Selderhuis on Calvin

I've just finished the new biography of Calvin by Herman J Selderhuis. It really is very good. Mr Selderhuis, an expert in the Reformation field, is a real friend to Calvin in that he he seeks to tell is as it is. Here is Calvin warts and all - a man who not everyone liked, a man with a temper, a man with early ambitions, a man whose life did not turn out how he expected, a man who grieved bitterly when people died including his wife and child, a submissive man, a real human being.
There's probably a lot of Mr S here as well as Mr C. The book is written in an attractive but slightly quirky style. There are so many quotations from Calvin's letters and other writings, however, that this must be fairly close to the real thing. The approach is largely chronological but also deals with themes. There are lots of biographies at present I'm sure but this one can be heartily commended to all. Packed with scholarship, it is worn lightly, even disarmingly, and is an important contribution to this Calvin 500 year.
For more on this and Robert Godfrey's effort see here.

Bangus

The bangus or milkfish is an unofficial national emblem of the Philippines. See more here. More here.

Philippines 08

I felt a little unwell this morning but I seem to have got better as the day has gone on thanks to some rest and some medication. Most of the day was taken up with lecturing on Song of Songs. Feeling under the weather it was hard work but we got there. I have placed a copy of the book in the Library as I did with the one on Proverbs.

Plenty of rain again later. For tea I was with Pastor Ishmael, one of the three pastors here with Mon and Brian, and his family. They live on site. We had bangus, which is the national fish - very tasty too. I told someone it tasted like chicken and they were surprised as they thought I was talking about batus (aborted chick I think)! The language barrier is a constant theme here. Tonight is the drop-in again and so they are feeding over a hundred and giving them the gospel. This church is a hive of activity. It's lovely to see a working church.

Talking about loving wives and such things all day made me really miss Eleri. Ah well, not so very long now.

Philippines 07

So Ecclesiastes today. I think we did a little better today in some respects. Obviously there was less ground to cover and they were more used to me. Some are still finding it difficult. Really trying to get the Song of Solomon lectures in order tonight.

There was a church prayer meeting earlier tonight, at 6.30 pm, in the lecture room. A lot of it was in Tagalog so I missed quite a bit. It was a very business like PM making use of the white board to list things to pray for. This was done in three sessions - church; CCM/GMA, Other matters. It was good to be there. They asked what to pray for me and I instinctively thought of my dad. So their praying for him here too.

They continue to feed me well. Bernie the caretaker really looks after me (and Jose his brother). I've had mostly take out stuff today with a distinct Filipino twist. I'm not losing any weight I'm sure.
So my positive impressions of this vibrant and by now very busy and active enterprise continue to grow. It is not perfect by any means and I'm sure there are problems but this is Reformed Baptist faith in action in the 21st Century here in the far east and it has a lot to be said for it by the grace of God.

Moody Radio Broadcast 2

This is the second of the two interviews I did in London with Paul Butler and that recently aired on Moody Radio. It concerns the Book of Proverbs, the very subject I was lecturing on earlier today. The interview is fairly brief and can be heard here. The previous interview about regeneration or being born again can be found here. On the same site is this topical item (rather American focussed - no mention even of the Geneva gathering).

Philippines 06

The main thing today (Tuesday) was lecturing on Proverbs. I had to endure another lengthy intro from Mon Macapagal. I gave an introduction to Proverbs and then tried to work my way through some example chapters. I was a little too ambitious in my expectations and only did Chapters 2, 7, 8, 14a, 30 and 31 but it gave the flavour and was worthwhile I hope. (I need to speak more slowly and clearly tomorrow when we tackle Ecclesiastes). In the evening I was invited over to the home of Amor Perigon and his family (including children and grandchild) and had a lovely time there. The son of Rudy, who was a Bible Baptist but came to Reformed faith in the USA, they have strong links with Baguio, where the Perigons Senior live. (I should mention at some point how sorry I am not to be meeting Matt Gamston who is down in Ilo Ilo and returns when I leave). Amor is a lovely man with clear opinions and spending time with him gave me another angle on the whole RB work here in The Philippines, especially the language question. A lovely evening.

Hymn of the week 35

It can't be possible but we sang this Charles Wesley hymn today and I feel like I've never sung it. Perhaps the tune threw me. It's great. We didn't sing verse 3 - we were singing from Grace Hymns and yes it comes back to me now. That verse is missing because it is strictly speaking incorrect - Jesus's wounds are not bleeding now. (Couldn't they change it to glorious or something?)

