Skivers, Moochers

I have a clear memory of the first time I heard the word skiver. It was my first year, the first weeks probably, in Grammar School. Our class (1E) was in a demountable classroom near the woods - out of bounds, of course. From the woods we heard singing it was Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep by Middle of the Road. A helpful voice said "Skivers miss". I wasn't a hundred per cent sure what the word meant but no doubt it referred to what I had until then known as moochers (everyone else says mitchers). I think I assumed that skiving from Junior School was mooching and mooching from big school was skiving. Mark Twain called it playing hookey I later discovered.

I see mooch is listed here

mooch Verb. 1. To idle away time, to loaf around. E.g."The kids were just mooching about the streets looking for something to do." 2. To amble along, to walk casually. 3. To play truant. [Welsh use] Noun. 1. The idling away of time. 2. The act of ambling or walking casually. E.g."I'm going for a mooch around the shops."
I'd meant to put this on my Proverbs and sayings blog here, which I have now.

On Sabbatical

In was at The Heart Hospital yesterday and they seem quite happy with progress made. My Sabbatical leave officially started last Lord's Day and so I have spent the week reading and writing. I have various projects on hand including a little local church history and a book for pastors as well as further research on 19th Century Baptists, the period 1660-1689, etc, etc. I've mad a good start and hope I can keep it up.

10 Rules for self-examination

Someone sent me seven from A W Tozer. As you know I like tens so I've added three more of my own Rules for Self-Examination

1. What do we want most?
2. What do we think about most?
3. How do we use our money?
4. What do we do with our leisure time?
5. What company do we enjoy?
6. Who and what do we admire?
7. What do we laugh at?
8. What do we talk about most?
9. When we think of the future what do we think about?
10. What do we pray about in private?

"For where your treasure is - there your heart will be also!" Luke 12:34

Charles Wesley

Philafrenzy, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>,
via Wikimedia Commons

I had to go down to the Heart Hospital and I noticed that the grave and memorial for Charles Wesley and his family is in a memorial garden in Marylebone High Street near the Parish Church. I've seen John's grave (at the back of the Wesley museum near Bunhill Fields but never this one of his brothers - although I know that area a little - Chiltern Street where the Evangelical Library used to be is nearby).

At the base of the memorial, on its east face, is inscribed:

In 1950 this monument was
removed from its original
position in the graveyard
and finally placed here in
1952

Above this, on the main body of the plinth, is inscribed:

Here lie
the remains of
the Revd
Charles Wesley, MA
who departed this life
the 29th March 1788
aged 80 years.

With poverty of spirit blessed
Rest happy saint in Jesus rest.
A sinner saved through grace forgiven
Redeemd from earth to reign in heaven
And labours of unwearied love
By thee forgot are crownd above.
Crownd through the mercy of thy Lord
With a free full immense reward

On the south face of the main body of the plinth is inscribed:

In memory of
Sarah
wife of the Revd
Charles Wesley, MA
who departed this life
the 28th of December 1822
aged 96 years.

Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord for they rest from
their labours and their works
do follow them.

On the west face of the main body of the plinth is inscribed:

This monument was erected
ADMDCCCLVIM
by the Methodist Conference
to replace the stone
originally covering
this grave
and which has decayed
In token of their
reverence and respect
for the memory of the Revd
Charles Wesley, MA
brother of the Revd
John Wesley, MA
the founder under God
of the Methodist Connexion

On the lower part of the north face of the plinth is inscribed:

Also of
Samuel Wesley Esq
The eminent musical composer and organist
their second son
who died in October 1837
aged 74 years

Above this on the main body of the plinth is inscribed:

In memory of
Charles Wesley Esq
son of
the before mentioned
Charles & Sarah Wesley
who departed this life
the 23rd of May 1834
aged 77 years.

It pays to complain

By nature I am a grumpy old man who always complains about big organisations ripping you off. I had two bits of better news recently. Without going into details Microsoft were very understanding (when I finally got through to the right person) about some payments that I wished to see refunded and so were the War Records people who had taken advantage of an auto renewal system. So it's not all bad news if you are willing to persist.

D-Day Veterans Lucky or spared by God?

