Great Evangelical Library Lecture Last Monday

It was great to gather with the other zoomers for the most recent Evangelical Library lunch time lecture last Monday. It was a little different to our usual fare which is church history focussed usually. Rather, it was on The Doctrine of God in Contemporary Evangelical Theology although Robert did suggest that a better understanding of the early debates regarding the Trinity might greatly help us. His main focus was on the impassibility of God and question of subordination in the Godhead. If you want to peruse the lecture, it can be found on our new YouTube Channel here.

Thijs van Leer - Rondo (Grand Gala 1974)

The brilliant Thijs van Leer is 75 today. Hope to see him and his band this month

(Conductor the late Rogier van Otterloo; voice the late Letty de Jong)

Lord's Day March 26 2023

Perhaps a few people were caught out by the change of clocks but we were over fifty last Sunday morning. At least six I can think of were not there for various reasons but that number was replaced by family members visiting us (my oldest son was preaching in Welsh in London and so his family joined us) and a couple we have not seen in a while, saying they are off to live in Greece this week. I preached (not that well I fear) on the crown of thorns in the morning and Daniel 3 in the evening (usually small group pm).

10 Businesses with Quaker roots

1. Barclays

2. Lloyds Bank

3. Bryant & May (Matches)

4. Clarks (Shoes)

5. Cadbury

6. Fry

7. Terry

8. Rowntree

9. Carr (Biscuits)

10. Huntley & Palmer (Biscuits)

(Also Sony, Western Union and Waterford Crystal)

Week of Prayer March 19-26 2023

We had a week of prayer last week. I arranged a series of six prayer meetings - all in person, except one on Thursday evening. Two were first thing, one for breakfast, one mid morning and one in the evening. We had between five and eight at each meeting (something like a nominal 35 but about 14 of us in fact at different times). We only sang once. I began each meeting with a reading from 1 Thessalonians. It was good to hear some pray who we rarely hear. Good week.

Day Off Week 12 2023

It was a fairly usual sort of day off last week, with typical ingredients - a chunk of Footnotes by Peter Fiennes, a book I picked up recently that traces journeys in the UK made by various literary figures (very engaging),some drawing, a trip to Leeon in Brent Cross for lunch, some coffee, some TV in the evvening, etc. Nice day.

10 ways to refer to marriage that include the joining idea

1. Tied the knot

2. Entered wedlock

3. Entered the marriage bond

4. Entered into marital union

5. Became yoked together

6. Entered the conjugal state (conjugal = yoked together)

7. Got hitched (a hitch is a type of knot)

8. Were united in marriage

9. Became attached to one another

10. Were joined in holy matrimony

10 Square Lyrics

1. T Rex, Telegram Sam (I ain't no square with my corkscrew hair)

2. T Rex, Savage Beethoven (I don`t care, `cos I`m no square)

3. Kinks, Dedicated follower of fashion (His clothes are loud, but never square)

4. B B King, I don't want you cuttin' off your hair (If that's what it takes to be hip baby Oh, I want you to be a square)

5. Mac Curtis, Grandaddy's rockin' (My granddaddy's got long white hair But I'll tell you now that he ain't no square)

6. The Aristocats Movie Soundtrack, Everybody wants to be a cat (A square with a horn makes you wish you weren't born Every time he plays But with a square in the act You can set music back To the cave man days)

7. Buddy Guy, Country man (I'm just green as a pool table, you know I'm twice as square)

8. Dizzee Rascal, Quality (I don't know about algebra but I know that I am no square)

9. Dizzee Rascal, Everything must go (No squares in the circle, Everything must roll)

10. Paul McCartney, Feet in the clouds (I know that I'm not a square as long as they're not around)

Lord's Day March 19 2023

Good numbers in the morning again. Our Filipino friends with the teenage son returned and so did an old Iranian friend of ours and his son, who came last week for the first time in ages. Other Iranians were missing but there were still eight present. Also missed a long standing West Indian couple and our new Cuban friend. An oriental family (grandmother, mother and baby) came but did not stay to the end. I bumped into the woman who left early last week during the week nd she explained she was responding to a call from her daughter - it was nothing I had said! In the evening we had communion and then I preached on Naboth. Poor turn out, sadly.

