A blog featuring whatever I fancy, often on the Christian faith but not exclusively
A Banner man
Just a bit of fun, as we look forward to this year's Banner conference in Leicester (the fiftieth!)
Etch-a-Sketch
Apparently the inventor of the etch-a-sketch, Andre Cassagnes, has died. The etch-a-sketch came out the year after I was born. I never owned one but my sister did and so I am familiar with the game. Burned into the retina of my mind is an early from when I was five or six. It was summer time and the grass had been cut in school and so kids were throwing it about. One twit decided to put a stone in one clump and throw it at me. It hit me in the head and I vividly remember putting my palm to my head and being horrified to see it covered in blood when I brought it back down. A teacher quickly arrived and I was taken somewhere that I'd never been before or since - to the headmistress's room (a Miss Morgan if I remember correctly). Now the thing is when we arrived, outside her door there was a tearful boy (Ashman if I recall) and he had in his hands something I'd never seen before or since - a broken etch-a-sketch. The vision of that grey sand has stayed with me all these more than fifty years as has finally arriving at the door of my home my head in a crepe bandage, to my mother's distress. Perhaps that bang on the head explains everything!
Lord's Day February 3 2013
The day was in two parts. In the morning, we began with communion and welcoming in our two friends from last week's baptism. I preached on the end of 2 Peter 2, a little reluctant to hammer away on the subject of false teachers once again but we probably need it. Quite a few away for diverse reasons but a decent crowd all told.
After a quick lunch we headed for Cwmbran and a baptism at Pontrhydyrun Baptist Church. In a packed church we witnessed the baptism of my sister's oldest daughter, Vicki, and two others. All three testified well. Having been brought up in Christian homes all three had wandered, which is a pity but God is very gracious. It was good to have the opportunity to hear the new minister Jonny Raine (on Philippians 1:21). The congregation was stop heavy with ministers (besides myself, former minister John Emonds, the father of one of the candidates and Jonny's father Phil were present). It was good to see so many old friends and family including mys sister and all her children, her former husband and various relatives, my five boys and Sibyl, Eleri's sister and family and her mother, my old friend David White who surreally insists on speaking to me in Welsh (!), Stephen Price who I grew up with from birth and his wife Fay, etc, etc.
The Shakespeare Experience
It was my privilege last month to introduce Mike Reeves at one session in the Carey Conference. I was explaining then how everyone had told me how good he was and how pleased I was that he proved to be as good as they said. It's a phenomenon I have observed in other spheres. So for example when I was in school they told me how good Shakespeare was and in time I came to see he really is that good, head and shoulders above any of his contemporaries anad most of his successors. Or take the Beatles or pre-Akkerman Focus. I often find myself listening to one or other and thinking, yes, they really were that good.
All that to draw your attention to a blog piece here, where someone has just started reading Dr Lloyd-Jones and had what I call (shades of Miranda's mother) the Shakespeare experience. Seeing it in others is a joy as it confirms what you already know.
Princess Anne Visit
Since September I have been attending classes once a week at the Working Men's College near King's Cross. I wasn't there but this week Princess Anne was present to hand out medals and there is a full report here.
Bronze Sculptures
I had the opportunity to go with others to a bronze foundry the other day in the Docklands area of London. The above video gives you a good idea of the process, although it is another foundry. We went to Bronze Age. They weren't pouring that day so we missed the most exciting bit but it was fascinating.
Lord's Day January 27 2013
150 Sermons
I've just uploaded my 150th sermon to my sermon blog Preached Sermons here. There are plenty of audio sermons available on the Internet but nit so many sermon scripts. I began the blog about four years ago and since then there have been over 30,000 hits. Some sermons have had more than a thousand hits. Check it out.
Library Lecture on Richard Bernard
I gave a lunchtime lecture last Monday on "Richard Bernard and his book on conscience". We weren't a great number mainly due to the snow but the lecture can be downloaded here on the Library's website.
Ray Davies on The Sixties
I watched an old documentary on Ray Davies of the Kinks last night. On the sixties he said, quite astutely I think,
"The sixties to me were kind of not as fun politically, sometimes style and fashion and pop culture camouflages what's really happening ... the music culture was great, the fashion was great .... it was a liberating time, there's no doubt, but, but I think it was a facade, a cover up for a lot of nasty things that were happening in the world ..."
Greatest Try of All Time?
