Decade Horribilis!

"Flippin ek Mark Greene - you're awesome!" What Mark wrote for LICC about the decade that's just coming to an end is absolutely spot on. As much as anything it's a wake up call to the church to recognise that the gospel is the only answer to the challenges we face and that we should step up and make this Good News known:

In December 1999, Britons voted John Lennon's 'Imagine' as the song of the millennium – reflecting, perhaps, our tentative hope that the 21st century might herald a better world. It hasn't. A decade ago most of us hadn't heard of Al-Qaeda and had never lived through a financial meltdown that threatened the economy of the world. We now have. And the conditions and ideologies that led to them have certainly not been addressed.

Here in Britain, we now have the unhappiest children in the G20 (UNICEF) and the most miserable adults in Europe (WHO). And only 6.3% of us go to church monthly. I do not despair for the church - Jesus will build his church - I ache for our nation.

In Romans 1 Paul posits that the further a culture moves away from the truth about God the more decadent it becomes. In today's Britain:

Blessed are the brazen for they will be applauded.
Blessed are the beautiful of body for they will be adored.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for fame for theirs is the kingdom of Cowell.
Blessed are the selfish and the individualists for their ends will justify their means.
Blessed are those who don't strictly believe in anything for they can dance to any tune.
Blessed are the drug-dealers, dream-weavers, make-over mavens and jingle-writers who help us forget our fractured hearts and our clipped wings and the echoing chasms of our souls.

In such a culture, we have no reason to be ashamed of the gospel. In a culture of salvation by works, the good news is that God loves you - whatever. In a culture where everyone is thirsting for transformation, the good news is that if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation - reborn once and for all - with the minute-by-minute provision of the Holy Spirit to help live his deeper life minute by minute.

So then we - prayerfully, humbly, determinedly, lovingly - can do no better than seek our Master's voice for how we are to live and share this life day by day, place by place with those we have been called to serve.

After all, on the threshold of a new decade, has anyone really got a better offer than Jesus' invitation: 'Come to me all ye...'?

Good point very well made Mark. I need to really get this.....

Pastoring When You Can't "Pastor"

Thought you'd be interested to see this latest on Matt Chandler. If you've read previous posts you'll know that he has recently had a malignant brain tumour removed. I'm watching his story unfold and I've been deeply moved with what's happening. I'm also drawn to the fact that he's continuing to pastor his church as he's going through all this. I don't mean he's "leading" the church, running the organisation, etc I mean pastoring. He's feeding, nurturing, protecting and, I would say, disciplining the flock of God (1 Peter 5) that he's called to pastor and he's doing this by the way he's living with this terrible situation.

Below I've posted in the video that was played to his church this w/e. Again I'm humbled by what he says. One thing that caught my attention: "One of the reasons this is good for all of us..." What do you make of that?!

Message from Matt

Suffering Well

James tells us to consider it pure joy whenever we suffer trails of many kinds. Trials - "pure joy"? Is he serious? Malignant brain tumours - pure joy?? Really?!

Those of us who want to be gospel centered and Christ honouring have got to get hold of this and the wealth of other scripture about suffering. I'm struggling more and more with Christians who find it easier and more agreeable to believe in a God who doesn't want to allow suffering and who therefore is somehow on the back foot much of the time rather than to believe in a God who reigns over all, who ordains all things for his glorious purposes and who supplies sufficient resource to enable us to be more than conquerors in any and every situation.

How do people ever live in the face of pain and loss when they don't have the assurance that comes from the fact that God's totally sovereign and He's our Father who loves. I don't get it.

Previously I posted Matt Chandler's DVD about the surgery that he was about to go through. Yesterday we heard the pathology results and I've posted below some of what the Elders wrote to their church. It's powerful and humbling, and I have to say, compelling and attractive. Allow your heart to be moved and do pray for Matt, his family and the church.

Dear church,
In the first chapter of Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes that whatever imprisonments, beatings and trials he may have suffered, they all “serve to advance the gospel” of Jesus Christ. We implore you to keep the gospel of Christ as the main focus as we walk with Matt and Lauren through this trial.
On Tuesday, Dr. Barnett informed Matt and Lauren that the findings of the pathology report revealed a malignant brain tumor that was not encapsulated. The surgery to remove the tumor, the doctor said, was an extremely positive first step; however, because of the nature of the tumor, he was not able to remove all of it.
Matt, who is being released from the hospital today, is meeting with a neuro-oncologist this week to outline the next steps of the recovery process. There is a range of treatment possibilities but the exact course of action has not yet been determined. He will continue outpatient rehab.
The Lord is calling Matt and Lauren and The Village Church body to endure this trial. It will be a challenging road for Matt, his family and our church body. The gospel is our hope and the Lord is our strength. Matt and Lauren continue to find solace and hope in Christ. They weep facing this trial, but not as those without hope and perspective. The gospel clarifies their suffering and promises more of Christ through it all.
You have done a wonderful job respecting the family, and we ask that you continue to do this. They are processing all of this together and need you to give them precious space. Please do not visit them at their house unless personally invited by the Chandlers. The best way to serve the family is to continue to be faithful in prayer.

Picket Fence Theology

The last few Sundays at LBC have been a great encouragement. Last Sunday was no exception.

Another testimony of someone being healed, this time John. Prior to that we'd heard from Dee, Richard, and Audrey. Ralph had also shared his experience of the sufficiency of the Lord's grace in the face of terminal cancer. You could feel a rise of faith in the room each time we heard these wonderful stories. We've also had two men become Christians over the last couple of weeks, David and Adam. Further still we've seen a significant change in the atmosphere surrounding our Friday night youth work. We highlighted the urgency of the need this time last year as the increasing numbers of young people and police involvement was making the viability of the ministry uncertain. We started to pray and saw a marked change so much so that now we hear that the police have officially recognised that things have improved in the area significantly.

At some churches this stuff is just ordinary, at LBC, where we've been labouring hard for little obvious fruit, it's immense!

It's been important too that alongside all this we've talked about the "now and the not yet" of the Kingdom - "picket fence" theology as Eleanor Mumford puts it. Sometimes we see God break in in power, healing and saving people but sometimes.....we don't. Now you see it now you don't. Fence, gap, fence, gap.