Wales score four tries in final game

 

Wales were well beaten in the final game against France (41-28) but did scoe four tries.

Some Clannad for St Patrick's Day (Sally Gardens)

Midweek Meeting March 15 2023

We started on Galatians tonight - a nice quiet start. We had a good prayer meeting too. We started slowly but it went well. At the end I prayed something to the effect of sometimes dragging ourselves to these meetings and then being so encouraged (a la Asaph in Psalm 73 rather than any feeling I had of that sort myself). One or two responded to that line of thought afterwards. Still on zoom.

Y Swn

Slightly out of sequence but on Monday my wife and I went over to the Picture House in Finsbury Park to see a special showing of a new Welsh language film (complete with subtitles for people like me) called Y Swn. A sort of docudrama it is a fictional account of the events surrounding the inauguration of S4C in 1982. The period is full of interest because it was the time of Margaret Thatcher and Gwynfor Evans who held her and her government to their promise to introduce a channel devoted entirely to the Welsh language. The significance for Plaid Cymru and for Wales as a whole can hardly be overstated. By now even us monoglots have accepted the argument that historically Welsh is the language of Wales and it deserves to be given the status it has now achieved. To think that someone could see that so clearly back in the 1980s is significant and ought to be acknowledged. Not sure where else the film can be seen but it is worth seeking out. Our evening was enhanced by a Q&A in the presence of the producer Roger Williams and actress Sian Reese-Williams, who played Mrs Thatcher. The film included archive footage of nationalist Ned Thomas who I had the privilege of having as a lecturer in the English department in Aberystwyth. I remember him telling us how he was keen to join in the campaign of not paying the TV licence fee as a protest but did not have a TV. He managed to get hold of one but when the police came to prosecute him he coldn't get the set to work. "I'm sorry Mr Thomas" the policeman told him "but if the set is not actually working, I can't prosecute you"!

Day Off Week 11 2023

Couldn't really settle to anything today and so rather frittered my time. Up early taking a fridge.freezer and a dish washer to be dumped with one of my deacons (no, we didn;t dump him). Not so p[rodiuctive agter that, mainly reading.

Lord's Day March 12 2023

Not unusually, behind with things again. Again it was good morning numbers and not so good in the evening. In the morning some were missing but most of the regulars were there plus one or two others. One lady was a Filipina with a large Charles Stanley Bible and another left after being with us only a short while. I don't know if it was something I said. I was on Acts 4:12, a very dogmatic verse, I guess.

Italy 17 Wales 29

Careful readers of this blog will have noticed a lack of reference to the Six Nations rugby this year. That is because Wales have not only lost their first three games but played rather poorly. All of Wales was in apprehensive mood earlier today, therefore, with the prospect of losing even to the tournament's traditional losers. Thankfully, Providence smiled on Wales and they played well, resulting in a deserved 29-17 win. At the moment France are thrashing England too, so things are looking up.

Affinity Study Conference 2023

On Wednesday I caught a train up to Northampton for the Affinity Study Conference. About eighty of us have been gathered over three days to look at the subject of A form foundation: priorities for the rising generation. The conference is unique in that all the papers (five altogether) are written and printed beforehand. The speakers then briefly present their papers before we break for group and then plenary discussion. So on the first day we had an introductory sort of paper from pastor and teacher Peter Sanlon on identity and worldview, the current scene. We then had a second paper on genuine conversion by Robin Gray, a Free church man from Aberdeenshire. The paper drew chiefly on Jonathan Edwards. This was a great start. We were then free for the evening. There was an impromptu quiz, which is one of my great loves, so that was fun.

