Meandering in Europe's loveliest city...

It's raining this morning. Hopefully it'll brighten up after morning chapel (which includes communion).

Steve and Val are leaving today. It's been great to spend this month with them. They are a great couple and have been a real laugh to be with as well as a source of insight and wisdom on a whole range of issues.

I think we'll do a gallery today. I still haven't seen the El Greco in the Sternberg Palace. A couple of days ago we went to Vysehrad, the other castle and cathedral that overlooks the city on the opposite bank of the river from St Vitas and the royal palace. It's starker but still impressive. it's also the place where the Czech Republic's great and good are buried in a fabulously crowded grave yard.

Prague continues to be a delight. Last night we went out to eat with Steve and Val and Tima and Iulia (a super Russian couple who are seeking settlement in the UK and who'd be an asset to any church that called them). We walked in the Old Town Square and drank coffee at the art decco concert hall, having eaten at our favourite Architcture Club restaurant. Blissful...

Offering a tangible welcome

Also this morning, we had one of the most moving infant dedications I've been to for a while.

The couple had a daughter of about four and a son who'd been born very prematurely and struggled for a while. But now at just over a year was a strapping lad and they'd come to give thanks.

As part of the service, various members of the church bought the child gifts that symbolised hopes and dreams for him - a book for his learning the story of the world and God, a toy for him to develop a sense of adventure and playfulness, anticeptic cream in thankfulness that he had come through the dark valley of ill health into a place of relative vitality, and so on

It was very moving to see the church symbolise its hopes for and welcome of this new arrival in this very tangible way. So this is another thing I'll be thinkiing of introducing back home.

Sharing our common life

We had a lovely agape following the morning service at Sarka Valley Community Church. I think with adaptation, the model would work back home. So we'll probably try it.

It was a church lunch that began and ended with a communion liturgy - breaking bread at the start and sharing a common cup at the end. It was really cool to share wine with people you were laughing and chatting with and dropping the words of institution into the conversation as the cup reached us.

We also sang three great songs - all influenced by Iona's John Bell in some way - this morning. Again, these are works that will make their way back home.

Here's a flavour of one of them (an excellent communion hymn):

As once you served a waiting crowd
when someone shared their bread
so still, through freely offered life,
your hungry world is fed

For, having planted seed corn deep
in every human heart,
there, quickened by affirming grace,
your kingdom's work can start

The final verse says:

Then break me with the hands of grace
that living, I may prove
a generous bread of kingdom life,
of healing, peace and love.

(words by Pat Bennett/music by John Bell)

There were lots of goodbyes to say today as many of the students who've lived here for the last year are heading home. Many tears were shed and email addresses exchanged, a sign that deep relationships form over an academic year; students were valedicted and sent back to their churches to fulfil the ministries that God has prepared them for over the past year.

We also welcomed a group from Baylor University in Texas who are here for a few days as part of a six week tour of europe.

Catching up with life in Prague

I've been so busy chilling that I've forgotten to blog the past couple of days. So here's a catch-up.

We had the IBTS graduation ceremony on Friday - students in the certificate and masters programmes were awarded and valedicted. It was great to see young (and not so young) people from across central and eastern Europe (and the UK) get their awards. IBTS does a unique job in offering training opportunities at what seems to be a good standard at a good price.

We've had lots of music over the past couple of days as well. Undoubtedly the highlight was seeing the National Saxaphone choir of Great Britain at the fringe festival yesterday evening. They are an ensemble of 18 sax players doing things with the instrument that you wouldn't have thought possible. It was a great show. They'll be touring England soon and are well worth catching.

Then we went on to Agharta to catch some modern jazz in a wonderful club (one of Prague's best). It was a quartet of piano (a very dextrous guest player from new York), a veteran but nimble-fingered upright bass player, a soprano sax player and a drummer (again, long in the tooth but amazingly subtle and energetic). They were really good, playing their way through a set of improvisations around well-known jazz standards.

The low point musically was the Moody Chorale! We went to see them on Thursday evening with our new friends and Ian and Janice (older friends) and it was like falling into a time-warp. Tuxedo'd men and evening gown'd girls singing their way through a light classical and spiritual repetoire that had a high point and a very low one. The high point was a sublime latin anthem about Jesus as the light of the world. They also did a good version of John Rutter's The Lord Bless you. The low point was a gospel song with two soloists who really couldn't cut it as ike and Tina Turner. Ah well.

I have also been reading. I've made two interesting discoveries. The first is Andrew Das, a New testament scholar from Elmhurst College Illinois who's written a lot about Paul and the Law and Judaism. His latest book is a detailed defence of the proposition that Romans was written to an exclusively gentile audience. This is not a new idea - Stowers, Munck and others have suggested it recently - but Das is the first person to write a book-length defence of the view, taking full account of the new perspective and recent work on the social history of Pauline communities. I'm reading it with some interest.

My other discovery is James McClendon. Round here his name is uttered in hushed tones as though he were the fourth member of the Trinity. Having talked about him with Jim Purcell - visiting from Scotland for graduation - I can see why. He is a baptist, narrative systematic theologian and I've heard enough about him to bury all my prejudices against systematic theology and read his trilogy - a volume each on Ethics, Doctrine and Witness. It's interesting that he begins with ethics - how Christians live - before talking doctrine (what they believe). What excites people most about him is that he is truly communitarian (as Jim puts it) in his approach.

The weather has been wonderful - hot and sunny - except that last night we got caught in the promised thunderstorm on our way home from Agharta. Such is life...

Sun shine and mellow times in Prague

Scott Hafemann's now eagerly anticipated (at least by me) work on 2Peter and Jude is for the New International Greek New Testament Commentary. This is a good series that engages with the Greek text of the NT and is pretty demanding (though usually rewarding) for the preacher. Tony Thiselton's 1 Corinthians in this series is essential reading.

The sun's been shining today, so it's been a day of chilling at IBTS enjoying the company of folk who are fast becoming friends in the convivial surroundings of the college grounds.

We went to the Sarka Valley Community Church this morning (it meets at the college, so it's not far to travel!). Emet Dunn from the BWA was preaching (and he did ok), Alex, an MA student at IBTS, led the worship (and was pretty good - nice balance of all the right elements).

I've been reading John Drane's new book, After McDonaldization (which has a very promising start - but everything Drane writes is worth paying attention to) and John Gray's wonderful Black Mass in between bouts of chat about all kinds of stuff. Actually reading is difficult here unless you shut yourself away in the library (which isn't open at weekends) because there's always a conversation happening near you that's more interesting than your book.

Back to the library tomorrow morning - and then perhaps, the castle and a hot chocolate at Kaficko. Ah sabbaticals, they're tough, but someone's got to do them...

Getting some jazz at last

We couldn't get tickets for Nick Cave, so this evening we're off to Ungelt to see the Petr Zeman Quintet. They are an excellent jazz/fusion band led by a really fine guitarist. Ungelt is a smoke-free, intimate space. it should be a great night.

The sun has shone today and it's been warm for the first time this week. So, we've had a good wander round the old city, including a visit to the Strahov monestry which has two fabulous libraries with some very old beautifully illuiminated manuscripts.

covenanting to love our ministers

So, I did my session with the CAT students.

They were very polite.

I suspect they were also very baffled as I talked about cafe church and why we do it! From the comments and questions I'd guess that they are still very traditional in their models of being and doing church and that playing God is a DJ while drinking coffee and eating cookies would not constitute a service!

Ah well...

Steve is researching church covenants. His church has one - as does ours - and he's been looking at how we hold one another accountable. He found this marevellous clause in a 1790 covenant from Horse Fair church in Sony Stratford. Clause 3 - coming after what we believe and how we gather together as church - says this:

'To esteem our pastor highly in love for his work's sake, this we will endeavour to manifest by frequently and fervently praying for him; dilligently attending on his ministry; encouraging his heart and strengthening his hands to the utmost of our power in the work of the Lord; freely consulting him as we have occasion and opportunity, respecting our spiritual affairs; treating him affectionately when present, and speaking respectfully of him when absent. As he is a man of like passions with others, we will endeavour to conceal and cover with a mantle of love, his weaknesses and imprefections; also to communicate unto him of our temporal good things, knowing that the Lord hath ordained that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel.'

Sounds good to me!

The rich variety of people

There's a great mix of people here at IBTS.

Steve and Val - also here on sabbatical - have been a revelation. They're a bit older than us but full life and ideas and very funny. we get on really well.

Scott and Debbie Hafemann are also here. Scott is teaching NT at Gordon Conwell and Debbie's an artist. They're both lovely people. Scott's given me some useful pointers. He's writing a commentary on 2 Peter and Jude. Debbie used to be an art teacher and is really interesting on a lot of the art she's seen in Prague - and she's put us on to a good exhibition that we'll try to get to next week.

And others make our life even more interesting than it would be without them.

Tomorrow I'm taking a class of CAT students - they're the guys from eastern europe who've been learning English and doing a basic theology course. I'm going to provoke them with some stuff on alternative worship. we'll see what happens - it should be a blast!

Wondering what 1 Peter tells us about leadership

I've managed to leave planet Brent for a day - what a strange place it is!

