My internet service is now working again. My son couldn't do his homework last night because the connection was down. When I was in school, computers were pretty rare. But now kids can't get by without them. My first computer was an Amstrad. I bought it while studying at the London Theological Seminary in the late 80's. Compared with a modern PC, it had a ridiculously small memory and was basically a glorified word processor. In the end, the floppy drive broke making the thing unusable.
I've been blogging since October 2005 and this is my 189th post. I enjoy writing for the blog and visiting other sites. Most of my favourites can be found in my links. Blogging is good for shortish artcles, newsy stuff and discussion. One of the biggest theology sites is Faith and Theology by Ben Myres. He writes with a Barthian slant and I often don't agree with some of his stuff. But he is always stimulating & generates lots of discussion. Byron Smith's Nothing New Under the Sun is helpful & moving as he charts his battle with cancer. Gary Brady, new to blogging is pretty prolific at Heavenly Worldliness. He's an ex-LTS student and an old friend. Check out his reports on the recent Affinity Conference. There are several other sites I like to visit. But that's enough plugs for now.
On Friday mornings I usually prepare for Sunday evening's ministry. I'm preaching through Hebrews and we'll be looking at 12:12-17. Consult Guthrie & Brown (BST & Geneva). I've found Hughes the most helpful commentary over all. Sound, up-to-date exegesis with a good sense of history. Chose hymns and text them to church sec. We use Praise! and the new Christian Hymns.
After lunch, Sarah & I visit an elderly church member. My wife often comes with me on pastoral visits. I try to visit our people pretty regularly, especially those who can't get out much or are unwell. I never cease to be encouraged and challenged by the resilience of mature, afflicted saints.
Pick up the kids and off to the shops / recycling centre. Have evening meal. In between main course & sweet, play table football and win a dad/son "tournament" 2 games to 1. Yesss! Friday is "family film night". We watch Home Alone 2. Very funny slapstick & oodles of sentiment.
We get the kids off to bed, watch the news then read a chapter from Romans & pray together before bed. Friday is the end of my working week as I try to take Saturday off. Sat will be the final day of my little blog diary.
6 comments:
Guy
Just caught up with your blog series. I am now preaching 2 sundays a month (four sermons) and working full time. I'm not in the least jealous.
:-)
How do you combine Praise and NCH? There's a huge crossover - is it a case of using one or the other each service?
Hi Jonathan,
I did a similar thing to you, preaching regularly & working full time in a secular job for some years. It ain't easy. By the way, can't you see from my diary that I'm still working full time? ;-)
I inherited Praise! when I came to the churches. At the beginning we only used P! but I started to use old CH for some services when I needed a particular hymn. Our old CH stock wore out so we recently decided to upgrade to new CH. Roughly speaking, usage is around 50-50. P! has more Psalms. NCH incorporates some newer hymns and has edited the older ones more sensitively than P! But inevitably there is an element of crossover. Using both books gives me a wider range of hymns.
Hmm.
Facing a similar problem with Old CH. My biggest beef is not enough Psalms, and too many minor welsh tunes. (ho ho!)
I really dislike the hymn editing in Praise! (leaving everything else to one side) so much I would never use it by choice, and so it leaves us looking at switching to Psalms and Hymns of Reformed Worship which has both Psalms and sensitively-revised older hymns, and then creating our own supplement to run alongside it (numbers starting where it leaves off) to put back in the 50 or so really popular ones from old CH that it omits, and also to add a few modern items (or relatively so) like Lord of the Years (Dudley Smith) and a bit of Townend.
There is a never a hymnbook that is 100% for any congregation unless it writes it itself!
PS
I know you work full time. I'd just rather do your kind of work
:-P
JH
No hymnbook is perfect. But in my 'umble opinion the new Christian Hymns is the best on the market. A good mix of old & new plus a reasonable number of Psalms.
As for doing my kind of work, be careful what you wish (and pray)for!
I know, I know.
But you also know that this line of 'work' is a completely irrational choice, humanly speaking. If the Lord puts me into it, then so be it - all I want is the Lord's will to be done.
I will have to revisit NCH a little more. It didn't strike me as being much more 'Psalmous' than the old one!
At a quick count, OCH had 80 Psalms/hymns based on Ps. NCH has 120. Admittedly some Ps. have more than one version - 23 has 5! But NCH is more "psalmed up" than OCH.
Also, the old hymns are edited with sensitivity or left alone and the choice of new is judicious & refreshing.
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