I've been thrown in at the deep end and am giving my first ever talk on Sunday morning... at All Souls. Thankfully I'm only speaking for 5 minutes rather than 30 but it's a daunting challenge preparing to speak God's word. The passage I've been given is Romans 5:1-11, which begins "since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Great passage. Hopefully I can do it some sort of justice:
Introduction
• Everyone’s looking for peace, humans are designed for it and struggle without it
• Peace with family, friends, between nations
True peace
• Our greatest need is peace with God
• Because we’re sinful, we’re under his wrath (Ephesians 2:3)
• We can only be at peace if God turns away his wrath from us – v9
Peace with God through Jesus’ death
• Jesus’ death demonstrated God’s great love for us, v8
• Jesus’ death achieved reconciliation for us, v10
• “Therefore since we have been justified… peace with God”, v1
Peace of God through Jesus’ life
• Inner peace and a certain hope for our future, we’re his children
• God loves you and has forgiven you, no matter what you’ve done
• He will upset your plans and your life to change you for good
Rejoicing always
• v3, we rejoice in our sufferings etc.
• We should always be joyful (Philippians 4:4)
• Joyful doesn’t always mean happy
• If God is blessing you, then rejoice
• Perseverance produces Christ-like character, so rejoice in sufferings
Future hope
• v10, how much more shall we be saved!
• More than peace with God because of Jesus’ death, we have peace about our future because of Jesus’ resurrection
• God raised Jesus in glory and power and he’s waiting for us as his people
Conclusion
• God loves us very dearly
• We have peace with God and the peace of God
• We have a certain future
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
On being evangelised
The global Christian missionary movement has begun to turn on its head in the last 20 years. Whereas Britain was the first modern missionary nation (thanks to the 18th century revival, the vision of William Carey et al., and of course our cultural hegemony), we now send many fewer missionaries abroad than some other countries.
This is, I must remember, a Good Thing. The more international mission-sending becomes, the more mission reflects the church, especially her final reality - when we will be gathered from every tribe, language and nation.
The shift also means that the West's missions have been successful, to an extent. Nigeria has the world's largest Christian student community, from a much smaller university population. There are 50 times more Christians in China than in the UK. Of the five countries with the most Christians, none are in Europe - I believe they are China, the USA, Brazil, Nigeria and Korea.
Today, despite the fact that our nation is leading the charge towards post-Christian society where the mass religion is atheism, my national/cultural/religious pride is challenged when, for example, a group of Canadian students spend $thousands and fly across the ocean to help student evangelism here. What's wrong with the CUs' mission weeks? Can we possibly have anything to learn from foreigners!?
The answer is clearly YES. Thanks for your dedication to mission. Thanks for coming over here. Please keep praying for our nation and your own.
This is, I must remember, a Good Thing. The more international mission-sending becomes, the more mission reflects the church, especially her final reality - when we will be gathered from every tribe, language and nation.
The shift also means that the West's missions have been successful, to an extent. Nigeria has the world's largest Christian student community, from a much smaller university population. There are 50 times more Christians in China than in the UK. Of the five countries with the most Christians, none are in Europe - I believe they are China, the USA, Brazil, Nigeria and Korea.
Today, despite the fact that our nation is leading the charge towards post-Christian society where the mass religion is atheism, my national/cultural/religious pride is challenged when, for example, a group of Canadian students spend $thousands and fly across the ocean to help student evangelism here. What's wrong with the CUs' mission weeks? Can we possibly have anything to learn from foreigners!?
The answer is clearly YES. Thanks for your dedication to mission. Thanks for coming over here. Please keep praying for our nation and your own.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Obsolete
Monday, February 11, 2008
Internet addiction
UCL computer rooms
Not having an internet connection at home yet makes for one less distraction while I'm there. "Great", I thought. "I'll spend less time online!" I'm coming into university most days to use the internet for an hour or two, which is hardly skimping. Using a public computer also means I can't watch videos, play games... or look at 'unhelpful' websites.
Clearly the internet is a useful medium: it's where I get most of my news, and it's great for keeping in contact with people - especially those I can't easily see or speak to. There are also great resources for Christians on the web that should be promoted, like the new Theology Network (great wallpaper!).
Other sites exist to alleviate boredom. The vacuosity of Facebook really becomes obvious when you log on for the first time in 3 days and see that nothing remotely important has happened.
The truth is that I spend an unhealthy amount of time online, flicking from one site or forum to the next, always with an eye on my inbox: I've turned it from a tool into an idol. Even this blog (not that I spend vast amounts of time writing for it!) has probably outlived its usefulness by about 18 months. I won't be deleting it but perhaps I need to spend more time with real people and be deliberate about spending time online for a defined purpose.