Arise, my soul, arise, shake off your guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice, in my behalf appears;
Before the throne my Surety stands,
Before the throne my Surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;
His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead;
His blood atoned for every race,
His blood atoned for every race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away the presence of His Son;
The Spirit answers to the blood,
The Spirit answers to the blood
And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

Philippines 05

Yesterday (Monday) was another full day. Around 11 am Scott Dehoran called for me. Scott and Emmeline have been houseparents at the CCM boys house (Damascus) from its inception two years ago. Scott is from Connecticut and Emmeline is a Filipina. They met in the US and got to know of the work and when a boys home was mooted felt they could take it on in the Lord. Since then, despite the odds, little Daniel has been born which has changed equations slightly but the work continues. He took me to a couple of malls (Manila has many) for a nice lasagne and a little shopping. We shared testimonies. It was good to hear his story of conversion from the world in his late twenties, a heap of troubles and then the more recent stuff. As he said he was born with a wrench in his hand, whereas I would have to think about which end to hold, but we got on well. It was nice to meet Emmeline and Daniel back home again and spend some time there. Later we went over to the girls home where boys and girls had already gathered for a party. We were celebrating the birthdays of Monica (13) and Dennis (10). The roof has been roofed over which provides a brilliant area for recreation. First we had devotions where we sang and I spoke (while Anneline translated) on the healing of Naaman. I chose that story because it's my favourite and because it features a young girl who has a significant role to play. The kids are all really lovely and it was a privilege to be there. They had food and cake and games including musical chairs Filipino style which included some bumps but no tears. The birthday kids also had to choose two or three friends to say something about them and that got a bit tearful. When Scott explained the background in one case I was nearly crying too. Anyway it was soon time to head back and Marilyn kindly gave me a lift. I hope that she and Georgie got back at a reasonable time.The traffic was horrendous.

Westside Story etc

I had lunch yesterday in a restaurant with an attractive display of fifties and sixties records. The inclusion of Westside Story made me think of next week when I am looking forward to seeing my son Dylan perform as Riff. Break a leg Dylz!

Jeepney

The Jeepney is a distinctly Philippine phenomenon. You can read about them here. A magazine styled after the Big Issue seen in London has been launched recently called Jeepney. One of the girls in the church sells it. See here.

Book Buys June

In June I made two major purchases on the internet and also bought some smaller volumes at the (slightly unimpressive) EMA bookstall. My big purchases were 2 distinctive STs
The four volume Christian's Reasonable Service by Wilhelmus A Brakel
A new Systematic Theology (Baptist!) by Robert Culver

I also got
Martin Downes' book Risking the Truth
Selderhuis's biography of Calvin which I am very much enjoying
A book on The Westminster Directory of Public Worship by Dever and Ferguson
A book on the Pharisees called Extreme Righteousness by Tom Hovestol

Philippines 04

So after a few days of not too much we really had a full Lord's Day day here in Manila. Jose kindly brought me some breakfast around 8. I'd been up much earlier but had snoozed until then. At 9 am Sunday School started with adult Sunday School in the church led by Pastor Mon Macapagal, looking at the words compassion and kindness from Colossians 3. That ties in well with CCM, which he did mention at the very end. Throughout the day things were quite bilingual so I missed quite a bit but enjoyed singing in Tagalog as best I could and listening to the language and trying to figure things out. By 10 am the church was full and not long after Brian Ellis led the service. I preached on 1 John 1:1, 2. I had 5 points (Mon noted my Calvinistic bent later!) and so Brian summarised each point which seemed to work well, despite being slightly flustered that he was the one expected to lead plus a pastoral problem that cropped up at that moment. Anyway we got the message about not sinning and about looking to Jesus and the need of the whole world hearing over. It was nice to see many familiar and unfamiliar faces there. One characteristic thing here is that most of the children greet you by taking your hand and touching it to their forehead. The front two rows are filled with children from their homes and their housemothers, etc. Because of this the balance is quite young and feminine but there is a good range of ages present. Most are local but some travel quite a way. After the service I was able to join people eating lunch under the roof erected last year at the side of the buildings. I had lovely conversations with various ones. It was raining through much of the day, which was refreshing but perhaps kept some away in the afternoon. The afternoon meeting started at 4 pm and this time was led by Pastor Mon Macapagal. This time I preached from Ezekiel 37 on the dry bones, which went okay although we struggled with some words. Part of the problem is that many English words are often used in place of Tagalog ones and so translation is not easy. Anyway I think that in both services people got the message. I tried to be animated. Mainly members then trooped down from the main auditorium to a smaller room where we observed the Lord's Supper. Brian Ellis led and I spoke briefly (without translation) on Isaiah 1:18. Several people are away and there are one or two concerns. It was lovely to see Brian leading the people in prayer and to see a happy fellowship in action. The thirtieth anniversary is coming up soon and they are thinking of organising a hog roast! After this I was kindly invited back to the Ellises house for a meal and conversation. It was nice to get something of Brian's background who was once a Methodist and an OMF missionary but came to Reformed convictions reading Owen's Death of Death an Ephesians 1 and then joined Wattisham Baptist Chapel before beginning work afresh in Manila, eventually planting the church, which began meeting in his front room. They have a literature ministry as well as everything else, but that is sometimes forgotten. There are issues, of course. Sometimes people leave and we spoke of other estrangements in the Christian world too. There' plenty to encourage though. It's nice to be among so many who are self consciously Reformed in theology - in a good way! While there I was invited to phone home and was glad to break into Sunday dinner back in Childs Hill, where all seems to be well. That was good. What a wonderful privilege to see this great work at such close quarters.

