More stuff from around the interweb that I’ve enjoyed and want to stash somewhere. Might as well be here! This is a fraction of the 200+ blog posts in Google Reader that I have starred for further reading. And the 340+ on my ‘Read It Later’ list. Oh dear…
Jesus died to make you angry. Paul Tripp explains how we are delivered from wrong anger but called to feel the righteous anger of God against sin and its effects.
Not receiving it – receiving Him. Glen writes about how we need to speak of Jesus and offer Him to sinners. Don’t offer abstractions (forgiveness, hope) but offer the person (who brings forgiveness, hope, etc). As I’ve said before, if you’re reading this blog make sure you also read Christ The Truth. It’s much better!
A Personal Liturgy of Confession. [HT: JT] A useful resource for helping people confess sin to God, particularly where feelings of guilt run deep. Based on some good old Anglican prayers!
Do people really like Jesus? It is often claimed – with some justification! – that people are rejecting church but are still curious about Jesus. Well, I know what they are saying, but what happens if people are confronted with the real Jesus?
Talks by Tim Chester. If I had to stop reading all blogs except a very small number, Tim Chester’s would remain a priority. I thoroughly recommend anything by him. Over at Atmosphere Church you’ll find some talks by him (and others) following the “Lead 09″ conference. Audio is available, video is coming.
Some good things found around the ‘net.
Go and visit the website of Dutch chain store HEMA. Now watch what happens! Guaranteed to raise a smile.
Are you a preacher? Have you discovered Tim Keller yet? His teaching on preaching is some of the best I have ever discovered. On iTunes you can find 18 hours (or so) of preaching lectures by Tim and Ed Clowney: “Preaching Christ in a Post-Modern World“. I’ve listened to a few and thoroughly enjoyed them. Did I say they were free? I’ve now discovered that you can get the handout (189 pages of goodness) from here (direct link).
This table is God’s soup kitchen. This table is where God feeds the hungry, the outcast, the disabled, the orphaned, the abused, the neglected, the lonely, and the lost. And this means at least two things: First, this table is not for people who are fine thank you very much. This food is not for the well-fed, those who get along pretty well on their own, the fit, or the popular. This table is not for people are basically good but screw up every once in a while. This table is for the messed up. It’s for people who are failures. It’s for parents who have failed their children. It’s for children who have failed their parents. It’s for spouses who have failed one another. This table is for the needy, the broken, and the weak. It is for those who are starving for God’s grace and mercy, and they will die if they do not have it. If you know your need, if you know that you are weak, that you are lonely, that you are failure on your own, and that you need your faithful Father’s love and care, then come. This meal is for you. This is grace and mercy for you. Secondly, Paul says that when we eat this sacrament we need to discern the Lord’s body, we need to see Jesus. And as we have emphasized before, this doesn’t mean squinting hard at the bread and wine trying to see flesh and blood somehow. Paul is talking about seeing Jesus in those around you, seeing Jesus next to you and behind you as you serve one another and partake together. But putting these two things together means that Jesus wants you to see Him in the neediness of those around you; He wants you to see Him in the hungry, the outcast, the disabled, the orphaned around you. He wants you to see Him there. He wants you to see Him in those people who are different from you; He wants you to see Him in those you have had disagreements with. He wants you to see Him even in those who may have wronged you. He wants you to give them bread for their hunger and give them wine for their thirst. So come to God’s soup kitchen. Come to the banquet spread for the needy of the world. Come and rejoice because there is plenty of grace for you. Jesus gives Himself to you, and He calls you to eat, drink, and rejoice in and with one another.
From http://havingtwolegs.blogspot.com/2009/09/gods-soup-kitchen.html
(See part 1 here)
Thinking of the Bible as a Story helps us think properly about how to read it. Stories are to be read from beginning to end, at a fairly decent speed. While Romans is worth close study, we should read most of the Bible at high speed. Don’t read 1 and 2 Samuel a chapter at a time. Find a clear hour or so and read it beginning to end!
