The Perfect Storm, and a little man’s prayers

Ah, the A406. A truly horrible road. London’s ring road, vital to London, but the North Circular has a way of reducing every Londoner to tears of terror or frustration at some time or other. Two lanes in most places just cannot cope with the volume of traffic which pounds it every hour of the day. Add some bad weather like yesterday’s, and it’s a perfect storm.

Yesterday I had to brave the North Circular on the bike to return some Van Til books the Evangelical Library and pick up some volumes of Jonathan Edwards from the London Theological Seminary, both in the wilds of North London. The A406 is always an unpleasant ride on the motorbike, and yesterday was the worst I've known. The pattering rain when I set off turned to freezing rain, and it was sleeting by the time I got to the first of my libraries. By the time I left the second the snow was heavy, turning back to freezing rain as I got close to Chiswick. Cold and wet, I was very glad to get back safely.
That night I told one of my sons what an awful trip it had been. He said to me quite casually that he knew that I would be out on the bike, so that morning he prayed for my safety. I was thrilled and moved, and grateful to him and to my Lord for making an eight year old pray for his dad. And I was grateful to God for answering those prayers.

The excitement and the dangers of riding a motorbike are that the margins of error are so small. Too much of either brake in a certain situation, a fraction too slow a reaction to a threat, an over-acceleration, a failure to notice something, and then the consequences are terrible. Just like Christian ministry.

Riding a motorbike in a snowstorm makes me think of pastoral ministry. Pastors, like all Christians, are never out of danger. Our margins of error are very slight. Lack of love, of zeal, of courage and of leadership are all constant dangers. Wrong words, misjudged sermons, poor counsel and lack of care can be disastrous for those we profess to love. Pastors are constantly under threat. Our Enemy wants us to crash. Gross sin is always seconds away, and the slow-burn of temptation is equally perilous. Calvin once expressed this startling thought: ‘God allows more power and liberty to Satan over wicked and ungodly ministers than over other ordinary men.’

Yesterday was a good reminder; whether on the bike, in the pulpit or spending time seeking to encourage a church member, I’m upheld by prayer, and sometimes by nothing more than prayer. The prayer of those in my family, my friends and church, and my own keep my safe and productive. Ultimately, though, prayer doesn’t uphold, does it; it’s the God who answers prayer. He is our Heavenly Father, strong, kind, and protecting.

‘The Lord will keep you from all harm – He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore.’ (Psalm 121)

Nunc Dimittis

Yesterday morning I preached on Simeon's Christmas from Luke 2, and the gift of Christ to himself and to the world. It's an astonishing episode, isn't it? I was at a party on Saturday afternoon, and saw a newborn who was so gorgeous that I wanted to sweep her up for a cuddle - but as I didn't know the mother I kept myself in check! Simeon's reaction to the infant Jesus, praising and prophesying, is utterly bizarre, unless it can be explained. It can be. 'It was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ' (v. 26). God was, as ever, faithful to His promise. Simeon did see him. He knew that this was the great Rescuer born for his own people Israel and born for the world. He cannot but praise, and the same Spirit who sustained his faith gave him a word of prophesy about the child.

This Christmas we remember that God is faithful. He does keep His promises. He doesn't play with us, or lose interest in us. In Christ we are saved and loved. God will accomplish all of His purposes for us. Of that we can be completely sure. Our calling it to believe and to follow with patience and perseverance.

I found these words from John Calvin very helpful:

"The example of Simeon teaches us to keep our feelings in check when nothing first turns out as we would wish, and when God leaves us to languish. It is as the Apostle says, faith cannot exist without patience (cf 1 Thess. 1.3, 2 Thess. 1.4, James 1.3) . God, it is true, does not have to promise us anything in order to make us happy. Yet He prefers to train us by keeping hidden, in a sense, the things He has promised, so that however hard we look we see nothing. So because the Lord tests our claim to honour Him by holding to His Word, He unites in an unbreakable bond patience and faith. Let us learn that lesson well."