We continue to remember, therefore, that as we pray for more and greater manifestations of the Lord's glory we trust in His total sovereignty. It's His work and in His mercy He chooses to use us - God uses "means" or "secondary agents" as Calvin likes to put it - but it's all down to Him.

So just as when things are tough and there's not much fruit on the tree we're confident because the gospel tells us we're known, chosen and loved unconditionally so when things are going well and the stuff we've been praying for is happening we're humble because they gospel tells us it's all by grace.

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God

We had a great time as LBC gathered together yesterday morning but more on that at some other point.

I talked for a bit before I got into my main message about the pastoral need there is around our church to get a better grasp of the truth about God's sovereignty. I've just become so aware recently that we've got to get this aspect of doctrine better nailed down because the absence of a strong, Biblical understanding of suffering is causing no small amount of pain.

Jack's got his arm in plaster (again) and as I was out in the car with him last week I asked him, rather mischievously, "So, Jack, did God want you to break your arm?"
"Of course he didn't!" Came the reply followed by a noise representing incredulity that only adolescents can make when their parents have asked a ridiculous question.
"So how come you're arm's broken?" I asked nonchalantly as we continued to drive.
"Yeah, well it's not His fault I slipped over!"
"So you're saying he couldn't stop it..... the God of the whole universe who put stars into space couldn't stop a medium sized, twelve year old boy from slipping over on a basketball court?"
At this point I could hear the cogs whirring....
"No....yes....no.....Dad!!!"

I put the question to him another way and simply asked him whether or not God had allowed his accident. Jack recognised that if God was the all powerful God he'd been brought up to know then, yes, for some reason, God had indeed allowed him to slip over. The alternative, an impotent God who had limited powers, who was often on the back foot and would wring his hands wishing he could do more was no God at all.

As we approached our destination I reminded him that God was also His Father who loved Him even more than I did and as a Father, the perfect, all powerful Father, He would never let anything happen to us that would do us ultimate harm. He was a Father who would only ever let things happen to us that would be for our good.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. (Romans8:35,37, NLT)

Hard, so hard when you've got your arm in plaster and you can't play bass for weeks.

I said I didn't know why God had allowed it but I did know He was in charge, that we were loved by Him and that the Bible says (James 1, 1 Peter 1) God uses even bad stuff to do really important work in us.

As I talked with Jack I wasn't at that point aware of the news regarding Matt Chandler's brain tumour. Matt is a 35 year old pastor in the States who has been significantly used by God. He has a passion for Reformed doctrine in general and the work of God in sanctification in particular and has seen his church grow from 150 to 5000 ish in 7 years. I mention this last bit about the growth in his church because it adds to the question: Why, Lord, would you do that? Matt's surgery was on Friday and before he went in he recorded this video message which was played at his church this weekend. Do watch it and allow God to encourage you regarding his sovereign, sustaining and sufficient grace.

Video from Matt

Being Human, Being Holy

I'm rereading Jim Packer's book A Passion for Holiness, a book that had a big impact on me when I was a student at LST. The idea that holiness is not ethereal, it's not about hair shirts and no sex (was it Richard Foster who put it like that?) has really caught my attention. Packer says holiness is essentially about becoming more human. He writes:

Genuine holiness is genuine Christ-likeness and genuine Christ-likeness is genuine humanness - the only genuine humnanness there is. Love in the service of God and others, humility and meekness under the divine hand, integrity of behaviour expressing integration of character, wisdom with faithfulness, boldness with prayerfulness, sorrow at people's sins, joy at the Father's goodness and single mindedness in seeking to please the Father morning, noon and night, were all qualities seen in Christ, the perfect man. Christians are meant to become human as Jesus was human.

Holiness....becoming more like Jesus, becoming more authentically human, becoming more alive!

When You Don't Feel Like it, Take Heart

I found this by Jon Bloom on Piper's blog and thought it was really helpful...thought you'd like it....

Did you wake up not feeling like reading your Bible and praying? How many times today have you had to battle not feeling like doing things you know would be good for you?
While it's true that this is our indwelling sin that we must repent of and fight against, there's more going on. Think about this strange pattern that occurs over and over in just about every area of life:

Good food requires discipline to prepare and eat while junk food tends to be the most tasty, addictive, and convenient.

Keeping the body healthy and strong requires frequent deliberate discomfort while it only takes constant comfort to go to pot.

You have to make yourself pick up that nourishing theological book while watching a movie can feel so inviting.

You frequently have to force yourself to get to devotions and prayer while sleeping, reading the sports, and checking Facebook seems effortless.

To play beautiful music requires thousands of hours of tedious practice.

To excel in sports requires monotonous drills ad nauseum.

It takes years and years of schooling just to make certain opportunities possible.

This goes on and on.

The pattern is this: the greater joys are obtained through struggle and pain, while brief, unsatisfying, and often destructive joys are right at our fingertips. Why is this?

Because, in great mercy, God is showing us everywhere, in things that are just shadows of heavenly things, that there is a great reward for those who struggle through (Hebrews 10:32-35). He is reminding us repeatedly each day to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Each struggle is an invitation by God to follow in the footsteps of his Son, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Those who are spiritually blind only see futility in these things. But for those who have eyes to see, God has woven hope (faith in future grace) right into the futility of creation (Romans 8:20-21). Each struggle is a pointer saying, “Look! Look to the real Joy set before you!” So when you don’t feel like doing what you know is best for you, take heart and don’t give in. Your Father is pointing you to the reward he has planned for all who endure to the end (Matthew 24:13).

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

Setting the Pace

For the last nine months or so I've been running four mornings a week with a friend. When Gene first mentioned that he ran at 5:30 it never, ever, occurred to me that he meant "a.m." It wasn't even as though I thought "I wonder whether he means in the morning or afternoon?" I just assumed he meant after work - so I asked if I could run with him and he said he would be glad of the company. Only later did I realise that he meant 5:30am.

Anyway, long story short, we run together and I can honestly say that most mornings when it's wet, cold and dark the only reason I swing my legs out of bed at 5:15am is because I know that Gene is going to be waiting for me at the end of my road. No other reason. Left to myself I'd roll over and sleep some more telling myself that one day off won't hurt. Such is the benefit, indeed the necessity, of accountability.

