APCM 1 Draft 1

APCM 2013 – Rector’s “Sermon” / Report / Remarks / Ramble!

A good APCM is a bit like the Oscars.

I’d like to thank my mum, my agent…

Thank yous to you all.

For your regular prayers, your encouragement, your support, your partnership, your practical help, all that you do in the life of the church (sometimes hidden).

Other thank yous to come from others.

Invidious to pick out individuals.

...

Sorry to anyone I forgot to thank!

The rest of this ought to be familiar, motherhood and apple-pie, useful reminder stuff – but maybe some people would find it revolutionary, controversial and thought provoking.

A deliberate, thoughtful, intentional, purposeful church

A church with a mission

A sense that we are about God’s business

Not just going through the motions, keeping the show on the road, doing what we’ve always done

Intelligently planned, focused, creative, effective

Mission not just maintenance – though maintenance would be impressive

Not the management of decline!

Our purposes and priorities:

If we don’t agree on much of this, we might as well give up!

(1)   Discipleship – follow Jesus – be disciples

It’s Jesus who has brought us together and who keeps us together.

Church is radically  different from the History Group or Rotary or the Golf Club in that respect.

(2)   Evangelism – help and encourage others to follow Jesus – make disciples

(3)   Training in ministry – help and encourage one another to be those who can help and encourage others to follow Jesus – be disciple-making disciples

Not about keeping the show on the road, balancing the books, looking after the building.

All of that is important, but it is for the sake of our purposes and priorities.

We are not an amateur and underfinanced branch of English Heritage or Social Services.

We have a gospel to proclaim Good News for all!

A united team.

Every member a minister.

Not a one man band.

I cannot fill Dallington church.

All with our part to play.

One body, many different parts.

All with our gifts.

Some of you won’t want to preach sermons, I’m no good at flower arranging.

No one a mere passenger.

Working together across the benefice.

The importance of the school – assembly & governors’ meetings etc.

A Mission Action Plan that says what we’re going to do to seek to fulfil our purposes.

Going for growth.

What we have been doing gets the results we have been getting and we are not satisfied with that.

We want to grow in depth and in numbers.

Willingness to change in order to peruse our priorities and grow.

A selfless servant hearted attitude that thinks of others, including those who don’t yet belong to the church.

Faithfulness is success, but that’s no excuse for not constantly seeking to be as effective as we can be.

Andrew Atherston on the new ABC

On my post-Easter holiday, I finished reading Andrew Atherstone's new short biography of Justin Welby, the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

I was surprised by how readable and interesting it was.

Welby's connection to Holy Trinity, Brompton was widely reported, but I hadn't realised how important it was. He was also a regular speaker, it seems, at New Wine. But through CiCCU and camps, Welby also experienced a more conservative evanglicalism. Later he was influenced by Roman Catholic social thought and the Benedictine tradition in particular.

I read the book quite casually, but I was also surprised by how many outside interests Welby had, both as a Rector and later. At one point he was spending an average of 2 days a week chairing the local NHS trust, or some such, according to Atherstone. Whilst its hard to get an impression of this, there also seemed to me to be quite a lot of external speaking, writing and travel.

The comment of the Ministry Selector is priceless - and very rude! I must check so that he can be named and shamed here but it included a line like: "I have interviews 1000 candidates for ordination, and you are not in the top 1000!"

The first hint of the gospel in the Bible

is often thought to be Gen 3:15. Well, perhaps. It all depends how we define the gospel, of course. But it's grace all the way back. Creation itself is a matter of grace. God's making of the world is a matter of his overflowing goodness, it speaks of the love of God the Holy Trinity which is too good for God to keep to himself, which out of sheer generosity he wants to share. It is no need in God which creates, by sheer kindness, the expansiveness of a limitless, uncontainable God. So maybe Gen 1:1 is the first hint of the gospel in the Bible. God makes the world that it might be invited into relationship with him.

10 commandments: questions for study & reflection

In a former life I preached a sermon series on the 10 commandments and I have just completed a somewhat interactive Lent course on them. More or less off the top of my head, here are some questions for study and reflection on the commandments. Some questions may be more or less easy or relevant to some commandments.

The Westminster Larger Catechism is a worthwhile commentary on the commandments.

There are many good books on the commandments. Packer is always worth reading. J John is engaging. I found Frame by far the most stimulating read.

Specifically, what does this commandment command or forbid? Why?

What did it mean in its Mosaic context? What does it mean and how does it apply to us today?

Is the placing of this commandment significant? How does it relate to the other commandments?