Sermon on Luke 2.25-28

Christmas at Gunnersbury

On air: what can Science tell us about God?

A few weeks ago we hosted a debate between Prof. Lewis Wolpert and Prof. Russell Cowburn, an atheist and a Christian respectively.

Justin Brierley has been in touch with Laurence, our evangelist, saying that Premier Radio's show looking back at our debate is to air this Saturday at 2.30pm on Premier. The programme can be heard on Premier Christian Radio at 2.30pm this Saturday via MW 1305 1332 or 1413 (Depending on where you are in London). You can also listen via DAB digital radio. It's available on Freeview 725 and Sky Digital 0123

The show will also be available as a podcast from Saturday afternoon at www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable

Open to Question?

Vijay Menon is not easily forgotten. I heard him 20 years ago, and the years rolled back as he spoke to the question 'One God, Many Routes?' on Sunday night to a mixed crowd at Gunnersbury. Vijay didn't show a hint of his 79 years, and spoke with warmth, passion, humility and a Christ-honouring heart. What he had to say was stirring and very helpful. I'll put a link to our site when it's up so that you can listen to it.

Our next Open to Question event is on 7th February, when Dr Peter Williams, Warden of Tyndale House in Cambridge, will be addressing the question 'can we trust the Gospels?' Pete and I go back to university days. I remember Pete as a no-nonsense Yorkshireman with a passion for the Lord Jesus Christ, the work of the Gospel, and the ancient languages of the Mediterranean and Near East (Ugaritic and Syriac were favourites then). At one time he was committing the Greek text of the Letter to the Hebrews to memory, and on one occasion he asked his Latin Director of Studies if he would conduct his supervisions in Latin, not English!

Super-able as Pete is, he wears his learning lightly, and puts it all to the service of explaining why the Bible is reliable, and why its message about Jesus Christ is utterly trustworthy and transforming. He's highly recommended. Do put the 7th Feb in your diary, and come with a friend, if you can.

What makes a good church?

What makes a good church? Have a listen here to what Ephesians 4.1-6 teaches.

Vijay's Coming!

The Allens' 2009 A-Z

Asher brings us all so much happiness and joy. He’s finished the year as he started it, minus four top teeth lost in an accident, and is developing into a very happy and adorable 3 year old. His passions are horses, his siblings and dresses. He loves beguiling helpers at his playgroup where he cavorts around for two mornings a week.

Brentford. You will know, of course, that Brentford achieved the dizzy heights of League Two champions status in April. Lewis is continuing his chaplaincy to the club, and Gospel sharing opportunities abound.

Change. There’s not been much of it this year, but much happiness in our schools, church and various activities.

Dough. We’ve made lots of it this year, all turned into bread, and not the investment sort. The kids bake very enthusiastically (and often without parental guidance). Sarah has just succumbed to buying a breadmaker.

Ezra has had a great year at Strand School, and is really enjoying year 6 and already looking forward to secondary school. Animals, rollerblading and drawing are still his real enthusiasms. We’re sure that his career will involve elephant poo, either in art installations or in zoological pursuits…

Fishing. Another lean year, sadly, though we have been getting to grips with Thames eels by Kew Bridge. Lewis couldn’t fit in a sea trout trip this summer, so expectations are high for 2010.

Gunnersbury has had a steady rather than spectacular year. We’ve not seen much numerical growth, but we have grown in our ability to make and take opportunities for sharing the Gospel in our local community. A couple of debates we’ve organised have been high points, and with our international harvest event we’ve seen gatherings of over two hundred each time. Lewis is enjoying working with Laurence and Paul, our evangelist and assistant pastor.

Holidays. We had our ‘best ever’ summer holiday in France. France is warm and beautiful, see, whereas Scotland is only one of those two. We house-swapped in the Dordogne, and enjoyed a little more than a fortnight in a gorgeous rural location, with plenty of swimming and walking

Illness. Lots of it. See passim.