As I listened to the D-Day celebrations today one word seemed to be coming up with depressing monotony, the word luck. They nearly all seem to think they were simply lucky to survive. Look at these examples

• “I’m glad I’m here. Because I’m lucky to be here,” William Roberts said. He will celebrate his 102nd birthday next month.
• Fred Morgan says he only survived because of "luck", telling us "I did get sprayed with shrapnel a couple times but not serious enough to evacuate me."
• D-day veterans each have unique stories to tell. Each feels lucky to have survived. They are thankful for the recognition given them Friday. Harry Evans “I had a lot of luck, there was no doubt about it,” he said. “I do appreciate that now. Times like these trigger your memories, but at the time there were so many people killed, all that was in your mind was getting through.” Harry, who later married Maud and had two sons, Graham and Peter, made a return trip to Normandy on his 80th birthday to show his family where he had fought. Today the former Co-op manager will remember his comrades privately at home in Kingsfield Care Centre, Ashton.
• Edgar Bedard "I was one of the lucky ones," he said of his wartime service.
• "All my friends are dead now,” says Mr. Jock Hutton. “We would go to gatherings together but now I’m on my own. But I’m happy. I’ve been lucky. I’ve had a different life.”
• "I was lucky," said Frank Agoglia, a retired NYPD detective, recalling his D-Day crash. "I'm fortunate to be here today. I know that."
• One British veteran, 89-year-old Ken Godfrey, was applauded by well-wishers who shouted “bravo” and “thank you” as, medals clinking on his chest, he walked the mile-long path to Bayeux cemetery. “My main memory is wading through the sea with water up to my chest,” he said. “But I don’t like to talk about the fighting. If people ask, I just say we had a hairy time. But I’m lucky that I survived.”

And then with a little search I found something more like it from American Henry Langreher. "They say there are no atheists in foxholes, but I was one," he said. "But my wife prayed for me, and I came to know God, and ever since then I've tried to please him." Langrehr was awarded two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts for his service. In Washington, D.C., in 2007, he and six others received the Legion of Honor, France's highest award, for their roles in liberating France from the Nazis. "Henry Langrehr, you are a hero," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said as he pinned a medal to Langrehr's lapel. Langrehr brushes off that label. "Not a day goes by but that I don't think of my friends killed in France," he said. "I'm not a hero. They are, because they gave their lives. I don't know why, but God spared me, and I'm grateful for every day."

Set a Sproul Free

Another Sproul freebie for kindle available here this month.

 

How do I pray? How do I study the Bible? How do I worship? How do I serve? How do I become a good steward? These are the questions every Christian should be asking. The answers are what every Christian needs to know. In Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow, acclaimed theologian Dr. R.C. Sproul guides his readers through the basic training of Christianity and reveals the five most vital fundamentals of the Christian faith: Prayer, Worship, Service, Study, and Stewardship.

Don't Cross The River

Once again, simple, sweet, melodic. Great take.

Novelists 41 H G Wells

H G Wells (1866 – 1946) was a prolific English writer in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, etc, etc. He is now best remembered for his science fiction novels, and is sometimes called the father of science fiction, though the same claim is made for Jules Verne and others. His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Doctor Moreau. I've read the third of those and had a go at the others. His earliest specialised training was apparently in biology, and his thinking on ethics was very Darwinian. He was also from an early date an outspoken socialist and often a pacifist. His later works became increasingly political and didactic. Novels like Kipps and The History of Mr Polly, which describe lower-middle class life, led to the suggestion, when they were published, that he was a worthy successor to Dickens!

200 Sermons

I am pleased to say that I now have 200 sermons posted on my blog Preached Sermons - see here. I have tried to post sermons on less obvious parts of Scripture and there are series on Ecclesiastes, Job, Ezekiel and I am nearing the end of one on Numbers. Check it out!