Good stories make clever use of details to make the story come alive. When Paul refers to Jesus as our Passover lamb, he of course expects us to know the story of the Passover. More subtly, when Jesus goes into some wilderness we are expected to recall earlier stories of God’s people in the wilderness.
Let me give an example.
Imagine a fairy tale. A King has a beautiful daughter who is kidnapped. A brave knight offers to rescue her, he faces a number of battles on the way, eventually she is rescued and they get married. An author might write this story as a number of chapters. Along the way, he might write some commentary: a chapter about what makes a good king, a poem about bravery, a discussion of what we should do if we, like the brave knight, face a fearsome dragon.
Keep imagining. Let’s say, as a baby, the daughter was baptised and wore a green christening gown. The author explains that baptism is a sign of new life.
Much later, when the knight rescues the princess, the author could write about how this is another example of new life. Or he might be more creative. He might write that the princess was wearing rags, not suitable for escape, but that the knight dresses her in a green dress (found in the cupboard in the hallway outside the princess’ locked room) before they climb down the tower. Then the author doesn’t need to write about the princess receiving new life. All he needs to do is mention a green dress, and you are supposed to understand.
IF you just read the chapter about the rescue, a line about a green dress means nothing. But to those who know the story, it adds another element.
Let’s take this a bit further. You’re reading the story, and you’ve spotted the green dress thing. But then you find other, suggestive references to green. Maybe there’s a chapter when the brave knight recalls how he used to be a coward, but then his father’s words made him brave. In the course of this chapter, the author “happens” to mention how the green of the fields sparkled in his eyes. It could simply be some descriptive writing. Or it could be another reference to new life – because those words of his father have brought him new life.
That’s how good stories operate. As you become familiar with the whole story, little details suddenly become treasure troves. Something like Lord of the Rings can be read again and again, and often finding more coming to life.
That’s how the Bible works.
Let me give some examples:
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Curtain torn when Jesus died. Mark gives no explanation, but expects the reader to understand.
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The “I AM” sayings. Scholars debate whether Jesus is claiming divinity. Those who read the Bible as story find this obvious.
Sometimes the little details are given before you read about the significance. This means that, when reading the story for a second time, all sorts of things take on a new depth. For example:
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Lot baking bread without yeast in the Sodom and Gomorrah story (Genesis 19:3). Very significant given the symbolism of unleavened bread later in Exodus.
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Jesus makes it clear that his third-day-resurrection was “according to the Scriptures.” Have a look at “third day” references in the Old Testament and see how many are mini-resurrections (e.g. bad situations suddenly getting better).
It’s amazing how many commentaries ignore the details. Whereas people like Matthew Henry (the great Bible commentator) or others who are soaked in the Story (James Jordan comes to mind), revel in the details.
One of the biggest problems when dealing with the Old Testament is not knowing where you are. Dipping into, say, David and Goliath and wondering what is going on. Or reading about the temple being rebuilt and thinking it’s about church building projects.
Think of the Bible as this: a story with commentary.
A story that begins with Creation and ends with New Creation.
In between these fixed points we have Noah, Abraham, the Exodus, David, the Exile, Return, Incarnation, Cross, Pentecost, Us, Return of Christ.
And we have commentary. Prophets are, by and large, commentary on the state of Israel during the Kings following David. They are also commentary on how the Story is going to develop. The Psalms are poetic commentary on life within this Story. In the same way, we might think of the Epistles as commentary on the nature of the church following Pentecost and before the return of Christ. The Epistles help us live as those incorporated into God’s Story.
If this is the case, before dipping into the commentary we need to know the Story.
At the Keswick Convention last week I pickup up a copy of Tim Chester’s latest book, The Ordinary Hero.
Click here to buy from Amazon
Having read it I must say this: it’s fantastic. Read it!
So good, in fact, that it is a likely contender for my “First book to give to a Christian to read” prize (after the Bible, of course). As someone with a wall full of books, that’s quite a recommendation!