I've been looking at Karen Jobes commentary on 1 Peter. She has a very interesting theory about authoriship - that Peter wrote it (hardly the scholarly consensus these days!) . Even more interesting, however, is her argument about audience and how they got there.

She suggests that the communities that Peter writes to really are 'exiles' and 'foreigners' in Asia Minor (as he says in 1:1; 2:11), being predominantly Jewish folk who left Rome at the time of the Claudian explusion in around 49AD. Peter writes to them from Rome where he's been based for some time.

She further suggests that Peter and Paul worked together in their later years and this explains why Peter wrote to the northern part of what we currently know as Turkey even though he'd never visited and Paul to the southern regions (the places where he planted churches) and why there's such agreement between them on the basics of the faith and the lifestyle that arises from it.

From my point of view, however, it's what she says about the structure of the church that is most useful and interesting. Because she argues the letter came from Peter and therefore predates his death in the mid-60s in Rome, she says that the organisation of the church was pretty rudimentary, something that is fairly obvious from a plain reading of the text but which can't be maintained if a late or very date for composition is argued.

So, she's not fashionable but she is plausible and highly refreshing - a welcome break from planet Brent (to which I fear I'll have to return at some point). But I shall read her and 1 Peter and ask what lessons there are here about what leaders in the earliest communities did. I think it'll have something to do with bearing witness through teaching and lifestyle - something I'm beginning to see is a recurring pattern in many strands of unfolding tradition (whenever it's dated). More on this anon.

It's been good to have Scott Hafemann on site from Gordon Conwell. He's a sane and helpful scholar who's here writing a commentary on 2Peter (which he thinks was written by Peter immediately before his death) and Jude (which he thinks was written by the Lord's brother and used 2 Peter as a source). It'll be worth reading, I reckon (not sure what series it'll be published in) as his book on Paul's ministry in 2 Corinthians is excellent, ground-breaking and faith-building.

What did leaders do in the early church?

The past couple of days I've been looking at some work Allen Brent has done on Ignatius and the development of church structures through the second century. He's a bit of a maverick scholar which makes him really interesting (and exasperating in equal measure!)

Following a conversation with Parush Parushev a couple of days ago, I have been reflecting on what leaders actually needed to do rather than just on how they were labelled. Parush spoke about the need for people to embody the message, once the apostles had died.

Brent argues that the so-called three-fold ministry - bishops, presbyters and deacons - in Ignatius' letters were the τυποι (the Greek word for mark, impression or type). He suggests that leaders represent God and the Spirit-filled council of the apostles - that is to say, the three-fold ministry together embodied the gospel, they were in effect the continuing incarnation. This is why they mattered so much and why Ignatius urges his readers to obey them.

It's a fascinating idea. But I have a couple of questions.

Brent seems to assume a single church group in each city that Ignatius wrote to led by a single bishop. But in the case of Rome this is almost certainly not the case (as Jeffers and Osiek have persuasely argued in various monographs). So, how would Brent's model work in small houshold-based congregations of the kind we're familiar with from Paul's letters?

And Brent seems to assume that the pattern of church life Ignatius argues for was the norm in every city. Yet Ritva Williams has argued that Ignatius may well have been prophetically arguing for this model in churches that had not adopted it (and wouldn't adopt it for a good hundred years).

I am very interested in the idea of leadership/ministry as the embodiment of the good news, not just the vehicle for its communication; that leaders taught as much by their lifestyle as by their words. This is certainly what Paul argues about himself when he calls on churches to imitate him (1 Cor 4, 11; Phil 3 etc). Is it also what the apostolic fathers are arguing in their letters - not so much in their words but in how they construct their arguments and how they encourage their readers to view them? I'm not sure whether this makes sense but I will explore it more and maybe blog in due course if I can think of something intelligent to say!

Choosing a coat and missing the shower

We went for a walk yesterday with Lina - a tutor in applied theology here at IBTS - who is a mine of fascinating information on Prague's cubist heritage among other things. Anyway it was pretty wet and I discovered that my waterproof jacket was anything but - I was aware of rivulets of water running down my back after about half an hour of being out in the deluge.

So today, as we were out and about in Prague with Steve and Val, we went looking for a replacement waterproof. The forecast was for light rain on and off for most of the day. In between pausing for coffee at our favourite Kaficko and at the very acceptable Bellavista (named we reckon for the view as it's a coffee terrace overlooking the city above the castle and cathedral), we looked for shops that sold waterproof garments.

In fact in brilliant and warm sunshine we spent the morning walking and keeping our eyes open for such an emporium. Eventually at about three in the afternoon we came upon a sport and mountaining shop that had a wealth of waterproof coats - some with eye-watering price tags!

Steve found one quite quickly but I couldn't make up my mind, trying this one and that before settling on one that fits like a dream, is very light and - according to the manufacturer - fabulously waterproof (it would need to be given what it cost - still you only buy these once in a blue moon!)

Suffice it to say that I took so long to decide on which of the many lovely coats I would buy that we missed the one heavy shower of the day. Indeed in the time we were in the shop, it chucked it down outside during half an hour of near apocalyptic darkness. By the time I emerged from the store, many crowns poorer, the sun was shining, the pavements were almost dry and Bethlehem chapel - just round the corner - was beckoning.

Needless to say that was the only significant rain we had today and my lovely new coat remained pristine and dry in the shop's paper carrier bag until we got home. Ah well, maybe tomorrow...!

I'll tell you more about Lina, Steve, Val and Bethlehem chapel in the next day or so.

It also rains in Prague

It rained today. there we were just crossing the Charles Bridge and the heaven's opened. Ah well. we were able to seek refuge in our favourite coffee house, Kaficko (with a 'ch' in the middle) and then get home without getting too soaked.

I had an excellent chat about my studies with Parush Parushev, the dean here, who gave tons of leads to follow up and seemed to clarify a lot of things I was thinking.

Thanks to those who are dropping by and leaving comments - especially John with his suggestions of eating and watering holes (we'll check those out). Other recommendations always welcome.

The conflict between libraries and sunshine

The weather in Prague is still fabulous - warm and sunny. This is making the library a lot less attractive than the quad where the sun plays on the water in the fountain and the sun's rays make one feel mellow and relaxed.

But yesterday I did read an article on Corinthian housing that suggests that Justin Meggitt's rather extreme picture of the social divisions of the ancient world might be more nuanced than he leads us to believe.

We went with the college party to the supermarket last night which was an experience. Having thought on our previous visit that we'd bought a pint of semi-skimmed milk when in fact we'd bought half a litre of soured full-fat milk (which is apparently a very healthy and delicious drink - though it really dowsn't work in tea!), we were very careful. Hence we took ages and were almost the last back to the mini-bus. However, we won't starve in the evenings now!

Today we'll be going into the centre of Prague to rediscover our favourite coffee house - kafiko - and look at the river.

We'll be going on a walking tour tomorrow with Lina from the college who's taking a group of women - who've been here from all over Europe talking about issues facing women in ministry - and others who want to join them.

Breakfast beckons and the spell-checker doesn't work on blogger at the moment (ah well!)

Can sabbatical be a verb?

We've heard that Nick Cave is playing the Sparta Prague stadium on 24 May - so we're looking at whether we can get tickets for it.

Otherwise, I've been doing what sabbaticalling ministers ought to be doing. I've been talking theology with other sabbaticalling ministers - there are two (both of whom I know) here at the moment.

And I've registered with the library and got a readers' card so I can take books out. sadly, the library shuts at 5pm so I couldn't get any books out tonight - ah well!

Of the two other guys who are here, Deans from Scotland is doing a very interesting project looking to see whether he can develop a web-based disicpleship course. We had a fascinating discussion over breakfast, continued over coffee after chapel, about what people need to know in order to be disciples and how to add knowledge to people's experience when our culture values experience above everything and makes knowledge a matter of opinion.

I've found a whole stack of stuff I'd like to read for my studies and I haven't really looked yet.

Still the sun's shining and I don't want to be in the library all day when it is...

Prague in the Spring

Arrived in Prague and checked into our appartment at IBTS. It's fab and we've recieved a lovely welcome. We eat up the road at the local pub/diner. Very civilised.

Tomorrow we'll be sorting out our travel cards - £17 for a month on the buses and tube (not bad!) - and getting me registered at the library. Internet access is excellent - and good value.

Our flight over was uneventful except that we were recipients of unexpected grace by Easy Jet. Our bags were a kilo over our allowance and the lady checking us said 'I'll let you off this time...' This was amazing - I was all ready to get my wallet out - as airlines generally don't do grace! So thanks Stellios.

Otherwise it was all wonderfully smooth and to time. Hassle-free - though we're both pretty knackered now.

I read a very interesting piece in the Sunday Times magazine on the plane coming here about a photographer who took some pretty memorable pictures of the Prague Spring in 1968. I'm hoping there might be some celebratory things happening in the city while we're here - though the anniversary of the Soviet invasion is August.

Prism pictures

Here's a handful of pictures from Prism...

The band and Hannah (nearest the camera on the right of the pic) relax before the evening's exertions.

Production supremo James ensuring he's up-to-speed on all the other things happening around the Assembly - so he can tell us what's going on.

