Aber Conference etc

There's been a little hiatus as my father-in-law's computer has been on the blink. It's sorted now so here's a little update on things.

Last Saturday my eldest and his uncle arrived home from the EMW camp after a real good week in Quinta, Shropshire. Shortly after that I left to return to London where I was due to preach the next day. I did the 240 mile journey in good time, allowing me to prepare some notice sheets and do some other preparations. I then did a bit of channel hopping before heading to bed.
We had a decent (30 plus) morning congregation even though so many were away, mostly on holiday. I preached from Acts 9 on Aeneas, a sermon I'd preached some years ago but freshly dusted down. It was good to be there. People appreciated my efforts in coming back. I had at least two kind invitations to lunch. What I did, after dropping off some I’d given lifts to, was to go to an elderly couple, where we had a lovely roast and good conversation. One of their sons, who is not a believer, lives with them and that brought an extra dimension to the conversation. Then after popping home for a short while I headed to another house for tea, where I and another family were kindly entertained. The teenage daughter was out for the count following her second week of camp. In the evening we were only eight (another man joined us much later). Rather than preaching a pastoral prayer I prayed for individuals. I preached on Psalm 3, as I’d done the previous week in Pembrokeshire. It was intended to encourage.

I then drove back to Aber. A rather busy M1 and a slight deviation between the M6 and Shrewsbury meant I didn’t get back until 2 am. I didn’t feel tired though. Adrenaline, I guess.
On the Monday morning I made my regular appearance introducing Geoff’s Monday morning lecture. This was the third of three messages well received messages on imputation. A large number packed Bethel Chapel to hear a fine message. That night was the first of the evening conference addresses from Derrick Adams the new minister of the Welsh speaking church here in Aber. I was on babysitting so didn’t hear it. It was brief and simple I was told and on our indebtedness to God.
Tuesday morning we had the first address from Ted Donnelly. By now we have heard three of the four messages on 1 Corinthians and they have been excellent examples of clear, relevant, winsome, well grounded, exposition. The recordings are well worth tracking down.

On Tuesday night Andy Christophides preached and last night evangelist Roger Carswell. Tonight it's James Muldoon (Reading) but I'm at home again. Both AC and RC used a lot of humour and were very lively - not to everyone's taste. One could easily point to problems with what they preached especially AC. However, overall the gospel was preached with some passion and some power and I for one was glad to hear such messages. My eldest son has a friend from school with him this week who came as an unbeliever. She has certainly benefited from all the messages.

The weather has been fair to middling. Signing on for five years was very straightforward and I spent a very pleasant Tuesday afternoon in the National Library (see here) reading through books needed for these lectures on the Westminster Assembly coming up. The pin-drop silence was lovely. When I went to the cafe later I bumped into a librarian who belongs to my father-in-law's church and we had a nice chat about books and things.

Meeting acquaintances old and new is part of the experience here (Greetings to fellow bloggers). We are planning to meet up with old friends later tonight in their digs. These last three evenings different ministers and their wives have been here at the manse (all Presbyterians it suddenly occurs to me - from Tasmania, Cardiff and N Ireland [ie the Donnellys]). You also meet people before and after the meetings and just around town. Talking through the messages with friends and family here is a great joy. I'm sure we don't talk about sermons enough. What a blessing to be here.