On day 2 we had the rest of the papers - Phil Heaps, the London based Baptist, on sanctification; Mark Thomas from Wrexham, on pastoring; Dr Patrick Fung, leader of the OMF based in Singapore, on persecution. We were free in the afternoon - time to take advantage of the excellent bookstall here, provided by the Evangelical Bookshop, Belfast. All this was very interesting and stimulating. I had hoped that there would be more cohesion to the papers but that was not conspicuous. In the evening, we had a prayer meeting, first a plenary one then in our groups. Two men were quite emotional as we prayed for the rising generation.

For the last day, we had all five speakers on the platform under the chairmanship of Paul Yeulett, pastor in South London. People asked their questions. Then after a cuppa Pete Campbell from Penrhyndeudraeth in North Wales preached on Ephesians 3:14-21. Through most of the conference, it was snowing or there was snow on the ground, which is a nice thing to look out on.

Article in JAFS

The sixth volume of The Journal of Andrew Fuller Studies has just been published. It includes an opening article from myself on Andrew Fuller’s tour of Ireland, June 1804. I have contributed to other editions too (Volume 1 annotations on Extracts from six letters written by 59 Benjamin Beddome in 1759 and 1760 and Volume 2 Consolation in spiritual darkness: A letter from Daniel Turner to Benjamin Beddome 1762).

10 Songs With Square in the Title

1. You're so square, Buddy Holly (also Joni Mitchell, etc)

2. She's So Square, XTC

3. Hip to be Square, Huey Lewis and the News

4. Unsquare Dance, Dave Brubeck

5. Square Dance, Eminem

6. Big Square People, Heaven 17

7. Squares Make The World Go Round, Roger Miller

8. Don’t Be Square (Be There), Adam and the Ants

9. You're a Square, Paddy Roberts

10. Square Biz, Teena Marie

Lord's Day March 5 2023

A good Lord's Day the pther day, begining with communion and including a pone off from Exodus 1:21,22 in the morning and a look at Jb 18  and 19 in the evening, part of series. Scraped into double figures n the evening but a good number in the morning. Our Filipino friendsreturned with one of their sons and there was yet another new Iranian, though no sign of the other new one. Good to be woth God's people and to have the opposrtunity to commend him to sinners once more.

Midweek Meeting March 1 2023

Another good, well attended meeting on zoom last Wednesday. I spoke from Psalm 21 and we had a good time of prayer. Plenty to pray for.

Set your Sproul free

All R C Sproul ebooks in the crucial questions series are free. It is easy enough to convert epub to kindle format. See here.

Day Off Week 9 2023

More like a regular day off this week. I am reading the papers for the Affinity Study Conference next week. I have also made a good start on the latest volume of Nick Needham's church history - great stuff as ever. I also slipped out for a burrito and a coffee in West Hamsptead, where I bought a book - A short history of the word in 50 animals.

Evangelical Library Lunch Time Lecture on Tyndale

About 30 of us gathered on zoom last Monday for the latest lunch time lecture arranged by the Eangelical Library. Keith Berry spoke on the subject In the footsteps of William Tyndale. It was good to be reminded of the story of Tyndale again. In addition a number of sites in the UK that are connected to his name were highlighted. It was an excellent illustrated ecture. For recordings contact the Library. Our third and final lecture of this session will be on March 27 when Dr Robert Strivens will speak on "Recent controversies regarding the doctrine of God". All are welcome. Details from the Library. Keith expressed a willingness to show interested individuals around the historic sites of London that connect with our evangelical heritage. he can be contacted through this website.

Exciting Parcel

The postman just delivered my hard copy of the papers for next week's Affinity Conference. I have read most of the papers in electronic format but it is nice to have this handsome book. I understand there are still one or two sppaces if you like to make decisions last minute. See you there.

Lord's Day February 26 2023

I remember an older minister saying once that for a regular preacher it has to be beans on toast sometimes. It can't be roast beef every week. I felt (rightly or wrongly) that last Lord's Day was a beans on toast sort of Sunday as I worked my way through the final verses of Luke 13 and Job 15-17. It has been a busy week and perhaps that was part of it. We had a new couple there in the morning, Filipino Londoners. I hope they will stick with us. They had a good chat with our Filipino family. In fact, at one point after the service, I noticed those four speaking to each other with an Iranian group elsewhere and an African group somewhere else. Integration is not easy. Our Cuban friend came again and stayed for a cuppa this time, which was good. We were double figues again in the evening, which is good.

