Lest we forget

Remembrance Sunday this year had a added poignancy with the increase in deaths from the conflict in Afghanistan and the knowledge that a local family, from our neighbouring parish of St Matthew's, is among those recently bereaved.

At our 11am service we concluded our act of remembrance by singing the national anthem. There was a time when I disagreed with singing 'God save the Queen' as part of worship and in fact I used to refuse to join in, even though I support the monarchy, because I used to think that singing the anthem as part of an act of worship confused too much the kingdom of this world with the kingdom of God.

Latterly I have tended to think differently - partly because I recognise that 'God save the Queen' is in fact a prayer, and a good prayer to offer for the Sovereign. Indeed, the Bible encourages us to pray for our rulers.

But my change in attitude also derives from a consideration of the second verse of the national anthem, which not only prays for God's blessing on the Queen 'thy choicest gifts in store on her be pleased to pour' but makes the powerful point - post the Glorious Revolution of 1688 - that our loyalty to the monarch is limited and conditional: 'may she defend our laws and ever give us cause to sing with heart and voice: God save the Queen.' We do not give an unconditional commitment to our rulers. We look to them to recognise that their power is limited by law, and that they are answerable to the law and responsible for defending the law.

My conclusion is that it is good to sing the National Anthem, but you mustn't leave out verse 2.

A view of Vermeer?

It's quite an achievement to write a biography of Vermeer because almost nothing is known about the life of the Dutch painter whose reputation has so grown with the years.

We know he lived in Delft. We know he was married. We know he had lots of children, but we do not even know all their names or exactly how many of them they were.

Unlike Rembrandt he was not given to self-portraiture, and as so no one else thought to paint his likeness, we do not ever know what he looked like.

We know he died at 42 and completed less than 40 canvasses. He was either a very slow painter or he didn't paint very often. And that is about all we know.

This could lead to a very short book, not to say a rather dull one, were it not for the fact that Bailey does two things that more than make up for the paucity of his information about Vermeer's life.

First, he does a wonderful job of painting a vivid picture of 17th century life in Delft. Through his meticulous research we get an insight into the kind of life Vermeer led, and the world he inhabited.

Secondly. Bailey encourages us to peer clearly at Vermeer's paintings, to discern the artist behind the artwork.

All of Vermeer's works have a certain air of mystery, perhaps the greatest mystery of all is the artist, but if we view his works, perhaps we gain some insight into his mind.

OK that's quite a big 'perhaps' - and Bailey does verge on the edge of speculation - but then perhaps so far as Vermeer's works are concerned, that is part of the pleasure.

Pictured: Girl with the Pearl Earring - which we viewed earlier in the year in the in the Mauritshuis or Royal Picture Gallery in the Hague

Remembering Jean

Yesterday I conducted the funeral of one of my very favourite aunts.

It was a long running family joke that I would do the honours when the moment came: 'you will do my funeral, won't you love?' she would say whenever I saw her.

But she died suddenly and I didn't expect to be taking Aunt Jean's funeral quite so soon.

Her son, my cousin, made a powerful point: his mum led an ordinary life but she was in her way exceptional. She devoted herself wholeheartedly to her family, to her husband of nearly 60 years, to her son Paul, to her grandchildren. Her commitment was exceptional.

Tomorrow I am preaching about marriage - it is also Remembrance Day - and its a notable point that those who grew up in the Second World War with all the privations of that time, like Aunt Jean, have so often led lives marked by the qualities of selflessness and loyalty that have produced marriages that have stood the test of time.

Wild swans

Wild Swans contains the life story of three generations of women from the author's family.

It spans the history of pre-revolutionary China, the revolutionary war and rise to power of the Communist Party and the Cultural Revolution that followed under Mao. In a sense it is the prequel to Chang's biography, Mao the Unknown Story, which I read some years ago.

This is a beautifully written, powerful book. The section dealing with the Cultural Revolution is particularly shocking. We see how the revolution devoured its own children. Chang's parents, devoted Communists, like millions of others, faced unspeakable torture, persecution and abuse.

Chang tells her story without bitterness. There is a restraint and dignity about the way she relates the unfolding story of the tragedy that overtook China under Mao.

Wild Swans eloquently gives the lie to anyone who thinks Maoism was a benign force. If her statistics are correct Mao was personally responsible for more deaths than Stalin and Hitler put together.

Building on the rock

A Rocha (The Rock) is an international organisation of Christians involved in conservation.

Peter Harris, the founder and president, is our Crosslinks mission partner and was with us today for all four services. It has been a really good day.

Peter presented us with a framework of a creation made by God, of a suffering creation damaged by sin, and of a renewed creation restored by God's power. He urged us to be involved in caring for the planet because God cares for the world he has created, and because God has a special concern for the poor, who suffer most from the effects of environmental degradation.

He suggested we should speak less about 'the environment', which puts us and our needs at the centre of the world, and more about 'the creation,' which puts God back at the centre - 'the earth is the Lord's and everything in it.'.


You can download Peter's talks in a few days time from the church website

Peter began his talk this evening with this video clip from Australian TV (based I am told by an Australian informant on a true incident):

Saintly confusion

I was beginning to think the Reformation had never happened. Songs of Praise managed to celebrate All Saints Day without even hinting at the Bible's definition of sainthood or even suggesting that this might be different from the view of the Roman Catholic Church which this programme simply assumed.

Couldn't someone have just opened the Bible - just for a bit- and revealed the truth that the a 'saint' is the New Testament's favourite word to describe a Christian, not a miracle working super Christian, not a departed Christian living in heaven, but a real living common or garden Christian, like you or me.

The real message of All Saints Day, entirely lost to the BBC, is that by grace we are all saints.

All Saints Day

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Hebrews 12.1-2

Shining the light

We're just back from a half term break in our favourite county, North Yorkshire, staying at Rivendell, run by our university friend, Ange, and enjoying the scenery of the North York Moors (pictured).

