Induction of Ben Midgley at North Bradley

Ben Midgley (second from right)

This afternoon we attended an ordination and induction service at nearby North Bradley Baptist Church, Wiltshire. Ben Midgley, who trained at the London Theological Seminary was set apart to pastor that local church. A service of ordination and induction should be an event. This one certainly was, with a large congregation and an appropriate mixture of joy and seriousness. Ben made a clear profession of faith and solemnly promised to faithfully pastor the flock of God. What a responsibility! What a privilege! Who is sufficient for such things?

The service was ably chaired by Rev. Peter Culver, who was the Church's moderator. Peter also gave the "charge to the church", preaching from Ephesians 4. Pastor Dan Owen from Ben's sending church gave the "charge to the minister", preaching from 1 Thessalonians 2. The preaching was Biblical, alliterative, clear and pointed. Deacons from North Bradley also took part in the service, warmly welcoming their new pastor and telling the story of his call to the church.

Services of ordination and induction take me back to those key events in my life. I was ordained to the Ministry of the Gospel in 1990 at Kensit Evangelical Church, London. The then Principal of London Theological Seminary preached on John 3:16. I still have the tape somewhere. That day was the fulfilment of many years of prayer and preparation for the preaching ministry. What promises I made, what hopes I had.

I also reflected on my induction to the churches I now serve back in November 2003. Andrew Davies preached on Colossians 1:28. I can still recall his booming Welsh voice "HIM [Christ] we preach"! I promised to pray, to care, to evangelise, to study, to be an example of holiness. Who is sufficient for these things?

My fist sermon as Pastor at Penknap was on 1 Samuel 14:6, "Nothing restrains the Lord from saving, by many or be few". In the evening I preached at Ebenezer on Zechariah 4:6 "Not my might, not by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord." We are still few, but there has been one conversion, a few baptisms and several new members. I sense a growth in grace in the congregation. The people love the Word and have a real practical, compassionate concern for one another. There is an increasing desire to reach the lost with the gospel. I must be thankful. But please, Lord save the people, whether by many or by few, not by power or might, but by your Spirit, to the glory of your name.

Pray for Ben and all Ministers of the Gospel.

Ten essential books on Wales and the Welsh

You may have noticed that I'm a Welshman. Wales has a fascinating history from both a secular and spiritual point of view. Here is a select list of Welsh history and biography. All are recent works, published from the 1980's to the present. One of the authors is not Welsh, but his subject is one of the towering figures of recent Welsh history. The bibliography is a mixture or spiritual and secular writing. All the books are in English. Listed alphabetically by author's surname. (OUP = Oxford University Press)

1. Eifion Evans, Daniel Rowland and the Great Awakening in Wales (Banner of Truth Trust, 1985)
2. R. R. Davies, The Age of Conquest, Wales 1063-1415 (OUP paperback, 1991)
3. R. R. Davies, The Revolt of Glyn Dwr (OUP paperback, 1997)
4. Noel Gibbard, Fire on the Altar, A history and evaluation of the 1904-05 Welsh Revival Bryntirion Press, 2005)
5. Geraint H. Jenkins, The Foundations of Modern Wales 1642-1780 (OUP paperback, 1993)
6. Iain H. Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The First Forty Years, 1899-1939 (Banner of Truth Trust, 1982) & D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Fight of Faith, 1939-1981 (Banner of Truth Trust, 1990
7. Kenneth O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation, The History of Modern Wales, (OUP paperback, 1998)
8. Byron Rogers, The Man Who Went into the West, The Life of R. S. Thomas (Aurum, 2006)
9. Geraint Tudur, Howell Harris, From Conversion to Separation 1735-1750 (University Press of Wales, 2000)
10. Glanmor Williams, Renewal and Reformation, Wales c.1415-1642 (OUP Paperback, 1993)

Just for fun, which book did I recently review?

Brecon Beacons, South Wales

Blogging in the name of the Lord: Gary Brady

This is the first of a series of interviews with Christian bloggers. In the hot seat today is...

Gary Brady

GD: Hi, Gary could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

GB: Born in Wales I've lived most of my life here in London where I am pastor of a small Baptist Church. I hated London when I first got here to study but I've slowly come round and now love the place (mostly). I'm married to the wonderful Eleri and we have five boys. Lots of Welsh spoken here. Oh yes, I have a degree in English and love popular music.

GD: You are quite new to blogging, what made you start?

GB: There was some chat about it from enthusiasts like yourself on a discussion group I belong to (Genevanet) and so I went to look on blogger and hey presto - I couldn't believe how easy it was (and free!). For many years I'd fancied having a website but lacked the knowledge (I didn't have the Latin see).

