10 Blessings Mentioned by Thomas O Chisholm in his great hymn

1. God's great faithfulness, mercy and love
2. The fact that unlike shifting shadows, he never changes 
3. His unfailing compassions, new every morning
4. The seasons, the night sky above and all nature and their manifold witness
5. Pardon for sin
6. And a peace that endureth
7. God's own dear presence to cheer
8. God's own dear presence to guide
9. Strength for today
10. And bright hope for tomorrow

(Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!)

Lloyd-Jones Memorial Lecture 2024 on Welsh Revivals

It is a blessing to live so near the London Seminary. I especially like to be at the annual Dr Lloyd-Jones Memorial Lecture. I think I've been at them all, all the way back to 2008. (It would be nice to be asked to do one but that is not likely to happen). This time round it was Jonathan Thomas (the third time a Welshman has been the lecturer). His subject was Welsh Revivals and he gave a very helpful and straightforward reminder of some of the many revivals that have happened in Wales between 1735 and 1905. It is important to keep going back to this subject because it is easy to forget that God works in this way. Besides the references to Lloyd-Jones, the best part of the mesasge was perhaps the application where Jonathan reminded us of the importance of personal revival and reminded preachers that success is not all down just to good preaching. There needs to be a place in our thinking for God and revival.

Day Off Week 42

This week's day off was a little different in two ways. Firstly, in that I decided to do some intentional walking. This will be part of my weekly routine from now on I hope. I caught the bus and train to Gospel Oak and walked back to Kenwood House, where I had a coffee then headed home. Also, it was different in that in the evening we were celebrating my esteemed father-in-law's 86th birthday. We had a Chinese take-away and then went to hear Jonathan Thomas at the London Seminary. More on that anon. The rest of my time was mainly taken up with reading a fascinating Magnus Magnusson book on fakers and frauds which I recently found on my bookshelves. More on that too some time.

Snake Pareidolia

 

Saw this on Hampstead Heath today

Lord's Day October 13 2024

As usual, a largish morning congregation (45?) and a quite small evening one (15?). I preached in the morning on the first three verses of Ephesians, the start of a new series on the book. In the evening, Eddie preached well from Luke 6, a one off. Numbers were quite small at the beginning of the morning meeting but people slowly arrived. Some didn't get there at all as they were ill or otherwise kept away, A young Zimbabwean family was there again after a six month hiatus. Hope they return soon. Glad to see some often not there. One member has just learned to drive and so was able to pick up two other members we have not seen for a little while due to circumstances. Encouraged when a member told me of plans to make a gift to the church's lower groond floor work.

Wales in 100 Objects by Andrew Green

A lot of publishing is driven by crazes. Ever since Neil MacGregor's History of the world in 100 Objects in 2010 there has been a steady flow of books in the same format. Over the last 100 days or so I have been reading Andrew Green's Wales in 100 Objects. The book (also available in Welsh) has a page of text and a picture (by Roland Dafis) for each object and soa  day at atime approach is slow but sure. The text is very well written and infomative. New dicoveries are being made all the time and changing the detail, although the general picture is long established. Fascinating.

Midweek Meeting October 9 2024

I didn't feel quite ready for the meeting last Wednesday. I'd got distracted somehow. Anyway, we got through. Seven of us there. Most prayed. We looked anothe rof the psalms I have no reord of covering before.

Day Off Week 41

The main thing on my day off was reading the bulk of a book I wanted to consult as part of a project I have in mind. There was soem writing uo to do with that. I hadn't watched University Challenge on the Monday as I was busy with a meeting so I watched that on catch up. Tere was some other reading too and a walk and a coffee, of course.

Island Aflame by Tom Lennie

Finished reading this today. It is subtitled: The Famed Lewis Awakening that Never Occurred and the Glorious Revival that Did. I greatly enjoyed it. Written in what I suppose is a journalistic style, Mr Lennie manages to straddle the sceptical but sympathetic line (something I hgenerally aim at myself) as he seeks to explore the revivals in the Hebrides under Duncan Campbell in the late forties and early fifties. You cannot move in the (Reformed evangelical( circles I move in without hearing at some point about Duncan Campbell and the revival in the Hebrides - the two sisters who prayed, the sense of Gpd, the conversions, etc. What this book does, very helpfully, is to try and untangle fact from fiction, truth from exaggeration. It is meticulous and completes the task, I felt, very well, destroying the myth but preserving the core truths of what was undoubtedly a work of God. It means admitting that Duncan Cambell was a pathological liar and that the Free Church made some big mistakes but this sounds much more like what happened than anything else available. Check it out.