This is our set dressed for the Saturday evening celebration. Sam and Hannah had created this figure using loads of pictures of Jesus from all over the world. The aim was that our NAMs would gather around the installation as a symbol of putting Jesus at the heart of their ministries.

You see, I'm still managing to avoid packing - and we're going next door for a BBQ in a little while!

Packing (or avoiding it...)

I'm meant to be packing for the flight to Prague tomorrow but it's too hot. So I'm pottering about the study listening to latest Word CD - a collection of the month's best new-ish music that comes free with the magazine of the same name (there's always a band or singer I've never heard of who ends up joining my list of must-have new music - though nothing yet).

I've also been reading a section of a manuscript on Milton (about whom I know very little, really) because the book's editor wanted me to check out the theology. Milton was not particularly orthodox - denying the Trinity, seeing Jesus as the same substance but not the same essence as God (whatever that means) - but he shared the apocalyptic fervour of many of his contemporaries and wrote sublime prose as well as poetry.

It's reawakened an interest in the English Revolution but I've resisted the urge to pack all my Christopher Hill books (though it was a close thing with his wonderful study of the influence of the Bible on the thinking of the revolutionaries and royalists alike).

The decks are now cleared for our departure. The sun is shining in Prague - and looks set to for the next five days - which is excellent. we're really looking forward to chilling out.

One of the things we've enjoyed on each of our previous visits to IBTS is being part of the worshipping community, sharing prayer and learning with people from all over central and eastern Europe.

Getting ready to travel

So I'm three days into the sabbatical. I've had lie-ins and done some gardening - the former were good, the latter not so!

I've also been giving some thought to what I need to take away to Prague. There'll be everything I need for study purposes in the excellent IBTS library. So, I've picked up the latest John Drane - After McDonaldization - and John Gray's new one - Black Mass (I love Gray's writing even when I don't agree with him).

I'm planning to do a little thinking about ministry, so the Drane will help and I've also got the new book on preaching by Walter Brueggemann The Word Militant: Preaching a Decentering Word to help me think about how we preach in today's world.

And I've picked up the latest by old teacher at Manchester University - The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven: Kinds of Christianity in Post-Reformation England. Chris Haigh is one of England's most creative and stimulating reformation historians, as well as my undergraduate supervisor when I wrote a dissertation on the reformation in Yorkshire in the 1530s (so, of course, I'm biased).

I sometimes wonder whether there's a much closer connection between the post-Reformation world and ours than we give credit for. A reluctant nation had to come to terms with religious changes it didn't want and protestant preachers had to communicate the new faith to people who weren't really interested, while conservatives (those we sometimes wrongly label catholics) had to find a way of keeping their faith in hostile conditions.

So, I'm hoping all that will jump start my thinking about ministry in the autumn - and beyond.

And for light relief I've got Things the Grandchildren should know by Mark Oliver Everett, otherwise known as E, the creative genius behind Eels. If he writes prose as well as he writes lyrics, it'll be a stormer.

Reflecting on Blackpool

There are some good reflections on the assembly from Catriona here and here. I agree wholeheartedly with her comment in support of those who lead worship in flip-flops (there should be more of us!). Andy Goodliff has commented here; and Geoff Colmer here

I'm also really pleased that she enjoyed our Bible study with Vinoth Ramachandra. It was pretty brilliant. He asked me five minutes before we were due to start whether it was normal for British Christians to turn up at a Bible study without Bibles! I answered that, sadly, that it was...

Our venue this year was a challenge. They were due to be serving in it up to 9:30am, despite the fact that our morning session actually started at 9:15! It was so light - being a conservatory - that the data projector, so carefully hung on the Friday afternoon, cast an invisible image on the screen and had to be taken down and replaced with a 42 inch plasma screen - as pictured (thanks to Jonathan Somerville for the image) - and by Saturday afternoon, two 42 inch plasmas.

It enabled us to become not only the alternative celebration but also a retro one - so that everyone who turned up could see what we were singing and saying, we produced printed song sheets and sheets with Bible passages and liturgy on them!

Numbers were very encouraging - though sometimes difficult to calculate. Some 300 listened to Vinoth, 200+ broke bread at our celebratory communion, and around 120 gathered each evening to celebrate and chat, learn and share and sing.

I guess the big difference with Prism this year was the music. Sam Hargreaves led a wonderful band, modelled on the Cinematic Orchestra, and using songs from around the world as well as many of his own. They produced a great sound and his sensitivity to where the Spirit was as we gathered was excellent. You can track him down here and access some of his music.

I think we struggled with the venue to begin with and that made Friday evening (pictured above) tricky. But Juliet Kilpin, who shared the teaching with me, was brilliant and the band got us off to a good start.

We anointed the Newly Accredited Ministers with oil on Saturday Evening. Well, I say we did; in fact the congregation did. The gathered body acknowledged that God had called these women and men to serve in ministry in our churches by anointing them as symbol that the Spirit would touch and animate their ministry among us. It was very moving.

On Sunday evening, we had the BMS personnel heading off in the next few weeks to various parts of the world. We were able to speak to each one before praying a commissioning liturgy for them based on Titus 2:11-15. Elaine Storkey spoke really well that evening .

The highlight for me was our communion service on the Sunday morning. Ruth Neve created an outstanding liturgy out of Isaiah 25 that emphasised joy and celebration, in anticipation of the great banquet God invites us to. It was truly joyous and completely rooted in the cross.

So, it all went well. Let's do it all again next year in Bournemouth - only in a slightly better venue!

Assembly thought

Just back from the baptist assembly. I'll blog about it later in the week. In the meantime you can check out pictures of my hands at the assembly here

Other bloggers

One of my morning rituals - usually done before breakfast but after I've collected the overnight emails - is to trawl through a collection of mainly New Testament blogs (yes, I know I should get out more, but it's early!)

The one that I've found most stimulating over recent weeks is Michael Bird and Joel Willetts' Euanggelion. you can access it here

Today Michael bird is recommending Scott McKnight's book on the atonement but adding his own reflection on why it matters what we think about this central doctrine of the Christian faith.

So, if you want some stimulation, check it out.

And a great time was had by all...

Well, yesterday went rather well, I think...

120+ turned up in the afternoon to hear the African Kidzsing choir (who were wonderful) and then stayed on to eat and find out about Fruto del Espirtu's gorgeous range of fruit juices (and the vision behind the company). A good number stayed on - and more joined them - to hear Gareth Davies-Jones sing songs from his new album, as well s some old favourites.

Everyone went away entertained, provoked and challenged - which is what church should like, isn't it?

It was a great last Sunday before sabbatical for me - seeing the church full and humming with conversation, visitors and regulars mingling and everyone being enabled to support movements that could make the world a bit better. I can't ask for more than that really...

End of the journey, start of the adventure...

We're looking forward to a busy day at church.

This afternoon and evening we have a festival of the nations, featuring the Kidzsing choir from Johannesburg, an innovative project called Fruto del Espiritu which is seeking to help Colombian farmers grow fruit for fruit juice rather than coca for cocaine (they've got a contract to supply fruit cocktails to the Dorchester Hotel no less) and Gareth Davies-Jones is rounding our evening off with songs from his new album, Water and Light. Oh and there'll be food.

And this morning - my last before going on sabbatical - I am rounding off Matthew by returning to 28:16-20 (where we started) and looking at what we've learned about being and making disciples as we've read the five discourses.

I shall be stressing that disciples are believers with L-plates who pass on to others what they're discovering about the life of faith. There should be something of the wide-eyed, 'wow, look what I've just found out about Jesus' about our evangelism.

Paul captures it in Philippians 3 where he talks about wanting to know Jesus (v10), pressing on to grasp more and more about him and at the same time planting churches and urging others to discover the Christ who'd revolutionised his life and promised to do the same for the world.

So, although we've reached the end of our journey through Matthew, in a very real the adventure with Jesus in the world is just beginning - as it was for the 11 who met him on the mountain. Will we worship or hesitate, offer our lives to his adventure of mission or shrink back into the safety of our church programme?

And then it's getting ready for the Baptist Assembly in Blackpool at the end of the week. After that, we're off to Prague for a month to stay at IBTS. I'm really looking forward to time away, recharging the batteries, reflecting on where I'm at and thinking about what God is saying about the next phase of my ministry. We're certain that it means staying put, that God has fresh challenges for us here. we're looking forward to being re-envisioned for the adventure.

I shall be blogging while away, I think., because there'll be tons of stuff to reflect on and express an opinion about while we're away. So, keep in touch...

Further thoughts on sheep and goats

We had a great conversation over coffee at our local chic cafe this morning about the gospel, assurance of salvation, what we believe and how we live - all issues touching on Matthew 25.

One of the things I came away more certain about is that the issue of faith and lifestyle is a tension that we resolve at our peril - and certainly at some risk to our theology.

We are saved by faith and judged by works - is that the argument of Romans 2? What we do is evidence of the reality of our faith - is that the argument of James 2? As we await the coming king in whom we have put our trust we will live lives built on and reflective of his values - is that what Matthew 25 is about?

[I think the answer to all these questions is 'yes and...']

