word alive

Hundreds of other students and i, are off to Word Alive untill thursday. Hopefully there will be more blogging over easter after that!

Winter and Piper

Piper on application:


Winter on England

'Everyone attempts to depict football in the 21st century as a business, yet in no other business would the 'customers' be so abused. Tesco would never order regular shoppers to travel miles to buy over-priced goods, and recieve only disdain for the privilege. Complaints would mount. Profits would slump. Loyalty cards? England fans have them in their hearts, let alone their wallets.'

Forgive! Forgive!

The parable of the harsh servant is a very humbling and challenging one. The servant himself owes his master ten thousand talents. Now that number basically means nothing to us except that we know it is a lot of talents. But how much is ten thousand talents? Was it an amount that could have been paid back in normal circumstances?

Well, King Herod had a yearly income of just nine hundred talents, and the average yearly income for Gallilee and 'the land beyond the Jordan' was just two hundred talents, so even a King and an actual country couldn't come close to raising the amount that this servant owed the master. Either here Jesus is using hyperbole to make His point, or we are to assume that this servant had acess to the Kings money for a long time. Anyway, the point is that the servant owed a debt to the King that he had no hope of ever paying back. I wonder what he actually spent it all on...anyway.

His master was going to sell him and his family to raise the money that he was owed, as he had very right to do, but the servant pleaded with him for mercy, and the master was merciful to him. He overlooked the great debt that the servant owed him. Isn't that a massive picture of the cross? The debt we owe to Jesus is incalulable, utterly insurmountable. We have no chance of ever paying Jesus off for what we owe Him. We will never be able to work our way into God's favour. He must have mercy on us is we are to have any hope. He must forgive the debt if we are to escape judgement. It's our only hope of rescue from God's wrath.

But the story doesn't end there. The forgiven servant then goes and finds someone who owes him one hundred denarii, a tiny amount given what he owed his master, and choked him and put him in jail until he could pay. The servant master then found out about this, and ended up throwing him in jail as well. Jesus says this is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like, this is how we will be treated if we do not forgive our brothers from the heart. This first servant had no been properly overwhelmed, had not properly understood the greatness of the mercy he had recieved.

Matthew 3:8 tells us to produce fruit in keeping with repentance, and forgiveness is clearly one of those. How can we be angry and hold grudges against people when we consider the great debt that we have been forgiven. How hypocritical of us if we, the forgiven, refuse to forgive. Do we think that we are bigger or somehow nobler than Christ if we don't forgive even though He has? Lets repent, lets forgive and enjoy being living stones of God's temple together.

jules remit still gleaming

Went to Wembley stadium on saturday for the first official match since it ws rebuilt. It's amazing, even with capacity limited to 60,000 it was still incredible. It's going to be the best ground in the world when it's full. I can remember watching the last game at the old Wembley back in October 2000 in a pub in Wycombe...to be at the first game at the new stadium was pretty overwhelming. The scale and the magnificent nature of the ground are well worth the wait in my opinion. And a big up to Chiltern Rail for managing the get away so well as well. I was on a train within twenty minutes of the end of the game, which was pretty impressive. But the new Wembley is amazing, possibly even if you're not a complete football ground geek like i am. Get there.







On the way home we took in Harrow Boro' against Horsham at Earlsmead. Another ground i hadn't been to before.


It was slighty less glamourous.

some things i stole.

i have never, to my knowledge, had a decent original thought. as such, here are some things from the April edition of 'Evangelicals Now'

SORs

'this legislation is unprecedented in its complete intolerance of those who have religious beliefs. The Government did not put forward a single piece of evidence to justify the need for the regulations, has ignored the 72% of the public who opposed it's approach to the law, and has ignored the majority of the 3000 responses to its' consultation. Despite this weak basis to the law, the government is prepared to take the legal landmark of making it illegal for Christians to hold the clear teaching that God loves everyone and wants all people to know Him, but also that extra marital sexual conduct (whether homosexual or heterosexual) is wrong.
To think that the Government would prefer to shut down the widespread and compassionate services provided by Christian adoption agencies, drug rehabiliation, homeless shelters and community centres rather than accept that Christians should not be forced to promote homosexual practices is astounding

- Thomas Cordrey P1+2

Oh dear Mr Blair. 10 years and three landslides later is this the best you can do? Along with denying the livlihoods of thousands who relied on the fox hunting industries and taking us into a long and bloody war, you're responsible for this unenforcible shambles as well, meanwhile the NHS staggers from disaster to disaster, inner city schools continue to fail, and kids kill each other on the streets of London. What a waste eh? What a waste.