Back in Redhill, children and adults have crowded into the church for our Hallowe'en Light Party and the Surrey Police have distributed 'No Trick or Treat' stickers for us to display on our doors. Meanwhile Bishop Nick is reminding us that All Hallows Eve or All Saints Eve, as we call it today is, is also Reformation Day.

It makes our light party doubly relevant: the light of Christ shining out in the lives of the saints, and the light of the Gospel shining out with fresh vigour and clarity from a renewed and reformed church.

Boyle's vision

Another famous Anglican featured in The Heart of Faith is the chemist Robert Boyle (1627-1891).

All those A level students who have sweated over Boyle's Law have the author of The Sceptical Chymist to thank for their labours.

But the brilliant scientific mind had a spiritual dimension too. Boyle was a devout Christian and an ardent supporter of Christian mission and bible translation.

He lived before the word 'scientist' had been invented, so he was, in his terms 'a natural philisopher' investigating the natural world that God had created, and giving glory to the creator. This is how he saw it:

'When with bold telescopes I survey the old and newly discovered stars and planets... When with excellent microscopes I discern nature's curious workmanship; when with the help of anatomical knives and the light of chymical furnaces I study the book of nature... I find myself exclaiming with the psalmist, How manifold are thy works, O God, in wisdom thou hast made them all.'

Joy in God

A more contemporary Anglican who features in The Heart of Faith is David Watson.

As a student I attended St Michael-le-Belfrey Church in York where he was the rector. He was the first evangelical preacher that I as a young Christian had ever really heard. His preaching and his writings had a great impact on me and still do.

David gave me a vision for the local church. St Michael's was an exciting, even thrilling place to be part of, and his infectious faith-filled optimism about the work of the gospel was contagious.

He died at the height of his powers at the age of 50. By then we were living in London and I remember us joining a packed congregation in St Paul's Cathedral for his thanksgiving service.

There was a song, often sung at St Mike's, and I think sung that night at St Paul's, based on Psalm 16, and a favourite of David's - he used the first line of it for his biography - it sums up his joy in God that communicated so well

CHORUS
For you are God, you are alone are my joy,
defend me O Lord

You give wonderful brethren to me
the faithful who dwell in your land
those who chose alien gods
have chosen an alien band

You are my portion and cup
it is you that I claim for my prize
your heritage is my delight
the lot you have given to me

Glad are my heart and my soul
securely my body shall rest
For you will not leave me for dead
nor lead your beloved astray

You show me the path of my life
in your presence the fullness of joy
To be at your right hand forever
for me would be happiness always

Lewis on gaining everything

CS Lewis in Mere Christianity, quoted in The Heart of Faith:

'Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self...You must throw it away 'blindly' so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality: but you must not go to him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all...Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.'

Radical stuff in a self-obsessed age. I'm struck by the very last sentence, it has overtones of the ending of Romans 8.32:

'He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?'

Is 'with Him everything else (is) thrown in' the equivalent of the Pauline 'will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things'?

The Heart of Faith

The Heart of Faith: Following Christ in the Church of England is a series of essays edited by Andrew Atherstone, tutor in history and doctrine at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.

The book examines 'sixteen influential men and women, spread over the centuries from the early middle ages to the present day' who have found their home in the Church of England, ranging from the Venerable Bede, to the hymnwriter Frances Ridley Havergal, the scientist Robert Boyle, the social reformers William Wilberforce & Lord Shaftesbury, CS Lewis, David Watson, and John Stott.

Over the next few days I will share a few nuggets from the book

A bit more on that programme

Some further reflections about last night's Question Time:

(1) The most chilling moment for me was Griffin's answer to the British-born black man who asked 'where would I go' (ie if the BNP were in power).' 'Oh, you could stay' was the answer.

What was chilling about that? The thought that if the BNP were in power they would decide who could 'stay' and who couldn't.

(2) The attempt to co-opt Sir Winston Churchill into the BNP's cause is particulary distasteful, as it was Churchill in his 'wilderness years' during the thirties, and then as war leader, who led this country in opposition to fascism and Nazism.

(3) In the programme that followed Andrew Neill and Labour MP Diane Abbott discussed the implications of the rise of the BNP. Abbott's take was interesting: new Labour has concentrated on winning support from the middle classes, assuming they could take white working class support for granted, because 'they had nowhere else to go.' But they have found somewhere to go, and Abbott suggested that the way to defeat the BNP was for Labour and the other mainstream parties to reconnect with the white working class.

The BBC have an interesting article: why Question Time could never happen in the US

Question time

I admire the young woman who was dragged across the floor of the BBC TV centre tonight as she shouted 'shame on you BBC.'

Although, I happen to think the BBC was right not to ban the BNP (but to leave such a decision to Parliament), I admire her for making the protest that she made, and I admire the BBC for screening it.

She was right to talk about shame, because policies based on racism, anti-semitism, and holocaust denial are shameful, even if the BBC's conduct was not shameful. The Evangelical Alliance have made a good statement here.

As for Question Time itself, the main focus was on the BNP's policies. Good points were made by the other panel members and members of the audience. There is the whole issue of the extent to which votes for the BNP have really been protest votes against the other parties. The Labour MP for Barking has some interesting ideas about that here.

To Rome or not

Big news. The Pope is a Catholic and you could be one too.

There is great excitement in all the papers - no less than three full pages, and a leader in The Times, plus this in the Guardian - at the thought that disaffected Church of England clergy may be able to join a kind of Anglican section of the Church of Rome.

Of course, its not really news. There have always been clergy moving in that direction, as well as in the other, and repentant Anglicans have always been welcomed in the Roman fold. But first they must be (re-)ordained - because Anglican orders are viewed by Rome as null and void - ie they must admit that they have never properly been ordained - and then they must embrace the full doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, thus denying key beliefs they were committed to as Anglicans.

Under the new arrangements Anglicans will be welcomed, and they may be allowed a few outward trappings of Anglicanism, but they will have to renounce its doctrinal heart.

It will be a very odd form of Anglicanism without its reformation heritage. In fact, what exactly would be left?

