Going out on Thursdays?

If you live within striking distance of Eastbourne, this could well be the place to be on Thursday evenings from September.

Rushalake Green - The Song

It appears the village in which we live has its own tune on YouTube. HT Village Leaf.

3 Rectors

Of Warbleton & Bodle Street Green. Taken at the Rushlake Green Flower Show, 2011.

Last Word on John Stott

Last Word, the Radio 4 obituary programme, features Rev'd Dr John Stott at the top of this week's programme. It is available on BBC i-player.

Coming Soon

www.warbletonchurch.org.uk

Right, anyone able to show me how to use WordPress?

Thanks to the excellent Hugh Bourne we're off the ground for £50!

If

My latest offering for the Parish Magazine:

Being a kind, generous, open-minded sort of a Rector, I allow wedding couples to choose their own readings – within reason. The law states that they have to have at least one Bible reading, and I make some recommendations, but they can have whatever they want. I might add in another one if they chose something very obscure! And they can pick any other reading they want, as long as it’s not indecent or blasphemous.

If…

On Saturday (as I write) I’m taking a wedding where the couple have chosen St Paul’s famous words from the Bible in his first letter to the Corinthian church, chapter  13 – a classic exposition of true love. And If, by Rudyard Kipling.

Kipling can, of course, claim to be a local(ish) boy. And it’s a great, great poem. The Nation’s Favourite, according to the BBC poll, no less.

You’ll remember it says:

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

…

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

“If you can….” The problem is, you haven’t, you can’t and you won’t! Even the best of us fail in a myriad of ways. None of us is the person we hope to be. If we can’t live up to our own standards, what hope of living up to Kipling’s or, more to the point, God’s?

We all need God’s forgiveness and help. An inspirational poem is not enough.

And the poem is fascinating for its view of masculinity too: what makes a true man? A controversial subject in our age!

Only Jesus truly fulfils 1 Corinthians 13 and If. He is the most loving man who ever lived. And also the most manly man – not in a machismo way, but in the sense that he had great power under control, strength that he used to bless and serve others, not exploit or tyrannize them. Jesus is the antithesis of the cruel, lazy or absent male. He was the True, Proper, Ultimate Man, the true Son of his Father, the Second and Last Adam. Let us engage ourselves in his service.

Preaching is the real presence

The preached Word as gospel is the basic form of the Word of God and the creator of the church because it is nothing less than the real presence of the exalted Christ.

David Lotz, on Luther & the preaching of the Word of God, The 48 Files, HT Glen Scrivener

Church Away Day Speaker

I am pleased to announce that the speaker at our 2012 Church(es) Away Day in February will be Revd Dr David Field.

David works for a leading executive search company, specialising in finding Vice-Chancellors for universities.

He has taught in theological colleges in Nigeria and the UK and served as the minister of a church in Surrey.

David has a first class honours degree in Theology from Keble College, Oxford and a PhD (in English Puritan thought) from Selwyn College, Cambridge. He has published two books in historical theology and biblical commentary, as well as book chapters, articles, and reviews.

Married to Sue and with three daughters and one grandson, amongst other things, he has a love for seventeenth century history, current affairs, Everton FC, John Buchan novels and early mornings.

If

The nation's favourite poem.

The thing is, you haven't, you can't, you won't! That, amongst other reasons, is why you need forgiveness and help.

I am taking a wedding on Saturday where If and 1 Corinthians 13 will be read. Wonderful gospel opportunity!

An adventure

My friends from camp, the lovely and amazingly talented Dan and Rachel are about to start a great adventure teaching at a Christian school in Africa. They are both brilliant musicians, so I hope they like the vibe but continue to march to the beat of a different drum.

They go with our love and prayers - not least the prayer that they will return each year for The Best Week of the Year.

We had 6 members from Ghana on camp this year, so I see no reason why we can't recruit members from the rest of Africa. Last year we had a member from Paris who spoke very little english: that was more of a challenge but tres bien.

The Minister's Job

The pastor is to be a scholar and a preacher. He must preserve his time and energies for the main tasks of the ministry of the word and sacrament. Preaching requires imagination, reading, study and prayer and these are not possible when exhausted. To do his actual job, he will sometimes have to neglect being a social worker and therapist and budget manager and CEO and a million other things that some people want him to be. The Pastor must be to some extent in another zone since he must bring a word from elserwhere.


Great little You-Tube clip of Walter Bruggerman saying this - HT Revd Dr Michael McLenahan.

Be King of Your Life!

We often say - I have said it myself often - that sin is wanting to be king of my own life. True. In a way. Sin is really wanting to be king of my own life, without submitting to Chrsit. In a sense it's right to be king of your life: to be consciously in control of it, to rule and govern it with purposes in mind. The key thing is that we must submit to Jesus as the King of Kings. Jesus is the High King, and you are to be the king of your life under him. Without Christ, you are inevitably a rebel king, an illegitimate and incompetent ruler, a tyrant and a usurper. It is right and honourable to rule your life under Jesus.