Theology

We need a healthy balance between the academic and the practical. There is no dichotomy between the two. We make no apology for the fact that more PHDs in theology are supervised here than anywhere else in the UK. Anyone who imagines that academic research is a distraction or irrelevant simply doesn't understand the threat that postmodernist deconstruction of the Bible now poses. The recent attack on the doctrine of penal substitution is just the beginning. Not since the Reformation has there been such a need for faithful Pastors who are theological prepared and alert. At the same time, we are determined to prepare men who will not be taken by surprise by all the practical demands of pastoral ministry. What we really need is a return to the pre 19th century pastor theologian model- think of Edwards, Luther and Calvin, where theology is both the queen of the sciences and the servant of the churches.

- Jonathan Steven, Principal of Wales Evangelical School of Theology, P14

I remember when Jonathan was pastor of Carey Baptist Church in Reading came to talk on justification at CU, he pretty much blew me away. I'd like to give a hearty amen to what he says here, (not that it needs it!) and add pastor-theologian to the list of things i want to be when i grow up!

The Mall

I love this video.

'home'

'where are you from?'
'High Wycombe'

'where do you live?'
'Guildford'

'where's home for you?'
'well, my home church is in Reading, so i guess there'

Home is a funny concept at the moment. Coming back to Guildford where i live and work and go to church for the time being certainly felt like coming home yesterday. But the above q and a shows what a jumbled thing the idea of home is at the moment. In a funny way, wherever my parents are is home, where i was born is home. The same streets i've trodden on for 18 years before going to uni, the same pubs and shops and street corners, the same villages and hills and hedgerows.

But i don't live there any more. I live in Guildford, about forty miles away. Here is where God wants me at the moment. Coming round the corner of the A3 and seeing the cathedral spire in the distance feels like coming home. I'm looking forward to getting onto campus in a couple of hours, because i haven't been there for so long, and i like being there. My room deluged in my mess feels like home. It feels like where i should be.

And then on the occasional sunday when i'm at Reading Family Church, that place feels like home. Coming along the A4 into Reading and seeing the gas cylinders (oh the glamour) feels like coming home. And soon, God willing, i'll be working in Reading. So that really will be home.

Jesus told His disciples that foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest. For a few weeks this summer Bulgaria will be home. Wherever Jesus wants us should be our home. Christ Himself should be our home. We are secure in Him, we can rest in Him and find provision in Him. Are those not the things we look for in a home? They are in Christ. We need to look beyond what is temporal to what is not. To the eternity of Christ.

And where will Christ direct our gaze? To Heaven. I wish i would long for Heaven. For the terrible and wonderful moment when i see Jesus face to face, for the time when i'm with Him forever and ever. For the time when pain and suffering will end forever. That's home. That's where i was made for. Nowhere here should truly feel like home for very long, because nowhere is. Christ is for now, and Heaven will be forever...

sunday

If you're not trsuting in the life, death and ressurection of Jesus to deal with what happens when you die, all you're doing is trusting your best guess. Your best guess won't be as good as Jesus. It also won't be real. God has graciously and wonderfully made Himself clear in many many ways. Here are three of my favourites, as mentioned by Don Carson.

Nature.

Psalm 19:1 says the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above his handiwork. I love hot sunny days because in those days it's so clear to see the glory of God. It's so clear to see that there is something else, something deeper behind everything we see around us. Look at the sun, look at the colour of the sky, feel the heaton your face. Thats all to point you towards God. Thats to make your soul cry out 'glory' with joy and fear. It's to make us stand in awe at the Creator. And it's not just sunny days! Look at the clouds, all the chemical reactions needed to keep them going...all sustain by the word of the Lord. And it doesn't even tire Him out! Nature is all around us, God could not have made Himself clearer in it. So stop repressing this knowledge (Romans 1:21) , and come to Him. Delight in the Lord and praise Him for making Himself so clearly known.

The Law.