Philippines 03

The main thing today was travelling over to the CCM homes in Antipolo. A birthday celebration for one of the church's founding members was going when I was picked up by one of the housemothers to be driven over.
There is info about CCM here but it is way out of date. (This is true for the church website as a whole but will give some idea. What they now have is a big house in a gated community 20 minutes away made up of three separate households of around 10 children each (Emmaus, Galilee and Hebron). It was nice to meet all the girls but how to remember all those mostly unfamiliar names (many beginning with J I notice and often double barrelled)? So I chatted mostly to the house mothers of mission work in the north and the UK, etc but also to the girls a little about Wales and Tagalog, etc.

I then had a lift back via Damascus, the boys' home. The young people were gathering for a meeting so I took a few photos and then headed off. I took a look inside the church being readied for tomorrow. About 7.30 pm Bernie the caretaker kindly brought some food over. His nephew Jose brought me something for breakfast this morning. People are very kind. It will be a privilege to preach tomorrow. Must keep it simple and clear.

Philippines 02

Got through the hot night despite cockerels crowing, etc. You see cockerels everywhere. Cock fighting is a big thing here. Lito, a GMA graduate called for me around 8 am and we headed for Brian's house (where the church originally used to meet). Lovely to meet Nece and Brian in their home and take a quick look at Brian's amazing shell collection. We then drove with others through sometimes heavy traffic (caused by work on the extension of the ELR) to Valenzuela City where there was a meeting of messengers from the newly formed Reformed Baptist Association. It was good to be there and get the flavour of a new and young movement. Part of the flavour is the bilingual situation (something I am fairly familiar with). The pastor in Valenzuela is Aries Liboro. It was good to meet him. His wife put on a lovely spread for around 20 of us present.
We went then to the CCM offices and Alex showed me around the squatter slums. I won't attempt to describe the utterly amazing poverty. Only if you are in it can you grasp it and even then only faintly. My only hope is that such places existed in London in Spurgeon's day and are no more. Several of the children we met are sponsored by CCM. What a work is being done. There are no easy solutions though. Eleri was watching slum dog millionaire before I left. What horrible things there are in this world.
And so back to what now looks like a luxury flat and some time to read. I'm enjoying Selderhuis on Calvin which I bought at EMA and started to read on the plane.

Philippines 01

So bright and early last Wednesday with almost everything (but not quite) done, I set off for Heathrow. Eleri gave me a lift after we dropped the youngest boys off at school. Things went smoothly getting on the Malaysia Airline Airbus but then we ended up sat there for four hours owing to concerns about the engines. Fuel could be seen spilling from the wings, which understandably concerned some passengers until it was explained that it was coming from the surge tanks and was no cause for alarm. Eventually we headed off. It wasn't a problem for me. It just meant four hours in Heathrow in the plane rather than Kuala Lumpur in the airport. My neighbour was a Malay medical student, studying in Galway - slightly concerned at Malaysia's reputation in all this! I've never talked at length to anyone in a hijab so that was good. Much of the long flight was spent trying to sleep, which I didn't find easy. Anyway from KL I flew straight on to Manila in a fairly empty plane. In both KL and Manila they seemed very concerned about the different influenza viruses. I came through baggage and customs very quickly and soon met up with CCM house mother Fay who drove me effortlessly through Metro Manila to the church compound. Caretaker Bernie showed me to my room, basic but with a fridge and an A/C unit - much appreciated. In the evening Brian Ellis called and he kindly took me out for a meal. We were in a Pancake House overlooking the very place where the thriller in Manila took place (boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier) all those years ago. The church is in the midst of a large commercial area, with lots of building going on. There is also a lot of poverty and some seediness, which Brian pointed out. Thursday nights is drop in night and so when we returned one of the men was speaking to a group of around 80 (less than normal). Matt Gamston is away at present, which is a shame. I did run into a young lady from Chelmsley Wood who is here for a month. So I've got myself settled in and hopefully can share more soon. The thing that strikes me at present is the important of context. I've seen much of this on video but it cannot be the same, of course.