Lord's Day October 6 2024

A new month is here so we began with communion as usual. Over twenty there so that was good. We red Isaiah 53. A good large congregatioon in the morning as we celbrated harvet by singing the traditional hymns and looking at Hosea 10:12. Some missing, mostly due to illness but plenty of others there, including visitors. An Uzbek woman who knows a couple who come regularly was there again, which was good. An Iranian man who goes to the Met Tab joined us eary on. I think he is just visiting the area, An Iranian lady who does live nearby came with her youngson, who was able to attend Sunday School (I also spoke to the children about the means of grace). A very elderly couple who have just moved from Nigeria to London were there. I hope they got on okay. Someone kindly gave them a lift home. We also have some old friends staying with us who were there. Andrew was my assistant at one time and he and Jill lived in the church flat for three years. With them we were up to about 15 in the evening, which looks wuite decent. Finding 2 chronicles very interesting.

10 Countries or Territories Whose Flag Incorporates the Union Jack

1. Australia (since 1908)  
2. Fiji  (1902) 
3. New Zealand (1997) 
4. Tuvalu (1970) 
5. Bermuda (1910)   
6. British Virgin Islands (1960)  
7. Cayman Islands (1958)_  
8. Falkland Islands  (1999) 
9. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (1985)  
10. Turks and Caicos Islands (1968)  

Midweek Meeting October 3 2024

Things were a little different this week in that we had the opportunity to hear from a North African friend of ours who pastors in  the South of France. We needed to meet on Thursday rather than Wednesday to fit in with his schedule but that increased numbers rather than lowering them, despite having had a members meeting the night before. We were fifteen rather than our usual six or eight. Our friend simply reported on the work and then we prayed for a little while. It was good to have him around (he stayed with us) albeit briefly. He hopes to travel soon to North Africa with friends exploring future possibilities.

Day Off Week 40 2024

More like the usual day off pattern on Tuesday, although early on I had to be at the doctor's for a blood test. When I came back I went to my study in the chapel and threw away another pile of sermons. This time it was handwritten ones and that was hard. During the day I read, had a coffee and looked at today's Times (as it had an obituary for Kris Kristofferson). I also tried to make prgress on this project I have to complete in the month or two. In the evening we watched the first episode of Ludwig with David Mitchell and enjoyed it mostly. Then the itv news and sleep.

Five Lies of our Anti-Christian Age Rosaria Butterfield

The Pastors Academy reading group gathered again recently. About ten of us gathered, led by Peter Day, to discuss Rosaria Butterfield's latest tome, Five Lies of our Anti-Christian Age. The five lies are as follows

Lie #1: Homosexuality Is Normal (Chapters 1-4)

Lie #2: Being a Spiritual Person Is Kinder than Being a Biblical Christian (Chapters 5, 6)

Lie #3: Feminism Is Good for the World and the Church (Chaoters 7-10)

Lie #4: Transgenderism Is Normal (Chapters 11, 12)

Lie #5: Modesty Is an Outdated Burden That Serves Male Dominance and Holds Women Back (Chapters 13-16)

Like me, several thought the book badly edited and too long, (I even spotted a spelling mistake on page 220 and a grammatical error on page 236). Some thought she has grown rather harsh since previous books. Maybe. While recognising this is a book for American women not British men we thought that it made some excllent points and it led to some good discussion among us, eg on whether women should be submissive in the realm of the state (we all agreed they should be in church and in the home).

It was a nice surprise to see a friend of mine from University days. He has recently retired and someone in the same position he knows invited him (we were in fact four Aber graduates - two slightly older men, a pastor and an elder, now also in the London area). I made some suggestions for the next book to do and we agreed to look at one of them next time - Leonardo de Chirico on Thomas Aquinas. Our chairman (Brad Framnklin) deftly volunteered me to lead. That meeting is January 27, 2025.

Lord's Day September 20 2024

We had a good day last Lord's Day. I was preaching morning and evening. In the morning we looked at the last section of the Sermon on the Mount, such a sobering passage. An added bonus was the presence of the Saywell family, over from the Philippines, where they have known great blessing. Reuben reported and spoke to the children, which made things a bit longer but it was okay. New Iranians continue to come. Not much English. Eleri entertained 22 of us here for lunch. Amazing! In the evening we were back down to 12 or so but it was good to look at 2 Chronicles 4 and learn more aboit the Temple and its lessons.