Lord's Day July 21 2024

I was again away from Childs Hill last Sunday. We spent a lovely weekend with friends in Pembrokeshire. On the Sunday, I preached in Penuel Baptist Chapel, Roch, where they are members. I've only preached there once before. On this occasion I preached in the morning on Zechariah 3:2 and then in the afternoon we looked together at Proverbs 24:15, 16. The small but changing congregation was joined by a few visitors. We also visited family on the way there and back.

10 Roman and Greek gods

1. Jupiter - Father of the sky and king of the gods
2. Neptune - freshwater and the sea
3. Pluto -ruler of the underworld
4. Mars - god of war
5. Venus - goddess of love
6. Diana - goddess of the hunt and of fertility
7. Vulcan - god of fire and the forge
8. Mercury - the messenger of the gods
9. Ceres - godess of agriculture, grain crops and fertility
10. Saturn - god of time, regeneration, etc

1. Zeus - Father of the sky and king of the gods
2. Poseidon - freshwater and the sea
3. Hades - ruler of the underworld
4. Ares - god of war
5. Aphrodite - goddess of love
6. Artemis - goddess of the hunt and of fertility
7. Hephaestos - god of fire and the forge
8. Hermes - the messenger of the gods
9. Demeter - godess of agriculture, grain crops and fertility
10. Kronos - god of time, regeneration, etc

Midweek Meeting July 17 2024

Interesting evening last Wednesday. Our little group gathered for prayer and Bible Study in the back room as we do. As I read the Scripture a young man joined us. Romans 5:12-21 is not easy to expound and I was not sure how much English he had but I ploughed on. He turned out to have decent English. He is an Israeli with an interest in Christianity (and Buddhism) visiting the area. He even took his turn to lead us in prayer, a prayer we coud say amen to. We recommended a church to him back in Israel. I hope we hear more from him.

Westminster Conference 2024

The brochure for this year's Westminster Conference is now available.

(You'll probably need to double click the above sheets to read them)

10 Norse Gods

1. Aegir – God of the sea.
2. Balder – Son of Odin and Frigg. Known as a gentle and wise god. Killed accidentally by his brother Hod.
3. Freyja – Main goddess of the Vanir (fertility gods). Daughter of Njord and sister of Freyr.
4. Freyr – Important god of the Vanir. Son of Njord and brother of Freyja.
5. Frigga – Main goddess. Wife of Odin and mother of Balder.
6. Heimdall – Watchman of the Norse gods and owner of the horn Gjall. Son of nine mothers. Often identified with Rig, the creator of three races of men.
7. Hod – Son of Odin. A blind god who accidentally killed his brother Balder.
8. Loki – The sly, trickster of the Norse gods. Son of two giants. Also known as the Sly One, the Trickster, the Shape Changer and the Sky Traveller. Becomes increasingly more evil. He is responsible for the death of Balder.
9. Odin – King of the Norse Gods, God of poetry, battle and death. Chief god of the Aesir. Also known as the “all-father”, the “terrible one”, “one-eyed” and “father of battle”.
10. Thor – God of Sky, thunder and fertility. Associated with law and order in Asgard and guardian of the Norse gods. Son of Odin and Earth and husband of Sif. Also known as the “thunder god” and “charioteer”.

The Rest is History by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook

I don't really listen to podcasts and so I was unaware of The Rest is History a podcast issued by the historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. This volume, which I have just finished reading, is a very easy to read breeze through various historical materials and is most enjoyable. In his book Unruly David Mitchell recommends moving on from there to a detective novel or ssomething of that ilk. Though both books could be described as Horrible histories for grwon ups it has not been a problem reading them virtualiy back to back. This current volume is very randomand covers all sorts of subjects. I found it quite simulating. One tiny snag is that references to topical news mean that even just a year or two later the book can soundunneessarily dated.

The Child is Father to the Man by Tom Nettles

On reflection, this 2021 book about Spurgeon by Tom Nettles could be better titled. The reason it has the title it has is because Dr Nettles works through ten themes or keynotes that were part and parcel of Spurgeon's life from his youth onwards (Calvinism, being a Baptist, preaching, evangelism, poor physical and mental health, a helpful self-centredness, contending for the faith, being slandered, the Bible). It is intended to be a companion to the much larger biography Nettles produced in 2013. To be frank, that work rather collapsed under its own weiht and so this companion volume is worth doing and most will be wisest to begin here.

Lord's Day July 14 2024

On the Lord's Day I was across town in Poplar Baptist, East London. I preached on Ephesians 2:8, 9 and Philippians 4:8. Poplar and ourselves have had a sot of parallel existence over many years. Founded around the same time both have remained fairly evangelical and have felt compelled to leave the compromised Baptist Union and LBA. Both Henry Dixon and I began our pastorates as young men in the eighties (1983, 1984) and have remained in one multi-ethnic church since. Both churches have a decent morning attendance but struggle in the evening. There are differences - Poplar was bombed in the war and rebuilt and unlike us has joined the Grace Baptist Association. Henry has more than twice as many (grown) children as we do! It was a good day.

