Make the best use of your time

 

Something really wild to redeem

" Our present life feels like a real fight as if there were something really wild in the universe we are needed to redeem'

William James

It's been a while since I've written here but it's now time to begin again.  

A while back, a friend spoke to me about something called Exodus 90. It sounded all rather Lenten/ Hairshirt but, I have to say, that having now completed it with 6 others it was utterly transformative. 

A pal spoke to me about his sermon series on fasting which I have never preached on until 2 weeks ago. I spoke on the text 'This kind only comes out by prayer'. I was helped enormously by Lloyd-Jones in his sermons on Revival.  He unpacks the words 'This kind' so deeply and perceptively and 70 years later much still applies. 

If you want some teaching on fasting then this series by John Mark Comer is good.  

A few of us at church are reading Draw the Circle which are 40 readings on prayer and fits the season well. The chapter about wearing waders really tickled me.

I found the section in Moving Mountains on prayer for others helpful. At another point, Eldredge quotes C S Lewis:

'He seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye. Creation seems to be delegation through and through' p. 67

Eldredge was interviewed by Adam Young about his new book. This podcast I commend and blessed me during a tough season. 

In the interview, Eldredge recommends an Ignatian prayer app called 'Pray as you go'. I spent a term being guided through the Spiritual exercises while at Vicar Factory.

I prayed for a 101 year old lady called Violet to receive Christ recently. She died some weeks later and doing her funeral was a privilege.  

Recently, I sat down and read 'Sinners in the hands of an angry God' which was the Edwards sermon that sparked the Great Awakening.  

A friend had a pastor who has been 'In Revival' for 6 years speaking at his church. I've pondered a bit what exactly ''in revival' means and what it might mean here.

On that subject, I'm rereading Wesley the preacher by John Pollock. 

More thoughts, writing and encouragements may follow. 

We'll see.

Saturday blog-sweep

 Some interesting books for pastors

The State we're in

Attack at dawn

Joseph Scriven

Joy comes with the morning

When small is beautiful

Saturday blogsweep

As Jesus sleeps

How to pray for a loved one with a mental illness

May your heart break gently

Number your days: Or why books remind me of death

An answer to Richard Dawkins question

We need restorative rest

The first Joel

I am still on Joel and included Rev 9 in my Sunday sermon and I also tell the story of a wonderful answered prayer..

The answer was connected geographically to Aldersgate Street.

A conversation today with someone who commented that locusts with faces indicates that it's humans that are the reality of evil and the demonic in the world.

I am reading 'The Lord is my courage' and it observes that the temptations can be summarized as:

'Have More. Hurt Less. Rule Faster' (p23)

There is a scene from Frozen Planet 2 of Orca's hunting a seal and it's stunning film-making. It's also a picture of the flicks of the enemies tale can so easily can consume us.  

Fresh hope

 I am preaching through Joel this month so have been thinking a lot about locusts.

This is a new song we are introducing this weekend.

Preaching through Joel requires one to ponder 'the Day of the Lord' and a lot of ink has been used on such matters. When I ponder such things, I am grateful for Simon's book called 'And the Lamb Wins' but I've given my copy away to someone....

I'm reading Scott Saul's book 'Beautiful people don't just happen' and in it he says this:

'...when we catastrophise about the future, when we imagine the very worst for ourselves and for those we love- the thing we must do again and again is to talk to ourselves more than we listen to ourselves'

For ten years, I've said to Mrs C I wanted to be in a community choir. I've finally joined one. 

This is one of our numbers.

Raptured?

I am preaching through Joel in the NY. 

As a result I've been pondering 'the Day of the Lord' and questions of tribulation. In the past, many would have had views on such matters. However, I fear we are now so sub-Scriptural that most have little idea about the end times.

I read Dane Orlund's new little booklet 'Is Hell Real'. Here are 20 quotes from it.

At one point, he quotes this fascinating sermon on Job 14:2 that illustrates that our forebears were keenly attuned to the afterlife and its consequences.  It's such an interesting read for all sorts of reasons.

Russel Brand interviewed Ricky Gervais and the Archbishop of York debating God.

We are watching the Crown and the episode about Al Fayed is so good. It's an illustration of what money simply wasn't able to buy.

Someone gave me Vernon McKee's Thru the Bible and it's a veritable 5-volume treasure trove. I sometimes say 'I wonder what Vernon thinks?'. In case you were wondering, he disagrees with Piper on the rapture. 