10 Songs that mention Top of the Pops

1. Angel delight, Fairport Convention

(Stand on a chair if you want to watch the box

The fleas can jump a mile

Peer through the haze watching Top Of The Pops

And smile)

2. Top of the Pops, The Rezillos

(Take the money, leave the box

Everybody's on Top of the Pops)

3. Top of the Pops, The Smithereens

(Big plans, big time, everything

Downtown pawn shop Bought us a ring

Heading for the top - Top of the Pops

Top, top, top of the pops - Hey! Hey!)

4. Rat Trap, The Boomtown Rats

(Oh little Judy's trying to watch "top of the pops"

But mum and dad are fighting don't they ever stop)

5. Knocked it off, B A Robertson

(Tell them they can stuff it, I'm not about to rough it

In some Granada Ghia, I was Top of the Pops)

6. Promises, Promises, Generation X

(Soon you'll get your gear form Marks and Sparks

Punk'll take over Top of the Pops)

7. Electric Trains, Top of the Pops

(And soloed round the clock

My records stacked up in a pile

Collected from the charts

And Top of the Pops)

8. C30 C60 C90 Go!, Bow wow wow

(So I don't buy records in your shop
Now I tape them all, 'cause I'm Top of the Pops!)

9.  Moving the Goalposts, Billy Bragg

(I dreamed of you as I walked to the shops

You were dancing with the wallies on Top of the Pops)

10. If you don't know what I know, All Saints

(Well actually girls no they're not

But at least you get to be on Top Of The Pops)

[Bonus Sing My Song, Donovan

So we're pickin' out your straight jacket

For the Top of the Pops

When I sing my song My song of songs

I want the whole wide world

To sing along

Sing for me]

10 Elements Discovered or Isolated at the Royal Institution

1. Potassium (1807)

Humphry Davy isolated potassium from caustic potash using electrolysis in 1807, making this the first of 10 chemical elements that were discovered or isolated at the Ri

2. Sodium (1807)

Davy isolated sodium from molten sodium hydroxide

3, Barium (1808)

Davy isolated barium by electrolysis of molten barium salts

4. Calcium (1808)

Davy isolated calcium by electrolysis of a mixture of lime and mercuric oxide

5. Magnesium (1808)

Davy using electrolysis of a mixture of magnesia and mercury oxide

6. Strontium (1808)

Davy isolated strontium from a mixture of strontium chloride and mercuric acid

7.  Boron (1809)

Davy isolated boron in 1809, after first using electrolysis to produce a brown precipitate from a solution of borates in 1808

8, Chlorine (1810)

Chlorine was discovered in 1774, but it was believed to be a compound until Davy's experiments showed it was actually an element

9. Iodine (1811)

Iodine was discovered by the French chemist Bernard Courtois in 1811, but he lacked the resources to investigate the substance so gave samples of it to researchers. It was then named by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, who thought it to be either a compound of oxygen or an element. It was Davy who, a few days later, finally stated it was a new element, but this led to tensions around who identified it first.

10. Argon (1894)

Argon was discovered at the Ri in 1894 by Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay

Busy Week

Last week was rather busy as my oldest son and his family came to stay with us from Monday evening to first thing on Saturday and at the end of the week we gathered in Cardiff for my oldest grand daughter's second birthday. (We also watched the rugby but we are not talking about rugby at the moment). Rhodri got us down to the Royal Institution on Tuesday where Faraday had his laboratroy at one time and where Davy and others worked. No mention of Faraday's faith. (He was a Sandemanian), After we went to the Lego shop. Great week.

Midweek Meeting February 22 2023

 

We were in familiar territory last Wednesday, looking atthe most famous psalm of all. There were a good number zooming in and a decent prayer time too, prayng for Kate Forbes among others. May be I finished too soon. Always hard to judge. We had some former members join us from Wales, which was nice.