Holy Week - Wednesday

On this day our Lord remained withdrawn in silence at Bethany, preparing Himself for the agony that awaited Him.

In the house of Simon the Leper, He was anointed by a woman, in preparation for His burial.

Judas was bargaining with the chief priests to betray Him.

Mark 14:1-11

A day of contrasts.
Judas is busy; secret meetings with enemies, money changes hands, greed is satisfied.
Jesus is quiet; no parables, no apocalyptic discourses, no signs.
 
A woman comes, no name given, but her story told wherever the gospel goes. She recognises Jesus: no, she doesn't know about the Trinity, or the incarnation, or the hypostatic union. She has not been trained in Creed or Confession - but she recognises Jesus.
The Jesus before her is worthy;
    worthy of her love,
    worthy of her devotion,
    worthy of her perfume,
    worthy of her tears.
The Jesus before her is greater;
    greater than any man she has known, (in all the senses of that word)
    greater than her fear,
    greater than her shame,
    greater than her need.
 
So she comes, she honours Jesus with the best she has and is accepted by him and given as an example for all to follow.
 
There's a Brenton Brown song 'Jesus You Are Worthy', I don't know how to copy audio files into a blog, so here are the words:
 
Jesus you are mercy, Jesus you are justice
Jesus you are worthy that is what you are
you died alone to save me, your rose so you could raise me
you did this all to make me a chosen child of God

(How) Worthy is the Lamb that once was slain
To receive all glory power and praise
For with your blood you purchased us for God
Jesus you are worthy, that is what you are.

Perfect sacrifice crushed by God for us
bearing in your hurt all that I deserve
misjudged for my misdeeds you suffered silently
he only guiltless man in all of history.

Holy Week - Tuesday

On this day our Lord told five parables; He answered the questions of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, a lawyer.


He foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, and spoke of the final judgement of all men and women.



Mark 11:27-13:36
 
Five parables,
Five lessons,
Five ways to reject the authority of the Lord Jesus.
 
One question about one baptism;
One refusal to answer,
               (He who is silent is assumed to agree)
One vineyard,
One owner,
Many servants,
Some tennants = some killings, beatings, greedy graspings.
 
One brother and a wife,
six brothers and no children.
Countless readings of Scripture without any understanding. (A warning to us all)
 
One commandment;
Two commandments,
Love is the way of the Kingdom.
 
One Christ,
One son of David,
One Lord over all.
 
Many fine stones can all be overthrown,
Many famines, earthquakes, troubles can all be misunderstood.
Many false prophets and false Christ's will try to decieve.
Many signs for many generations,
     but the sign of the fig tree must still be learned!
Many days, many hours,
but no one knows when, except the Father only.
 
One Lord, who is Jesus.
One Teacher, who is the Christ.
One call, 'Follow me'.

Keep Downloading

At 4.30 pm on Monday, Delirious? History Maker is no 21 on the iTunes chart, and no 1 on the Amazon download chart.

I've copied the lyrics into this post.


History Maker


Is it true today that when people pray
Cloudless skies will break
Kings and queens will shake
Yes it's true and I believe it
I'm living for you

Is it true today that when people pray
We'll see dead men rise
And the blind set free
Yes it's true and I believe it
I'm living for you

I'm gonna be a history maker in this land
I'm gonna be a speaker of truth to all mankind
I'm gonna stand, I'm gonna run
Into your arms, into your arms again
Into your arms, into your arms again

Well it's true today that when people stand
With the fire of God, and the truth in hand
We'll see miracles, we'll see angels sing
We'll see broken hearts making history
Yes it's true and I believe it
We're living for you
Written by Martin Smith �1996 Curious? Music UK

Holy Week - Monday

On this day our Lord returned to Jerusalem from Bethany, cursing the fig tree on His way.


He cleansed the courts of the Temple, and He declared that His Father's House should be a house of prayer for all nations.

Mark 11:12-26
 
A tree that should bear fruit. A house that should be for prayer.
Things are not the way they should be.
 
