an office addition

A whiteboard, for sketching-out sermon thoughts etc - and probably shopping lists left surreptitiously by the wife....

music to work to

Looking for some music that will help you focus and get things done? Maybe the Ambient series by Brian Eno will do the trick:

Ambient 1/Music for Airports

Ambient 2/The Plateau of Mirror (with Harold Budd)

Ambient 3/Day of Radiance

Ambient 4/On Land

William Deresiewicz wrote a fascinating piece on leadership and solitude. Part of his intention was to stress the need for leaders to develop the ability to think and to think for themselves. A prerequisite for that, he suggests, is solitude. But he then gives that a subtle twist:

So solitude can mean introspection, it can mean the concentration of focused work, and it can mean sustained reading. All of these help you to know yourself better. But there’s one more thing I’m going to include as a form of solitude, and it will seem counterintuitive: friendship. Of course friendship is the opposite of solitude; it means being with other people. But I’m talking about one kind of friendship in particular, the deep friendship of intimate conversation. Long, uninterrupted talk with one other person. Not Skyping with three people and texting with two others at the same time while you hang out in a friend’s room listening to music and studying. That’s what Emerson meant when he said that “the soul environs itself with friends, that it may enter into a grander self-acquaintance or solitude.”

Introspection means talking to yourself, and one of the best ways of talking to yourself is by talking to another person. One other person you can trust, one other person to whom you can unfold your soul. One other person you feel safe enough with to allow you to acknowledge things—to acknowledge things to yourself—that you otherwise can’t. Doubts you aren’t supposed to have, questions you aren’t supposed to ask. Feelings or opinions that would get you laughed at by the group or reprimanded by the authorities.

This is what we call thinking out loud, discovering what you believe in the course of articulating it. But it takes just as much time and just as much patience as solitude in the strict sense. And our new electronic world has disrupted it just as violently. Instead of having one or two true friends that we can sit and talk to for three hours at a time, we have 968 “friends” that we never actually talk to; instead we just bounce one-line messages off them a hundred times a day. This is not friendship, this is distraction.

I know that none of this is easy for you. Even if you threw away your cell phones and unplugged your computers, the rigors of your training here keep you too busy to make solitude, in any of these forms, anything less than very difficult to find. But the highest reason you need to try is precisely because of what the job you are training for will demand of you.

I found what he said really helpful. Every pastor needs a friend like that. But it also occurred to me that what he wrote could also be thought of in terms of prayer, too.

(HT: Matt Perman)

two free audio books

You likely know that Christian Audio give away a free audio book each month. Well, this month it's TWO free audio books - the classic Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonheoffer and the other is Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die by John Piper.

What good reason do you have not to download them?

the great albums (3) - wilder

Growing-up is hard. Or so this album by The Teardrop Explodes says. From being a boy, falling-out with your mates and the storied reality of rafts and ships and shark attacks, to the confusion of life's demands as an adult. No wonder you'd storm out of the culture bunker with your finger on the pin.

Right from the off, 'All my life I've been bent out of shape' sings Cope, but this isn't going to be bedsitter-fodder. It's way too smart for that and isn't really about falling in and out of love. It's bigger in scope and scale; seven views of Jerusalem and talk of great dominions - it's epic and it's one tiny bit manic.

Cope has a way with words. They don't always make (apparent) sense but they always make an impact - 'the bitter concealed has now congealed' is a worthy image and it isn't alone. Maybe the centrepiece of the album is Tiny Children (Oh I could make a meal of that wonderful despair I feel but, waking up, I turn and face the wall') but it's buttressed by the energetic Passionate Friend ('celebrate the great escape from lunacy dividing') and is, ultimately, outshone by the closer, The Great Dominions ('Mummy, I've been fighting again').

Is it immediate? No. Is it sustained brilliance? Not really - there are gaps. But the best moments more than make up for any inadequacies.

The album was released in 1981 and I bought it in late January '83. For years I regarded it as lightweight and pretentious. Perhaps it is. But maybe, just maybe, it's a deliberate ploy and is the reason why it can detonate profound reactions.

Is it fun? Yeah, of course it is - but what, and who, are you laughing at?