I guess something else I've thought about since Sunday - and yet another person this morning told me how challenging they found what I'd said on Sunday morning - is that it's no one's job but God's to decide who's a goat and who's a sheep. The trouble is that we are always comparing ourselves with others and, depending on our temperament, reckoning ourselves better or worse than them.

We really should only compare to Jesus, commit ourselves to following him whatever (much like Paul in Philippians 3) and trusting him to enable us to live up to his call. By his grace we'll not go far wrong if we live this way.

Listen while you work...

As well as Yeasayer - who are fab (see previous post) - I've also been listening to the new REM album (undoubtedly the best work they've done since New Adventures in Hi Fi; lots of angular, industrial guitar sounds and stipe sounds like he's interested in what he's singing again) and the new offering from Delirious?

I'm not sure what I think of delirious? This album grows out of a visit to India and the lyrics seem more grown up than previous work. The packaging, however, suggests that style and art are triumphing over concern for the global poor - tons of plastic and an awkward sized lyric book. They ought to have taken a leaf out of Radiohead's book; the album sleeve for In rainbows is all cardboard.

As to the music, Kingdom of comfort is a good opener and the guitar at the start of God is Smiling is sublime. There are a number of tracks that will end up as firm favourites at churches and conferences up and down the land. But I don't feel I've learned anything about India or what the band made of their experience, except that they felt uncomfortable.

Oh, and the live Cinematic Orchestra album gets better with every listen.

So, listen while you work...

Getting the message out

Well, I duly preached on Matthew 25 and no one threw anything (which I always take as a positive sign).

It did lead to some interesting conversations afterwards. One or two wanted assurance that what they'd been taught in the past is right and they'll be okay on the Day of Judgement. The trouble with this is that I don't know what they've been taught and it's not up to me whether they'll be ok on the day of judgement!

I think people tend to be either hopelessly insecure on this issue and assume they're a goat or arrogantly confident of their status as a sheep. I suspect the last shall be first on this one! The former are probably much more in touch with the values of the Kingdom than the latter who come dangerously close to exhibiting all the hallmarks of a caricature pharisee (don't we all on many occasions?!)

Next week I'll be rounding off our series on the discourses in Matthew by returning to 28:16-20 (where we started last Autumn) and asking what a disciple should know so they can pass it on as they go into the world (that is, each time they leave their home).

It seems to me that it's more about how to live (as Jesus did) than about a set of doctrines to talk about. This means that as we go into the world our lives attract a certain amount of interest because of the values we live by. That interest is our opportunity to talk about the Jesus of those values and all that he means to us as brother, friend, saviour and Lord.

But I'm getting ahead of myself (I haven't started thinking about next week yet!)

This is my last full week before going on sabbatical. I'm ready for it but I realised at the church family meeting and lunch yesterday that I'm really going to miss everyone. I realised even more at the end of our later service when people who won't be around next week, were saying goodbye to me.

I have to say that I am really enjoying the Yeasayer album - All Hour Cymbals - which is a studiedly weird as the title and utterly breathtaking. There's not a duff note on it - though I haven't yet fathomed out what any of it is about.

Struggling with difficult texts

I have been wrestling with Matthew 25:31-46 ahead of preaching on it on Sunday and am wondering whether I might have found a key that helps to unlock it. Of course, I might have stumbled into some ancient heresy - in which case, I repent immediately!

Any of you with any wisdom on this, please comment on what follows.

The story (it's not a parable) is puzzling for a couple of reasons. The first is that Jesus seems to be suggesting that the sole basis for judging everyone from every nation is how they've each treated his followers ('the least of these my brothers and sisters' used elsewhere in Matthew to talk about disciples). There is nothing about faith or living a personally righteous life.

And the second is that both the sheep and the goats are surprised by the criterion for judgement or at least they are surprised by the fact that Jesus says they haven't recognised him in the people in need around them.

The embarrassment of this story, of course, is that it seems to suggest salvation by works; that we are judged solely according to what we do rather than what we believe.

So, here's a thought. Is Jesus (or Matthew) going full circle and ending the final discourse of the gospel with reference to the first one (namely the sermon on the mount)? Is mention of the least of these an oblique reference to the poor, hungry, shattered of the beatitudes? Possibly.

Rather more likely and interesting (I think) is the following thought. Could this whole judgement scene be an outworking of 7:21-23 where Jesus distinguishes between those who claim to be disciples - some he knows and some he doesn't. There he only says that not everyone who calls me Lord, but only those who do the will of my Father will enter the Kingdom. Is he here spelling out what that's all about?

After all, he has echoed those words in 25:12 where half the young women seeking entry to the wedding banquet are sent away with the words 'I don't know you' ringing int their ears.

From 24:36 Jesus has been telling his followers that his parousia will arrive suddenly and unexpectedly and so they should they should always be ready. This readiness is not a hanging about in the hallway with our bags packed, but an active waiting on the king and working for his kingdom as spelled out the three parables from 24:45-25:30.

Is this judgement scene the final teaching on what it means to be ready, a final spelling out that judgement is based on how we live as well as what we believe? Is Jesus reminding us that not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom, but only those who who do the will of my father spelled out in the terms of this story. Is Jesus here stressing to his followers that the quality of their lives in the world, where they support and look out for one another and the poor of their communities (Galatians 6:10 in action) is the single sign that he is the one to whom the world will give account and that he is returning at a time no one knows, so everyone had better ask themselves whether they are ready?

The criterion for judgement seems to be a conscious echo of the description of Jesus' ministry in 9:35-38 and 11:4-6 and thus a call for us as followers of the coming king to be living as the king lived, caring for those in need and thus demonstrating the grace of God to all.

And all this might help us to integrate the picture of the relationship between faith and works in Matthew 25 with the ones we find in Romans 2:6-11 and James 2:14-24 where there is a similar emphasis on what we do as well as what we believe, with the former having a judgement setting.

Am I mad or does this make some sense?

Taking a city break in Ancient Rome

Yesterday I was put through my paces by my supervisor. He seemed pretty pleased with the direction of my paper, though suggested that I might like to pay closer attention to the primary sources rather than the secondary ones.

Now I am going to do some detailed investigation of life in the cities of the ancient world, in particular Rome, Philippi, Corinth, Antioch and Ephesus (those places that the Jesus movement took root in and which became significant centres of mission and and developing organisation and ministry).

My focus is on the question of where the earliest communities gathered. The prevailing view is that congregations of 30-ish met in homes that were inhabited by and thus organised as a household. This explains the presence of household codes in the NT and Apostolic Fathers and could account for the forms of leadership that emerged over the first three generations. But this consensus is being challenged by some.

What if the earliest communities met somewhere else because the bulk of members lived in insulae, above workshops, in temporary accommodation near where they picked up seasonal employment? Where would such groups meet and what kind of leadership might emerge in them?

Anyone with any suggestions of where I might look, please let me know. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this especially when I'm away in May at IBTS (good library and convivial surroundings) with a view to getting something on paper for a meeting at the end of July.

The soundtrack for today's reading and preparation will be the new Cinematic Orchestra live at the Albert Hall album (truly gorgeous) and the remarkable album by Yeasayer. Called All Hour Cymbals, it's a wonderful mix of quirky rhythms, great tunes and opaque lyrics - somewhat resonant of early Talking Heads.

Tidying up

I finished my paper at the weekend - The Matrix of Leadership: location, social order and authority in early Christianity. (slight title change!)

It's a bit long (7,200 words) but I'm quite pleased with it. In the end, the ideas flowed and I think I made a reasonable case that leadership in the Jesus movement in the second century was just as fluid as leadership in the first; and that just because certain letter writers expressed views about how it should be, that isn't necessarily how it was.

In particular, I explored the issue of social location (what kind of people joined the church) and asked how that might have affected the ways the movement was led in the first three generations.

I really enjoyed interacting with Polycarp - what a lovely gentle letter!

A footnote to my last post: Yes, Tom Wright did talk about jubilee. He argued strongly that Jesus was declaring jubilee when he preached in Nazareth and that is why he is good news for the poor. The jubilee is physical and economic and the proclamation of the Kingdom includes our mentioning and modelling it to the world.

I agree with Lynn, though, it would be a good investment to buy the CD of the talk. It's also available as a DVD but probably isn't that riveting as Tom didn't dance while he spoke!

The (W)right stuff at Spring Harvest

Back from Spring Harvest - so cream crackered that I can barely focus!

We had an excellent, very busy week. The highlight was hearing Tom Wright (yes, that's right, the Bishop of Durham, no less) expounding the Nazareth sermon of Luke 4 in the light of its Isaianic background and fulfilment in the Acts of the Apostles ('a very buzzy book'), all focused on the Kingdom of God. It was utterly blistering!

The amazing thing was that as he came into land - and I was wondering for at least two thirds of it, how he was going to apply all this to his audience - you could sense a sudden in-take of breath all over the big top as people realised that this was about them. We all have Nazareth's in which we're called to proclaim the Kingdom of God; in some of them we'll be thrown off the cliffs by the antagonistic; are we up for it? More important, do we know the message and are we filled with the Spirit of the messenger? Amazing!