Midweek Meeting July 10 2024

Seven of us met last night (with one or two online as well) to ray and to look at Romans 5:3-11. Everyone took a turn to lead in prayer.

Day Off Week 28 2024

Some of the usuals this last Tuesday - reading, chipotle lunch, coffee, painting, cheese buying (Mayfield - very nice), TV in the evening.

Lord's Day July 7 2024

We began last Lord's day with communion and welcoming in two new Iranian members. I preached later on the end of Matthew 6 on not worrying. Good number there. A small congregation in the evening heard the final famous text message - on Romans 3:23.

10 Land Purchases that expanded the USA

1. (Allegedly) Manhattan Island from Native Americans 1626 $24
2. The Louisiana purchase 9Louisiana and 14 other states) from France 1803 $15M
3. Florida purchased from Spain 1819 $5M
4. Mexican Cession from Mexico 1848 $15M
5. The Gadsden purchase from Mexico 1854 $10M
6. The Alaska purchase from Russia 1867 $7M200k
7. The Philippines purchased from Spain 1898 $20M
8. The Panama Canal zone from Panama 1903 $10k plus $250k annually
9. The Danish Virgin Islands purchased from Denmark 1917 $25M
10. Water Island, purchase from the East Asiatic Company (a private shipping company based in Denmark, at the time under German occupation) 1944 $19k

10 Common Pests

1. Ants (The commonest species that invades houses is the Black Garden Ant, which is actually very dark brown)
2. Bed bugs (This common pest once associated with unhygienic surroundings is prevalent due to a number of reasons, including increased travel, the use of second-hand furniture, and suspected tolerance to some pesticides. These bugs still occur with regularity, particularly in multi-occupancy buildings with rapid resident turnover, for example, hostels, hotels, holiday camps and blocks of flats.)
3. Cockroaches (Cockroaches are distinguished by their very long whip-like antennae, flat oval bodies and rapid, jerky walk.)
4. Deathwatch Beetle (A wood-boring beetle whose grubs eat old hardwood structural timbers. Practically common in stately homes in which the beetle family has probably lived since they were built.)
5. Fleas (The most common species of Flea is the Cat Flea, known for readily biting humans. The Bird Flea is next in importance, followed by the rare Dog Flea, although other species may become temporarily attached to dogs. Finally, there are Human Fleas which are extremely rare.)
6. Lice (Small, flat, wingless, grey parasites about 2mm long with strong claw legs and which feed on human blood. There are two distinct forms of this sort of louse - the head louse and the body louse, but they are similar in appearance.)
7. Mice (Hear the pitter-patter of tiny footsteps behind the skirting. Dos your cat bring mice in from the garden? Mice are a part of British wildlife - but when they take up residence with you, they can be a cause for concern.
8. Rats (There are two species of rat in Britain, Rattus Norvegicus which is commonly known as the Brown Rat or Common Rat. The Rattus Rattus, referred to as the Black Rat or Ship Rat is now rarely found in the UK.)
9. Ticks (Closely related to the mites, but much larger and reliant on vertebrate blood. They are occasionally brought into the house on domestic animals and can be picked up by humans after walking through long grass in an infested area. Ticks are implicated in the transmission of Lyme disease, and medical advice should be sought if a rash appears at the site of a bite. Remove them with a twist to avoid leaving the mouthparts in the skin.)
10. Wasps (Wasps are classified under the order Hymenoptera, which means membraneous wings. All the stinging insects belong to this group. Some Wasps live in Wasps nests in the UK.)

New Album from Focus

A new Focus album is officially released today. Like other recent albums its cover is graced with a pleasing piece of Roger Dean artwork. The opening two tracks - the tongue in cheek titled Fjord Focus and Focus 13 (yes 13, not 12) have been out for a while. These are the first two of a total of ten tracks, all written by our lead man Thijs van Leer, except for tracks 4-6 by the other members of the band. In reverse order - Born to be you is by Menno Gootjes, All Aboard is by Udo Pannekeet and Meta Indefinata is credited to drummer Pierre van der Linden, though it is not a drum track. As with any Focus album, it takes a while to get into what is going on but initial impressions are positive. All the tracks, as one might expect, are instrumental, although to have no vocals or voices at all is unusual if not unique. Acoustic guitar and flute are heard and plenty of piano and even may be some synthesisers appear. Uniquely, Bowie is a solo piano piece from van Leer. Born to be you is piano heavy too with no drums or bass as is the opening of Bela. One of the tracks was apparently completely improvised in the studio.

Gwion and Lydia Bonus Shot