Egyptian Reggae

This is a pleasant song from the seventies (Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers)

Happy Valley

I have refrained from mentioning the recently finished BBC series Happy Valley as not everyone who sees this blog is necessarily happy to watch such dramas and as I never find people going on about TV series much fun (it's not like a film where you can go out and watch it). However, this is the second time that writer Sally Wainwright has impressed so I thought a little note might be okay. You might even want to get the DVD of the six one hour programmes. Happy Valley is near Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire. The series focuses on a police woman and her family and a crime that quietly insinuates itself into several lives. All the characters are flawed, some more than others and they all think they are innocent more or less. This is Wainwright's best insight - our utterly flawed nature and our point blank refusal to see it. Each one of them is crying out, if only they knew it, for a biblical understanding of themselves and of sin and guilt and forgiveness. It moved me and made me want to pray.

Whitefield Elegies Footnotes 1 and 2

George Whitefield's grave in the crypt of Old South Presbyterian Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts between Jonathan Parsons and Joseph Prince

1. One of the things that came up the other night was the fact that Whitefield died at the age of 55 (which I had forgotten). I turned 55 the other week. There was a time when it was thought his problem was asthma but it is now agreed that it was probably angina pectoris, ie heart problems. I can confirm that such heart problems do present with breathlessness, which could be misconstrued to be asthma.

2. The other things follows Dr Atherstone saying that he had difficulty finding Baptists who had preached or written elegies in memory of Whitefield. At the back of my mind I recalled that Benjamin Francis of Shortwood, Horsley had written something and when I checked I found that to be the case, though I can't see anything online. John Fellows was quoted briefly and though some doubt it he was a Baptist. So no problem there then.

 

Elegies for Whitefield

We had a very good meeting at the Evangelical Library last night. Dr Andrew Atherstone took us through some of the many elegies composed and sermons preached at the time of George Whitefield's death in New England in 1770. These appeared first in New England and then in England when the news reached there. Sermons came first then poems, not all of the best quality.

This material has been rather neglected but is worth examining it was argued. Dr Atherstone highlighted the way they focus on five main things. They all lament the loss of such a great man. They note his powerful preaching and his ecumenical spirit. They also often give an evangelistic call and often contemplate life without Whitefield.

Dr Atherstone gave copious examples without being at all tedious and the printed paper will be worth seeing.

Here by way of example

1. Lament

"He died like a hero on the field of battle. Thousands in England, Scotland, and America have great reason to bless God for his ministrations." (Edward Ellington)

"Shall I a momentary loss deplore. Lamenting after him that weeps no more? What though, forbid by the Atlantic wave, 1 cannot share my old companion's grave, Yet, at the trumpet's call, my dust shall rise. With his fly up to Jesus in the skies. And live with him the life that never dies." (Charles Wesley)

2. Preaching

"What an honour it pleased God to put upon his faithful servant, by allowing him to declare his everlasting gospel in so many various countries, to such numbers of people, and with so great an effect on so many of their precious souls! Have we read or heard of any person since the apostles, who testified the gospel of the grace of God through so widely wended a space, through so large a part of the habitable world? Have we read or heard of any person, who called so many thousands, so many myriads of sinners to repentance!" (John Wesley)

"fired with a flaming zeal for his Lord and Master; filled with bowels of tender compassion to immortal souls; and favoured with more than Ciceronian eloquence - he soon became the wonder of
the world as a preacher." (James Sproat)

3. Ecumenism

Preachers of many different denominations praised him and many picked up on this.

"Though long by following multitudes admired
No party for himself he e'er desir'd.
His one desire to make the Saviour known,
To magnify the name of Christ alone" (Charles Wesley) 

This emphasis meant that Calvinism was downplayed. The one exception here was a sermon by Richard Elliott.

4. Evangelistic call

...

5. A future without Whitefield

"O had he dropped his mantle in his flight!
O might his spirit on all the Prophets light!" (Charles Wesley)

 

 

 

Lord's Day June 1 2014

I am happy to say that I am now officially off the sick list. I am not preaching yet, however, as I had already arranged to have a sabbatical from yesterday. Yesterday was the Lord's Day, of course, and our preacher was Dr Robert Oliver the retired pastor of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire. We had an excellent say with him and I was only sorry there were not more of us to hear him with at least four families away and others absent. As it was Ascension Day recently he chose to preach on the ascension in the morning and on repentance (Acts 11:18) in the evening. I particularly appreciated Dr Oliver's prayers. We began the day with communion led by one of our deacons, as it is a new month. It is always a privilege to be with God's people.