(nb: the spotify album has extra tracks - the original album only has tracks 1-11. i haven't listened to the extra tracks and offer no comment on them)

preacher, it's not about you

A couple of interesting pieces on giving a presentation from Psychology Today.

Worth a quick gander.

How to Give a Presentation Part I: It's Not About You

How to Give a Presentation Part II: Tell A Good Story

do real men knit?

You could do worse than to ask Bezalel, Oholiab and their colleagues:

Then Moses said to the Israelites, "See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills — to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers — all of them skilled workers and designers. (Exodus 35:30-35)

walt & wilf in preaching

Chatting to a teacher the other day, we spoke about looking for outcomes from the lesson. One way that is handled is by each lesson having a WALT ('We Are Learning To') and a WILF ('What I'm Looking For') - what is the intended outcome of the lesson (WALT) and what is the evidence it has been achieved (WILF).

It struck me that it might be useful to adapt that approach to the preaching context - having established the lines of meaning and application in the passage, to ask what I hope people will know, feel & do as a result of listening to the sermon and what the evidence of that might consist in.

It's not particularly revolutionary but maybe it helps to focus thinking on the hearer, rather than the deliverer, and on genuine transformation of lives rather than simply transfer of information.

kindle: sample chapters

Avid readers of this blog (as distinct from aphid readers of this blog, of which there are swarms) will know that I do not have a Kindle, the Amazon ebook reader (again, please feel free to rectify my lack), but that I do have the freely-available PC and iPhone Kindle apps . You buy books in the same way and get to read them on your PC or on your iPhone.

Well, I thought you'd like to know that, most of the time, a sample chapter or so can be downloaded for free, to see if you'd like to buy the book. Yesterday, I downloaded about seven such chapters of books by Don Carson, William Willimon, Craig Blomberg and the likes.

So, my advice is pour yourself a coffee and settle down to read - think of it as a leisurely browse without the prospect of a shop assistant demanding to know if you intend to buy the book and, if not, please put it back on the shelf. And if you've creased the spine, you're paying for it.

the living water

Commenting on Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman and the contrast between the water from the well that Jacob gave to his family and the living water that Jesus offers, Ridderbos very helpfully comments,

the point of this story and the way by which Jesus leads the woman to faith can only be understood against the salvation-historical background of God's revelation to Israel. The gift of water from the well of Jacob was for the Samaritans, like the manna in the wilderness to Israel, a reminder of the sacred tradition - continuing evidence of God's richly salvific involvement with his people through history. When Jesus describes the gift of God in terms from tradition, such as 'living water' and 'bread from heaven', the adjectives 'living', 'true', 'good' and the like are rooted theologically not in an ontological contrast between illusion and reality but in a salvation-historical contrast. What Jesus brings is the fulfilment, the 'truth' and the 'fulness' of the gift of God. Everything that preceded had reference to that fulness, but could not provide it.

(Herman Ridderbos, The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary, p.157)

a world full of God's love

Psalm 33:5 tells us that the whole earth is filled with Yahweh's unfailing love. It's a nice thought - the world filled with love. But this isn't the warm, gooey love that comes with a box of Roses. It's God's loyal, covenantal love - his hesed, that combination of intimacy and security which is expressed in the self-giving of God himself.

The psalm affirms that the whole earth is filled with this covenant love. It's a remarkable statement at this point in redemptive history, when Yahweh's hesed was particularised in Israel. It isn't the land that is filled with hesed but the earth.

God's particular demonstration of covenant love and loyalty towards Israel was an expression of his covenant faithfulness to the whole of his creation. In places where torah was unknown and the voice of the prophets unheard, Yahweh's covenant love was nevertheless (mysteriously) present.

Maybe it was for this reason Paul felt able to use Psalm 19:4, material that is generally understood to speak of general revelation, as evidence that God's saving message has been heard (Romans 10:16ff).

a pattern of prescience

In John 1, Jesus displays his prescience in his encounter with Nathanael and it takes a particular form: statement by Jesus (v.47); response by Nathanael (v.48a); disclosure by Jesus of his knowledge (v.48b); recognition of Jesus' identity by Nathanael (v.49); a promise of greater things by Jesus (vv.50,51).