Far better I think for the Church of England to make generous provision for those who cannot accept the consecration of women bishops, so that the Church of England remains a comprehensive church for the whole nation. Lets agree to differ - as we have always done.

Taking the biscuit

The Prime Minister is a busy man. What with the financial crisis, the war in Arghanistan, and a country to run life must be hectic for Gordon, but now he is being hassled about his view on biscuits.

Apparently he failed to reveal to the readers of Mumsnet details of his favourite biscuit. The press are full of it, but just how ridiculously trivial can you get?

Creation Sings

We sung a great new song at our Harvest Thanksgiving services today, you can hear it here and the lyrics are printed below.Written by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend, it begins by speaking of the sovereignty of God over creation ('he calls the sun to wake the dawn); before moving on in verse 2 to speak of God's reconciling plan through the 'second Adam (who) walked the earth,' concluding in the third verse with the return of Christ ('Creation longs for his return') and the renewal of all things ('He renews the land and sky').

Very few contemporary songs deal with the doctrine of creation. This song does this beautifully, whilst spanning the whole biblical revelation from Genesis to Revelation.



Creation sings the Father's song;
He calls the sun to wake the dawn
And run the course of day
Till evening falls in crimson rays.
His fingerprints in flakes of snow,
His breath upon this spinning globe,
He charts the eagle's flight;
Commands the newborn baby's cry.

CHORUS
Hallelujah! Let all creation stand and sing,"Hallelujah!"
Fill the earth with songs of worship;
Tell the wonders of creation's King.

Creation gazed upon His face;
The ageless One in time's embrace
Unveiled the Father's plan
Of reconciling God and man.
A second Adam walked the earth,
Whose blameless life would break the curse,
Whose death would set us free
To live with Him eternally.

Creation longs for His return,
When Christ shall reign upon the earth;
The bitter wars that rage
Are birth pains of a coming age.
When He renews the land and sky,
All heav'n will sing and earth reply
With one resplendent theme:
The glories of our God and King

Words and Music by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2008 Thankyou Music

See Getty Music

Christians & Muslims

Ever since September 11th 2001 the Islamic faith has been in the news, but what are we to think of Islam in the light of the many competing voices we hear in the media and elsewhere?

Peter Riddell's book Christians and Muslims: Pressure and Potential in a Post-9/11 World has the great merit of being written by an expert on the subject. He is Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of the Centre for Islamic Studies at the London School of Theology.

He has studied Islam for much of his life, he has lived in Asia and the Middle East and he has long experience of theological dialogue with Muslims, and he couples this with an evangelical faith, and a firm but winsome commitment to Christian orthodoxy.

Two points that Riddell makes very clear is that there are many different types of Christians and many different types of Muslims. He offers a perceptive categorisation of both, and shows how their different perspectives on key matters of faith interact with each other.

He deals helpfully with the limits and possibilities of Christian-Muslim dialogue, the possibility of evangelism to people of other faiths, as well as addressing matters of public policy which directly affect both Christian and Muslims.

He deals directly with some of the key issues raised by September 11th and the international growth of Islamist terrorism, including the extent to which Islam is a religion of peace and the extent to which the perpetrators of 9/11 can call themselves Muslims.

At each point his judgment is careful, nuanced and clear, making this the best and most comprensive book I have read on this subject.

Like father, like son

Today was my day off and today we visited the Wallace Collection, a hidden gem round the back of Oxford Street, containing an extraordinarily rich collection of paintings, furniture, and porcelain - and all for free.

Its most famous work is the Laughing Cavalier, but it also has work by Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, Reynolds, Canaletto, Gainsborough, Murillo, to name but a few.

A hundred years ago it was thought they had twelve paintings by Rembrandt, but by the early 1990s all but one of the paintings had been reassigned by scholars to the studio of Rembrandt and not to the Dutch painter himself.

Latterly three of the paintings have been re-reassigned back to Rembrandt himself, but the painting that no one has ever doubted is Rembrandt's masterly painting of his son, Titus (pictured above).

There something very moving about this painting which so eloquently but simply conveys a father's affection for his son.

Matthew in the Cathedral

Those bones seem to hold a strange fascination for Times columnist Matthew Parris.

He has returned again to the topic of the relics of St Therese of Lisieux currently touring the country. Now he has visited them himself.

Earlier he had told readers how the prospect of thousands paying homage to the relics had restored his faith in atheism, now visiting the bones in Westminster Cathedral he is shocked to read a sign that proclaims the indulgence that the Pope has granted pilgrims: “One plenary indulgence (complete remission of the temporal punishment due to sin) may be gained each day and may be applied either to a soul in Purgatory or the pilgrim himself or herself.”

Appalled, Parris declares 'I think I am a Protestant atheist.'

Shepherding the flock

30 years ago influential author and theologian, John Piper, sensed God's call to leave the theological college where he was teaching and take up the local church pastorate that he occupies to this day.

During a period of heartsearching he sensed God saying to him:

• I will not simply be analyzed; I will be adored.
• I will not simply be pondered; I will be proclaimed.
• My sovereignty is not simply to be scrutinized; it is to be heralded.

Later his father, a veteran travelling evangelist, wrote these words of advice and admonition about the joys and struggles of local church ministry:

Now I want you to remember a few things about the pastorate. Being a pastor today involves more than merely teaching and preaching. You’ll be the comforter of the fatherless and the widow. You’ll counsel constantly with those whose homes and hearts are broken. You’ll have to handle divorce problems and a thousand marital situations. You’ll have to exhort and advise young people involved in sordid and illicit sex, with drugs and violence. You’ll have to visit the hospitals, the shut-ins, the elderly. A mountain of problems will be laid on your shoulders and at your doorstep.

And then there’s the heartache of ministering to a weak and carnal and worldly, apathetic group of professing Christians, very few of whom will be found trustworthy and dependable.

Then there a hundred administrative responsibilities as pastor. You’re the generator and sometimes the janitor. The church will look to you for guidance in building programs, church growth, youth activities, outreach, extra services, etc. You’ll be called upon to arbitrate all kinds of problems. At times you will feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. Many pastors have broken under the strain.