Time to go home and read a book. Or, more likely, play on the Wii!
Not having an internet connection at home yet makes for one less distraction while I'm there. "Great", I thought. "I'll spend less time online!" I'm coming into university most days to use the internet for an hour or two, which is hardly skimping. Using a public computer also means I can't watch videos, play games... or look at 'unhelpful' websites.
Clearly the internet is a useful medium: it's where I get most of my news, and it's great for keeping in contact with people - especially those I can't easily see or speak to. There are also great resources for Christians on the web that should be promoted, like the new Theology Network (great wallpaper!).
Other sites exist to alleviate boredom. The vacuosity of Facebook really becomes obvious when you log on for the first time in 3 days and see that nothing remotely important has happened.
The truth is that I spend an unhealthy amount of time online, flicking from one site or forum to the next, always with an eye on my inbox: I've turned it from a tool into an idol. Even this blog (not that I spend vast amounts of time writing for it!) has probably outlived its usefulness by about 18 months. I won't be deleting it but perhaps I need to spend more time with real people and be deliberate about spending time online for a defined purpose.
Time to go home and read a book. Or, more likely, play on the Wii!
Friday, February 01, 2008
Moved
It's been a pretty busy week what with moving across London and making our "furnished flat" into somewhere to live... highlights include:
I changed the name of the blog (again) in honour of its new location.
- spending £400 at IKEA with the inevitable flurry of flat-pack construction that follows
- hassling our new landlord to replace beds that are just a pile of springs inside a cover
- persuading BT that we do indeed have a phone line (which we're calling them on) and no, we don't want to pay £125 to "activate" it.
I changed the name of the blog (again) in honour of its new location.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Plus ça change
As of tomorrow I will be an Englishman in N7, living with two other English guys from All Souls and setting up an awesome flat: the TV's been ordered, the hi-fi is ready to go, the living room is big enough to have people round and we're 5 minutes from the Tube. I'm pretty excited! Should probably start packing at some point today...
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A reading chronicle
I started reading the Bible straight through on December 1, and as of today have read 353 chapters, 30% of the total, at a mean rate of 6.7 chapters per day (yes, I made a spreadsheet to keep track of my Bible reading). I'm finding it a very helpful exercise, for several reasons:
A reliable commentary says that Chronicles was probably written by the same man who wrote Ezra and Nehemiah, aptly known as "the Chronicler". Obviously they date from later than Samuel & Kings, because the historical narrative goes further. If he wrote Chronicles at the end of the exile, there would have been much wooping and cheering by the rivers of Babylon as the remnant returned home. This must be the explanation for the TEN CHAPTERS of genealogy at the start of the book... they really knew how to have fun back then eh!
(Yes, genealogy for the Jews was crucial to their culture, history, politics, religion, geography, anthropology and faith. In all honesty though it's not the most inspiring portion of the Bible.)
- By reading from start to finish, the overarching narrative of the Bible is more clear - God is good and glorious and always accomplishes His will; humans' obedience is fleeting at best; there is a real groaning for ultimate salvation that doesn't depend on human achievements.
- There are still portions of Scripture I know I've never read, and probably lots more I've missed - reading the whole Bible means that I know I will have read all of God's word at least once (is this legalistic?).
- Keeping up a good pace means that I don't get bogged down - obviously this means I'm not doing in-depth study, but for a temporary period it seems to work.
A reliable commentary says that Chronicles was probably written by the same man who wrote Ezra and Nehemiah, aptly known as "the Chronicler". Obviously they date from later than Samuel & Kings, because the historical narrative goes further. If he wrote Chronicles at the end of the exile, there would have been much wooping and cheering by the rivers of Babylon as the remnant returned home. This must be the explanation for the TEN CHAPTERS of genealogy at the start of the book... they really knew how to have fun back then eh!
(Yes, genealogy for the Jews was crucial to their culture, history, politics, religion, geography, anthropology and faith. In all honesty though it's not the most inspiring portion of the Bible.)
Saturday, January 19, 2008
False economy
Two of my flatmates are on a trip to Brussels this weekend. Unfortunately they didn't ask me (or anyone) what would be the best way of travelling there, which meant they left the flat at 3am today to catch a taxi to Baker St, where they'd take a bus to "London" Stansted Airport, over an hour away. After getting there, standing in the security queue and eventually catching a flight of less than an hour, they will have arrived at "Brussels" Charleroi Airport, which is just as far from Brussels as Stansted is from London. Check the map below to see what I mean.