This morning I learnt another lesson.

I was training by myself and I found that I ended up running quite a bit slower. When I run with Gene we spur each other on and generally we keep a pretty good pace up but this morning, on my own, I was telling myself that I was doing OK and that I was certainly working hard enough. At the end of the 4 mile circuit, however, my watch told me another story. It had been a rubbish pace whilst I had convinced myself otherwise. The fact was that I needed Gene to prevent me from coasting. I suppose a runner by himself could end up pushing himself too hard and so needs a pace setter to prevent premature exhaustion..... but I guess I'll never know about that scenario.

I realise that to pursue spiritual growth I need accountability to maintain healthy life-giving disciplines but I also need a pace setter who'll prevent me from kidding myself that I'm making good progress when I'm not. Left to myself I'll coast but with others who will spur me on, who'll say "Come on, let's pick up the pace for a bit", I'll thrive and grow.

"You don't believe THAT nonsense!??"

Grabbed a coffee at Costa on the way in this morning and Fiona told me she was having to hold the fort for another hour single handed. I sort of offered to help, what with being on the paid staff I kind of figured that I should, but I had sooooooo much to do..... great relief when my sort of offer was declined. Anyway half an hour later I was back as I had a hunch the Manager was doing what managers do: putting a brave face on it. I was right.

Long story short, I'm pushing out Lattes, Cappuccinos, clearing tables and washing up like a pro and then Fiona says: "It's Friday 13th tomorrow!" Without looking up I replied: "You don't believe all THAT nonsense do you!". We're then on to the next thing.... "Small Latte with an extra shot, the milk really, really hot and in a cup not a glass - please"..... but I find myself thinking how dismissive I'd been of someone elses belief. Some people really do buy into the whole superstition package and it's a big deal to them. I hadn't even bothered to find out what her belief really was, I'd just rubbished the whole idea. Nice one Dave. Really cross-culturally sensitive! (Turns out that she's actually not superstitious at all...apart from the ladders thing).

Log Cabin in Slough

Last night I spent the night in a log cabin in Slough. Bizarre! Nice cabin, great company (just Dan and me, Dave couldn't make it...grrrrrr!), OK food (ready meal from Waitrose and organic cider in a box), rubbish location (next to the M4 and under the approach to Heathrow).

Anyway, on the way there and back I listened to the most amazing church service I'd ever heard. Seriously. I've not experienced anything like it. The sense of the presence of God was awesome, God's Word so powerful. The absolute reality of the sure and certain hope that we have through Christ infused everything that was said and done. It was incredible.

It was a service of thanksgiving for a young woman, who had died of cancer just before her 36th birthday. Louise and I had prepared her and her husband for marriage some 12 years previously. Two small children are without a mother. The situation is awful and yet, and yet.....God.

The grieving husband spoke powerfully about the love he had for his wife, his own grief, his questions and his fears for the future. But above all he spoke of his absolute confidence in the sovereignty of God and the sure and certain knowledge of his Fatherly care. As I listened to this and the sermon that followed I felt like I was witnessing a miracle as great as any healing I've ever seen or heard about. Jesus is amazing! This stuff really works. At some point I'll post what I listened to so you can make your own judgement.

All by Grace

I've been reading and listening to Martyn Lloyd-Jones recently and have been really helped and encouraged by him. The quote from "The Doctor" below underlines what we've been teaching at LBC over the last few months concerning the fact that everything we have and are is by the grace of God alone - grace which keeps us both humble and confident:

Paul always kept the grace of God in view; it kept him humble; it kept his spirit sweet; it kept him from the horrible sin of self and of pride and self-importance. Christians have nothing to boast of. We are what we are entirely as the result of the grace of God. (David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Warfare : An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10 to 13)

Disappointed with Jesus?

This morning I finished reading Gavin Calver's book Disappointed with Jesus? : Why do so many young people give upon God ? It's been in my reading pile for a long time now and I'm really pleased I got to it at last. It's a quick read but very worthwhile. Gavin asks why it is that so many young people with keen Christian parents end up walking away from the faith.

This has been something that has puzzled me for as long as I can remember. Why is it that two children with the same parents, same upbringing, same exposure to the gospel....same everything....can end up making radically different choices about whether or not to follow Jesus? Why can truly godly parents, who model the faith well, who pray over their kids and do all the "right" things see their children kick over the traces, wanting nothing to do with Jesus whilst parents who, to put it kindly, are not desperately good examples of discipleship, who don't do anything remotely intentional to help their kids find faith have children who are radically on fire for the gospel. I meet parents who wonder whether their children would have gone on with God if they had had regular times of family Bible reading and worship. I meet other parents who wonder whether their children would have gone on with God if they had not had regular times of family Bible reading and worship. Can we put it down simply to the sovereignty of God who dispenses saving grace as he wills? Ultimately I believe, at the end of the day, that that is the bottom line but it isn't the whole story.

Back to the book.... Gavin tells his story of growing up in a household of faith. But his was no ordinary household. His dad was one of the most significant Christian leaders this country has had in the last 30 years; the national leader of Youth For Christ, the co-founder of Spring Harvest and the head of the Evangelical Alliance. How do you find your own identity and faith when everyone knows who you are and more to the point when everyone just expects you to toe-the-line. It's a great story with some real challenges and encouragements for parents and church leaders.....crumbs, I'm sounding like a book review.

Anyway, it was good - try it!

How Are You Feeling?

The Psalms are great becasue they connect with so many of our emotions and, as my former Pastor used to say, "When we can't speak to God the Psalms speak for us." And they certainly do. Here are some of the emotions you'll encounter in the Psalms.

1 Loneliness
2 Love
3 Awe
4 Sorrow
5 Regret
6 Contrition
7 Discouragement
8 Shame
9 Exaltation
10 Marvelling
11 Delight
12 Joy
13 Gladness
14 Fear
15 Anger
16 Peace
17 Grief
18 Desire
19 Hope
20 Broken heartedness
21 Gratitude
22 Zeal
23 Pain
24 Confidence

How are you feeling? You can always find yourself in the Psalms.