If the Lord has called you, these things will not deter nor dismay you. But I wanted you to know the whole picture. As in all of our Lord’s work there will be a thousand compensations. You’ll see that people trust Christ as Savior and Lord. You’ll see these grow in the knowledge of Christ and his Word. You’ll witness saints enabled by your preaching to face all manner of tests. You’ll see God at work in human lives, and there is no joy comparable to this. Just ask yourself, son, if you are prepared not only to preach and teach, but also to weep over men’s souls, to care for the sick and dying, and to bear the burdens carried today by the saints of God.

No matter what, I’ll back you all the way with my encouragement and prayers.

Read the whole story here

Bums on seats

I hate the phrase: 'bums on seats.'

Its often used in clergy gatherings to indicate a lofty unconcern about congregational numbers as in 'we're not interested in bums on seats.'

Its an inelegant and unfortunate way to refer to people made in the image of God and for whom Christ died. To me it seems to suggest complete unconcern with whether people hear the Gospel or not.

Clearly a concern for numbers is wrong when we rely on numbers as an indication of spiritual strength as in 'we had 97 people at our prayer meeting' (so God is bound to answer our prayer) or there are 500 people in our church (so we're much better Christians than that lot down the road).'

It seems that a wrong concern for numbers - in the sense of a reliance on numerical strength, not on God's power - was David's self-confessed sin of counting the mighty men in 2 Samuel 24.

On the other hand the Bible has a whole book called Numbers and the book of Acts, to take one example, is full of statistical data (see Acts 1.15, 2.41, 4.4, 21.20).

In both Numbers and Acts the numerical data is closely connected with God's work of saving people and drawing them to himself.

My conclusion? Let's not worry about 'bums on seats', but lets be concerned to take the Gospel to as many people as possible. In that sense, I am concerned about numbers. So far as proclaiming the gospel is concerned - the more the merrier.

I think God thinks that too - compare Genesis 15.1-5 and Revelation 7.9-10 for the promise and outworking of God's plan to multiply his people to such an extent that 'no one can count' them.

By the seaside

This was a birthday present that combined two of my great loves: the seaside and architecture. (Thanks Mark & Pat for a great read).

English heritage has produced a splendid beautifully illustrated architectural history of England's seaside resorts.

I am particularly glad there is a section on Butlins, which filled me with nostalgia for the years during the 90s that I was a Butlins Holiday Chaplain at Bognor Regis. Great fun.

And another thing..

The really strange thing about the Ship of Fools league table of biblical notoriety is that requiring a woman to be silent in church is rated a greater sin that wiping out the whole Amalekite nation. Now that is odd.

Upsetting verses

Readers of the Ship of Fools website were recently invited to nominate their 'ten worst verses from the Bible.'

The results are rather predictable. Smiting does not go down well, nor does anything that suggests anything less than a fully egalitarian pattern of gender relations (as currently understood). Essentially we are presented with 'The Ten Verses Most Likely to Upset a Reader of The Guardian.'

Fine as far as it goes - as our doctrine lecturer at college used to say - but aren't there more profound things to say about texts of Scripture than whether we like them?

Contrast this with the response given by songwriter/worship leader Matt Redman, when interviewed this week in the Church Times. When asked to nominate his favourite and least favourite bible verses here was his reply: 'we're talking about the inspired word of God here; so I'm not going to go for a disliked part.'

I like that.

Land of the free

Knowing that I had visited his home country on a couple of occasions a Canadian member of the congregation has lent me Will Ferguon's 'excursions in the great weird north' of Canada.

A gentler, more humbler version of the US, Canada is huge, friendly, and virtually empty. Lots of Canadians live in cities, but this book is taken up with the story of small town - often very small town - Canada.

In addition to all the interest and sometimes sheer wackiness of Ferguson's exploration of the Canadian north there is the moving story of the underground railroad the heroic network of Christian believers, mainly Quakers, who helped slaves from the southern United States escape to freedom in Canada.

Britain abolished slavery throughout the empire, long before the US did. The only possibility of freedom for American slaves was to escape to Canada or 'Canaan' as they referred to it in their spirituals with a conscious reference to the biblical promised land. Songs such as 'Swing low, sweet chariot' and 'Steal away to Jesus' are believed to allude to escape by the Underground Railroad:

Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home

Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus!

Steal away, steal away home, I hain't got long to stay here

Time for Dave?

The third in a series of blog entries about the conferences of the main political parties.

'Vote for us and you'll earn less and work longer' was how Jeremy Paxman summed up the Shadow Chancellor's speech at the Conservative Party conference yesterday.

Uniquely, for the next election all three parties are proposing cuts in public expenditure. The issue is: how much, and where, and whether what is being proposed is sufficient. What is clear is that we are entering straitened financial times and there is going to be pain all around. Christians will want to urge protection for the most vulnerable.

The Conservatives have the great advantage of having not been in power for 12 years. They can appeal to the electorate's instinct that it is time for a change. With the present electoral system the only real option open to the electorate is to let the other lot have a go. So the Tories could win or there could be a hung parliament and then anything could happen.

The Conservative party historically has stood for tradition, freedom of the individual, the market economy, and limited government. At times Conservative policy can seem like institutionalised selfishness, though the 'One Nation' strand of conservatism has offered a vision of a united nation, and a party that cares for all, including the less well-off

The Conservatives have produced a number of significant social reformers - they number William Wilberforce and Lord Shaftesbury at least nominally among their ranks. The tradition of a Christian-inspired Tory concern for social justice continues with Iain Duncan-Smith's Centre for Social Justice which has set out 'to put social justice at the heart of British politics and to build an alliance of poverty fighting organisations in order to see a reversal of social breakdown in the UK.'

If the Conservatives do take power in the coming year, a great responsibility rests on them coming to power at a difficult time for the nation. We should pray for them.

Websites: Conservative Party and the Conservative Christian Fellowship

Sssh free church

Stephen Kuhrt, my room-mate at the Diocesan Conference, very generously gave me a copy of his new Grove booklet Church Growth Through the Full Welcome of Children - and very good it is too.