The response was big. I prayed with three or four people, two of whom were ministers going back to really difficult situations who had found Tom's message nurturing and nourishing and wanted strength for the fray.

That's why I love being on the pastoral team at Spring Harvest.

Elsewhere, I did a seminar on self-esteem that seemed to go really well - 200+ turned up for it and lots stayed around to chat afterwards. And on the final evening Jeff Lucas was the best I've ever heard him - funny, theologically deep and sharp in terms of application.

It was great to work with a group of people that Linda and I have worked with for the past six or seven years. We laugh and cry together in roughly equal measure - though a good deal of the crying is tears of laughter! We'll do it all again next year, I hope.

Now it's back to papers and emails and catching up with what's been happening here.

Emerging churches - second century-style

Today I am trying to get a structure for a paper for my supervisor on leadership in the New Testament and immediate post-apostolic period. I've narrowed it down to looking at Rome and Philippi and trying to trace the trajectories of leadership development as those communities matured.

I think I'll call my paper The matrix of leadership: location, social order and authority in Rome and Philippi because that sounds suitably impressive (even if it masks the fact that I might not have anything intelligent to say!) and does touch on all the issues I think I want to address (albeit at a fairly superficial level).

I'm particularly interested in teasing out the evidence for the so-called three-fold ministry - bishops, deacons and presbyters - and reasons why it appeared/is appearing. And I am especially keen to see if there's any evidence for the assertion that the church was already moving out of homes into larger buildings and that many communities in a city were becoming one led by a singly bishop, assisted by presbyters and deacons.

We have good evidence for Rome because of literature having been left to us that was written from the city - namely 1 Clement and the Shepherd of Hermas. It seems that these two documents reflect different Roman Christian communities, thus suggesting that multiple churches were not at this time (the turn of the second century) becoming a single church with a unitary leadership.

Sadly we don't have similar evidence for Philippi - that I can find anyway - but we do have two letters: Paul's from the mid-50s and Polycarp's from the first third of the second century. A lot of good research has been done on what the Christian communities were like in Philippi when Paul wrote but sadly nothing like that wealth of information exists for the church/churches that Polycarp wrote to 80-ish years later.

What we do find across the second century literature, however, is considerable difference of opinion over how churches should be organised and what authority church leaders had. Teasing out the reasons why this was the case looks as though it's going to be quite interesting.

I'm hoping to get the structure done and map out the argument for each section ahead of going away. Because we're off to Spring Harvest in the morning. Five days in Skegness just as the winter returns - great!

But we're looking forward to meeting up with old mates and working with a whole range of people on the pastoral team. I'm also doing a seminar on self-esteem (though I'm not sure I'm good enough to be doing that, really...)

And inbetween all that, I'll be doing bits and pieces of writing with a view to editing it when I'm back and getting it off to my supervisor before we meet in a couple of week's time.

Gearing up for getting away

We had a good day yesterday. Another dedication in the morning which swelled the congregation. Sunday Break was really well attended and the Later Service had good numbers, despite a number of regulars being away.

I preached okay as well. In the morning several people asked me - in response to what I said about Matthew 24:40-41 - what about the rapture? To which I said, 'what about it?' or words to that effect. I politely clarified that I don't believe in it and that it certainly isn't taught in Matthew 24 - quite the opposite, in fact (see last post).

This morning I've had a number of meetings to talk through arrangements for my forthcoming sabbatical - bring it on....!

Linda and I are going to Prague for month in May after the Baptist assembly and then hopefully to France for a couple of weeks in June. Sabbaticals ought to be about rest, refreshment, relaxation, recharging the batteries - and that's what I'm doing for the bulk of mine.

In Prague, we're staying at IBTS and I will be making use of the library to do some research on early church history and continue getting some focus to my studies. This week, I'm writing a paper on leadership ahead of a meeting with my supervisor in a couple of weeks. It's fascinating, though really difficult to keep all the issues in my mind as I create my argument. Hopefully, what comes out at the end of the week will make sense enough. I'll edit and refine it while I'm at spring Harvest.

I've been listening to Larry Norman of late and rediscovered his fabulous Nightmare #71 off what I think is possibly his best album, So Long Ago the Garden (which was part-produced by the great george Martin). It's a wonderful dylanesque song with really contemporary resonances. For instance:

we've paved the forest
killed the streams
burned the bridges
to our dreams
the earth is bursting
at the seams
and in the pain of
childbirth screams
as it gives life
to what seems
to either be
an age that gleams
or simply lays there dying
if this goes on
will life survive
how can it
out of the grave
O who will save
our planet?

Good question - one we might be addressing at the Baptist Assembly

New light on familiar texts

I always get caught out by weeks with Bank Holidays in them - they're shorter than average weeks!

the trouble is I never seem to take that into account when diary planning. So my week thus far has been pretty full-on, but also surprisingly enjoyable.

I've been looking at the next section of the eschatological discourse in Matthew this afternoon. I'll be preaching on 24:36-51 on Sunday where Jesus shifts our focus away from the overthrow of the temple to his return.

As ever I have found Dick France's commentary to be absolutely first rate. He writes beautifully, his exegesis is easy to follow and his conclusions always soundly based. I was particularly struck by his take on the classic 'rapture' text in v40-41. Having grown up with Larry Norman singing a version of these words in I wish we'd all been ready, I thought I knew what they were about (and I didn't really like it!)

Dick invites us to ask what these people are being taken for? After all, just a verse earlier people were being taken unexpectedly by a flood. That clearly was not a good thing. So Dick argues here that these people are being taken to judgement; unexpectedly, out-of-the-blue, unprepared, they are swept away to face their maker and account for their lives.

The rapture doesn't sound so cool now, does it?

I love it when new light is cast on familiar and troubling texts by the cool head of a master scholar. What this does is to sort out the flow of the discourse for me. Jesus is talking about his unexpected return by using three pictures of sudden events - floods, burglaries and the return of a master from his travels. None of these events can be predicted with any accuracy; they come upon us when we're looking the other way.

So it will be with the return of Jesus. The question these verses ask of us is simple: will we be doing what we should be when he comes or will we have slipped round the back of the bike sheds for a sly fag?

Tomorrow I'm off to Didcot, home of the Baptist Union and BMS World Mission, hoping to get a number of papers tackling Clement's view of church leadership read and noted on the way there and back.

The passion's fitting climax

We watched the final episode of the Passion on the BBC in church last night as part of our special later guest service.

Someone asked before we started whether we'd pull it if the programme veered off into heresy. We said 'no' (though we were a little nervous!).

No one need have worried. I thought it was a stunning and deeply moving climax to an intriguing series. There was no doubt that Jesus physically rose from the dead and that the disciples knew it.

For me the scene at Emmaus was wonderfully done. I thought the idea of casting a different actor to play the risen Jesus was a master-stroke, introducing that element of doubt into the disciples' and Mary's minds when he first appeared. I thought it was a wonderful and moving moment when he changed back into Joseph Mawle as he shared the bread and wine.

Even the final scene at the pool of Siloam was very effective. I know it moved the location of Jesus' encounter with Peter from beach in Galilee and I know it moved the Great Commission location from the hills of Galilee to Jerusalem. But it was incredibly moving seeing on Peter's face the look of recognition, the fact that he'd got who Jesus was and what he was about and was ready to do it and tell everyone about it.

If Christians can't use this season finale to talk to their colleagues around the water cooler about who Jesus is, then we're in trouble.

Well done BBC, the Passion was not without its faults but overall it was a splendid, gritty representation of the events of that first Easter.

Happy easter

Easter day! The tomb is still empty; Jesus is risen. Hallelujah!

Two Resurrection thoughts for you:

'The words 'it was credited to him' [Abraham] were written not for him alone; but also for us, to whom God is credit righteousness - for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.' (Romans 4:22-25).

'Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.' (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Happy Easter everyone!

Please, Mr preacher, can I ask a question?

Spent a really quality couple of hours with a woman who in her eighties has experienced a renewal of faith over the past six months. We meet every other week or so to talk through issues and read the Bible together. It's wonderful to see how she has come alive.

We always end up talking about how things are going at church and this afternoon we got on to the subject of sermons. She likes my sermons but wonders if there's too much in them - 'such a lot to digest,' she says - and would like the opportunity to ask questions as and when they arise - 'would you mind being interrupted?' she asked.

My initial response - and I think it's my considered response too - is that I'd love to be interrupted. I'd love the sermon to be more of a dialogue rather than a monologue. In my previous church in the evening service, I'd preach and then we'd have feedback and questions. It was based on the principle Cromwell apparently used when allowing chaplains to be attached to regiments of the New Model Army in the English Civil War. He said they could preach for as long as they liked providing they subjected themselves to questioning by the troops for the same length of time. Good principle.

As we chatted, one idea that emerged was to preach a single sermon over three Sundays - i.e. each sermon would have a third of the content that they have now - which would allow for there to be interaction during the preaching and after it.

There are all sorts of logistical issues - can you do it in a gathering of 250-300? what happens if you miss one of the parts of the sermon because you don't come every week? how do you ensure that the loudest voices don't dominate the question time?