How does the rest of Scripture inform your understanding of this commandment? For example, what are the punishments for breaking this commandment? What examples are there of people keeping or breaking this commandment?

Is it possible to break this commandment in your heart?

What does this commandment mean broadly understood? What are the underlying principles?

If the commandment is negative, what are its positive implications and vice versa?

How is this a commandment a perspective on all the others? May all sins be understood as a breaking of this commadment?

How might we be tempted to break this commandment? How can we avoid doing so?

How did Jesus keep this commandment?

What does this commandment teach us about God?

How does this commandment reveal our sin? And drive us to the Saviour?

How might this commandment be understood as a promise?

How might this commandment inform our prayers and praises?

Other questions?

Further jottings on this coming Sunday's lectionary Gospel

Thoughts on the anointing of Jesus from John 12 stolen from or provoked by Steve Levy’s sermon from last Sunday:

Reclining with Jesus at a meal the picture of the resurrection hope of a great feast, being yourself with your feet up.

This anointing of Jesus shows that he is the anointed one: a pint of perfume is poured out on the one on whom the Spirit of God is poured out without measure. As the fragrance fills the whole house, so the Spirit flows from Jesus to fill the world.

The woman pours herself out at Jesus’ feet, who will be poured out for her. As the perfume flows out, so Jesus’ blood will flow out for her and for many.

She bows before Jesus and lays her all at Jesus’ feet. The only way to come to Jesus is completely, wholeheartedly.

The woman takes on the aroma of Jesus. Jesus covers over the stench of our sin. The woman cannot cover her sin any longer, as a teenage boy might try to hide his stink with deodorant. The same anointing that comes on Jesus comes on her: she is united with him and takes on his life. It is as if the woman dies and lives again with Christ.

Jesus is her advocate, her defender.

John 11 & 12 are smelly

What is the aromour of these chapters?

At the end of John chapter 11 the people are afraid that the decomposing Lazarus will stink.

And death does indeed stink. It is horrible and unnatural and vile and evil and wrong. Or at least, death without Christ is like that.

But then at the beginning of chapter 12 there is another fragrance. Again it is the smell of death, but with a very different perfume: this is the aromour of Christ's death as he is annointed with expensive pure nard in preparation for his burial. The whole house is filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Although we can only catch the faintest whiff of it, and death still has its stinky aspects, death with Christ is sweet: it ends our suffering and ushers us into the fuller enjoyment of the presence of God.  Though our bodies will rot, may God enable us to catch something of this aromour on the wind of the Spirit.

Oh, and also 1 Cor 2:14ff

APCMs

It’s Annual Parochial Church Meeting season! “Hooray!” I hear you shout! Each parish is required to hold such a meeting every year before 30^th April. I don’t know whether or not that prospect fills you with enthusiasm?! Some people love such things; others would rather stick pins in their eyes.

Nevertheless, the APCMs are important. The church is neither a dictatorship nor exactly a democracy, but the APCM is one opportunity to play your part in the government of your church. I can’t say that people have given their lives so that you can have this particular vote, but you get the idea! Each year, the parishioners elect the Church Wardens and members of the Parochial Church Council. There are also elections every three years to the Deanery Synod.

And you can ask any question you like or make any comments (complaints!) or suggestions. Of course, you can do that at any time. You might prefer to give me a ring, or send me an email, or have a word with me, before you raise something at the APCM but, if you wish, that public forum is available to you.

The APCM is also a chance to review the year that has passed. The PCC will provide a set of accounts and a written report. We trust there will be encouragements and much for which to give God thanks. And, of course, the APCM is a bit like the Oscars: there are always lots of people to thank. Our churches depend on a wonderful army of volunteers who give freely of their time and skills, often with little recognition. Thank you!

The APCM is also an opportunity to look forward and to discuss plans. It encourages us to step back and look at the big picture. Frankly, it sometimes seems to me that I have more than enough work to do simply seeking to keep the show on the road. We’re all concerned about maintaining our buildings and balancing the books. But I don’t want to settle for “maintenance mode”, still less for the management of decline. Since people inevitably die and move away, we need to grow numerically just to stand still. The Diocese tells us that we don’t pay our full costs, and all three parishes are committed to working hard to seek to do so as soon as possible.

But above all it’s the gospel of Jesus Christ that should motivate and inform all that we do. The church is not just an under-resourced branch of English Heritage. Nor are we amateur social workers or counsellors or whatever. We certainly do not exist to pay into the central coffers or just to keep the Rector off the streets. It seems to me that in everything we do we should always keep two main aims before us:

(1) We want to follow Jesus. We are seeking to be his disciples. That’s an inexhaustible life-transforming adventure that affects everything.