Subtitled 'The Sssh Free Church' Stephen describes how an early Sunday morning service at Christ Church, New Malden, has led to considerable growth among young families in partular.

Building on a strong welcome to young couples bringing their children to baptism - I liked the idea of a customised DVD of the service delivered to each family a few days after the baptism - Christ Church has worked hard to make their church the kind of place families want to come to.

One of the strengths of Stephen's approach, I think, is his assumption that when a non-churched family asks about baptism, there is some real spiritual motivation - however vague, and unformed - behind their request. They may know little about the Christian faith, and even less about a Christian theology of baptism, but the Christ Church model seeks to meet a tentative step towards spiritual things with a warm welcome into the family of the church, where the Gospel can in due course be heard and understood.

What about Barnsley?

'What about Barnsley?' asks Cranmer's curate. Why are evangelicals so drawn to students and the nice places in which they congregate like the fair city of York.

His grace's curate reveals plans for a new evangelical church in York - yes, you'be guessed it - to reach out to the students, but, a glance at the website of the CU of my alma mater reveals that there are no less than eighteen evangelical churches already reaching out to the pagan hordes of the University of York.

Cranmer's curate is making a very good point: why is it York, not Barnsley that is the target for this latest church planting venture?

Behind it all, of course, is the long practised deeply unbiblical strategy of English evangelicals of prioritising 'people of influence in society.' Reach the public schoolboys and the university students, the theory goes, start at the 'top' and the Gospel will trickle down.

It is a terribly flawed strategy both theologically and pragmatically. Theologically, it turns 1 Corinthians 1.26-31 on its head. Pragmatically, it has been a dismal failure.

It has been one of the chief causes of the middle class captivity of the Gospel. It has ensured that places like Barnsley remain spiritual wildernesses, and that cities like Oxford, Cambridge, Durham & York are replete with Gospel preaching churches.

Vanbrugh reunion

Vanbrugh College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of York.

I like it because I was a member of it for four years and because it is named after an architect, the very excellent Sir John Vanbrugh (1624-1726). In addition to designing Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace he was also an accomplished Restoration playwright.

Today a group of us who were members of the college Christian union met, together with our spouses, for lunch and a chance to catch up on news.

Some of us now have children the age we were when we first met each other and the exciting thing is that they are all going on in their Christian faith. That makes me think of those wonderful words of Psalm 78.4: 'we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.'

May God grant that this new generation will tell the next generation after them.

Remembering Jeremy

This is my cousin's 19 year old grandson, Jeremy, with his girlfriend and 5-month old son. Whilst at the Diocesan conference I heard that he had been killed whilst driving to work near to where he lives in Nova Scotia.

His mum and dad, his grandparents, and his brother are especially in my thoughts and prayers today as they go to the Church of the Nazarene, near to their home - a church that we have visited- for his funeral. We pray that God may console them in their loss.

Suffer the children

The papers are full of the details of the horrific child abuse of very small children at a Plymouth nursery. The anguish of the parents who do not whether their own children were victims is unimaginable.

The police officer investigating the case described the abuse as 'horrific and devilish.'

It is interesting how in a secular world we still reach for biblical categories to describe the very best and very worst of human behaviour. For me, the Bible is utterly realistic, and faithful to the world as we know it in describing human beings as the 'crown of creation' and also 'desperately wicked.'

There is a kind of sunny liberal optimism that just about works on a nice day in the suburbs, but when I visit Auschwitz, as I did a few years ago, or when I read today's press reports from Plymouth, I need the Bible's robust language of sin, evil, judgment, and hell, alongside all that it says about grace and redemption, to begin to make sense of the world as it actually is, and the reality of my own heart.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Take 380 clergy...

I'm just back from the Southwark Diocesan Clergy Conference. On Monday 380 of us travelled from St Pancras by specially chartered train to the Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick in Derbyshire.

Well how was it? The last one, five years ago, was quite good. This one was very good. I've been in the Diocese long enough (20 years) to realise how much better things are now in the Diocese than they used to be. This is a significant fact, and those of us, like myself, who can be quite critical of things diocesan, need to note it, give credit where credit is due, and praise to God.

I especially liked the warm atmosphere, the excellent organisation, the chance to meet old friends, and the clear Christ-centred creedal orthodoxy that was the beating heart of the event. Paula Gooder's bible studies and Graham Cray's talk were particular highlights in the conference whose theme was 'Renew, Revive, Refresh.'

On the last day of the conference each of us were anointed with oil and recommissioned for God's service, as we sung that ancient hymn to the Holy Spirit, traditionally sung as part of the ordination service:

Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
and lighten with celestial fire.
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.

Thy blessed unction from above
is comfort, life, and fire of love.
Enable with perpetual light
the dullness of our blinded sight.

Anoint and cheer our soiled face
with the abundance of thy grace.
Keep far from foes, give peace at home:
where thou art guide, no ill can come.

Teach us to know the Father, Son,
and thee, of both, to be but One,
that through the ages all along,
this may be our endless song:

Praise to thy eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Prior to that a wonderfully crafted, deeply thoughtful sermon by the Bishop of Southwark was greeted - most unusually - by prolonged applause from all present. It expressed our respect and affection for our soon-to-retire pastor-in-chief.

Portrait of a preacher

Few preachers have been the subject of poems, but William Cowper (pictured left) (1731-1800) was so impressed with the preaching of Charles Simeon that he was moved to laud Simeon's qualities in verse.

I am doing a dissertation partly based on Simeon's work so I'm taking quite an interest in CS, who, incidentally celebrated his 250th birthday last week. The Church of England Newspaper marked it with a special article, and Simeon's Trustees are circulating a leaflet to the all the congregations, including our own, of which they are patrons.