Why must people be ceremonially cleased all the way through Leviticus? Why is there a whole chapter about cleansing people with Leprousy? Why did God give Israel the law in the first place? Because 'I am the Lord'. we are to be holy, because He is holy. Israel was to make sacrifices to God on a regular basis. Why? He is the Lord. Inter familial sexual relations are banned. Why? Because He is the Lord. This side of the cross, and the law has been fulfilled in Jesus, we no longer need to observe it. The law shows us what God is like. It shows us how gracious, Holy, just and perfect God is. Is shows us God is relational. The law tells us as much as we could know about God's charecter pre incarnation. Now that might not have been one of the key reasons for the giving of the law, but it was a pretty effective side effect. How did Israel know how to behave? Look to the law. How do we know God is a consistent and eternal God? Because of the law.

Jesus

To see Jesus is to see the Father (John 14:9). If we had lived 2000 miles away 2000 years ago, we could have looked into the face of God Himself, eaten with Him and touched Him. Now we live by faith, and not by sight, and the Holy Spirit teaches us about Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate revelation of who God is. How do we know God is compassionate? Look at Jesus. How do we know He is loving? Look at Jesus. How do we know that God is just and hates sin? Look at Jesus. All our worship must be directed to Jesus and through Jesus. Through our one Mediator. Through the one who is not an option alongside Buddha or Mohammed, as some people i spoke to this week would have you believe, but through the Risen owner of the universe, who suffered, bled and died that we could worship Him. God is ultimately revealed through Jesus Christ, who lives and rules today.

so has God made Himself clear? Yes, abundantly and graciously. All we need to do is open our eyes, and have our eyes opened.

it's always sunny in the east

I headed off to Canterbury just under a week ago not really knowing what i'd find. With my south central centric life thus far i think i was feared that all the building's there would be portacabins and the library a caravan. I was wrong. Caterbury is a majestic campus in early spring, and flyering in the sunshine wearing a t-shirt sure does beat doing it in the snow sharing a glove with Phil Rout.

They were heady days.

But what to say about the week. I think my expectations of mission weeks haved chanaged this year. While i was at uni, certainly in the first two years i thought that mission weeks were very much about the there and then, that people would be saved that week. But now i see them far more as a catalyst to further the personal and corporate evangelism of the CU itself, and to big up courses like Christianity Explored and Bytesize. It's different being an AM as well, knowing from the start of the week that you won't spend the rest of term meeting up with the Arrans' of that particular mission does change your perspective a little bit. I think it makes you keener to get on with it and get stuck in while you can, because time is short.

I like university missions for a number of reasons. Campuses in general are a clash of openess and closedness. People being open to think and learn new things about the world for possibly the last time, and people all at the same time who want nothing to do with 'religion' and staff who are slightly put out that we're giving away free food so close to a lunch hall. I also like them for the selfish reason that they help me not to waste my life. To not waste your life is to demonstrate and live with Christ as the most valuable, most excellent and lovely being in the universe. And mission weeks make it easy, on the face of it, to do that. Even if for all my flyering and questionairing i only directly shared the Gospel twice in the week, both with Muslim guys, both who said things like 'we love Jesus...we love Buddha, they are important people in our religion'. Makes you just want to grab them and shake the truth into them. Thankfully, thats not our job. Do pray for Sahir and Madi, i gave them both a copy of John's Gospel.

Strange coming home, not to be tramping campus with a flyer in my hand and a song in my heart. Not to be veered round by everyone who saw my UKCCU t-shirt before i saw them. Nice i guess, but strange. Strange to think of the places that for a week were the centre of my universe (Eliot, Rutherford, The Venue) that i'll probably never go to again, of all the people i met and prayed for and are now just names on a list.

A strange life sometimes this, but a tremendous one. Life to the full indeed.

mission week

Please pray for:
the CU here to get more involved in whats happening. This has started to happen today but so much of the organisation has been down to a core of a few people.

Pray that those people would be stregnthened by the Gospel, and would keep inviting their friends.

Pray that people would come to the international night tonight, and that many of the 100 or so people we saw at lunchtime would come back.

pray that people would be saved.

Praise God for the many many people that came at lunch time today, and for the help with the logistcal crisis this started. Praise God for the many conversations that were had thereafter.

Praise God for Micheal Otts and the work he's doing here, both as speaker and CU encourager.

Praise God for the amazing sunshine, flyering in a t-shirt in the garden of England certainly makes a difference from flyering in the snow at Reading last year.

Praise God that His Gospel is true and is going out across campus!