(2) We want to help and encourage others to follow Jesus. We want to make disciples of Jesus.

We could add that we want to make disciples of Jesus who will in turn make disciples of Jesus – and so it goes on!

Hopefully, those big aims are clear. We know that our primary means are the Word of God and prayer – all in the power of the Spirit. We’ve also done some strategic thinking when we talked about our Mission Action Plan, and we need to keep that under review. There’ll be much to discuss by way of tactics. Your church needs you! We hope you’ll get on board with this vision and we really mean it when we say that your comments and suggestions are important to us. We’d love to hear how we can do better together.

So, God-willing, I hope to see you at one of our APCMs (details of which, later in the magazine):

·        Dallington on Wed 10^th April at 7pm in the church

·        Bodle Street Green on Fri 12^th April at 7:30pm in the village hall

·        Warbleton on Mon 15^th April at 7:30pm in the church rooms

Bread & Wine: Death & new life

I wonder if there is something to be said about bread and wine involving death and resurrection: the seed falls to the ground and dies and so on, the grain is crushed and lives again transformed and renewed as bread; wine is water or grape ressurected. And through this death and resurrection, they are also life giving: they live too in those who participate in them, as believers are vivified and indwelt by Christ and his Spirit.

A typical service

Today I missed out one of the Ten Commandments. (Murder, since you ask).

I drank up all the consecrated wine with two communicants still to go.

The readings did not correspond with the preacher's sermon.

The CD player wouldn't work. So someone went to get another one. Which arrived after the first hymn. And then the CD kept sticking or skipping or something.

So, a typical service.

Everyone seemed happy and edified!

Spiritual health warnings for Lent

On Wednesday I invited the flock in the name of Christ to the observance of a holy Lent by discipline, self-denial, reading of Holy Scripture and prayer and so on. Here are some spiritual health warnings to go with that:

(1) Lent is not in the Bible.

In itself that is an uninteresting point. Neither is Christmas (in this sense) and all sensible people observe that! So you don't have to observe Lent and neither does your "less godly" hyper-Protestant Christian neighbour. This is not a matter for strife or division or one-up-man-ship. Where God has been silent we must not attempt to bind one anothers' consciences.

(2) The observance of Lent and Advent as penitential seasons risks getting the Christian year out of balance.

It is noteworthy that in the Old Testament (a lesser covenant than the New) there was only one compulsary fast day and a number of feast days. That is the basic shape and tenor of the Christian life. Even if we keep Lent, remember that the Sundays don't count. Resurrection Day is always a feast to the Lord. That means chocolate and booze, surely?

(3) The Christian faith is one of daily year round repentance, but also of continual rejoicing.

Don't be a misery guts. Observe Lent happily or not at all. And observe self-denial and discipleship daily - but know that means loving God and loving your neighbour, the weightier matters of the law.

(4) Booze and chocolate are good gifts of God to be enjoyed with thanksgiving.

The Lord preserve us from a low-fat skinny Christianity! We are not Gnostics. The body and food and drink are good things, though of course they make bad gods. Lent might help us to put them in their place, but they don't belong in the dustbin. 

(5) Keeping man-made made rules for 40 days does not a godly life make.

Giving up sin and taking up godliness is what its all about. We mustn't kid ourselves that we have our minds and bodies under control if we can avoid cocoa solids for a couple of months. Lower the standard so that you can keep the standard and feel good smacks of Phariseeism.

(6) The Christian faith is first of all about what Jesus has DONE not what we DO. We are saved by Jesus, all of grace, through faith and not by good works.

(7) We are not to observe Lent to be seen by men. If we seek their praise, we may have our reward. It may therefore be best not to broadcast your devotions on Facebook!

No doubt more could be said. What would you print on the fag-packet of Lent?

Husbands, get your wives to submit to you

The Bible doesn't say that!

Wives ought to submit to / obey their husbands.

But its not the husband's job to "get his wife to submit" - at least not directly! Telling your wife to do so is unlikely to work. You shouldn't try to "make her", and in any case you can't since submission is a matter of heart, spirit and demeaner not outward conformity. A wife who does as she's told and rages against you inside isn't gonna be much fun!

The husband's duty is clear: love your life as Christ loves the church - with all her sins and imperfections. And with yours! And do all the other stuff that flows from that, like provide and protect and so on. And probably buy flowers and chocolates at regular intervals and tell her how lovely she looks.

In short, the husband ought to try to be Christlike - the kind of husband to whom its not so hard to submit.

Live to work or work to live?

Perhaps this dilema is lessened if we begin to think of our work as part of God's mission.