Here's Cowper's poem about Simeon:

with a smile
Gentle and affable, and full of grace
As fearful of offending whom he wish'd
Much to persuade, he plied his ear with truths
Not harshly thunder'd forth or rudely press'd
But, like his purpose, gracious, kind, and sweet

Blackest streets

Sarah Wise's The Blackest Streets: the Life and Death of a Victorian Slum is a brilliantly told piece of social history about 'the Nichol,' a rabbit warren of narrow streets and passage ways in Bethnal Green which contained some of the very worse slums of Victorian London.

Families with five or six children shared a single room in filthy, dilapidated houses that were totally unfit for human habitation.

Spineless officials and corrupt landlords conspired to keep the poor very poor, and their accommodation unspeakable.

Wise's wonderfully researched books helps us to hear the voices of the people who lived there, and of the clergy, missionaries and medical staff who worked there.

In the end the Nichol was demolished to be replaced with some of the very first council housing ever built in this country - these blocks, now Grade II listed still survive. But the very poor either couldn't afford the new housing or found flat-living uncongenial. It was the next group up in society who moved to the new Nichol - the original residents moved elsewhere.

A really useful invention

Introducing the immobile phone - a brilliant invention with all the advantages of the mobile without any of the tiresome disadvantages of our little pocket friend.

Just plug your IP into a socket in the wall of your home and you can speak to anyone anywhere in the world. Then tuck your mobile away at the back of your sock drawer and you need never be troubled by it again.

Now you can savour a quiet walk in the country without being interrupted with odd enquiries from people you would prefer not to hear from, or a vain attempts to sell you double glazing or a holiday in Florida.

No more will you suffer the embarassment of your phone interrupting weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs, plays and films with ludicrous sounding ring tones, nor will you ever again feel impelled to announce to an entire railway carriage in a VERY LOUD VOICE 'I'm on the train.'

Just relax now and enjoy the peace.

Goodbye Gordon?

The second of a series of blog entries on the three party conferences.


No Labour government has ever been in power as long as this one, but after twelve years its get harder and harder to resist those who say it is 'time for a change.'

It is Gordon Brown's misfortune to take up office in No.10 at just this moment - when the Government appears to be coming to the end of its natural life and the financial system is in crisis. Almost irrespective of what Gordon says or does, the electoral odds are stacked against him.

Historically, one could say the strength of Labour has been in the area of social justice, its abiding weakness the tendency to tell every one what to do and over-regulate. Both tendencies have been amply seen in the present government, which has overseen progressive social reforms such as the minimum wage, whilst creating huge red-tape bound bureacratic solutions to a host of social and political problems.

Then there is Iraq. Then there is what appears to be a gradual erosion of free speech and other civil liberties.

The Labour Party has made an incalculable contribution to national life, since its foundation a century ago. We have Labour to thank for the NHS and manyf other reforms, but can Labour win a fourth election in a row, or does it need time in the political wilderness to regroup and renew itself?


See the sites of the Labour Party and the Christian Socialist Movement.

Getting married in the morning

Tomorrow we have the weddings of two couples from our church - best wishes to you Aneal & Sabrina, Julie & Ian.

Here is something to get us into the mood:

Small wars permitting

'Small wars permitting' is a collection of articles from journalist Christina Lamb's twenty-year career which has taken her to Brazil, Pakistan, Bolivia, Iraq, Portugual, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, the Ivory Coast, and Nigeria.

She has often been in danger. She has often - as the book's title implies - been present in times of war.

Her's is an eyewitness account of events happening across the world that we might not otherwise know about. At a time when journalists do not always get a bad press, Christina Lamb's work stands out for its integrity, its power, and its insight. We need journalists like her.

Who is Nick Clegg?

The first in a series of blog entries about the party conferences, starting with the LibDems.

Newsnight had a focus group looking at the LibDems. Quite a few people couldn't identify the leader. Others weren't too sure of the LibDem's policies, though when they had them explained, quite a number of people were drawn to them - though several said they wouldn't vote for the Liberal Democrats because to do so would be to waste their vote.

Therein lies the problem for a third party in a First-Past-the-Post voting system. At the last election around 20 per cent of the electorate voted Labour - i.e. 80 per cent of the electorate didn't vote for the party that bagged a large majority of seats in the House of Commons and five years of virtually untramelled power.

The Tories might pull off the same trick in 2010.

The third party gets squeezed, with the number of its seats being completely out of proportion with the vote it achieves, meaning that in many constituencies a LibDem vote is a wasted vote.

Irrespective of the merits of the Liberal Democratic Party, justice alone demands that the strength of its representation in parliament should be in proportion to its support in the country.

Without proportional representation the LibDem voice will go unheard, and disproportionate power and influence will be given to Labour or the Conservatives, depending on whose turn it is to bag the majority of seats on a minority vote.


See Make My Vote Count and the site of the LibDem Christian Forum

Health & safety

If you are ever in hospital, make sure you are not treated by this nurse. She is officially a Health Hazard.

The one-inch cross that she has worn for the last thirty years has been deemed to be a safety risk to patients.

Her MP, the LibDem, Richard Younger-Ross said "This appears to be a case of religious bias and political correctness being wrapped up as health and safety when it's nothing of the sort." The BBC has the story.

Building of the month

With the benefit of our English Heritage membership cards we visited two West London Palladian gems on August Bank Holiday: Chiswick House (wonderful) and Marble Hill House (even better, pictured above).


The 18th century architects of these elegant beautifully proportioned mansions - their interiors are stunning - were strongly influenced by the work of the Venetian architect, Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), who has given his name to a whole style of architecture, Palladianism.

There was a great programme on Channel 4 on Sunday night, Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour ,which featured a lot of Palladio's work, including his earliest work, and the very first major classical building in London, the Banqueting House in Whitehall, built by Inigo Jones in 1619, heavilly influenced by P.

Below is one of my favourite buildings by Palladio, the church of Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.

When Luther needed the church

Yesterday we were continuing our '5 habits of healthy Christians' sermon series by looking at weekly worship.