Meaning and Life

I was interested to hear Fi Glover, whilst interviewing one of her guests on Saturday morning (Radio 4), describe the meaning of life as:

trying, failing, trying again and failing better.

Initially it just sounded hopelessly (literally) humanistic but then, as I gave it more thought, I wondered whether there was a bit more to it than I had first imagined......

Religious Persecution?

I recently read about a couple of cases of alleged religious persecution (Daily Telegraph). What struck me was that I could imagine the two situations occurring as described and seeing a case for both agreeing with and disagreeing with the action taken against the Christians concerned. Increasingly followers of Jesus are given a hard time for living out their faith but it seems to me that sometimes, maybe, perhaps, the hard time might be justified…..

Christian Primary School Receptionist Sues Over Religious Discrimination
Jennie Cain, a receptionist at Landscore School, alleges that she and her five-year-old daughter were discriminated against and harassed because of their religion and that the school was “anti-Christian”. She claimed her daughter Jasmine, who is a pupil at Landscore, had come home from school in tears after being told off by a teacher for talking to another pupil about Jesus, Heaven and God. Mrs Cain, 38, then wrote an email she claimed was private to 10 close friends from her church to ask for prayers for her daughter and the school. The email was passed to Gary Read, the headmaster, who called the receptionist into his office and told her she was being investigated for alleged serious professional misconduct. At the time, Mrs Cain, described herself as a "quiet Christian'' who would never force her beliefs on others. She said: "I do feel our beliefs haven't been respected and I don't feel I have been treated fairly. I don't know what I am supposed to have done wrong.”

In return, Mr Read claimed Jasmine had been overheard frightening another girl about the prospect of going to hell if she does not believe in God. He said: “We conveyed to her mother in a perfectly respectful manner that we did not expect this to happen again.'' The headmaster insisted that the school was tolerant of all faiths but could not go into detail about the prayer email as it “contained an untrue allegation about the school”.

Mrs Cain said she was subsequently investigated by an internal panel and found guilty of serious misconduct. She appealed and lost.

Manchester Police Intimidated Preacher, Lawyers Allege
Lawyers have asked the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester to answer allegations that police officers intimidated a street preacher and falsely accused him of ‘inciting hatred with homophobic and racial comments’. Volunteer evangelist Miguel Hayworth (29) and his 55-year-old father were approached by three policemen as he was reading passages from the Old and New Testaments in St Ann’s Square. Mr Hayworth says a plain clothes officer told him, ‘It is against the law to preach and hand out tracts: preaching causes offence and handing out tracts is harassment’. He alleges that a second officer accused him of inciting religious and racial hatred and warned his actions were being videoed. The Christian Legal Centre has instructed religious rights barrister Paul Diamond to take Mr Hayworth’s complaint to Greater Manchester Police.

The Magnificent 1

I've really been challenged by one of my own sermons......Sunday's specifically......so at least I've reached one person!

Just like the bandits in the Magnificent 7 (Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn....an awesome lineup!) who raided the little Mexican village, stealing their freshly harvested wheat and generally being pretty unpleasant; the Midianites were oppressing the Israelites....stealing their freshly harvested wheat and generally being pretty unpleasant (Judges 6). They cry out to God for some help and he sends them a prophet.

How devastatingly disappointing.

As Dale Ralph Davis (my favourite Older Testament scholar), points out, it's like breaking down on the motorway and the garage sending you a philosopher rather than a mechanic. They could really have done with some hired guns (as in The M.7) - preferably a few AK47's and an Apache Helicopter Gunship. Instead they just ended up with God's Word. "Well thanks!"

They wanted to escape their circumstances. God wanted to interpret them.

I need to get this. The Word of God does the work of God and it leads to freedom. I might want whatever the equivalent of an AK47 is for my situation but perhaps, maybe, God just wants me to hear his voice concerning what's going on....why it's happening and what it's all about.

In the end of course God does provide a hired gun to bring deliverance - Gideon. And Gideon, like all the Judges, just points forward to the ultimate Judge who rescues and delivers us from everything that robs us of the blessing God has purposed for us. The magnificent 1.

Fast Cars and Pampering

Louise is at Radiant 09, the national women's conference, this weekend. She'd be the first to admit that it's not really "her thing" so as a wind up before she left I read to her the pre-conference blurb that describes it as "3 days of heaven by the sea" including a pamper room and a fashion show. How different from the men's conference I was at last weekend which had the strap line "Stand Up and Fight!" (to which all are encouraged to respond with a macho "Huuuuhhhh!") No pamper room for us men - just sport and a fleet of fast cars to play with.

Don't get me wrong I think gender-specific stuff like these conferences is really important and I'd be the first to say that the biggest flag wavers for Radiant 09 should be the men (certainly any husband worth his salt should massively encourage his wife to go anywhere where she can be renewed in her faith and passion for Jesus....what else does Ephesians 5:25-29 mean.....). But it does highlight the obvious, yet often ignored fact, that generally speaking, your average man and your average women are different and need to be reached in different ways.

I can't help thinking that given the fact that the Church generally communicates in a way that is attractive to women (which is strange since it's run by men....maybe it's the long dresses some of them wear....) and that it is haemorrhaging men at a shocking rate then maybe, just maybe, we need to be less apologetic about intentionally doing the stuff that will get connect with blokes.

"Give Em Hell!"

At a recent Leadership Team meeting we shared what we were each doing in our personal Bible reading. One of our number said they were in the Psalms and were challenged about how to approach what are called the imprecatory Psalms - you know, the ones that demand that God reduces all our enemies to dust and dashes the heads of their babies against the rocks, those ones.

John Piper's sermon on Psalm 69 is really helpful as he goes beyond the rather lame excuses/reasons that are often put forward for these Psalms ("the Old Testament was the time before God became a Christian so he liked those kinds of prayers." etc)...