You are invited

to an evening of traditional music in celebration of Mrs Lloyd's birthday: Tues 18th Oct, 7:30pm, Warblrton Parish Church

Giving (my 10%)

This post is intended for those who think of themselves as committed members of the church. If that's not you, I'm sure you could find something better to do.

Allow me to make one or two points about Christian giving:

Planned giving is normally better than unplanned giving and if you can Gift Aid anything you give, the tax man will give an extra 25% at no cost to you. It would be mad (throwing money away) not to gift aid if you can, don't you think?

As the Vicar, I've no desire to know what any parishoner gives, either in cash terms or as a proportion of their income. We treat such things in the strictest need to know confidence and I have nothing to do with it.

It would be good, at least once a year, to review your giving to the church. Has your income changed? Should your giving change?

You will know that under the Older Covenant God's people were commanded to give 10% of their income to the church.

The beauty of this tithe principle is that it is fair and proportional. Everyone gives what they can, according to what they get. In absolute terms, some will give very little; some will give a lot.

Of course, no one can force you to give. And nor would we want to. We want you to give happily and cheerfully. It is a wonderful honour that God should allow us to contribute to his work. All that we have is his and he has an absolute right to all that we have and are. But even if we tithe, God leaves us with 90% of what he has entrusted to us.

It is hard to believe that God's New Covenant people would want to be any less generous than the people of Israel were commanded to be.

Many of us would hardly notice 10% of our income given to the church by standing order each month.

If every committed Christian tithed it would transform church finances. 10 wage earners ought to more or less cover the Pastor's salary on their own.

It maybe that you feel you can't afford 10% of your income. Perhaps your income has fallen and your mortgage has risen, for example. For myself, I don't think you should feel obliged to immediately sell your house so that you can give 10% of your income. It might be sensible to give less for the next 5 years and make up the difference when your circumstances improve.

Some of us may be asset rich and cash flow poor. We may wish to consider a legacy in our wills.

Thoughts? Do you agree? How would this go down in a letter to those on the Electoral Roll?

Today's Newspaper Frontpages

at a glance

The authority of Jesus

Alliteration's aidful art:

In Mark chapter 1 we see:

The authority of Jesus’ sermon: authority over the scribes.

Authority over Satan.

Authority over sickness.

I would have liked an "s" for the call of the first disciples too. Jesus' authority over sinners is not especially the point being made there. Jesus' authority over sailors is rather silly! A parishoner suggested Jesus' authority to call students (since disciples means learners).

In chapter 2 we see Jesus’ authority over sin.

Then we see his authority over the Sabbath.

In chapter 4 we see Jesus’ authority over the storm and the sea.

Reaching the human heart

I bet this'll be a good conference.

Christian school governors

I'm told that Christian school governors (or potential governors) will find helpful stuff at the Transforming Governing site.

Morning Prayer

If you want to encourage some audience participation in Morning Prayer durring the week without forking out for multiple copies of Daily Prayer, you might want some kind of card with something like this printed on it:

O Lord, open our lips

and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

The response to the Psalm and canticles:

Glory to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning is now

and shall be for ever. Amen.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah):

1  Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,

    who has come to his people and set them free.

2  He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour,
    born of the house of his servant David.

3  Through his holy prophets God promised of old
    to save us from our enemies,
    from the hands of all that hate us,

4  To show mercy to our ancestors,
    and to remember his holy covenant.

5  This was the oath God swore to our father

     Abraham:
     to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

6  Free to worship him without fear,
    holy and righteous in his sight
   all the days of our life.

7  And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the

    Most High,
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

8  To give his people knowledge of salvation
   by the forgiveness of all their sins.

9  In the tender compassion of our God
    the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

10 To shine on those who dwell in darkness and   

      the shadow of death,
      and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Luke 1.68-79

These responses may be used in the prayers:

Lord, in your mercy  Or, Lord, hear us

hear our prayer                                Lord, graciously hear us.

Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil,
and keep us in eternal life.

Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Big Questions

From The Urban Pastor, The Rev'd Richard Perkins:

• What if the hokey cokey is what it’s all about?
• Is there another word for synonym?
• What was the best thing before sliced bread?
• Why are your keys always in the last place that you look?

Surely some of the great unanswered questions of our time.

• There are some questions that we can never answer like, why is there an expiry date on sour cream?
• There are some questions that deserve an answer like, who framed Roger Rabbit?
• There are some questions that we ought to answer like, if the ‘black box’ flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn’t the whole airplane made of that stuff?

There is one question to which I’d love to know the answer. I hope you don’t mind if I ask it. I don’t mean to be rude or intrusive. It’s just that the answer fascinates me. It won’t be a question that everyone can answer. But the question is simply, ‘why aren’t you a Christian?’
I don’t know how you respond to that

• You may think, ‘I already am, stop bugging me!’
• You may think, ‘are you kidding me, do I look like an idiot?’
• You may think, ‘I haven’t got a clue; it’s never really crossed my mind’.
• You may think, ‘I didn’t realise I had to be, I thought it was optional!’
• You may think, ‘it was a conclusion I reached after a long and agonised exploration of the facts’.