In the pricess I quoted Martin Luther's comment about the spiritually-reviving qualities of corporate worship:

“At home in my house there is no warmth or vigour in me, but in the church where the multitude is gathered together, a fire is kindled in my heart”

God has completed it

Today I baptised God-has-completed-it, that at least is the meaning of the baby's name in Ibo. What a great name.

The Bible sets great store by names which are often descriptive of the character of an individual or their place in God's purposes.

Visiting St Petersburg this summer it was interesting to reflect on the significance of that city's name change to Leningrad in 1924, and its reversion to St Petersburg in 1991. We also heard how the City's principal bridge which had been renamed after a revolutionary hero before reverting in recent years to its earlier name, the Annunciation Bridge.

Laying hands on Chris

Today was a first for me: a Baptist ordination.

Just in case anyone in authority is reading this - I wasn't the candidate but my school mate Chris was.

Chris and I did the same A levels and sat together in all our lessons. Like me he went off to do a science degree and then he became a Chemistry teacher. In due course, he became deputy head of a comprehensive school, but now God has called him into full time Baptist ministry.

I liked the Baptist ordination service. The worship was lively and refreshing and there was a good sermon from the Principal of Regents Park College, Oxford.

I said on my card to Chris 'who would have thought when we sat in Mr Barnet's physics class that it would come to this... '

More on those bones

Thinking a bit more about Matthew Parris's article about the relics of St Therese of Lisieux, he takes particular exception to the fact that the press have taken it all so seriously, and not laughed the whole business out of court as a piece of daft medieval superstition.

I suppose that would have been the reaction about 30 years ago at the height of englightenment modernistic rationalism when anything that smacked of the supernaturnal or miraculous was held to be plain potty.

50 years before that the press reaction might have been a kind of affronted protest at Popish goings-on in protestant England. But postmoderns are far more credulous - about anything - hence Dimbleby's interest in Shamanism (see previous blog). The supernatural is back, and if someone wants to take some old bones to Iraq (as Parris suggests they did with St Therese's) in the hope that they might effect a miracle, well so what?

Reviving atheism

The sight of thousands of pilgrim coming to pay homage to the bones of a 19th century nun has restored Matthew Parris's faith in atheism: 'if i believed in a God, I would be thanking Him now for sending me a sign.... to rekindle my atheism.'

How can the press take all this so seriously, asks Parris. Wouldn't the 'pilgrims' be better described as 'dupes?' How can the Catholic bishops sanction such nonsense, asks the astonished columnist.

Parris is doing a better job than the Protestant Truth Society.

Rowan on Newsnight

Newsnight had a very good hour long special on the financial crisis last night which included a fascinating interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. You can see highlights of it here

The Archbishop pointed to the lack of repentance with respect to the crisis saying: "There hasn't been what I would, as a Christian, call repentance. We haven't heard people saying 'well actually, no, we got it wrong and the whole fundamental principle on which we worked was unreal, was empty'."

Later (not shown on this clip) Paxman pressed him further about why he thought this had all happened and the Archbishop answered by referring to 'original sin.'

'Are you serious?' said Paxman. The Archbishop indicated he was. This seemed to temporarily floor Paxman who closed the programme suggesting that a full discussion of original sin would have to be left to a later programme. That will be a good one.

American future

America is so huge, its more a continent than a country. Almost every generalisation about the US turns out to be wrong because the place is so incredibly diverse.

It's also odd. It's quite like Europe, especially our Anglo-Saxon corner of it, in some respects but in other ways it is very different indeed. Just think guns, for example.

Schama's The American Future - despite its title a book more about the nation's past - does a brilliant job of demonstrating how the very distinctive history of the United States shapes its present and its future.

One area where the US is very different from northern Europe, is religion and Schama examines this difference in great detail in a long chapter entitled American Fervour. Schama believes that it is the rigid separation of church and state, enshrined in the constitution, that has led to the success of religion US-style:

'A bet was made with posterity that, by keeping the church from directing the state, or the state from compromising theology, religion might actually flourish rather than wither, since it would depend only on its instrinsic persuasiveness.'

Here in the UK most religious leaders, not just Anglicans or even Christians, are reluctant to contemplate the disestablishment of the Church of England, because it would lead to the further marginalisation of religion in our society.

Schama suggests an intriguing 'what if': what if the Church of England had been a free church, relying just on the 'intrinsic persuasiveness' of its gospel, without the buttress of state support. Might the outcome for Christianity have been different?

Come as you are

The Church of England has launched its first radio ad. It is designed to publicise 'Back to Church Sunday' on 27th September. You can listen to it here.

Ma'am, you must apologise

The American Episcopal Church (TEC) has resolved to write to the Queen asking her to apologise for the actions of her ancestor, Henry VII (1457-1509), and repudiate the 'Doctrine of Discovery,' whereby explorers could take possession of newly-discovered lands.

It all depends how far you take this retrospective repentance business.

Arguably the members of TEC in order to demonstate their own repentance for the colonialising actions of their ancestors ought to migrate back to their ancestral homes in Europe - and hand back their land to the native Americans.

Things are looking a bit tricky for our family, too, since my brother, a keen amateur genealogist, discovered a family link with the highwayman Dick Turpin. It looks like we could have quite a bit of apologising to do for the actions of Uncle Richard.

Big nanny is watching you

Bloggers and newspapers unite to protest at the latest incarnation of the nanny state in the form of the Independant Safeguarding Authority and its new 'vetting and barring scheme'.

Everyone wants children and vulnerable adults to have maximum protection but there are serious concerns about civil liberties and bureacracy.

The ISA states it wants to prevent 'unsuitable people' from working with children, but who is to judge suitability? It seems that we are all guilty until proved innocent, so far as work with children is concerned.

I am not clear how all this relates to current CRB checks and the complicated procedures of A Safer Church that we are attempting to implement at the present time. I think there is a real concern that voluntary work, including work by churches - especially smaller churches, will eventually collapse under the sheer weight of regulation and red tape.

In St Helier, I took communion every week to our church's 80+ retired Brown Owl. She loved to tell me tales of children being loaded on to the back of an open top lorry and being driven down to the coast for Brownie camp. Regulation was minimal if it existed at all. Health and safety was unheard of.