Satisfaction in Justice?
When you are watching a film, and great evil and injustice are portrayed, and you bristle with anger at what they seem to get away with, and some noble, humble, sacrificial person risks his life, and captures the villains and brings them to justice, is it good to feel a deep satisfaction that justice was done?
And in your own real life, how should you feel about those who have wronged you—perhaps terribly wronged you? How should you feel, and how should you think? And what should you do?
Psalms That Curse
There are a group of psalms that are called imprecatory psalms because they include imprecations, that is curses, judgments against God’s enemies. These psalms are usually considered problems for Christians because Jesus taught us, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27–28). And Jesus prayed for his enemies on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). So it sounds like these psalms are doing the opposite of what Jesus said and did.

Let’s take Psalm 69 as one of the most extended imprecatory psalms and try to understand it and how it should shape how we think and feel with God.

Here are the links if you want to have a read, a listen or a watch:

Pour Out Your Indignation Upon ThemPsalms: Thinking and Feeling with God, Part 5
Listen Watch Download Podcast
Excerpts: Listen Watch

Leaving the Building

It's just turned 9:35pm, I've finally cleared my in-box and my desk and I've penned the notes I wanted to write to a couple of our key players - I'm free to go - I'm done! My holiday starts here! (Ok, so I've got a visit to make tomorrow but apart from that, apart from that....I'm finished!) I love the feeling - always have.

I'm sitting at the bottom of the stairs to my office as I write......the building's silent. All I can here are the occasional shouts and screams of the YP out on the street who would normally be hanging out in our building next door at this time. But it's the holidays and everyone needs a break.

Time to go. One of the things I love about Louise is that she releases me on nights like this to do what has to be done in order to finish well (even though I'd said I'd be back at 5, and then 6 and then "It's probably going to be more like 8") - and I have.

I'm leaving the building!

The Sinfullness of Sin

I had a sight test yesterday. At the same time as that bit of excitement I was (and am) reflecting on some of the pastoral issues that I’ve become involved in over the years through my calling to be a Pastor. So much havoc has been caused by spiritual blindness.

Sin is grievous and one of the main reasons is that it blinds us to the Truth. It keeps us from seeing the reality of our Father in heaven and what he says about the wonderful life we can enjoy as his children. Sin results in us believing lies that in turn take us further and further away from the Life and Truth that we can have in Jesus.

That’s the sinfulness of sin!

We end up believing that up is down, that black is white and left is right and we even quote scripture to back our position – we become that blind!

How I need to ensure that I have 20/20 spiritual vision lest I miss the incredible grace-filled, Spirit empowered life that Christ offers me. I wonder what I’m currently missing because of dodgy vision.

Spurgeon, in his devotional Morning and Evening wrote on the sinfulness of sin and the danger of tolerating it. It messes you up and more….it robs you of what you might have.

“Sin . . . exceeding sinful.” —Romans 7:13
Beware of light thoughts of sin. At the time of conversion, the conscience is so tender, that we are afraid of the slightest sin. Young converts have a holy timidity, a godly fear lest they should offend against God. But alas! very soon the fine bloom upon these first ripe fruits is removed by the rough handling of the surrounding world: the sensitive plant of young piety turns into a willow in after life, too pliant, too easily yielding.

It is sadly true, that even a Christian may grow by degrees so callous, that the sin which once startled him does not alarm him in the least. By degrees men get familiar with sin. The ear in which the cannon has been booming will not notice slight sounds. At first a little sin startles us; but soon we say, “Is it not a little one?” Then there comes another, larger, and then another, until by degrees we begin to regard sin as but a little ill; and then follows an unholy presumption: “We have not fallen into open sin. True, we tripped a little, but we stood upright in the main. We may have uttered one unholy word, but as for the most of our conversation, it has been consistent.” So we palliate sin; we throw a cloak over it; we call it by dainty names.

Christian, beware how thou thinkest lightly of sin. Take heed lest thou fall by little and little. Sin, a little thing? Is it not a poison? Who knows its deadliness? Sin, a little thing? Do not the little foxes spoil the grapes? Doth not the tiny coral insect build a rock which wrecks a navy? Do not little strokes fell lofty oaks? Will not continual droppings wear away stones? Sin, a little thing? It girded the Redeemer’s head with thorns, and pierced His heart! It made Him suffer anguish, bitterness, and woe. Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor the least appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Saviour, and you will see it to be “exceeding sinful.”

Pay and Display?

I've just returned to the picnic table that's adjacent to one of the New Forest car parks.    I'd pulled in en route home from a hospital visit to take time to read my Bible and pray...... there were a number of things weighing heavy on my mind and I knew that once home it probably wouldn't happen.  

Anyway I decided that I didn't need to do the old "pay and display" as I wasn't staying long and I was practically in (well reasonably close to) the car park.    Surely I didn't need to pay the £1.50, or whatever the sign would say, for a brief stop off?   So having justified it to myself I read the first of today's Psalms - it was great!   But, I've still got this nagging concern, partly about the ethics of not paying but more about about the size of fine I'd get once the guy in the yellow van paid a visit and spotted my car......"would I see him before he saw my windscreen?".   

So then it's into Psalm 32 and the Lord hits me in the second verse with "Blessed is the man....in whose spirit there is no deceit."  Thanks Lord for speaking so clearly.   In that momet the bubble was burst.  There was deceit in my heart.   I was trying to get for nothing something that should have been paid for.   Not the biggest deal in the world but big enough to warrant God bringing his Word to bear like a laser on my heart.    Not a big deal..... but maybe in that phrase lies the problem.....
 
So I got up and went to the machine, feeling a strange sense of relief (which was interesting) and found I wasn't required to pay afterall.   
Thanks Father for the lesson and thanks too for the power of your Word.  

Just Me and My Bible?

Picked this up from Adrian Warnock's blog who got it from Justin Taylor.....worth a read I think:

A Teachable Spirit by Justin Taylor

Only one book is absolutely essential to save us, to equip us to obey God’s will, and to glorify Him in whatever we do. Only one book gives us undiluted truth — the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Only one book serves as our ultimate and final authority in all that it affirms. That book, of course, is the Bible, God’s Holy Word. No wonder John Wesley once exclaimed, “Let me be homo unius libri” — a man of one book!