GD: Why did you entitle your blog "Heavenly Worldliness?"

GB: When you go to blogger, they ask for a title. I already had the title in mind for another purpose but as I intended a multi-purpose site I thought it summed it up well (although it is open to misunderstanding).

GD: What have you found most enjoyable about blogging?

GB: Getting the ideas out there and sometimes getting some feed back.

GD: What are some of the dangers of blogging?

GB: Obsession with getting it to look right, living a surrogate life - I'm sure you know.

GD: Who me? Moving swiftly on, you have three blogs. Why?

GB: Well, part of my aim is to put out things that I've already prepared. The two puritan fellows (Richard Bernard and Thomas Adams) I discovered doing some studying recently. They are projects in themselves and so I thought it wiser to give them their own space. The Adams site is almost complete as far as I'm concerned, though there might be occasional additions to make. The Bernard site is the real project. I want to get all his works online eventually (don't hold your breath).

GD: Where did you get the inspiration for the Bloggy Man?

GB: I was thinking after I started the blog needs some humour. I've always loved puns and so I got thinking one night and came up with 8 or 9 cartoons and a few ideas. I was going to try and get a proper cartoonist but I couldn't wait to launch him. The Bloggy Man, sadly, is just one long series of bad puns. I think he does reflect the blogosphere well at times, however.

GD: What does your family think of your blog?

GB: A certain amount of ridicule is endured (and that is reflected in Bloggy Man who is not me - though we share certain character traits and looks). 'On the blog again are we?' Eleri actually looked at it the other night to see what I was doing. Oh dear.

GD: You often post about music, name your top three songs.

GB: Of all time? 1. My Brother Jake by Free 2. Sylvia by Focus 3. Quiet Storm by Jan Akkerman.

GD: Now, which blogs do you enjoy most and why?

GB: Now here's the truth and it's slightly embarrassing, I'm not a great blog reader myself. Why? Well, I'm rather self-centred. I also tend to use the net to find out what I want to know rather than having it thrust upon me. However, it's not hard for me to commend your blog Guy. I've nicked most of my ideas there. I like The Conventicle too somehow. My main reason for looking at the 5 or 6 I subscribe to is for ideas for my own blog. I'm also always meaning to look at the specialist ones eg. Andrew Fuller.

GD: You are too kind. I hadn't come across the other two blogs you mentioned. Thanks for the heads up. And cheers, Gary for being the first blogger to sit in the hot seat!

GD: Right, who's next?

My top ten Jam/Style Council/Paul Weller songs

10. From the floorboards up, Paul Weller
9. Strange town, The Jam
8. You're the best thing, The Style Council
7. Porcelain gods, Paul Weller
6. Long hot summer, The Style Council
5. Down in the tube station at midnight, The Jam
4. Changing man, Paul Weller
3. English rose, The Jam
2. Going underground, The Jam
1. You do something to me, Paul Weller

Coming soon: Blogging in the name of the Lord

I plan to do a series of interviews with some top Christian bloggers. Who are they? Why do they blog? You will find out as soon as they return my questionnaires!

Fencing

Wind blows
Wood cracks
Fence breaks
Falls.

Help needed
Deacons come
Work shared
Friends.

Hole dug
Ground cursed
Brow sweats
Aches.

New post
Man made
Concrete cold
Sets.

Fence up
Tea drunk
Soil turned
Ends.

My top ten Coldplay songs

10. Twisted logic (X&Y)
9. In my place (Rush of blood to the head)
8. Politik (Rush of blood to the head)
7. God put a smile upon your face (Rush of blood to the head)
6. Trouble (Parachutes)
5. Clocks (Rush of blood to the head)
4. Speed of sound (X&Y)
3. Yellow (Parachutes)
2. The scientist (Rush of blood to the head)
1. Fix you (X&Y)

Bad language disdain

Shun evil companions; bad language disdain;
God's Name hold in reverence, nor take it in vain;
Be thoughtful and earnest, kind-hearted and true;
Look ever to Jesus and He will carry you through.

(Horatio Richmond Palmer, 1834-1907)

This verse from the hymn Yield not to temptation, seems positively quaint and old fashioned. This is especially the case with the admonitions of the first line. Surely evangelicalism has outgrown such simple pieties! I propose that we rewrite the opening line so that we can sing it in all good conscience today,

Hang out with the worldly; bad language proclaim;
God's Name hold in reverence, nor take it in vain;

I left the second line unaltered becasue I suppose that most Christians still think blasphemy is wrong. But it is difficult to get away from swearing these days. You will hear it on the streets and in films and TV dramas. You will read it in serious newspapers and contemporary novels. You may also find it on the lips of Christians and read it in their blogs. It seems to me (I say this to their shame) that some "liberated" ex-fundie believers glory in using swear words. However, the Bible seems to forbid the use of such language. I know that I will have damaged my cyber cred by quoting Scripture, but I just can't help myself,

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)

neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks (Ephesians 5:4)

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth (Colossians 3:8)

Call me a proof- texter, I don't care. These verses have something to say on Christians using swear words - that we must not! This is F. F. Bruce's comment on the first verse I cited, "foul language of any kind is inappropriate on the lips of those who confess Christ as Lord." Bruce was hardly a fundie firebrand now was he?