It was all a long time ago. It would be unthinkable today, but the death toll was precisely zero, and hundreds of girls who would never have had a holiday had a wonderful time under the watchful eye of their formidable Brown Owl.

Pray for Godstone Farm

Generations of children, including ours, have enjoyed visiting nearby Godstone Farm for a hands on experience of country life. Now several children are seriously ill as a result of an E Coli outbreak, and the farm has made the front page of The Times.

It is every parents' nightmare when a family outing leads to a life threatening illness. Today at Morning Prayer we prayed for all the children and families affected. We have now heard that two children from Redhill Baptist Church are affected.

Healthy Christians

We continued our 5 Habits of Healthy Christians sermon series today with a great sermon by David on the value of belonging to a small group.

He used a helpful analogy to explain the rationale of the series. When you diet, you don't become more of a human, you just become a more healthy human. In the same way, the Christian disciplines of prayer, fellowship, worship, & bible reading etc - which we are calling 'habits of healthy Christians' - aren't designed to make you more of a Christian, just a healthier one.

Its a crucial distinction to observe. Without it, we start to lose the assurance of our standing in Christ. If your quiet times falter, you start to see yourself less of a Christian. You start to base your status in Christ on your own perception of the depth of our spirituality, when in actual fact our standing in Christ is given by God in his grace and cannot be altered by anything we do.

That's not to say there is no value in healthy spiritual habits. If you acquire them, they'll make you a more healthy Christian, but they can't make you any more of a Christian than you are now.

Cranmer

Every so often at Spectrum, our monthly issues-based evening service, we have a biographical or historical theme. Last Sunday we looked at the life of Thomas Cranmer.

Best known today for the matchless prose of his liturgical writing, Cranmer was Henry VIII's last Archbishop of Canterbury. By then a convinced Protestant, the archbishop tried slowly to edge the church in the direction of reform, without upsetting too much the devoutly Catholic monarch.

When Henry died, and his son Edward VI ascended the throne, the Reformation could really get going and the church was transformed virtually overnight, only for the whole process to go into reverse when Edward died and his sister Mary replaced him.

For Cranmer regime change meant arrest, trial, and martyrdom. But first, under extreme pressure, Cranmer recanted of his reformed faith.

Then just before he was taken to be burnt he dramatically recanted of his recantation, placing his 'unworthy right hand' (the one that had signed the initial deed of recantation) in the flames first.

Cranmer was a very human martyr, flawed like all of us, cowardly and brave, weak and strong. Perhaps he is a martyr we can identify with all the more for that reason.

For more about Cranmer see MacCulloch's excellent book.

September 11th

It is the only event in history simply known by the date on which it happened: September 11th.

It is one of those events, like Kennedy's assassination and Princess Diana's death, that everyone can remember what they were doing when they first heard about it.

I was sitting at the computer when the phone rang. A member of the congregation said 'are you watching the telly - you should be.'

I turned the TV on and first it looked like a tragic accident - a plane had crashed into a New York tower block. Then came the other plane, the attack on the Pentagon, and the collapse of the twin towers. By six o'clock the BBC news showed the truly hellish schene of what seemed the whole island of Manhattan enveloped in dust and smoke.

It was a truly horrible event and it has led to horrible consequences. Eight years later we live in a world shaped by September 11th.

What Simeon did about persecution

Charles Simeon, vicar of Holy Trinity, Cambridge for 54 years, faced outright opposition and persecution for over twenty of these years. What did he do about it?

Nothing.

On his appointment the pewholders locked the pews of the church so that the congregation had to sit in the aisles. When he tried to start a new evening service the churchwardens locked the church doors.

Frequently undergraduates disrupted his service and Simeon was abused in the streets. According to a contemporary witness 'for many years Trinity Church and the streets leading to it were the scenes of the most disgraceful tumults.'

But what did Simeon do about it? Nothing.

He explained: 'In this state of things I saw no remedy but faith and patience. The passage of Scripture which subdued and controlled my mind was "the servant of the Lord must not strive."'

There is a real question here: when do we protest, complain, fight back, defend ourselves, and when do we follow Simeon in his patient faith?

Encounters

Yesterday there was a ministers meeting for Encounters our local Christian schools project which works in schools and colleges in Redhill and Reigate and seeks to 'combine relevance and respect with a personal witness to Christian faith.' Something like 7,600 children and young people attend the institutions that the project currently serves.

Yvette gave a great presentation and there was the opportunity to discuss plans for the future.

Encounters provides many young people who would not otherwise have the opportunity, to encounter Christian people and something of the truth and reality of the Christian faith.

I myself came to faith in a school setting, and in ten days time I am going to the ordination (to the Baptist pastorate) of one of my schoolfriends, whose Christian faith, like mine, has its orgins in schools Christian work.

Keep up the good work Encounters!

Singing with the Methodists

To Redhill Methodist Church tonight for the induction of the new Methodist minister.

There were two intriguing aspects of the service.

The first, was a spirited rendering of a worship song in their own language by the Urdu-speaking congregation of that church. Children adults, and teenagers all joined together and it was a powerful reminder of the multi-cultural, multi-national character of the church of Jesus Christ.

Then at the end we sung with real Methodist gusto O for a thousand tongues including a rather wonderful final verse that we non-Methodists hadn't encountered before:

In Christ, our Head, you then shall know,
Shall feel, your sins forgiven,
Anticipate your heaven below,
And own that love is heaven

That is true experimental (ie experienced) religion. Its about knowing and feeling that your sins are forgiven, and that knowledge is an anticipation of heaven. It is the verdict of eternity given in the present. It is knowing now that you are saved, and thus you will be saved. It's something worth singing about.

Bishop to retire

Press release today: "The Rt Rev Dr Tom Butler, the 9^th Bishop of Southwark, has announced today that he intends to retire as Bishop of Southwark on Friday 5 March 2010, when he reaches the statutory retirement age of seventy."

We wish Bishop Tom a long and happy retirement.