But there could be all kinds of benefits. One of the things I'm keen to explore is not how we create teaching programmes - I think we're quite good at that - but how do we ensure learning outcomes? More dialogue, questions being asked there and then, indicates what people know, what their concerns are and what they are learning from the current teaching programme.

I think we can try this in our later service - there's already quite a bit of dialogue there anyway. I wonder if we can contemplate it for our other gatherings.

Thumbs up to the beeb's Passion

I watched the first episode of the The Passion over lunch today (on BBC iPlayer) and overall I was really quite impressed.

I thought it was a bit hesitant to begin with, took a while to find its feet. But once it had, it had a lot going for it.

I think the characterisations of Pilate and Caiaphas are excellent - rounded, believable people you can feel real sympathy for even if you don't like them. The street scenes are suitably sweaty and noisy. Jerusalem feels edgy and likely to blow up any time.

Jesus comes into this with a rag-tag of followers and hangers-on and quietly makes his presence felt. Joseph Mawle brings a sly humour to the role that feels entirely appropriate. The scene of him 'teaching' in the temple while he walked around that includes the parable of the wicked tenants was particularly effective.

Effective too is that as the episode unfolded, it was Jesus, the one with no power, who was driving the drama; those with political power were having to play catch-up and react to his agenda. This means that there is real tension in the narrative - even though we all know what's going to happen.

Less good, I feel, is his diffidence about what he stands for. The triumphal entry was good with all the right references to Zechariah but Jesus doesn't seem to be certain why he's come. And, annoyingly, he twice told people that 'the Kingdom of God is inside you' (a minor saying from Luke's Gospel that would be better rendered 'the Kingdom of God is among you'). And the scene with his mother was slightly odd but I can't put my finger on why.

And the 'healing' of the lame and blind in the temple was insipid and didn't really tell us anything about Jesus other than he welcomed everyone. Far more effective in that regard was his encounter with the prostitute who decides to follow him. That scene was charged with real chemistry and charisma.

Overall I thought it was excellent start. I look forward top how the series unfolds over this week.

The Seldom Seen Kid sounds great to me...

I took delivery of the new Elbow album yesterday. The Seldom Seen Kid is as good as anything they've done, which means it's wonderful.

If there's a better lyricist writing in rock music today than Guy Garvey I've not come across him or her. The album is full of big songs and bigger emotions and is quite gorgeous.

Taking on the fundamentalists

There's a great piece in the review section of yesterday's Guardian by the peerless John Gray attacking the arguments of the atheist fundamentalists - Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Philip Pullman, et al.

Lucid, entertaining, cogently-argued, it's a wonderful piece of writing that demolishes the premises on which these guys base their arguments.

He also suggests that the atheists are getting more militant because they see their dream of secularism evaporating as religion makes a come-back all over the world.

It's worth checking out. Here's the link http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2265395,00.html

What happened on Palm Sunday?

It's Palm Sunday. I've found preparing a sermon for today really difficult. There is just so much to say about what happened that I have not been able to reduce my jumble of thoughts to a manageable presentation - hopefully I will this morning.

We're in Matthew this Easter and one the things that intrigues me about Matthew's telling of the story is the numbers of pairs he refers to. Scholars endlessly debate the two donkeys, some suggesting that Matthew was somewhat dim to read the Zechariah 9 prophecy to mean that the king came riding on two animals!

I wonder if Matthew draws attention to pairs in order to draw us to the heart of the story. Two disciples are sent to get two donkeys at the beginning of a narrative that concerns two crowds, two views of Jesus and two testimonies about him from outsiders. Let's unpack that.

Matthew is the only gospel writer to distinguish between the crowd accompanying Jesus and the crowd already in Jerusalem. The latter is puzzled about the commotion and ask 'who is this?' (10 - everything so far in the story has happened outside Jerusalem); the former answer that 'Jesus is the prophet from Nazareth' (11), the northern crowd and telling southern enquirers that the messiah is one of theirs!

The Jerusalem crowd gives way to the Jerusalem leaders - the chief priests and teachers of the Law - who object to the singing of the children in the temple because of what they are singing to and about Jesus (not because they are against kids choirs in the temple!). They have a view of Jesus at odds with the one Matthew has been unfolding to us through his narrative. To them Jesus is at best an interesting if maverick preacher, at worst someone who will bring the wrath of Rome down on them. They certainly believe he has no business saying the things he's reputed to have said and accepting the praises of the children.

All these pairs lead to the most crucial pair - that of the two testimonies about who Jesus is - at the heart of Matthew's story. The two testimonies come from 'outsiders' - the Galilean pilgrim crowd and the children - and concern who Jesus is.

The first identifies him as 'the prophet', a strong echo of Deuteronomy 18:15-19, which looks to the coming of the prophet like Moses, a text that informed Jewish messianic expectation in the first century. More than that, they have already suggested that he is the king foreseen by Zechariah (9:9), an echo of David's return to the city after Absolom's revolt (hence the strong emphasis on Jesus as Son of David in this section of the gospel?). Of course the crowd does not quote Zechariah, Matthew does. But the crowd's behaviour - the chanting of hosanna (from Psalm 118:25-26), the spreading of cloaks and branches on the road - point to the text in Matthew's mind: they clearly see him as God's prophet and king, the long-awaited messiah who will lead them to freedom in his Kingdom.

Having made his demonstration in the temple, the children sing and Jesus responds to his critics by citing Psalm 8:2. It all looks so innocent and the focus appears to be on Jesus and his enemies. But if we miss the detail, we miss what the temple authorities were so grieved about.

Jesus' demonstration in the temple consists of two actions - turning over the tables of a few money changers and dove sellers (probably his action was not big enough to arouse the interest of the Romans or the temple police - unlike what happened in Acts 21:27-35; this was a small-scale making of a point) and the healing of those barred from access to the temple (the blind and lame - their access was not officially barred but their lack of welcome stems from the time David took the city as narrated in 2 Samuel 5:6-8).

It was these two actions together that drew the attention of the priests and the children (and no doubt others who were amazed at what was happening). The children sing hosanna as the crowd leading Jesus into the city had done (thus tying the two halves of the story very closely together). But when the priests object, Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2, a verse that applies the singing of children to the praise of God. What is Jesus claiming here? As Dick France suggests in his excellent commentary on Matthew 'Jesus was not averse to taking upon himself what in the OT was said of Yahweh...unless he is here setting himself in the place of Yahweh, the argument is a non-sequitur' (quoting his own much earlier study on Jesus and the Old Testament).

The priests are left gagging as Jesus leaves for the day. It's only when he returns to the temple the following day that they have found their voice again and ask where he gets his authority from (23)

The Passion - coming to a TV near you...

I'm getting very excited about the forthcoming BBC production The Passion. Having spent a good deal of time reading and watching the material on the BBC website, I have to say that this looks like a real quality film.

I encourage you to watch it - broadcast times are on the BBC website - and it's already available to pre-order from Amazon on DVD (released the day after Easter).

We are basing two Easter Day guest services on the film and have found the BBC really helpful in getting publicity material together for those services. So thanks to Tim Leith, the beeb's picture campaign manager, for allowing us to use images from the film in our publicity.

One the strengths of the film appears to be the way the writer and director have woven together the familiar story of the last week of Jesus' life from three distinct perspectives - Jesus, Caiaphas and Pilate - and listening to them speak, I reckon they've got those perspectives about right.

I like the idea that these are three dimensional characters, struggling with a situation in which they are trying to do the right thing as they see it. One of the interesting things that the producer Nigel Stafford- Clark says in the interview on the BBC website is that Jesus drove these events and that the other two were forced into them by Jesus' initiative. I thought that was an astute observation.

The writer, Frank Deasy, added that Caiaphas wanted to make the case to his people that sacrificing Jesus might make sense if it saves the people of Israel from the wrath of Rome (something from John's Gospel) and that Jesus was looking to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world - and that these two motives somehow meshed as the drama unfolds.

I think this promises to be one of the best things the BBC has done for ages and very possibly one of the best dramas ever made on the life of Christ - certainly his last week.

So, set the video and watch it. Then come to church and talk about it - come to ours if you're local...

The excitement of Budget Day

In my previous life as a financial journalist, Budget Day was a highlight of the year. A long day listening to the chancellor, talking to contacts in the City and adland, finding an angle, writing endless words of analysis, finally going to press around midnight and then seeing your words the following morning, part of the ocean of ink spilled in an effort to interpret what the Chancellor had done.

I still get a frisson of excitement on Budget Day. So I watched Alistair Darling yesterday while I had lunch. It was the dullest speech in living memory - I gather former Chancellor Geofrey How fell asleep in the peers gallery!

And yet it seems to me to be as good a budget as we had any right to hope for. It's good for poor people - despite Nick Clegg's rather snide remarks - in terms of child benefit, tax credits and fuel payments. I would have liked him to be bolder on dealing with the utility companies but I hope he'll return to the fray if in the coming year if they do nothing to end the inequity of the poor paying a higher price per unit for gas and electricity than the rich - that's a scandal.

I think the alcohol tax rises were well balanced and the green initiatives on car pricing and tax rates, though small steps, are steps in the right direction. I'd have quadrupled the VED on Chelsea tractors (while offering a waiver to farmers and those who need four-wheel drives - though the trouble with that is that it removes the incentive to the industry to improve the technology in these vehicles and opens a loophole that some clever accountant will exploit).

