Article in the May ET

The May Evangelical Times has already arrived here. I have an article in it once again.

Lord's Day April 19 2026

A good day preaching in Childs Hill yesterday. Usual sort of numbers (40/18 or so). One newcomer in the morning and an old friend in the evening. In the evening we had communion and welcomed in a new member. I carried on in Luke 20 in the morning (the stone the builders rejected) and looked at Psalm 19 in the evening.

10 further interesting words from that book by Arnold and Strawn

Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

1. geographicon - this word seems to be pretty much unique to this publication. It appears to mean a word formed to describe a geographical location.
2. grapheme - a unit (such as a letter or digraph) of a writing system or a set of units of a writing system (such as letters and letter combinations) that represent a phoneme
3. epigraphy - the study of inscriptions, especially deciphering them
4. orthographic - correctly spelled
5. ostracon/ostraca - a fragment (as of pottery) containing an inscription
6. carburized - a metal combined or impregnated with carbon
7. morphology - the study and description of word formation (such as inflection, derivation and compounding) in language
8. razzia - forays, raids; plundering and destructive incursions
9. bulla - an inscribed clay, soft metal (lead or tin), bitumen or wax token used in commercial and legal documentation as a form of authentication and for tamper-proofing
10. anthroponym - personal name

Final Issue of Reformation Today (320)

I was sorry today to receive what is announced as being the final issue of the Reformed Baptist magazine Reformation Today. Started by Erroll Hulse in the seventies amalgamating two previous magazines, it has struggled to find a niche in recent years.

Midweek Meeting April 15 2024

 

John Poyser / Field of grass

Another good session with a similar number to last week. Slightly over the hour this times.

Death of Al Martin

Most readers will be aware of the recent death of Al Martin. I recall him at the Banner conference in years gone by and the help he was. Also his messages on the ministry and family life on tape and in print. Albert Newton Martin passed into glory on 7 April, just a few days short of his 92nd birthday. To read more see here on the Banner website.

Lord's Day April 12 2026

It was good to hear Chungman Shon again in Childs Hill on the last Lord's Day. He spoke of six of the seven saying of the cross, taking those in Luke in the morning and those in John in the evening. We had lunch together after the morning meeting. We were about 17 in the evening, which is good for us.

10 more interesting words found in The world around the Old Testament (Arnold/Strawn)

1. abecedary - an alphabet book, primer, or an inscription that lists the letters of an alphabet in order
2. appanage - a provision made for the maintenance of the younger children of kings and princes, consisting of a gift of land, an official position, or money
3. chthonic - relating to or inhabiting the underworld
4. orthostat - an upright stone or slab forming part of a structure or set in the ground
5. sedentist - a person who stays in ooen place for a long time (opposite to nomad)
6. bucolic - of or relating to shepherds or herdsmen or typical of rural life
7. hypocoristic - a pet name or diminutive form of a name
8. glyptic - of or concerning carving or engraving
9. theonym - the name of a deity
10. ethnolinguistic - associated with a particular ethnicity and a particular variety of language

10 more supposed ways of divination

Unknown author, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

1. astrology (knowing the future from stars)
2. dowsing (finding water through twigs)
3. gematria (secret messages from Hebrew letters)
4. graphology (knowing about a person from their handwriting)
5. palmistry (knowing a person's future from their palm)
6. numerology (knowing a person and telling their future through numbers such as birthdates) 
7. phrenology (knowing a person from the bumps on their head)
8. physiognomy (knowing a person from their face)
9. planchette (a machine for producing automatic writing)
10. scrying (discovering things through a crystal ball)

Midweek Meeting April 8 2026

We had a very encouraging midweek meeting last night. From 8 until 9 with five in person and one online we looked at Psalm 85, chatted briefly and then we all prayed in turn for about 25 minutes.

Lord's Day April 5 2026

On the first Lord's Day of the month we began with communion, as we do. Being Easter that gave a certain angle to things. I preached resurrection sermons am and pm - Matthew 28 and Luke 24. Morning numbers were fine. We had a fresh visitor, a believer I guess. Hope we see him again. Also a long lost stray returned. Members were back from six weeks in Australia. In the evening our small congregation was supplemneted by family. Good day.

Good Friday at Highgate Road Chapel

Good Friday is not a special day for us but we do like to attend a service if we can. We son't have one in Childs Hill because so many (often ourselves included) go away. I was aware of three services nearby and so we plumped for Highgate Road Chapel, where a young man from St Giles Mission spoke, chiefly giving his testimony but drawing attention to  Isaiah 53. It was good to see Gerge Platt the pastor again and others we know. They are small like us but quite young on the whole. They wer emeeting in their dowstairs room, problems with the roof upstairs. 

Midweek Meeting April 1 2026

 

Just four of us in the room and one online this week. We looked at an appropriate passage and then prayed.

Project Hail Mary

I went to see Project Hail Mary in the cinema with two of my sons recently. It is a science fiction film based on a novel by Andy Weir. It presents a dystopian future that is rescued by an ordinary hero (Ryan Gosling). Quite a long film, I enjoyed it for the most part. Some laughs, some sentiment, some sentimentality. There are a few Easter eggs (eg a reference to Close Encounters, a voice cameo from Meryl Streep, etc). The lead character is called Grace and the echoes of and contrasts to Christ's redemption are almost inevitable and there is one reference to God in the film. (Catholic references seem more likely than Protestant ones, I guess.)

10 interesting words found in The world around the Old Testament (Arnold/Strawn)

1. littoral - relating to or situated on the shore of the sea or a lake
2. floruit - a date or period during which a person or people was known to have been alive or active
3. alluvium - loose, unconsolidated soil, silt, sand, gravel or clay deposited by running water,
4. ramified - to ramify is to form branches
5. lodestar - a star used to guide a ship on its travels
6. sapiential - relating to wisdom
7. onomasticon - a collection or listing of words especially in a specialised field. Here, a collection or listing of proper names of persons or places usually with etymologies.
8. rhyton - a roughly conical container from which fluids were drunk or poured in some ceremony such as libation or merely at table;. A cup, typically formed in the shape of either an animal's head or horn; in the latter case often terminating in the shape of an animal's body.
9. colophon - In manuscripts, a note, usually at the end, left by a scribe, giving information on his exemplar, where and when the copy was made, and sometimes, his own name. In printed material, a printer or publisher's identifying inscription or logo, at the front or end of a book and/or on the spine or dust jacket.
10. autochthonos - of an inhabitant of a place, indigenous rather than descended from migrants or colonists.