If our work is aligned to the creation mandate and the great commission, then, in part, we live to work. God's plan is to rule and fill the earth through the disciples of Jesus Christ and, in part, this plan is fulfilled by our work, in union with Christ and in the power of the Spirit by the Word of God.

If we are a bank robber or a prostitute it is clear that (more than likely!) we work to live. But any other lawful calling is part of the very purpose of our existence. We were put in the garden to guard and keep and fill it and to grow the family buisness untill its a global operation. We do not live merely for evenings, weekends and holidays. Neither do we live merely for church on a Sunday, homegroup or seeking to talk about Jesus at the water cooler. Work is part of life lived in obedience to God, part of his plan and purposes.  Sweeping the streets is as much part of that plan as the ministry of the gospel or being a teacher or doctor.

Oh, and of course, we also work so that we might live: to provide for ourselves and our families and to give to others.

Mark 13 - It's not the end of the world

If Mark 13 is largely or entirely about the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple etc. in AD70, we are left with the challenge as to how to preach it as relevant to today.

It obviously does not mean the same to us today after the event as it meant for the apostles before. We do not need to pray that it will not take place in winter or get ready to flee to the Judean hills.

Anyway, my attempt should appear on our church website this week.

After lots of introduction and preamble, my headings were:

(1) Jesus is the true prophet - listen to him, believe his word, do what he says etc.
(2) Jesus is the true Lord and Judge - submit to him, trust him, flee to him for mercy etc. Thank God for our friend on the throne
(3) Jesus is the true temple, the place to meet God and the ultimate sacrifice for sin - come to him in his Word, trust in him for forgiveness and access to God

Marriage Resources

Any of these you'd particularly reccomend? Anything good I've missed?

Dan B. Allender & Tremper Longman III, Intimate Allies (Tyndale)

Dave & Joyce Ames, Looking up the aisle? A framework for exploring a life long relationship (Mission to Marriage)

Christopher Ash, Married for God: Making Your Marriage the Best it can be (IVP)

Christopher Ash, Marriage: Sex in the service of God (IVP)

John and Ann Benton, Don't they make a lovely couple? Six important questions you need to face about your marriage (Christian Focus)

John & Anne Coles, Making More of Marriage (New Wine)

Amelia & Greg Clarke, One Flesh: A Practical Guide to Honeymoon Sex and Beyond (Matthias Media)

James Dobson, Love for a lifetime: Building a marriage that will go the distance (Multnomah Press)

Brian & Barbara Edwards, No Longer Two: A Christian Guide for Engagement and Marriage (Day One)

David Harvey, When Sinners Say “I do”: Discovering the power of the Gospel for marriage (Shepherd Press)

Pete Jackson, Preparing for Marriage – study guide & leader’s guide (Good Book Company)

Timothy & Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (Hodder & Stoughton)

Andreas Kostenberger, God, Marriage and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation (Crossway)

Nicky & Sila Lee, The Marriage Book: How To Build a Lasting Relationship (Alpha)

Nicky & Sila Lee, The Marriage Preparation Course (Alpha)

Kevin Leman, Sheet Music: Uncovering the secrets of sexual intimacy in marriage (Tyndale)

Peter Leithart, A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons (Canon Press)

Rob Parsons, The Sixty Minute Marriage: Transform Your Relationship in One Hour (Care for the Family)

Rob Parsons, Marriage By Design DVD (Care for the Family)

Rob Parsons, 21^st Century Marriage DVD (Care for the Family)

Michael & Hilary Perrott, The Highway Code for Marriage (CWR)

John Piper, This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence (IVP)

John Piper & Justin Taylor (ed.s), Sex and the Supremacy of Christ (Crossway)

Gary and Betsy Ricucci, Love that Lasts: When marriage meets grace (Crossway)

Douglas Rosenau, A Celebration of Sex: A Guide to Enjoying God’s Gift of Sexual Intimacy (Nelson)

Winston T. Smith, Marriage Matters: Extraordinary change through ordinary moments (New Growth Press)

Derek and Rosemary Thomas, A Biblical Guide to Love, Sex and Marriage (Evangelical Press)

Paul David Tripp, What did you expect? Redeeming the realities of marriage (IVP)

Ed & Gaye Wheat, Intended for Pleasure: Sex technique and sexual fulfilment in Christian Marriage (Scripture Union)

Douglas Wilson, Reforming Marriage (Canon Press)

Douglas Wilson, For a glory and a covering: a practical theology of marriage (Canon Press)

Simon Vibert, The Diamond Marriage: Have Ultimate Purpose in your Marriage (Christian Focus)