A nation that has been chosen to be a holy people, a royal priesthood is a nation that ought to display the likeness of the God who chose them, the God who brought them out of slavery, who has loved them with a great love.
The heart beat of such a nation is its living together with God. A house of prayer, a symbol for a people of prayer as the way we live together with God. When this symbol is perverted, demeaned, reduced into a market for crooks and swindlers no wonder there is no fruit in the nation.
 
In the Kingdom where Jesus is the King, where there is no need for a house of prayer because all in the Kingdom are united to the King, that fruit which is a blessing to the nations, a blessing to all creation is grown until the branches groan, so heavy are they with this bountiful fruit.
 
Jesus is King, His Kingdom has come. But where is the fruit? Where is the people who live by prayer?

Chocolate isn't close to the whole story!

Thanks to Mike Bird for a great response to a Ferrero Rocher ad (which I haven't seen) and giving us a great into to this holy week.

Read it here.

Welcoming the King

Mark 11:9-10

Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
"Hosanna!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"

Three cries of welcome for the King.

1. Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.
Literally, 'save now', becomes a cry of praise and thanksgiving. We welcome the King by recognising our need, depending upon him alone and thanking/praising him for our salvation.

2. Blessed is he who comes in God's name.
An affirmation, not a prayer request for blessing. We welcome the one who comes as God himself because this is who Jesus really is, God with us.

3. Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David.
The great human king, promised an eternal kingdom, foreshadow of the Christ. We welcome God's Christ and together with him we welcome the Kingdom now come among us.

How do we welcome Jesus our King?

Biblefresh

The biblefresh web site is now live, you can visit it - http://www.biblefresh.com/

There are lots of good ideas to help us read the bible, to help us encourage others to read the bible. Why not visit this site, or better, why not read the bible - it could change your world!

No 1 for Easter Sunday

Tomorrow is the day! The day to start downloading the Delirious? song History Makers.

There is a web site http://www.invadetheairwaves.org.uk/ with information on this campaign to have a Christian song at No 1 for Easter Sunday. The band have agreed that all the proceeds from the sales of this song are to be donated through Compassion Art to 16 charitable projects around the world.

You can download the song from:
iTunes
amazon
7digital
play
hmc
tescoentertainment

There are two versions, one live and one studio, you can download one of each and both will count towards the one chart position. So go on, especially if you've never downloaded a song before - download this one! And if you want a sneek preview here is a uTube clip ...

What is Be Thinking

I've had a better chance to look at the Be Thinking web site, and put a link into my places to visit side bar. I've copied the following from the about us tab on their site:

bethinking.org aims to bring together the best possible resources for thinking about and communicating the Christian faith. Its goal is to help to prepare all Christians to provide an answer to those who deny the truth of Christianity. Whether that’s answering the attacks of Richard Dawkins, discussing our faith with a Muslim colleague or chatting about the latest episode of Dr Who with a neighbour, bethinking.org aims to provide you with talks and articles that stimulate you to think about your faith and its relation to the world and culture around us, and then to show how Christianity is not only true, but provides the answers to life’s biggest questions.


The technical term for all this is ‘apologetics’. Whether you are a student, at home or at work, we want bethinking.org to help you to talk about your Christian faith in a way that is relevant, attractive, true and culturally aware.

I like the description of apologetics as 'attractive'. Yes, we must strive for relevance, truth and cultural awareness, but attractiveness is so important. We can often speak the truth in relevant and aware ways which are far from attractive. Here is a skill many of us need to learn.

I'm grateful to the UCCF for this site and rejoice that there is so much good and useful information on it. I'm in danger of not getting any work done today so keen am I to read more on this site! Keep watching, I'll add some comments to some of the articles in days to come.

Be Thinking

I was directed to a new web site (thanks Ramsay) called Be Thinking - http://www.bethinking.org/

For too long I and other evangelicals have been told that we don't think, the only thinkers are the liberal elite!! Well no more. Here is a great resource, from lots of highly respected evangelical thinkers, who reflect deeply upon Scripture yet without ever loosing an attitude of submission. No doubt I'll post some comments on some of the articles when I've have a better look at them.

If it ain't prog ...

I've just been watching some programmes on Prog Rock on BBC4 (this freeview is great). I've been reminded just how fantastic this music is. If it ain't prog ... it don't rock!