Even if your interest in rugby is only mild you have to admire this try scored 40 years ago today. (I must admit that the involvement of so many Welsh men adds to it for me, including the commentary from Cliff Morgan) PS Thanks Martin Downes for reminding me.
Preaching and Preachers
I missed the fact that last year was the fortieth anniversary of Dr Lloyd-Jones' brilliant book.
This is from the Amazon site:
For over 30 years, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones ministered at Westminster Chapel in London. Today, he is widely considered one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century. Based on a series of lectures originally given by Lloyd-Jones to the students of Westminster Theological Seminary in the spring of 1969, this collection of essays on the essence of powerful preaching has become a modern classic. Lloyd-Jones defends the primacy of preaching, showing that there is no substitute, and he challenges preachers to take their calling seriously: 'The most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching.' He also provides practical direction on the task of preparing a sermon, sharing insights on the shape and form of a message as well as covering such topics as the use of humor, giving invitations in a message and the preacher's relationship to the congregation. If you can own only one book on preaching, make this the one you read. This 40th anniversary edition includes the original text of Preaching and Preachers along with essays by Bryan Chapell, Mark Dever, Kevin DeYoung, Ligon Duncan, Timothy Keller and John Piper reflecting on the impact this book and the ministry of Lloyd-Jones had on their preaching. This is a book that will continue to speak to a new generation of preachers and teachers for years to come.
Life of Pi
This review of the movie is in the February ET along with lots of interesting articles on Anne Bronte, etc.
At the end of 2012 the
feature film Life of Pi hit the cinema screens. The film is
based on the prize winning 2001 book by Yann Martel first published
in Canada in 2001, after a series of rejections. The film and the
book tell the unlikely story of Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel,
an Indian boy who suffers shipwreck and survives 227 days on a
lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger. The film's
director is Ang Lee. It is beautifully shot and a cinematic triumph.
In 2010 Barack Obama
wrote to the author of the novel calling his book “an elegant proof
of God, and the power of storytelling”. On one level the book is
very positive. In one place for example the question is asked quite
reasonably “If you stumble about believability, what are you living
for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe,
ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is
your problem with hard to believe?” There is a recognition that as
attractive as doubt may seem “to choose doubt as a philosophy of
life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”
The film creates interest on several levels and evangelical
Christians will find many topics to discuss among themselves or with
unbelievers who have read the book or seen the film.
The narrative itself can
be divided into three parts. The central and dominating part of the
film is the shipwreck and Pi's experiences at sea. This is in turns
gripping, shocking and thought provoking. Man's instinct for survival
and our utter dependence on God come to the fore here. It is to God
that Pi apparently cries in the midst of his desperate need and where
else could he have turned?
At the beginning, Pi
describes his early life, growing up in Pondicherry, French India,
where his father owned a zoo. Of particular interest is the way he is
raised as a Hindu by his mother, while constantly being challenged by
his agnostic father. In his teens he is introduced first to Catholic
Christianity and then Islam. Despite his father's scepticism, he
claims to follow all three religions as he “just wants to love
God”. Typical of many today, he wants to accept all the religions
and reject none, an utter impossibility in reality.
In the closing part of
the film, officials speak to Pi about why the ship sank. They are
sceptical about his story so he gives them an alternative, an
altogether more prosaic and much less attractive version of events.
He asks which of the stories they prefer and claims that the truth
does not matter, given that he was clearly been shipwrecked and
survived. Thinking Christians will immediately baulk at his statement
“and so it goes with God”.
Crafting stories is a
difficult and serious business. Authors are always trying to push the
envelope. However, to have any credibility they have to deal with
reality and that is, perhaps, what makes the film most interesting.
Despite the author's postmodern outlook, which he projects on to the
protagonist, he has to deal with reality. Bananas do float, for
example, but a carnivorous island seems less likely. The role of the
tiger is particularly interesting in this respect. He is utterly
realistic and so is both a great help and a disappointment to Pi in
the end. At the same time there is a measure of sleight of hand at
play and we must be alert to that. In the book Martel actually
confesses that he believes that fiction is “the selective
transforming of reality” and “the twisting of it to bring out its
essence”. So when he says, “I challenge anyone to understand
Islam, its spirit, and not to love it. It is a beautiful religion of
brotherhood and devotion” we know that as well structured statement
as it may be, it is simply false.
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