In John 4, Jesus displays his prescience in his encounter with the Samaritan woman and it takes a particular form: statement/instruction by Jesus (v.16); response by the woman (v.17a); disclosure by Jesus of his knowledge (vv.17b,18); recognition of Jesus' identity by the woman (v.19); a promise of greater things by Jesus (vv.23,24)

the church as temple

In his helpful material on Exodus, Peter Enns makes the following observations:

For centuries readers of Exodus have seen that the tabernacle is described in a way that makes one think of Genesis 1.

- The tabernacle instructions (Exodus 25-31) are given in six segments, each beginning with “Yahweh said to Moses” (25:1; 30:11, 17, 22, 34; 31:1). “Speaking” these six “creative” words to Moses parallels the six creative words of Genesis 1 (vv. 3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 22).

- The seventh word creative word in Exodus 31:12 introduces the Sabbath command. As in Genesis 1, we see a seven-fold creative act culminating in rest.

- In Exodus 39: 32 we read that the work was “completed.” This is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 2:2 to refer to the completion of God’s creative work.

- In Exodus 39:43 we read that Moses “inspected the work and saw” that they had completed the work according to plan. Likewise in Genesis 1 God inspects his creative work and “sees” (same Hebrew word) that it was good.

- Just as Moses “blessed” the people after completing the work (Exodus 39:43), God “blessed” (same Hebrew word) his creation in Genesis 1:22, 28; 2:3.

- In Exodus 40:33 we read that Moses “finished the work,” which parallels how God “finished his work” (same Hebrew vocabulary) on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2).

Further, the structure itself has creation overtones. The very fact that it is to be built according to exact specifications, no less than a heavenly “pattern” (Exodus 25:9) speaks to the “ordered” nature of the tabernacle as well as to its “heavenly” identity. The tabernacle is an earthly representation of God’s heavenly temple. Commentators regularly also note that the lampstand (Exodus 25:31-40) represents a tree and so likely symbolizes the tree of life, not only found in the creation story but a common ancient Near Eastern motif. The curtains of the tabernacle are blue, purple, and scarlet linen with cherubim woven into them (Exodus 26:1). This is not just a nice design. Rather, when you walk into the tabernacle and look around, you are to think of the heavenly place the tabernacle symbolizes.

All of this means that the tabernacle is more than a really nice tent. It is a micro-cosmos. It is a smaller version of what God did in Genesis 1. It is a “world” that symbolizes created order. It is a “sacred space” separate from the surrounding “chaos”.

And this is where Israel’s God dwells. Like Marduk in Enuma Elish or Ugaritic Baal, conflict ends in the building of a residence suitable for the high god. The tabernacle is the resting place of the victorious Yahweh. It is not an afterthought. It had to be built in response to the cosmic battle.

And in the NT we're told, over & again, that the church is now the temple of God. Sacred space. Separated from chaos. Orderly and harmonious; reflecting heavenly beauty. A 'place' to encounter the reality of God's own presence.

Which makes me want to pray with Timothy Dudley-Smith:

Lord of the church, we pray for our renewing:
Christ over all, our undivided aim.
Fire of the Spirit, burn for our enduing,
wind of the Spirit, fan the living flame!
We turn to Christ amid our fear and failing,
the will that lacks the courage to be free,
the weary labours, all but unavailing,
to bring us nearer what a church should be.

Lord of the church, we seek a Father's blessing,
a true repentance and a faith restored,
a swift obedience and a new possessing,
filled with the Holy Spirit of the Lord!
We turn to Christ from all our restless striving,
unnumbered voices with a single prayer:
the living water for our souls' reviving,
in Christ to live, and love and serve and care.

Lord of the church, we long for our uniting,
true to one calling, by one vision stirred;
one cross proclaiming and one creed reciting,
one in the truth of Jesus and his word!
So lead us on; till toil and trouble ended,
one church triumphant one new song shall sing,
to praise his glory, risen and ascended,
Christ over all, the everlasting King!

(© Timothy Dudley-Smith)

keller: some thoughts on approaching the big questions

I previously posted a link to Tim Keller's helpful piece on the big questions facing western churches today.

Here are his thoughts on how to approach those questions. Again, very helpful reading.