Just in case you're not persuaded here is a clip of Yes playing 'And You and I' live at Montreux 2003, enjoy.

HTC Newsletter

There is a recent newsletter from the Highland Theological College on line here.

I hope you find something interesting in reading this newsletter.

'Tis Done!

I've just finished reading the second volume of Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation. Hence 'Tis Done!

Say something nice about Herr Bavinck's book.
Very comprehensive. If you want to know what the position of Reformed Theology is on the doctrine of God and/or Creation this is the one volume that will do it for you.

Now tell us what you really think!
There are just too many pages describing positions in theology and philosophy that Reformed Theology will disagree with. I know that Deism and Pantheism are wrong, I don't need to read about why they are wrong under every heading.

If you want to read a really good book on the doctrine of God, you should try Gerald Bray's volume of that title in the IVP Contours of Christian Theology series (pub 1993). At 251 pages of text, plus some notes and suggested further reading, this is a far more accessible and useful volume than Bavinck. Bray covers the doctrine of God, which to be fair is only the first three parts (432 pages) of Bavinck. But he does it so much better.

So, 'tis done! That's another book ticked off my reading targets list for 2010, and the first of my major volumes. I'm really looking forward to starting Larry Hurtado's 'Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity'. This theology is all very well but just not as much fun as biblical studies.

I'm going to replace Bavinck on the reading targets list with Gordon Fee's 'God's Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul' (pub 1994). Just in case Hurtado doesn't turn out to do enough detailed exegesis of the text Fee won't let me down. But I'm not aiming to get to Fee until the summer, unless Hurtado ends up being a better page turner than Dan Brown.

Thank You

I've just finished reading John Stott's book 'The Radical Disciple'. This is a very easily read book and would be an excellent gift or recommendation to any Christian person.

John Stott is radical in a different way from Shane Claiborne. I find Stott's radical more balanced (one of his chapter titles), which may seem odd - a balanced radical!

We do need to be radical in our discipleship, but I always find error creaps quickly in where we are not well balanced.

In the preface Stott comments on the difference between 'Christian' and 'disciple':
Both words (Christian and disciple) imply a relationship with Jesus, although perhaps 'disciple' is the stronger of the two because it inevitably implies the relationship of pupil to teacher. ... One wishes in some ways that the word 'disciple' had continued into the following centuries [after the time of the apostles], so that Christians were self-consciously disciples of Jesus, and took seriously their responsibility to be 'under discipline'. (p. 16)

An interesting challenge about how we think and talk about our Christian living, or our lives of discipleship!

John Stott's book are always worth reading, over the years I've found his work invaluable and would commend any of his books most warmly. To a radical disciple then, let me say thank you.

Good Questions and 'Good' Answers

Another day in 121 made more enjoyable by finishing Chris Wright's book 'The God I Don't Understand' (2008) on the train.

I've posted on Chris Wright before - here. Chris, in my opinion, is one of the finest biblical scholars presently serving the church. His books on Deuteronomy and Ezekiel are very good and his larger 'The Mission of God' is excellent. I must have read 'The Mission of God' the autumn before beginning my blog so there are no posts on it, so there's a good excuse to read it again!

In this book Chris identifies some questions which are hard to answer, e.g. Why suffering? What was all the fuss about the Canaanites? The Cross: Why, What, How? And the great climax, what's the end all about?

Chris' aim in the book is to reflect on what the bible actually says about these matters and then to draw lines within which we can study and gain understanding and beyond which we will, in this life, never fully understand our God and his ways.

On suffering Chris very helpfully writes of a proper Christian response to suffering, as modelled in Scripture, being: lament, grief, anger, disgust and protest. Not resignation, not transferring blame to 'the curse' or 'the judgement'. In summary:
The Bible compels us to accept that there is a mysteriousness about evil that we simply cannot understand (and it is good that we cannot).
The Bible allows us to lament, protest, and be angry at the offensiveness of evil (and it is right that we should). (p. 55)
This is a much more biblically robust way to respond to the evil of suffering than a resigned grin and bear it, or don't worry it will be better in heaven kind of approach which really helps no one and only brings the gospel into disrepute.