For Paul, swearing belonged to the old, pre-Christian life of believers. The old man must be put off and the new man put on. I can identify with this because I used to swear a lot before I became a Christian. I could have made even the most "liberated" believer blush. But the Lord put a new song in my mouth and I learned not to swear.

If you think about it, most swear words fall into a couple of categories, they demean body parts (you know which ones) or they refer to the sex-act. Why should believers mock God-given, but "unrepresentable" parts of the body? Has not God given greater honour to these parts? (1 Corinthians 12:23 & 24). Such swearing is tantamount to a Docetic loathing of the flesh. Sex is one of God's good gifts, designed to be enjoyed in the purity of the marriage bed (Hebrews 13:4). Why, then do Christians casually use the "F" word? How can that be squared with the intimate language of the Song of Solomon? What are we thinking? As for rude words about bodily waste, just grow up! Is it not the case that in using bad language, Christians are being conformed to the world rather than transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2)?

Now I know that there are worse sins than swearing and that a Christian may never swear, but be a hypocrite in other areas of his life. It is also the case that language can be used abusively without resorting to swear words. But is this really an excuse for swearing? Our speech is meant to impart grace to the hearers, not to needlessly offend. This appplies to our blogging too. Horatio Richmond Palmer was right, bad language disdain!

Comments that include swear words will be deleted, so don't even think about it!

My top ten U2 songs

10. Beautiful day
9. Vertigo
8. New year's day
7. Bad
6. Micracle drug
5. I still haven't found what I'm looking for
4. Walk on
3. Sometimes you can't make it on your own
2. Pride, in the name of love
1. One

John Calvin on the Trinity

John Calvin

In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin wrote with deep insight into the doctrine of the Trinity. He dismissed as "an absurd fiction" (I:XIII:29) the scholastic teaching on the eternal generation of the Son. To him, the idea that the Father eternally generated the Son's divine essence was the wost kind of theological speculation. Instead, he proposed that "the Godhead is absolutely of itself [autotheos]. And hence also we hold that the Son, regarded as God, without reference to his person, is also of himself [autotheos]; though we also say that, regarded as Son, he is of the Father. Thus his essence is without beginning, while his person has its beginning in God". (I:XIII:25). The Son, in his divine essence is I AM, the self-existing God. He does not derive his deity from the Father. He is Son because he has a Father, but he is God because he is God.

B. B. Warfield spelt out the value of Calvin's contribution to our understanding of the Trinity in a remarkable and influential essay. Much recent evangelical work on the Trinity owes a debt to Warefield's exposition of Calvin's teaching.

"In his assertion of the autotheos of the Son Calvin, then, was so far from supposing that he was enunciating a novelty that he was able to quote the Nicene Fathers themselves as asserting it "in so many words". And yet in his assertion of it he marks an epoch in the history of the doctrine of the Trinity. Not that men had not before believed in the self-existence of the Son as He is God: but that the current modes of stating the doctrine of the Trinity left a door for the entrance of defective modes of conceiving the deity of the Son, to close which there was needed some such sharp assertion of His absolute deity as was supplied by the assertion of His autotheos. If we will glance over the history of the efforts of the Church to work out for itself an acceptable statement of the great mystery of the Trinity, we shall perceive that is is dominated from the beginning to the end by a single motive - to do full justice to the absolute deity of Christ. And we shall perceive that among the multitudes of great thinkers who under the pressure of this motive have laboured upon the problem, and to whom the Church looks back with gratitude for great services, in better formulation of the doctrine or better commendation of it to the people, three names stand out in high relief, as marking epochs in the advance towards the end in view. These three names are those of Tertullian, Augustine and Calvin. It is into this narrow circle of elect spirits that Calvin enters by the contribution he made to the right understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. That contribution is summed up in his clear, firm and unwavering assertion of the autotheos on the Son. By this assertion the homoousios of the Nicene Fathers at last came into its full right, and became in its fullest sense the hinge of the doctrine".

B. B. Warfield

From Calvin's Doctrine of the Trinity, in Calvin and Augustine. p. 283 & 284, (P&R, 1980).