Jemimah is still our easy-going, affectionate darling. She has bundles of friends and a very generous nature. She’s a brilliant big sister to Asher, who she shares a bedroom with. She matches the others on rollerblades, and is passionate about…most things.

Kids’ Work. Lewis has done plenty of it this year, and it’s taken really good shape at church. Mondays and Fridays see our own children and a good group of their friends coming to have fun and learn the Gospel.

Lewis has had a hectic year, pastoring, parenting, studying and trying to keep everything running smoothly. He resigned from the Governor’s role at Strand because there was simply too much on, but has joined the board of the London Theological Seminary. His Psalms of Ascents book (finally!) is with a publisher. He’s still loving preaching and the work of the Gospel.

Maisy becomes a teenager next year! We’re hoping that the only piercings will be in her ears and the only dramas will be school productions, we’ll wait and see – and pray! This year has been a challenging one for Maisy, as she was diagnosed in the spring as having ME. That’s meant a very restricted diet and a reduced school timetable. She has responded with real courage, patience and trust in the Lord (she was baptised in January) and is making steady progress towards recovery.

New Word Alive in North Wales last April lived up to all of our expectations, and the children especially enjoyed it. We went with a bunch from church and plan to go again next year. A highlight was fish and chips with all of our church crew at the farmhouse we rented.

O what a Saviour. If you’re not a Christian, do take the step into real life in 2010. Jesus is true, real and excellent.

Pets. What a year of them! We’ve all really enjoyed Ezra’s degus, but had to make the sad decision to get them re-housed due to Samuel’s asthma – see ‘S’. Ditto the cat, who’s now living it up in Notting Hill. Maisy’s gerbil keeps on going, and we now have two very sweet guinea pigs in the wendyhouse outside.

Queer letter, Q. I’ll pass til next year.

Reading and Writing. Sarah continues her monthly column in Evangelicals Now newspaper reviewing (largely) secular books. Lewis does the odd review for the Banner of Truth magazine. Tolkein and JK Rowling get passed between the older children continually.

Samuel has had a characteristically busy and energetic year. He loved bantering with his Brentford-mad Yr3 teacher, and is adjusting to the shock of being taught by a woman for Yr 4… His asthma has been troubling a fair bit in recent months, but it barely slows him down. He’s also fishing mad, obviously a strange genetic thing going on there, and has just started fencing.

Sarah has worked very hard indeed this year. She covered a term’s maternity leave part time in the winter at Chiswick Community School, but apart from that it’s all been unpaid! She’s had countless hospital and GP trips with different children all through the year, and has juggled their needs with looking after folks in the church and community. She’s still very beautiful and young-looking (Lewis wrote that).

ThM. Lewis’s year has been made all the more busy by the Masters in Historical Theology he’s pursuing, but the hard work has been enjoyable and very rewarding. He’s delved deeper into the Puritans, got involved in a Reformation Latin translation project, has learned more about Covenant Theology and Apologetics. A couple more units need completing next year before he ploughs into his dissertation, probably on some aspect of the Puritan John Flavel’s ministry and theology.

Unicorns. Asher’s favourite animal. He’s desperate for at least one this Christmas.

Vespa cheerio, hello Honda. Lewis finished with the green dream in July, and has swapped it for a red one, this time a Honda Hornet 600. Sarah and the older kids are occasional and enthusiastic passengers. He takes on all-comers who suggest that it’s a mid-life thing (he’s far too young...).

Wider Family. Lewis’s mum has had a great year, travelling all over the place as well as doing sterling work in keeping an eye on us all. Her travels have taken in Bronny, Rodney and Anna who are loving the Blue Mountains in Australia. Sarah’s folks are still farming at Approach with Angus, and he and Kerry have got a little one due next May. Becky, and Phil are working really hard at their farm, and Emily’s doing very well at gymkhanas and school.