The alternative? Take the Tube to St Pancras station, arrive 30 minutes before the Eurostar's scheduled departure, grab a coffee and enjoy the scenery on the journey, which takes less than 2h and gets you to central Brussels. Once you take into account all the buses, I bet it would work out cheaper as well. Oops!
As of next week, I'll be living literally 10 minutes from St Pancras (and with new flatmates), which will make decisions like this even more of a no-brainer.
View Larger Map
The alternative? Take the Tube to St Pancras station, arrive 30 minutes before the Eurostar's scheduled departure, grab a coffee and enjoy the scenery on the journey, which takes less than 2h and gets you to central Brussels. Once you take into account all the buses, I bet it would work out cheaper as well. Oops!
As of next week, I'll be living literally 10 minutes from St Pancras (and with new flatmates), which will make decisions like this even more of a no-brainer.
View Larger Map
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Eyewitness accounts
The crash landing at Heathrow airport today was a field day for journalists. BBC News 24 cleared its schedules for over 2 hours to talk about the incident; and the event was even sweeter for them because (a) nobody was killed, so there are no awkward arguments about morbid intrusion, (b) it emerged that British grit and stiff-upper-lip prevailed and resulted in the efficient evacuation of the plane.
What I thought was most interesting was the selection of eyewitness accounts that emerged. Some passengers phoned up the BBC, others were interviewed later, and a page of their descriptions is on the BBC website, here. There is considerable variation in the reports: some say the plane landed on the tarmac, others that it swerved 90 degrees, some that the pilot was clearly struggling, others that it all happened suddenly. Yet despite this variation, the storyline is clear. Everyone is agreed that a plane made a crash landing on Runway 27L at Heathrow and that nobody was seriously hurt. The different angles actually add to the story, especially those inside and outside the plane.
It is reminiscent of another set of eyewitness accounts about a surprising and unexpected event in history, isn't it?
What I thought was most interesting was the selection of eyewitness accounts that emerged. Some passengers phoned up the BBC, others were interviewed later, and a page of their descriptions is on the BBC website, here. There is considerable variation in the reports: some say the plane landed on the tarmac, others that it swerved 90 degrees, some that the pilot was clearly struggling, others that it all happened suddenly. Yet despite this variation, the storyline is clear. Everyone is agreed that a plane made a crash landing on Runway 27L at Heathrow and that nobody was seriously hurt. The different angles actually add to the story, especially those inside and outside the plane.
It is reminiscent of another set of eyewitness accounts about a surprising and unexpected event in history, isn't it?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
The power of the atom
The UK government has given the "go-ahead" for a new generation of nuclear power plants in Britain. Given that our electricity currently comes from a mix of North Sea oil/gas, oil/gas from Russia and the Middle East, and a number of hamsters running around in wheels connected to 9V batteries, the decision is a good one.
It's especially important given that the North Sea oil is about 95% used up and all of our current nuclear plants will have to shut over the next 30 years. Until nuclear fusion is developed to more than an option in Sim City, we're going to need a reliable, cheap and low-carbon option for a lot of our power. Wind and solar power are fine for micro-generation and supplements, but what happens when it's cloudy and raining? (It does happen occasionally.) Tidal power has potential - and it's certainly reliable - but only for 10% of our power at the most. Or we could reopen the coal mines and get burning, but that's not exactly the most sustainable choice.
You might have noted the inverted commas around "go-ahead" above. The government is excellent at "approving" major projects (Crossrail springs to mind) but doesn't have such a glowing record at actually getting stuff built. The government paper can be downloaded here. Let's hope we see some nuclear power plants online before the brownouts begin.
It's especially important given that the North Sea oil is about 95% used up and all of our current nuclear plants will have to shut over the next 30 years. Until nuclear fusion is developed to more than an option in Sim City, we're going to need a reliable, cheap and low-carbon option for a lot of our power. Wind and solar power are fine for micro-generation and supplements, but what happens when it's cloudy and raining? (It does happen occasionally.) Tidal power has potential - and it's certainly reliable - but only for 10% of our power at the most. Or we could reopen the coal mines and get burning, but that's not exactly the most sustainable choice.
You might have noted the inverted commas around "go-ahead" above. The government is excellent at "approving" major projects (Crossrail springs to mind) but doesn't have such a glowing record at actually getting stuff built. The government paper can be downloaded here. Let's hope we see some nuclear power plants online before the brownouts begin.
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