And yet the irony is that if we use only this book, we may in fact be in disobedience to it. We should count good teaching about the Bible — whether through commentaries, books, sermons, study Bibles, and so on — to be a gift from God for the good of His church (see Eph. 4:11; James 1:17). So what may look pious on the outside (“Just me and my Bible!”) can actually mask pride on the inside.

Acts 8 describes a story that might help us think through this. An Ethiopian eunuch — a God-fearing Gentile who served as treasurer to the Ethiopian queen — had made a five-month journey by chariot to Jerusalem in order to worship God. During his return trip he was puzzling out loud over the Isaiah scroll that he held in his hands. And the Holy Spirit appointed Philip to help him understand the meaning of the Bible. Philip first asked this man if he understood the passage that he was reading (chap. 53). The Ethiopian responded, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (v. 31). After inviting Philip to sit in his chariot, he asked him about whom this passage spoke. “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus” (v. 35). Soon after, the eunuch insisted they stop the chariot in order to be baptized by Philip in obedience to his new savior and king, Jesus Christ.

To be sure, this is a historical narrative recounting an event. The purpose is not necessarily to guide believers today in how to read their Bibles or how to think about the teaching of God’s Word. But the elements within it nonetheless correspond to some wise principles we can adopt as our own. So let’s work through the passage again, letting the various points serve as triggers for our own reflection on understanding the Word of God and those who teach it.

First, the Ethiopian wrestles with and labors to understand the meaning of God’s Word. He doesn’t wait for help; he first tries on his own to figure out what the text is saying. He is not content merely to skim the Scriptures, putting a check mark next to his reading in the scroll for that day. And so it is with us — we must spend time in the Bible, working hard and trusting God for insight into its meaning. Paul expressed this as a command followed by a promise: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Tim. 2:7).

Second, the eunuch humbly acknowledges his own insufficiency and lack of understanding. He desires to understand what the Word says, he admits that he needs help, and then he asks for it. We should approach God first remembering that He wants to be asked and that He promises to assist us: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). And what should we pray? Psalm 119 provides many examples of how to pray for understanding and application. For example, verses 33–36: "Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!"

Third, the eunuch asks a good, clear, relevant question based upon his own wrestling with the meaning of the text. Asking good questions is evidence of good thinking. If you don’t ask good questions about the text, you won’t engage your mind and you won’t be able to evaluate the answers.

Fourth, he listens carefully to the Christ-centered, gospel-focused teaching before him. Jesus warned that we must take care how we listen (Luke 8:18), and the Ethiopian eunuch does just that. For many of us, our inclination is to talk first and listen second, but Christ-followers must be “quick to hear” and “slow to speak” (James 1:19).

Finally, he puts into practice what he has just learned from the Word and from his commentator. Philip had told him “the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35), which probably included the teaching that members of God’s covenant community will publicly identify with Christ in the act of baptism.

So the Ethiopian official models for us James’ command to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). So let us be the sort of people who prayerfully and carefully immerse ourselves day and night in God’s Word (Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1:2). Let us also be the sort of Berean-like people who receive good teaching about God’s Word “with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

Justin Taylor is editorial director of Crossway Books & Bibles in Wheaton, Illinois, and is author of the weblog Between Two Worlds.

Defining Disaster

Right now I'm putting the service together for Sunday morning and our music leader for this service, Hilary Kisler, has suggested a Tim Dudley Smith hymn that I'd never come across before. I looked it up (it's a great choice) and saw it was based on Psalm 91. Reading through the Psalm I come to an abrupt halt at verse 9:

If you make the Most High your dwelling -
even the Lord, who is my refuge-
then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.

To be perfectly honest, pastorally, I tend to get really embarrassed by these kinds of verses particularly when they're used in public worship. I know that on Sunday morning when we read the text and then sing the hymn that's based on it then this verse is going to stick in the throat of a good number of people who have had some pretty bad stuff happen to them. ""No disaster will come near your tent", is that a fact!".

And, if it doesn't cause a problem then I'm going to feel equally as bad as it probably means that the Scripture is not being taken seriously ("I know it says that but it must mean something else....it's just one of those odd bits - the Bible's got quite a few of them!").

But as I reflected on it, not ten minutes ago now, concerned about the stuck in the throat thing, I was really struck by the way the gospel redefines our terms. The verse is either true or it's not true - it can't be true and false simultaneously - we have to chose. If we assume that it must be true for we know that God isn't in the business of telling us lies we have to ask "how is it true?".

It surely must mean that when we lose our car keys/a promotion/an entire career/ a loved one then despite the evidence to the contrary.... it's not a disaster. It might look like one, it might taste and smell like one but the Lord says that "no disaster" will come near us so it can't be one. The text also says that "no harm" will befall us and, again, it must surely mean that the loss we face is not something that will, actually, do us harm. Again despite what we're conditioned to think.

This is more than just playing with words and putting a positive spin on terrible stuff. Rather it's choosing to view our lives through the lens of the gospel, using God's definitions to understand what happens and not our definitions.

Biopsy Blows and the Helmet of Hope

Read this from John Piper's blog (http://www.desiringgod.org/) this morning and thought it was great....let me share it with you:

The helmets referred to in the Bible are for protection in mortal battle. A blow to the head with a mace or a bludgeon would crush your skull and kill you.
So when Paul says that we should put on "for a helmet the hope of salvation" he means that there are blows that come to our spiritual life that could destroy us, if we were not protected by the hope of salvation.
The hope of salvation — that we will not perish but obtain eternal life in the presence of Christ — absorbs the blow and keeps it from killing us. Blows still come in war and in life. Helmets don't prevent blows. They just prevent them from destroying us.
One of my clearest experiences of how this works was in December, 2005. The urologist said there was an irregularity in the prostate. He would like to do a biopsy. When? Right now. I'll be back in a few minutes with the instrument. You can wait on that table.
In those ten minutes of his absence I felt a blow. He thinks I have cancer. He wants to do the biopsy instantly. As the blow descended on my head, the Lord positioned my helmet with loving firmness so that it wouldn't fly off.
This is the "hope of salvation" that he gave me: "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him" (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10).
He brought this text to my mind as I sat on the table awaiting the biopsy. It did its work. It fixed hope on my head. It put brass between me and the blow.
I didn't notice till later that the "for" at the beginning of the promise in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 ("For God has not destined us for wrath..."), was connected to the helmet of 1 Thessalonians 5:8: "...having put on for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation."
In retrospect, God covered my head with the promise that this blow was not his wrath. He positioned the helmet of hope perfectly without my even thinking of helmets. I simply thought: This is not wrath; and if I live, I live with Christ, and if I die, I also live with Christ. With that he covered my head.
So go to the arsenal of God's word and get your armor. The blows are going to come. Without a helmet they will crush your skull. God has a helmet of hope fitted for your head. Put it on.

