyweed, monkeyweed, monkey fungus, elephant ears, pea shooters, donkey rhubarb, American bamboo, and Mexican bamboo
Orange hackweed - Pilosella aurantiaca - fox-and-cubs, orange hawk bit,[3]:208 devil's paintbrush, grim-the-collier – can be v invasive – notifiable in some parts of the world, eradication programmes
Mountain mint - Pycnanthemum muticum – often mistaken for a weed – leaves look like they’ve been dusted with icing sugar
Tuesday, October 01, 2019
Zack Eswine, The Imperfect Pastor - book group jottings
Zack Eswine, The Imperfect Pastor:
Discovering Joy in Our Limitations Through a Daily
Apprenticeship with Jesus
(Crossway, 2015)
(Updated shorter re-write of Sensing Jesus)
Some jottings for a pastors' book group
Did you find the American / anecdotal / personal aspects a help or a barrier?
Did you find it interesting / striking / usual?
Did you enjoy the somewhat poetic style?
Was it a useful reminder of Jesus the Perfect Shepherd as the model for under-shepherds?
Part 1: The Calling We Pursue
What are your desires (in / through ministry)? (Chapter 1, p17ff)
What do you want Jesus to do for you? (p29ff)
Do you want to do large things famously and fast if possible?
Would you be content to be an unnamed mountain – with faithful obscurity? (p20)
Are you worried that you might e.g. receive praise for a sermon but know little about how to follow Jesus in your living room? (p26)
Did it challenge your ideas of success / what the pastor’s vocation ideally is?
Do you agree our constituency has issues with celebrity pastors and success culture?
Are you tempted to be hasty and neglect mattering things? (p26)
What does it mean to be a pastor and a human being? (Chapter 2, p33ff)
Is there a risk of sacrificing our humanity to the pastor role / persona / identity?
Do you agree that “Christian life and ministry are an apprenticeship with Jesus towards recovering our humanity and, through his Spirit, helping others do the same” for, through, with in Jesus to the glory of God? (p35)
Do you need to recover your humanity? In what senses?
What about the bodily / physical and local?
How might you do that?
What in your background / home life has shaped you? (Chapter 3, p45ff)
How do you tend to relate to men and women?
What are your fears? Are you tempted to use your fists or to run?
Do you embrace the mundane, invisible, uncontrollable, unfinished work of the pastor? (p58f)
How are your private prayers?
Do you agree this seems ineffective?
Are you trusting Jesus or appearances or sub-Jesus methods?
Part 2: The Temptations We Face?
Do you feel the temptations to be:
Everywhere for all? (Chapter 5, p73ff)
Fix it all? (Chapter 6, p89ff)
Know it all? (Chapter 7, p103ff)
Immediacy? (Chapter 8, p117ff)
(In a way these are temptations to be God!)
Are you too quick to throw lots of Bible words at stuff? (p91ff)
Are you in a hurry? Would anyone ever think of you as patient?!
Augustine (p103): you only really understand any Scripture when it tends towards you loving God / your neighbour
Do you need the mantra “I am not the Christ!”? (p35)
Part 3: Reshaping Our Inner Life
How is your inner life?
Do you give attention to it?
How?
How are you with solitude / silence / quiet?
What are your main ambitions? (cf. Chapter 9, p135ff)
Are you seeking wisdom?
How is your walk with God?
Do you long above all things to behold the face of God in Christ from the Scriptures? (Chapter 10, p151ff)
Do you think your pace is healthy? (Chapter 11, p169ff)
How could it be better?
Do you normally manage to live in an appropriate day at a time kind of way? Does the past or the future press in unhelpfully?
How do you feel about emotions?!
Do you think about the emotional toll of different aspects of your work? What drains / energises you?
What are you most burdened from / for? (p170)
Portions of the Day (p169ff) – persuasive? Useful?
Do you “strategically rest in order to vigorously keen going?” (p183)
Part 4: Reshaping the Work We Do
Did you value what he said about:
Visiting the sick (chapter 12, p187ff)
Touch (p188ff)
Calling the elders to pray for the sick / James 5:14 (p194ff)
The care of sinners / church discipline (Chapter 13, p199) – was any of this applicable to the C of E?!
Local knowledge (Chapter 14, p213ff)
Slowing down
Leadership (Chapter 15, p229ff)
Ways of training other leaders
Do you think of these as important parts of your work?
Was what he said helpful?
Do we cause unintended harms which should be red flags to us? (p211)
Do you agree that “pastoral care is mostly presence, being with someone in the midst of what troubles them”? (p191) How are you at that?
What areas do you neglect / decisions do you leave to others / things you don’t sweat?
Are you good at really giving permission and living with the consequences?
Do you micromanage everything / some things?
Is leadership “mostly about trying to embody what we invite others to follow”? (p229) So what?
Useful to ask: is this the right thing? In the right way? At the right time? (p236ff)
Romantic realism – neither defeatist empiricist resignation nor total romanticism (Chapter 16, p245ff)
* * *
Did you find the Bible handling persuasive?
Might the book change how you carry on at all?!
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