I listened to something on Radio 4 yesterday on 'Doomscrolling' .and the presenter quoted John Gottman's advice on marriage. He can apparently predict with 85% accuracy if you are going to divorce. We learnt this as Mrs C and I watched this. 

Boxing up

We cooked Turkey for a crowd and everything miraculously came out hot and on time which was a mini-triumph.  Grateful to Delia's guidance. We have fab new gadget that is a gravy pourer that removes the fat.  

We watched The Mole etc by Charlie Mackesy.   It is so simple and full of lovely pithy truths but I wonder if they make much sense without the backdrop of the gospel? One line struck me

'Life is difficult but you are loved' 

I am reading 'Seasons of sorrow' and meant to put this book about Cromwell on my Christmas. I may get it as NY present to myself. 

We've been singing this in our house as we wash up dishes thank to Tim Challies for the recommendation.

I gave my mum  'Us' to read and she's loving it. The book is much better than the BBC series.

This is another list of recommendations of good 2022 albums.

One of the great pleasures in life is reading a good cookery book on Boxing Day and then picking a recipe to rustle up. This is the one I'm enjoying by Nigel Slater who manages to make food writing into story-telling.

....., though I may have grumbled about becoming trite over time, right now, nothing is more precious to me, nothing more important to me, than this: God is good all the time, and all the time God is good'

Seasons of sorrow, p.28

That was the year that was

As you may have noticed, it's been very quiet here for a long time but it's now time to start writing and sharing again. 

When I first started blogging, one of the bloggers who blessed me was a man called Tim Challies. He pointed me to lots of good books and interesting places that fed my soul in countless ways. However, because I've been off blogging, I've been off reading blogs too so as I came back on stream I read his blog for the first time in a long time. 

What I learnt so saddened me. I read that Tim had lost his only son who died suddenly and tragically young. As the father of two sons, I can't imagine the pain that he must have been through and the deep questions of how  God could put him through such a thing. Tim has called his book 'Seasons of sorrow' and it's now on my Christmas list to read in 2023. 

 

Tim has his Collected best lists of 2022 reads.

Empire of pain

 The blog has been very quiet but I am putting my toes in the water again. We'll see how it goes.

The book I read over Christmas was one of the most compelling things I've read in a long time. It's called Empire of Pain and tells the story of the Sackler Family. A tale of brilliance, greed, power, deceit, denial and much besides. Won lots of accolades and they are all deserved. Stunning stuff.

 I recommend the read but Dopesick tells the story- just out on Disney +

When the wind blows

 'We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty'

G K Chesterton

Guns to God

This is an extraordinary and deeply moving story 'Guns to God' written by a friend who came to Christ here in Barnes and who is now training to be a Vicar.

Saturday blogsweep

 Slow reading Fast reading

Richard Bewes

Why reading is a lost art

6 ways pastors should handle opposition

The startling evidence of a changed life

How should we deal with unwanted sexual behaviours?

Saturday blogsweep

Where do Christians go when they die?

Dane Ortlund

15 New books including a biography of Eugene Peterson

Copycat culture wars

Lessons from the downfall of Ravi Zacharias

Don't throw away encouragement

Four not very 'Wow' things

We've been doing a thing with Lead Academy which has been interesting. 

It's basically a learning community with about 20 churches exploring a plan for post-Covid church. We've had lots of good input - some better than others. I am generally struck by the constant pull of the US Megachurch and the 'go and do as Pastor X does' approach to teaching. 

One chappy said this:

'People don't want sermons on Ephesians-  they want something helpful'

Really. 

I'll let you into a secret. I am not Andy Stanley. I've not written a book, I am not a 'high-performing' leader, I'm not that clever and I have so many shortfalls I could type them here all morning. I pastor a small local church. On the journey though , I've learnt a thing or two about the kingdom but no one will ever ask me to share this at conference. 

Why?

I don't have a model or 'Five tools to grow you church' or the anointing of the 'super-apostle'. 

I have nothing very wow to share.

Ministry boils down to four things (tomorrow of course these four might be different!):

1. Read/ dive into the Bible.

2. Pray and teach others to pray.

3. Care for your own soul (and look after your family if you have one).

4. Keep learning and reading

You will be absolutely amazed how little time pastors/ people working for churches spend doing these four things.

You can ignore these four and grow a church. 

You can grow a church with human talent, money, driven-ness and an off the shelf model.