Let that truth infect your imagination today!

"It's Just The Next Passage"

Tomorrow I'm preaching the final part of a year long series on Hebrews and I'm reminded of one of the great reasons for undertaking systematic bible exposition. My text includes 13:17:

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Not the most comfortable text to preach on as the Pastor but given it's just the next passage in the series and I didn't put it there or choose the timing (to fit in with that oh so difficult and controversial issue!) my life is made slightly easier. It's the same with some of the other tricky passages in Scripture....we're not generally inclined to preach on them and if we do then, understandably, questions might be asked about our motivation ("I wonder whether DG has such and such a situation/person in view...hmmm"!)

There are, of course, plenty of other reasons to have systematic exposition as the staple preaching pattern in the life of a church but just having to preach the next passage, whatever it is, ranks high for me.

Need Encouragement to Pray?

If you're anything like me then from time to time you need to be reminded of just how important it is to pray and just how willing God is to respond to our prayer. How easily we can become distracted and discouraged from this most urgent and precious of opportunities. Do take some time to watch Terry Virgo (leader of the New Frontiers network of some 600 churches in 50 countries)preach on prayer from the life of Elijah and be freshly challenged and encouraged.

The video is in two parts:

Part One

Elijah Prays For Rain from Adrian Warnock on Vimeo.

Part Two

Elijah Prays Part Two from Adrian Warnock on Vimeo.

Required Reading!

Not two minutes ago I finished reading CJ Mahaney's little book "Living the Cross Centered Life". What an absolute joy and inspiration it has been. It's ministered to my soul, strenghtened my heart and energised me for Christ centered living. It was Tim Keller who really helped me to grasp that the gospel is not just the "ABC" but the "A to Z", not just the way in to the Christian life but the way on and CJ Mahaney has done a similar job in helping me to understand the centrality of the work of Christ on the Cross. I'm ordering loads of copies for LBC because I so want everyone to read it before the start of the new ministry year in September. What a great thing it would be if we could all read it over the summer and get excited again (and perhaps for the first time) about Jesus. How we need Him to be central in the distracted times in which we live.

Missiology from Moyles

This morning's E4 at LBC was somewhat different. Two of our guys, Richard and Martin, got us to reflect on an approach to mission that had well and truly been blown out of the water by Radio 1's controversial and outspoken dj Chris Moyles. They profiled him a bit so we all knew who we were talking about and then played a 7 minute extract from his breakfast show on Monday 1 June. He spent the time telling his 7million listeners how "amazing" (if he used that word once he used it a dozen times) he found the previous morning's BBC 1 live service from a church in Peterborough. He described how captivating he found the music and also the baptisms that took place. The guy was struggling to find words to express, well, how amazing he found it all - hence the almost constant use of the word! Search YouTube under "moyles church" and you'll see what I mean. He clearly didn't understand what he was seeing but he loved it and he took 7 minutes on a Monday morning to talk about it.

Richard and Martin played Moyles and then showed the service he was talking about and it was.....amazing. They then got us to reflect on what this all tells us about mission.

What struck me most was the simple fact that never in a million years would I have thought that a charismatic church service would have been appealing to a guy like Moyles and yet......and yet he raved about it.

I was brought up on the philosophy that if you want to reach the unchurched then you'd better make sure you were seeker sensitive; which basically meant not doing anything that would appear to be weird to non christians. But it was the weirdness of this church service that got Moyles attention. It was a good weird...... an attractive weird that drew you in because, although you didn't understand it and it didn't really make a lot of sense you knew, just knew that it was real.

Make no mistake it was the authentic worship of the Father by Christ followers filled with the Spirit that had the impact. Maybe we need to focus more on the level of our desire for the Father's presence and the Son's glory than on trying to make it all "acceptable" to people crying out for an authentic experience of something - anything - so long as it's real.

Happy Birthday Calvin

It was John Calvin's 500th birthday on Friday.... I know he's dead but you know what I mean....If we know anything about Calvin it's likely to have something to do with five points, tulips and predestination (which, actually, isn't a bad start) but I discovered something else about twenty minutes ago whilst catching up on LICC's Connecting with Culture. He really helped us to see the dignity and value of ordinary hard graft. Allow me to quote Graham Tomlin's article:

John Calvin, the famous Genevan Reformer, was born 500 years ago (on Friday). To be frank, the contemporary world finds him a bit of an embarrassment, with his reputation as a serious party-pooper, prosecuting people for dancing at weddings and laughing in church. Under his influence, Geneva was a valiant, yet perhaps unsuccessful, attempt at creating a Christian city – a place where church and state worked together to make holiness of life a real possibility. Nonetheless, his influence looms large over Western society in several key areas.

First, he gave a new dignity to ordinary life and work. Until the Reformation, really serious Christians became either monks or priests. Calvin, on the other hand, argued that the primary way we show love for one another is by working for the good of other people through useful work that contributes to society, which is a the good gift of God. Ordinary secular work was not an unfortunate necessity, a drudgery that all sensible people should try to avoid, but was dignified by becoming the main means of showing our practical concern for others.

Whatever work we do, whether as doctors, bus drivers or teachers, should be seen through the lens of the contribution it makes to the running of a healthy and well-functioning society. As Alistair McGrath put it, 'The Calvinist was encouraged to engage directly with the world rather than to retreat from it.' Calvinists, though sometimes a little dour and serious, certainly were hard-working, dedicated to the good of the common life, rather than purely interested in their own salvation from this world.

Thanks John - and a belated happy birthday!