In the section on the cross Chris writes very well of the Trinity and how we cannot set the Father against the Son: i.e. The Son wins a grudging forgiveness from an unwilling Father, or the Father makes an unwilling victim of his Son. We don't understand the mystery of the Trinity but we know the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father and the two always work in perfect harmony. So any presentation of the cross or the atonement that falls down here will fail to do justice to the biblical presentation of Christ's work on the cross. A timely reminder and challenge to those otherwise minded.

A good book, easily read and very highly commended.

The Irresisible Revolution

I've finished Shane Claiborne's book The Irresisible Revolution.

Some final quotes to share:

We live in a world of dangerous extremes. "These are extreme times," Dr King said. "The question is not whether we will be extremists but what kind of extremists will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?" (p. 270)

A good question, the followers of Jesus should indeed be 'extremists for love and grace.'


I used to think that those of us who hope for things we cannot see and who believe that the world can be different than it is were the crazy ones. We are usually called that by people who spend their lives trying to convince everyone that the crazy things they do actually make sense. Now more and more people are starting to imagine that mabye another world is possible and necessary and actually imaginable. I'm starting to wonder if, actually, we have gone sane in a mad world. In a world of smart bombs and military intelligence, we need more fools, holy fools who insist that the folly of the cross is wiser than any human power. And the world may call us crazy. (p. 343)

Do we have the confidence in the gospel to believe that the whole world may be mad but believing in Jesus is the only kind of sane there is? This challenge works on so many different levels.

On the whole Shane's book is challenging, although some of the later chapters are repeating, or let's be positive, reinforcing points made earlier in the book. I can understand Shane's zeal for this kind of Christian living he has found and experienced, but, and this is a big but, he is not describing 'normal' Christian living. I'm well aware there's a huge debate about what 'normal' Christian living may be, but any one description doesn't do justice to the width and variety of Christian living.

Alpha Scotland

At the beginning of February Fiona and I went to the Alpha Scotland Vision Day. Nicky Gumble's talk from the opening session is on-line, either as audio or video here.

It is worth checking out.

I've Done It

Just before Christmas I got this poster of two pages from Codex Sinaiticus from the British Library shop. See me earlier post here.

There is no note on the poster as to which pages are on view. But, I worked it out. Sorry for sounding so chuffed, but there go you.

The first line of the first column on the left hand page is from Luke 22:20b,

the first two characters are the final two letters of the word touto 'this', to poterion 'the cup' and the final charater is the feminine definite article which goes with the phrase 'the new covenant'.

The final line on the eigth column, or the forth column on the right hand page is from Luke 23:14c,

again the first three characters are the end of a word, umon 'you' the final characters make the word anakrinas 'examine', in this form an active Aorist participle. There are from the phrase 'after examining him before you', which Pilate says to the Jews.

So the poster covers the text from Lk 22:20c to Lk 23:14c. Of interest in this section is 22:43-44, which are in double brackets in NA27 and marked in English versions as not being included in some manuscripts. The NA27 footnotes suggest omission of these verses as not being in papyri 75 nor in aleph 1 (codex Sinaiaticus 1), however, they text is found in aleph 2 (codex Sinaiticus 2) which is what is reproduced on the poster!
Metzger has a helpful note on these verses in his textual commentary.

A Prayer For Chile

I've copied this from Pete Philips blog postmodernbible.

Prayer for Chile


Lord of all creation, We pray for the people of Chile, rocked by an earthquake. We pray for those who have lost loved ones,and for those who have been injured. We pray for those who have lost property,and for those seeking to bring order to the chaos. We pray for those who are scared, and for those who wait in fear to see if more damage will be done. We pray for the Church in Chile,that it will be a beacon of hope and security for those in need. We pray for peace and stability in the midst of confusion. Amen.

via http://www.methodist.org.uk/

Tearfund At Work in Chile

Tearfund is sending £20,000 to help local churches in Chile respond to the massive earthquake there that left at least 700 people dead and 1.5 million homes damaged.


The quake on Saturday, measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, is being described as a `catastrophe’ by the South American nation’s president. (Read the rest of this report here).

Give thanks for Tearfund and the opportunity we have in partnership with Tearfund to share God's love with the poorest and most needy people in the world.