I’ll post some quotes and comments about it over the next few days / months / years (depending on whether this blog regains any sense of regular output!). For now, here is Tim Chester’s description of the book:
This hard-hitting book shows how the cross and resurrection provide the pattern for Christian discipleship, in the process calling Christians to a radical new way of living. It calls on people:
* to live out the radical implications of grace
* to apply the way of the cross, the way of sacrificial love and service, to every area of life
* to accept the pattern of suffering followed by glory as normative for Christians
* to pursue spiritual power not for its own sake, but as a means of living the weakness of the cross
* to live adventurous, risk-taking lives because we live for the world to come
And here is him describing what it’s about:
Thanks to James Cary I was introduced to Seeds Family Worship who produce some great songs settingBible verses to music. They are aimed at children but I’ve certainly enjoyed them. You can listen to their songs at their website for free, and buy the mp3 files from Amazon MP3 downloads. It also looks like, in just over a week’s time, you’ll be able to buy physical copies of the CDs from Amazon also. If these CDs are the same as those available direct from their website, each case comes with two CDs of music, so that you can give one away. What a great idea!
3 songs have been turned into videos. This first, “Cast All Your Cares on the LORD” (Psalm 55:22) is my favourite and has entrenched this verse in my mind! You can find more videos at their YouTube channel, but I’ve embedded the 3 songs here (2 are after the break).
I’m not going to argue the benefits of memorising Scripture, simply point you to some tips for memorising verse (as in poetry) which will be just as valid for memorising sections of the Bible. Not that I’ve tried, yet…
How to memorise verse
1. Read the poem to yourself. Then read the first line out loud. Look away from the page and say the line again. If you made a mistake, try again. Repeat the procedure for every line in the poem.
2. Go back to the beginning. This time, read the first two lines out loud, look away and repeat them out loud. If you made a mistake, try again. Go through the whole poem two lines at a time.
3. Repeat the process three lines at a time, then four lines, five and then six. “By the sixth pass, no matter how long the poem, you will have memorised it.”
4. Recite the whole poem just before you go to bed at night.
5. The next day, after a peep at the first line to kick-start your memory, you should find that you can recite the whole poem.
Tips from Daisy Goodwin, in The Week (25 October 2008) page 38.
Last month we had two weeks holiday and one major decision was what books to read. I’ve had a desire to read some ‘classics’ and, while browsing the library, I came across a translation of “Beowulf.” This reminded me of a Tim Keller comment about this famous poem, so I picked up the book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The basic plot is this: Beowulf, the great hero, travels to the Dane’s Kingdom which is troubled by the monster Grendel. Beowulf fights Grendel, then has to fight Grendel’s mother who is a bit ticked off. He’s a hero, returns home and becomes king, ruling for 50 years. Then a dragon is disturbed and Beowulf dons his sword to remove this evil, which he does, at the cost of his life.
The poem was composed sometime between the middle of the seventh and end of the tenth century of the first millennium. This translation, by the poet Seamus Heaney, became the 1999 Whitbread Book of the Year. It’s fairly long – some 3000 lines – but a great read. Heaney has (to my mind at least) done a great job of translating a poem into something that is understandable and still poetic; if you read it, read it out loud (or under your breath) so you pick up the rhythms and alliteration.
The original poet was a Christian and throughout there are references to God being in ultimate control of everyone’s destiny. I’ve not seen the 2007 film but a quick look at the movie’s site shows it has monkeyed around with the original quite considerably on the dubious premise that, being written down by monks, they probably edited out all the juicy bits. I say, ignore the film, pick up this book and enjoy!
It’s been a long long break from blogging. Here’s a post on grace to break the silence.
I sometimes make use of the book “Valley of Vision” – a fantastic collection of Puritan prayers. They are like a starter motor that gets me praying. From p.270 ‘The Prayer of Love’ comes this line:
“Grace cataracts from heaven and flows for ever, and mercy never wearies of bestowing benefits.”
Which got me thinking of the imagery. Grace like a river…
- washes away sin from my life
- erodes my rock-hard stubborness
- brings life to the desert
- glistens in the light of the Son
- brings oxygen to the stagnant waters of my soul.
Any other ideas?