Growth Through Loss

I was reflecting last night on something I'd recently read about John Owen. Owen, an Englishman, was born in 1616 and is generally regarded as one of the greatest bible teachers and theologians since records began. One of things that made him great was that his intellect was channeled into his ministry as a pastor. His writing is deeply practical and contains a huge passion to see people walk in holiness and thereby know intimacy with Jesus.

Not much is known about his life. But we do know this. He had eleven children and all of them, except one, died in childhood. The other died as a young adult. Owen's wife also died, when he was 59 and after 31 years of marriage. Since his marriage, and until the time of his death, he experienced the birth of a child or the loss of a child every three years.

"How great the pain of searing loss".

Unbelievable pain and brokenness. You just can't get your head round it. But what intrigues and challenges me is the link between his profound experience of loss and and his profound experience of God. What causes one man to run from God in the face of suffering and another to run to him? To what extent did God allow his suffering in order to shape the man for his purpose of writing great theology that would strengthen the Church for hundreds of years to come? I can't escape the truth of Hebrews 12 that tells us that if God is our Father then he will train and discipline us in what ever ways he deems neccesary for his sovereign and glorious purpose. As I said, hard to get your head round.

A Theology of Sleep

In my Quiet Time this morning ("QT", to be honest, is probably too strong a term given the rich heritage of this evangelical practice.....I could barely keep my eyes open I was so tired. Nonetheless I was able to do a bit of speaking and listening that gave some acknowledgement, at the front end of the day, that He is the Potter and I am the clay....how easily and quickly I get that the wrong way round...) I was in Psalm 1-5. Through heavy eyelids I was moved by the power (and irony given my state) of Psalm 3:5:

I lie down to sleep;
I wake again, becasue the Lord sustains me.

"I wake again, becasue the Lord sustains me".... so.... everytime I wake up it's testimony to the grace of God. It's only because He is good, merciful and faithful that I wake up every morning. It means that even whilst I'm asleep God is still at work sustaining all He has made, which includes me! Maybe, if I grasp this truth in my spirit, then the simple act of waking up in the morning will become a means of grace for me (an instrument by which God imparts his blessing).....it would be great if it did.

Perhaps John Baillie in his book Christian Devotion really is on to something when he writes:

I think we hear far too few sermons about sleep. After all, we spend a very large share of our lives sleeping. I suppose that on average I've slept for eight hours out of every twenty-four during the whole of my life, and that means I've slept for well over twenty years. Don’t you agree then that the Christian gospel should have something to say about the sleeping third of our lives as well as the waking two-thirds of them?

Looking at the Cross

I've just about come to the end of C J Mahaney's little book Living the Cross Centered Life. It's one of the few books that I've known before I've finished that I will be rereading immediately....it's that powerful and I don't want to miss one bit of what the Lord wants me to get. I could talk about how I'd like it to be required reading for LBC over the next year but that's for another time.

For now I just want to quote a John Newton hymn that Mahaney included in the chapter I read yesterday. Newton's the guy who was a slave trader dramatically converted (is there any other kind of conversion....when that which is dead comes to life can it ever be anything other than dramatic....anyway....) and who subsequently encouraged Wilberforce to work for the abolition of the slave trade.

This hymn is extraordinary. The deep, wide and high Truth that it contains; the passion, emotion and real experience that it captures - it's just amazing. People say that hymns are a tremedous way of teaching good theology and this is a great example. I can't help but think that if we sung this each Sunday for six months then we'd gain richly from it.

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.

I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agonies and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.

Sure, never till my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair,
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.

Alas, I knew not what I did,
But now my tears are vain;
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain.

A second look He gave,
which said,“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayst live.”

Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.

With pleasing grief and mournful joy,
My spirit is now filled;
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by him I killed.

- John Newton

Just brilliant - gave me goose bumps when I read it in Waitrose drinking "cappuccino".

And if I had to pick one line....it would probably be....

"With pleasing grief and mournful joy" - what a wonderful description of the posture we should live with as Christians. It's Luther's simul justus et peccator (at one and the same time both justified/accepted and a sinner) and it's life changing! Oh that I might live this way....

Why "Attentive"?

Eugene Peterson - you know, the guy who "wrote" the Bible - authored a book that's probably in my top 5 most significant/helpful books I've ever read. I read Working the Angles 12 years into being a Pastor and I sooooo wished I'd read it years earlier. Like it would have been great to have had a half decent theology of what it is to be a Pastor after I'd come out of college (even if it was probably the finest theological college in Western Europe(!)). When I started in my first Pastorate my head was full of loads of really great North American church leadership stuff (combined with no small amount of the management philosophy I'd been indoctrinated with during my time with Marks & Spencer) but precious little about the heart of what it was to be a Pastor/Elder - shepherd of the flock of Christ.

So 12 years in I was seriously restless..... I needed to know what it was, actually, that I was called by God to do. Anyway, long story short, I read Peterson and he showed me the light. It was one of those massive "Ahaaaa" moments.....so that's it!

From the off it was like....."I can't believe you've said that!" Have a look at his first paragraph:

American pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate. They are not leaving their churches and getting other jobs. Congregations still pay their salaries. Their names remain on the church stationary and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays. But they are abandoning their posts, their calling. They have gone whoring after other gods. What they do with their time under the guise of pastoral ministry hasn’t the remotest connection with what the church’s pastors have done for most of twenty centuries.

Crumbs!!

Anyway, he goes on to say this:

(Churches) are communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor’s responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades.

That's it...when you boil it all down and strip everything else away, in the final analysis and when all is said and done the role of a Pastor is to keep people attentive to God: he's got to help people to notice Him, His grace, His truth, His glory... And if the Pastor is to keep the people he serves attentive to God then it's essential that he himself keeps attentive. Was it Robert Murray McCheyne, the hugely significant Scottish pastor who died before he was 30, who said that the greatest thing that he could do for his people was to keep close to God...anyway whoever it was, Peterson is saying the same thing... the most urgent call on my time as a Pastor is to keep attentive to God, being alert to Him, seeing what He sees and joining in with what he's doing.

So, hence the Blog. It's an exercise in helping me to keep attentive. My hunch is that to this end it will be really helpful and, maybe, possibly, perhaps, it might help others to do likewise. We'll see.