Xcess. It’s felt a year of one, looking after children, serving Gunnersbury, and enjoying many, many rich blessings from the Lord.

Y Christmas? We have so much to celebrate. God’s grace has been powerfully at work in the Allens, looking after us, showing us the greatness of Jesus and refreshing us in His love and strengthening us for His service.

Zzzz Yes please! May your Christmas be truly restful.

Striving for Unity

I've been studying Ephesians 4.1-6 in preparation for this coming Sunday morning's ministry. Amongst the wonderful helps around on Ephesians, Charles Hodge's classic commentary is still excellent reading. It's nearly two hundred years old, but its language is simple, style is fresh, and lessons are profound. Here are a couple of gems I've discovered today. Enjoy!

On verse 4, 'There is one body and one Spirit:'

"There is no doctrine of Scripture more plainly revealed than that the Spirit of God dwells in all believers, and that His Presence is the ultimate ground of their unity as the body of Christ. As the human body is one because it is permeated by the soul; so the body of Christ is one because it is permeated by one and the same Spirit, who dwelling in all is a common principle of life. This makes all sins against unity sins against the Holy Spirit. They separate what He binds together. Our relation to Christ as members of His body and our relation to the Holy Spirit who is our life, demands of us that we love the brethren and live at peace with them."

On verse 6, 'one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all:'

"God as Father is over all the church's members, through all and in them all. The church is a dwelling-place of God through the Spirit. It is His Temple in which He dwells and which is pervaded in all its parts by His Presence. This is the climax. To be filled with God, to be pervaded by His Presence and controlled by Him is the summit of all created excellence, blessedness and glory."

What the heart needs to know

“Sequester yourselves from all earthly employments, and set apart some time for solemn preparation to meet God in duty; You come reeking hot out of the world into God’s presence, but you will find a tang of it in your duties: It is with the heart a few minutes since plunged in the world, now at the feet of God, just as with the sea after a storm, which still continues working, muddy, and disquiet, though the wind be laid, and the storm over: Thy heart must have sometime to settle. There are few musicians that can take time to tune it; there are few Christians can presently say, as Psa. 57.7 “O God, my heart is fixed, it is fixed.” When thou goest to God in any duty, take thy heart aside and say, O my soul, I am now addressing myself to the greatest work that ever a creature was employed about: I am going into the awful presence of God about business of everlasting moment.

Oh my soul, leave trifling now, be composed, watchful, serious, this is no common-work; it is God-work, soul-work, eternity-work, I am now going forth bearing seed, which will bring forth fruit to life or death in the world to come; pause a while upon thy sins, wants, troubles; keep thy thoughts a while on these before thou address thyself to duty."

John Flavel, Vol. 5, pp 463-4

Advent

Today is the 1st December, and as the weather gets colder so the temperature for most of us hots up as we realise that in a little over three weeks Christmas will be upon us. As life gets busier with Christmas-related activities so too does the need to give time to reflecting on just what all of this season is really about.
In a sermon on Luke 1.39-44 John Calvin probes the mystery of the Incarnation:

If our Lord Jesus Christ had not taken a human body, or if He had kept His deity separate, how could we today enjoy God's blessing? It is because He was, together, both man and God, it is because the two natures are conjoined, that we can boldly approach Him and claim Him as our brother, in the certain knowledge that He will know and acknowledge us as members of His body. All that is possible because He is not, separately, God on the one hand and man on the other. For although the two are distinct they are truly united. Just as He is everlasting God, so too is He true man, and such a man as unites us to Himself, that we might be children of God and share in His glory. He is heir of that glory by virtue of His human nature; but it belongs to Him by right, since He is, with His Father, Everlasting God.

This is Christmas; the Everlasting God who becomes fully man, and by His life, death, resurrection and ascension He offers us the life of the Godhead. 'Born to raise us from the earth' as Wesley's carol has it. Take this to heart, and whatever the joys or stresses of Christmas there will be one great comfort and a real source of heart-refreshment in this season.