I was also pleased that he left gift aid untouched - £300m left in charities and voluntary sector organisations (and, of course, churches). That was a bold statement of commitment to this vital sector of our society.

So all in all, I thought the Chancellor done good - given the bad hand dealt to him by the world economy and some of his predecessor's decisions. We'll see how it plays out in the coming months.

Where's our movement going?

I finished Rob Warner's book last night and agree with the reviewers that it is a very significant study of the past 25 years or so of the movement that I've been a member of all my Christian life.

I don't think it has the same charm and impact as Pete Ward's Growing Up Evangelical and that's partly due to the - in my view - massive overuse of sociological jargon. Some pages contain a plethora of arcane terms that make reading heavy going at times.

That aside, the analysis is fascinating and - again in my view - spot on. I found his description and comparison of the various bases of faith written over the past 20 years really interesting.

His overall conclusion that evangelicalism might be splitting (bifurcating is the term he uses) into two camps - one more entrepreneurial and activist, the other increasingly theologically conservative - seems right. You only have to think about what's happened to Word Alive - until last year part of Spring Harvest and but this year a stand alone event sponsored by the two most conservative groupings in evangelicalism (UCCF and New Frontiers). The split with Spring Harvest was, as I understand it, entirely for doctrinal reasons - SH is too liberal for some in the UCCF/Oak Hill/Evangelicals Now stable.

I think this is a pity because one of Spring Harvest's strengths over the years has been its diversity. Reading between the lines of Rob's book, I wonder if SH's days are numbered and with its passing whether evangelicalism will fragment into increasingly narrowly defined groups that have little contact with each other and even less dialogue.

I think that will spell a significant defeat for us and possibly lead to a decline in evangelical numbers - as Rob suggests, we might only have bucked the trend in general church decline for a short while because of the energy of the some of the participants; if we begin to fall out over increasingly arcane points of doctrine, we only have ourselves to blame if our churches empty in the coming years.

On a more positive I picked up the new Nick Cave album today - DiG!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (he insists on all the exclamation marks) - and extremely fine it is too. He really has no business producing his finest work now he's in his fifties - but I'm jolly pleased he is. And I got Toumani Diabate's The Mande Variations. He is described as the world's greatest kora player - the multi-stringed instrument of Mali (where Diabate comes from). It's sublime and beautiful, eight pieces of virtuoso playing and gorgeous tunes. What more could a boy want?!

Larry on his friends

Thanks to Sean the Baptist posting these words on his blog and reminding me of another great Larry Norman song

Well my life is filled with songs
But I just could not get along without my friends
And I'm happy now, but when this good life ends
I know a better life begins ...

... And someone died for all your friends
But even better yet, he lives again.
And if this song does not make sense to you,
I hope His spirit slips on through, He loves you.

'Song for a Small Circle of Friends'

Larry Norman 1947-2008

Well the sad news today is that Larry Norman has died.

It's hard to estimate how big an influence he had on me as a teenager and young Christians. He was a major reason that I came to faith in Jesus at all; he was the reason I joined a band and gigged around the North West; he's the reason I wrote the kind of songs I did.

But much more important than any of this, he was a model of rebellious orthodoxy that I hope I will never tire of following. Larry Norman always seemed to be saying that being a follower of Jesus was not synonymous with middle class respectability and drab, uncreative conformity. For that alone, I will be eternally grateful.

But then there were the songs. He wrote vibrant, witty, tuneful and rocking stuff - his early 1970s output is among the finest music committed to vinyl. I remember getting the digitally remastered Only Visiting this Planet and crying. Yes, some of it sounds of its time now, but Why don't you look into Jesus, the Outlaw, I am the six 0'Clock News and The Great American Novel are still amazingly effective. He is the best lyricist the church has produced in over a century by a long shot.

Martin Joseph rehabilitated his Six Sixty Six on his recent Deep Blue album. It represents one of the things I never got about Larry - probably because I didn't grow up in US dispensationalist circles - which was his eschatology. For this reason I never really liked I wish We'd been all been ready - though it had a pretty tune.

But he was always more than that. My best memory of him is seeing him at the Co op Hall in Leicester. I was a late teenager, there with my youth group. In those days there was no separation between the star and the audience and during the break I found myself standing next to a shy and polite Larry Norman who listened and responded to my gauche attempts at conversation about chord sequences before resuming a brilliant set - just him and his tiny acoustic guitar.

He's a towering figure. I'll miss him.

The slow road back to wellville

Well, here I am still struggling to throw off this flu bug. It's left me feeling drained with a tightness across my chest and a bit of hacking cough. Still, life goes on...

Nearly finished Rob Warner's book. The second half - on the theological changes - has been fascinating. I was particularly heartened by his account of the adopting of the new basis of faith by my old Alma mater, London Bible College, under its now former principal, Derek Tidball.

I found the accounts of the various bases of faith a tad dull and dis-spiriting, the latter because it seems to confirm that evangelicals are pathologically obsessed with circling the wagons and keeping out the enemy - even when the enemy turns out to be Bible believing Christians with a slightly different take on some arcane point of doctrine.

For a movement heading for the rocks - and potential oblivion - shuffling who sits where on the poop deck seems a calamitous waste of resources!

I've been preparing some thoughts on how we do mission for delivery to Spurgeon's students in the morning. I'm looking forward to it - it'll be the first work I've done for a week!

And my spell-checker has returned - thank you blogger central (or whoever you are)!

Struck by the lurgy....

Well, I've struck down by the winter fluey-cold and completely wiped out for most of the past week. And what's worse, I've been so thick-headed that I haven't been able to read for any length of time.

I have discovered BBC iPlayer, however, enjoying re-runs of Torchwood and Freezing - and a particularly wonderful k d lang gig recorded at a church in North London (not sure if it's Union Chapel or not). She was on great form, her voice pitch-perfect throughout and the band were full of invention.

The nest is emptying

It's all go here. My younger daughter is off to Australia in the morning so it's been packing and ensuring that she's got everything she needs - though as we never tire of pointing out, she is going to a first world country with shops and stuff!

I'm sure I'm not old enough to have a daughter of an age to go off down under for eight months. But it seems I am. With her older sister away at university, our nest is going to feel somewhat empty and quiet.

I took delivery this morning of a print to order copy of Edwin Hatch's The Organisation of the early Christian Churches and found to my surprise that there are hand-written annotations all over the text. Thinking these were in pencil, I got a rubber and started to rub them out. They are not in pencil; they are printed. It's extraordinary.

I have emailed the supplier to see if they can throw some light on it. Judging by the notes that I can read, this original reader, apart from having lovely handwiritng of a clasic kind, thought the book was pretty good!

I also received Eckhard Schnabel's Early Christian Mission (both volumes) as a gift from IVP (for reading some stuff for them and being an all-round nice person!). It's probably not something I'd have bought my self (the price is somewhat off-putting), but it looks fascinating and extremely comprehensive. I shall enjoy dipping into it.

Now I'm off to prepare a roast dinner - a last supper before my second-born heads off to the other side of the planet.

So, what am I for, exactly?

Following yesterday's post on bible reading, I've been doing a bit of that with various people through today and making some interesting discoveries (and rediscoveries).

Our women's bible study group was getting its teeth into 1 Corinthians 11 this lunchtime - actually it was our second week of looking at it and we haven't yet really got down to a close reading of the text (maybe next time)!

Rather we've been talking about how we read the bible. And I must say I find myself a little perplexed at how some people are socialised into the world of Bible reading in our churches.

It seems that we feel we can't read the Bible like we read any other book. All our critical faculties, it seems, have to be left at the door. I know the Bible is inpsired. I know it's God's word. I know that if we take it seriously, it's dynamite.

The trouble is that we're schooled not to take the Bible seriously. We either treat it as a promise box - lots of things God's going to do for me because he loves me - or we treat it as a rule book, full of 'do's' and 'don'ts' and commands that we have to follow or else. We seem not to be able to read it as a story. And this has to be learned behaviour because it's not an obvious way to read anything.

Surely this is what ministers are called to do something about. After all, we're not called to run churches - the members do that, making decisions as they gather together, appointing leaders from among themselves to put those decisions into effect (well, at least how Baptists are supposed to do it). We're not called to be priests, representing our people before God and God to our people - we believe in the priesthood of all believers, so all can preside at the Lord's table, all can baptise, all can share their insights and use their gifts; supremely each of us can lead each of us into an encounter with the living God.

So what are we for? I used to tell a previous church that my role was to be theological consultant, helping them to read scripture and apply it to their lives; telling stories of what they could be like if they grab hold of God with both hands - and then supporting as they do that and fear the wheels coming off completely!

And I think today that God's been reminding me that that is a key part of my job - if not my whole raison d'etre. After spending time reading the bible with lots of lovely people today, I also realise it's the part of my job that I really love the most.

Are we reading the Bible more or less?

One of the staggering statistics in Rob's book are the numbers showing the decline in the sale of Bible reading notes over the past 20 years. In 1985 Scripture Union was selling 199,593 copies per issue (that's each quarter of the year). By 2000 that figure had halved to 98,380.