All of these are fine but not without 1 to 4

Read the Bible

The Bible is not a text book of theology or a model of how to live. It's a story we're invited to jump into. A pal arrived on my doorstep with a brand new five volume set of commentaries called Thru the Bible. I am currently using it as I read through Matthew each morning. It's great and it's helping the story come alive again.

Pray

I use the Daily Prayer app and the BCP takes you through all 150 psalms every 60 days. I am also reading this book on prayer which is blessing me. I am still reeling listening to Paul Miller say '90% of pastors admit to having no discernable prayer life'. 

Care for your soul

Start by taking a Sabbath. It will be hard. There's lots to do I know. But you have to STOP. For the good of your soul. 

Keep learning and reading

I always have a book on the go. I leave them open around the house. You'll be stunned how much you can read if you cut out Twitter and Instagram. I'm reading the Institutes on the loo. If you are wondering what to read, then get hold of Indelible Ink and choose a book that strikes you. 

Do these four things and together we may, by grace, get to the end of the race having remained faithful and part of a local church and still loving Jesus. 

I'm not there yet and I may fail yet- so we'll see.

What I've been learning

'For the first time in my life, I connected God's justification of me with how I related to another person. The result? I didn't defend myself. I quietly rested in "the righteousness from God that depends on faith". My silence was a form of love. Love comes from faith'

The J Curve, Paul Miller, p.43

This year a friend texted me to tell me 30 years ago we were on an Alpha course together. I had encountered Jesus in my last year at university and had moved to London. Someone suggested I should do an Alpha course which I duly did. The person who led it (who is now a dear friend) remembers me being one the most disappointing people he ever had on a course. I am a slow starter and learner.

One of the first letters in the Bible I read as a Christian was Philippians via a book called 'A life worth living'. The title captures a problem I think many new Christian's experience, which is that we think we've invited God to join in with our life, when in fact it's the other way around. It took me over a decade to grasp this basic principle which is why perhaps I struggled a tad. 

This letter is the most joyful of Paul's communications and seemed to be one of the more functional churches he planted. Apart, of course, from a couple of ladies falling out with each other. Other than that, Paul insists that what God began would be brought to completion however gingerly you begin. I can testify to that. In fact, many a keen bean in those early days have long since bailed. Little old me, with the dunce hat at the back of the class, find myself a pastor with 30 years of mileage on the clock and still driving, however slowly and inadequately.

I'd never dwelt much in Chapter 3 which is a section about death and resurrection. I've come to see recently, not only from this letter, but also from painful experience, that a life worth living will be full of many dying and rising moments. 

What put me on to this is a book I'm reading called 'The J Curve' . It was this Best Books of 2020 post that brought it to my attention: 

'Brilliant book. So much theology, so much of life, is made sense of by the J-curve. Before I knew this book existed I built my logo around, and wrote this article about, The J-Curve. I wish I wrote this book, but I don’t have the wisdom, humility, life-experience, or holiness to write like Paul Miller. What a gift of a book. Deeply study this book and it will give you new eyes.'

Now I see that dying and rising is all over the letters and has huge implications for how we live. Most of you won't read the book, though I commend it heartily (together with 'The Praying Life' which is also terrific). So here is a talk that nails the key idea in an hour and, be prepared, Paul really does enjoy a chart!

Saturday blogsweep

 Did Harry and Meghan have a 'secret' wedding?

How will Covid permanently change churches?

Why is atheism no longer cool?

1776

Gentle and lowly

Pastoral ministry means death

Luis Pilau

 Luis Pilau 

An image of discipleship

I was thankful today for the real life experience of the quote Mrs C read me recently from a book she is reading:

'As a little girl, I remember an afternoon I spent playing in the front yard while my Dad was busy picking up sticks and weeding  At one point, he stopped his usual work and went into the garage. He came back with some tools and began doing something I'd never seen him do before. There was a young thin tree that was bent over, suffering from the damaging effects of a storm that had recently blown through. (And, if I remember correctly, it was also suffering from the effects of neighborhood children- myself included- who liked to bounce on its bent-over limb for fun.) He took a rope and tethered the young tree to the much older tree- one that was sturdy and strong standing straight. When I asked him why he was tying the two trees together, he explained that the older tree could offer support and strength to prevent the younger tree from growing askew. The older tree had withstood years of winds and storms. Just by standing beside the younger tree, it offered stability'

Growing together, Melissa Kruger

Saturday blogsweep

Larry Crabb: the counselor who kept exploring

Gay Christians and the Anglican Communion

So many great books

Pastors are paid to stare out of the window

Those who have gone before us

The hope that sustained Tim Keller through 2020