The ABC on the riots

Some jottings from half listening to his House of Lord's speech:

Virtue. Character. Education. Ethos. Citizens not consumers. Young people & Communities - generous, imaginative, supporting, helping, deserving the best. Breakdown of a sense of shared civic responsibility and identity / solidarity. A moment of anger, hope and opportunity to rebuild.

Report, full text and audio on ArchbishipOfCanterbury.Org

Riot Reflections

After reading my excellently insightful comments below, you might also want to check out:

Mike Ovey
Glen Scrivener
Daniel Blanche
David Baker
Paul Perkin
Martin Saunders in the Guarniad
Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden
The Archbishop of Canterbury
The Bishop of London

Ed Miliband

Russell Brand


Any other good stuff?

The rock of stability

Chancellor George #Osborne seems to have said on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme:

The 'rock of stability' on which to build the UK economy 'is a credible deficit reduction plan'

I can think of a better rock of stability for us to build on.

Matthew 7:24ff. 1 Corinthians 10:4, and about a million other places.

Sick Society: healing for the riotous not the righteous

The Rev'd Mr Scrivener has kindly prepared my Sunday sermon on Mark 2:13-17 for me.

Today I spoke about our sick society using the headings:


The symptoms

The diagnosis

The prognosis

The treatment

Traditional Confirmation Preparation

From the C of E website:

In The Book of Common Prayer it is envisaged that this preparation will take the form of learning by heart the Apostles Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and The Book of Common Prayer Catechism.

Sick Society

Mr Cameron has said that parts of our society are not just broken, they are sick.

He is quite right. But the problem and its root cause go much deeper. The basic fault is not a lack of responsiblility: it is rebellion against God, and therefore against all authority - the family, the state and so on. In fact, all of us are sick. At the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.

It seems fitting to be preaching on Mark 2:13-17 this coming Lord's Day. Thankfully, Jesus is a doctor who has come for those who know they are sick.

Confirmation Preparation

Read through the Confirmation service. Does it sound like what you might like to do?

(This can be found at: http://www.diochi.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=resources.content&cmid=190 – we are in the Lewes episcopal area).

Some questions to think about / topics for discussion

Don’t worry: this is not an exam!

Who was Jesus?
Why did he come?
What does it mean to follow him? What response does he call for?

What is a real Christian?

What is (baptism and) confirmation?
What will happen in the confirmation service?
The Lord's Supper / Holy Communion

Living as a Christian: Bible reading, prayer, church

The Church of England

What does Jesus mean to you? (How did you become a Christian?) What do you love about Jesus / being a Christian? Why would you recommend the Christian faith to someone else?

How would you explain the Good News of Christianity briefly to a 10 year old?

Why do you want to be confirmed?

Some further reading:

One of the gospels (e.g. Mark) in a modern English translation (e.g. The New International Version) see: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1&version=NIV

A brief summary of the Christian Gospel: Two Ways To Live: The Choice We All Face - http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl/

John Stott, Your Confirmation: An Essential Guide To Christianity (Hodder Christian Paperbacks, 1995) ISBN: 978-0340630174 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Confirmation-Essential-Christianity-paperbacks/dp/0340630175/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312959714&sr=1-2

 

What the C of E website has to say about Confirmation - http://www.churchofengland.org/weddings-baptisms-funerals/baptism-confirmation/confirmation.aspx

Other introductions to the Christian faith:

Christianity Explored & Christianity Explored Youth - http://www.christianityexplored.org/

Just For Starters: 7 Foundational Bible Studies (3^rd edition) http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/just-for-starters

John Stott, Basic Christianity (IVP, new edition 2008) ISBN: 978-1844743049 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Basic-Christianity-50th-Anniversary-Stott/dp/1844743047/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312959965&sr=8-1

Vaughan Roberts, Turning Points (Authentic Media, 1999) ISBN: 978-1850783367 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Turning-Points-Vaughan-Roberts/dp/1850783365

John Chapman, A Fresh Start (The Good Book Company, 2^nd edition 1997) ISBN: 978-1873166017 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fresh-Start-John-Chapman/dp/187316601X

(I may be able to loan you some of the above books. Please ask!)

Any other hints, tips, suggestions, resources (for adults or teenagers)?

Added value

1 Timothy 4:8 says:

while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

I can tell you from more than a week's personal experience that going to the gym is a pretty boring experience. Yet it does (hopefully) have some value. However, going to the gym with the Bible or a some Christian music on your MP3 player could have great value in every way and hold promise for the present life and for the life to come. All I need now is a version of the Psalms with a good beat to encourage faster, harder rowing!

Lawlessness

The riots in London and elsewhere are astonishing, shocking and appauling. In a way. But in another way they are exactly what one might expect from a Godless society. It's not easy for the Darwinian atheist to say why I shouldn't help myself to a free pair of trainers if I can get away with it.

Mrs Lloyd's birthday

The people who are playing for Mrs Lloyd's birthday. Also, here. They also play as part of this band.

Tues 18th Oct, 7:30pm, Warbleton Parish Church. All welcome.

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.