Church leaders often lament what is sometimes called 'biblical illiteracy' of their congregations. This is probably unfair. And it's probably true that sales of Bible reading notes aren't a surefire guide to Bible reading.

Having said that, however, I was interested to see that the Bible Society has done some research on Christian attitudes to the Bible and found that 35% of non-leaders read their bibles every day (you can do the maths for what that says about the proportion who don't). I'm not sure it's much of a comfort that 56% of non-leaders use the bible in their devotions 'frequently' (undefined).

SU and other bible reading note publishers might be heartened by the fact that 43% use notes of some kinds - though not much.

And we're all heartened by the fact that non-leaders do not find Richard Dawkins a threat to their confidence in the Bible - though, actually, I'm really not sure what that says about us at all. How many of those asked had heard of Richard Dawkins and why would the musings of a noted, high profile atheist make any difference to our confidence in scripture?

One of the findings in the executive summary caught my eye. 'The Bible is regarded as an important driver of spiritual growth; however its use in this respect should also be regarded as a corporate as much as an individual pursuit. People also need encouragement and assistance in developing their ability to understand and apply the Bible,' it says.

I find this very heartening. In the early church studying the scriptures was a collective activity because of literacy rates and because gathering together to support and encourage one another was the key to creating healthy Christian communities.. I think coming together to read the Bible and learn from one another is a key in our generation to growing not only healthy disciples but alsovibrant churches.

Last night we did a good deal of reading the bible and reflecting on it in groups, having had some input from the front (perhaps a little too much!). People shared their insights and i think found it a really helpful of understanding and applying the Bible. There was a real buzz about the place and a sense of engagement with God as well as the scripture.

We'll be doing it some more.

Money to burn?

I read the section on the decade of evangelism in Rob's book yesterday.

The startling statistic is that the evangelistice initiatives of 1994 - Jim, Minus to Plus and On Fire (which passed me by!) - cost British churches a staggering £8m. Add to that the costs to churches and individual Christians off flying back and forth to Toronto to get the blessing (one estimate I read put this at many millions) and it's clear that we've got money to burn...

When I was reflecting on the decade for Building a Better Body, my conclusion was that it was very fad driven, one initiative after another with no real idea of what we were trying to achieve. Over a million people left the church through the decade - which makes for an interesting definition of evangelism.

But I wonder if we've really learned the lessons of all that. As Barry Linney said 'Rather than listening to those outside [the church], we were still only speaking to them after listening to our own heartbeat.' Has anything changed?

And has anybody got any idea why the spell checker on my blogger has ceased working?

More thoughts on Rob Warner

I am continuing to enjoy Rob Warner's Reinventing English Evangelicalism. I think it almost ranks with Pete Ward's Growing up Evangelical for its ability to give narrative shape to significant moments in my life.

I have particularly enjoyed and winced at Rob's description of Spring Harvest and his account of magazine publishing. Some of his insights are worth pondering long and hard.

For example, 'the multiple-choice approach of Spring Harvest's programme introduced many evangelicals to a comodified concept of worship and teaching: the autonomous individual makes an independent selection from the programme and may come to expect a similar autonomy in choosing local church activities.'

He adds that the Spring Harvest diet is therapeutic rather than theological and has led to the increasing ghettoisation of evangelicals. it is hard not to share his scepticism when he suggests that far from equipping evangelicals to live more effectively in the world, Spring Harvest has contributed to the creation of an evangelical family that 'looks less like a community gathering for advance than a remnant withdrawing into subcultural segregation.'

He is wonderfully acerbic on some of the music to have come out of this subculture in the past decade (joining Pete Ward and Nick Page) suggesting 'while singing songs that herald an army mobilised to take the land, Spring Harvest's evangelicals functioned increasingly as a gated community, a ghetto on holiday.'

I shall be at Spring Harvest this year working on the pastoral team as I have done for the past five years, seeking to help particpants make the most of any encounter with God that they have during their week away. But I know exactly what Rob means!

His analysis of evangelical magazines also looks spot on. As the launch editor of Christianity in the autumn of 1996, I am one who contributed to the demise of the evangelical monthly!

Our aim had been to produce a magazine that reached beyond the ghetto, found its way into news agents and Smiths and addressed the world through the prism of a carefully thought-through broad evangelical theology. What were we thinking!

Christian publishers were not prepared to invest the sums required to create such a product and Christian readers were not prepared to support it. Both seem to have opted for the easier task of talking to the converted and reinforcing their prejudices about the world and the church.

Rob is spot on when he says: 'Evangelical faith, at least in Britain, appears to have entered upon a consumerist trajectory, privately engaging but publicly irrelevant. The quest for an evangelical meta-narrative has been aborted in favour of inspirational entertainment. The secularizing process has produced evangelicals whose faith is compartmentalised and privatized according to the prevailing cultural pattern. Perhaps it is the evangelicals, to adopt Postman's polemical description of TV, who are 'amusing themselves to death.'

This might be a slight hyperbole but it contains enough truth to send us to our knees and our bibles in search of a genuinely culture-transforming expression of faith.

The importance of being equals

One of the things I love about Matthew 18 is its realisim about human motivation and assurance of God's grace.

When the chapter opens, the disciples have clearly been hurumphing about Jesus appearing to make Peter top dog in the team (16:18-20), something that could have been reinforced in what just happened (17:24-27) where Jesus miraculously provided for his and Peter's temple tax (what about us? you can almost hear the rest saying!!)

Their question about status is met with a discourse about equality of relationship among the disciple group of which a child - a completely status-free entity (interestingly refered to as 'it' in the text) - is the prime, indeed only example.

And it all leads up to a wondrous word of grace, the democratisation of authority in the community of believers, the sharing of Peter's gift in 18:18-20 where each and every disicple is given the same right to tie up and untie as Peter was given in 16:18-20.

As Dick France in his consistently excellent and in sightful commentary points out, the key to grasping these words is to recognise that Jesus speaks in future perfects. That is to say what we bind or loose will already have been bound or loosed in heaven. In other words our authority is that God graciously condescends to disclose his will to us as we gather together to ask him (that is the thrust of the prayer pericope in v19).

And all this has to do not with people - the binding or loosing is not about the including or excluding of people since the object of the binding or loosing is neuter - but with things or issues. Indeed what Jesus probably has in mind here are the actions of those wandering or sinning that he's already referred to. God graciously gives insight into what's right and wrong so that we can speak that truth into each other's lives and thus keep one another sharp and on the right track.

And he does this through being with us in our tiny insignificiant little groups in all his glorious resurrection authority (28:20; see 1:23).

Isn't this fab?!

And it raises the question why we bother about our status and where we fit in the church pecking order and whether we're doing better than the bloke who sits next to us on a Sunday morning.

The beatitudes have already reminded us that we bring nothing to the table but God gives us all we need to live. And here Jesus calls us to earth those values in the way we look out for one another. Truly, as Wesley so memorably put it, we are called to 'watch over one another with love'. What greater status could we ever want than that?

Off to a flying start

We had a really good day yesterday. Our new look evening programme attracted a good number, evenly divided across the two services - 67 at the first, 58 at the second.

Not only did the two services go well, they both felt relaxed - all the tension associated with people not liking aspects of what we do had evaporated to be replaced with an expectatncy and spirit of co-operation.

Let's hope it continues.

Next week we'll have post cards for the two congregations to take away to invite their friends to come along. It's my prayer that we'll grow the congregations in both time slots over the coming weeks with people returning to church after a long absence or those who've never been before.

Thanks for Catriona for her comments on Matthew 18 - yes, I wonder what Jesus meant by treating people like tax collectors? More on that tomorrow. I'm off to the men's Bible study to begin looking at 1 Corinthians 15 - mind-blowing!

Ringing the changes

It's the first day of our new Sunday pattern - and I'm quite excited!

We meet as normal this morning. Then this afternoon we have a classic-style service at 4:45 and a more contemporary, fluid one at 7pm.

A number of people have said they are coming to both which kind of defeats the object but also suggests that folk are not unwilling to try to new things which is good.

I'm slightly apprehensive that the church will feel emptier at these two services than it used to at the evening service - but that is one of the reasons for doing it: offering a predictable gathering that people can bring their friends to without fear of the service not being what they expect. So we're hoping that some who have dropped off in the evening because it's been neither fish nor fowl over the past year, will start coming again and that people will friends to explore what the Christian faith is all about in a gathering they will find accessible.

My aim is that twice the number will be gathering across the two services than came to one. I'm not sure when I'd like to reach that target but this time next year would be good.

I've been getting the home group notes on the next section of Matthew that we'll be reading together. It's the discourse on relationships in chapter 18. Some of the text is tricky but I have found it incredibly stimulating as I've actually been forced to ask what the text says (and what it doesn't) and discovered that it speaks very clearly into our journey towards expressing membership in a new way.

I'll blog on it properly when I've got my head around it, but suffice to say that often people refer to this passage as being about church discipline and yet it seems to be much more about mutual care and taking responsibility for one another's discipleship. Jesus calls each of us to be attentive to one another, offering gentle care and correction as we travel together.

Watch this space...