We spent the weekend in London, as I was booked to preach in Kensit Evangelical Church on the Sunday. We took the opportunity to pop into central London on the Saturday to see the sights. We had a nice picnic lunch in Westminster Square in the shadow of Lloyd-George's statue and then visited the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. A fascinating attraction, which gives a real insight into the tense and cramped conditions in which our nation's leaders worked at the height of WWII. After that we headed for HMS Belfast, an old WWII battle cruiser, now moored near Tower Bridge. As an old Sea Scout I enjoyed looking round the ship from top to bottom. On Sunday I preached on Jeremiah 2:13 in the morning and Revelation 3:14-22 in the evening. I took the view that the "lukewarmness" of which our Lord complained in the Laodicean church was a reference to the city's water supply. Laodicea was not blessed with therapeutic hot water like nearby Hierapolis or refreshing cool water like Colosse. Its waters were lukewarm; undrinkable and no good for bathing. The Lord wants his churches to be "hot" - offering the soothing message of forgiveness and peace with God to an aching world, or "cold" proclaiming the refreshing message of the gospel to a spiritually parched world. "Lukewarmness" suggests that the church was compromised and ineffective its mission. No wonder the church made Jesus want to spit.
It was good to catch up with family and old friends at Kensit and to have a little nose round the newly refurbished London Theological Seminary. The flooring is very orange, but the library looks impressive with its sliding shelves and up-to-date IT suite. A young man just about to start the two-year course mentioned that reading my interview with new Principal, Robert Strivens here on the blog was one of the reasons why he chose to study at LTS, which was encouraging. He's the son of German missionaries serving in Argentina. If you are considering training for the pastoral-preaching ministry, why not check out the LTS website and contact the college for more details.
2 comments:
I live in a state of perpetual envy of those who could possibly afford to go to seminary. :-(
The old Gwent Education Authority gave me a discretionary grant to study at LTS. Tutorial fees and board all paid for and and they gave me spending money each term. Those were the days. You were born out of due time, J.
But seriously, LTS gives bursaries to 'ard up UK students via the Robert Sheean Memorial Fund. What with tax credits etc it is dooable.
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