A taster....

4. We must develop a far better theology of suffering. Members of churches in the west are caught absolutely flat-footed by suffering and difficulty. This is a major problem, especially if we are facing greater 'liminality'--social marginalization--and maybe more economic and social instability. There are a great number of books on 'why does God allow evil?' but they mainly are aimed at getting God off the hook with impatient western people who believe God's job is to give them a safe life. The church in the west must mount a great new project--of producing a people who are prepared to endure in the face of suffering and persecution.

Here, too, is one of the ways we in the west can connect to the new, growing world Christianity. We tend to think about 'what we can do for them.' But here's how we let them do something for us. Many or most of the church in the rest of the world is used to suffering and persecution. They have a kind of faith that does not wilt, but rather grows stronger under threat. We need to become students of theirs in this area.

a joyful discovery

It's what Spotify is so very good at - giving access to jewels you never knew existed or had, at best, only heard rumours of.

The First Of A Million Kisses is one of those diamonds.

And thanks to The Masked Badger for reminding me that this album existed.

Exodus 16 in 2 Corinthians 8

It's another of those 'Not sure I'd have used the OT in quite that way, Paul' passages. And with an interesting twist. A number of things are possibly worthy of comment:

i. He does not give the Exodus text a Christological focus. While all the OT speaks of Jesus, it doesn't (or so it seems) only speak of him. It can be framed to teach NT believers quite directly.

ii. In Paul's use of Exodus 16:17,18 in 2 Corinthians 8:13-15, he aligns the experience of Israel in the wilderness with the church at Corinth. He isn't so much using fulfilment language as equating the two experiences. There is a proper continuity between the two communities.

iii. But there is a twist. In Exodus 16, the implication seems to be that people didn't pick too much or too little, even though it might have seemed that they had. Somehow - and the text could almost be taken to imply God's direct intervention - they all found that they had just the amount they needed. How will such need be met in Corinth and elsewhere? Through the generosity of God's people - those with more than enough will give to those who have too little, and in that way there will be parity.

Is Paul implying that this is what actually happened in Exodus 16, that he is seeing beneath the text to an implication that may not be clear at first sight? Or is he aligning the two experiences in such a way as to suggest that, whilst God may have directly intervened in the past and could still choose to do so today, the real emphasis lies on his people sharing the generous nature of God and taking steps to ensure their brothers and sisters are provided for? Perhaps his use of 'as it is written' is designed to show that there always was intended to be progression from an Exodus 16 type of situation, to the sort of action he is advocating. In which case, it raises the possibility of similar use of the OT in other places.

Maybe.

being authentic

This piece wasn't written for pastors but it contains wisdom that is eminently transferable.

a hundredfold: patriarchal blessing

Isaac inherited God's promises to Abraham. In Genesis 26:12 we're told that he planted crops and in that same year "reaped a hundredfold because YHWH blessed him".

When Jesus spoke of the fruitfulness of his word in people's lives, he spoke of it multiplying thirty, sixty or even a hundred times.

Maybe he had in mind God's blessing of the patriarchs and his promises to them, now coming true through his transforming word.

At Jacob's well

Jesus asks for a drink from a woman. She then takes his offer of living water to the townspeople who also come to believe that he is 'the Saviour of the world'.

Way back in Genesis, Abraham's servant asked a young woman for a drink at a well. Later on, again at a well, Jacob drew water for a young woman's flock.

Maybe we're meant see feel the resonances. A woman deeply mired in shame will share the blessisngs of Rebekah and Rachel. A town of despised Samaritans will share the blessings of Abraham - not through the purity of their lineage but through faith in the Messiah.

messiah & his people: incorporation; representation

In Psalm 28:8 there is a great example of synthetic parallelism that brings out the connection between the people and the Lord's anointed one (Heb. מָשִׁיחַ; mashiakh). "YHWH is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one."

He is their strength and a fortress for his Messiah. The two are bound together; what the LORD is to the King, he is to the people. He represents them and they are incorporated into him.

You get similar ideas in Psalm 84:9 and in Psalm 89:38ff, all preparing the way for the representative and incorporative language of the NT as it speaks of Messiah and his people.