James's Weblog

It’s nearly New Year’s day, so time for a post or several on reading through the whole Bible. Since I was introduced to it, back in 1995, I have been a big fan of Robert Murray McCheyne’s Bible reading plan.

He devised it to help his flock spend less time deciding which portions of Scripture to read, and more time reading Scripture. (Sounds like he would be better at revising for exams than most of us!) He saw the value of a whole church reading through the whole Bible each year, and reading it through in the same pattern. Yes, there are dangers of such a scheme, but for those able to avoid the dangers, it offers an excellent discipline.

I’m a bit hopeless when it comes to lists.

But I do have a vague idea of the people I would like to pray for regularly.

Somehow, I tend to pray most for those people who are most in need of God’s help, those who are weakest, those with unrealised potential, etc.

Then I read Psalm 72.

First taste of El Salvador coffee today.

El Salvador Finca La Fany Bourbon is a lovely surprise. More acidity than I expected, with flavours of lemon and peach. But as the cup cooled more buttery tones, even a little caramel. Creamy mouthfeel improved with cooling as well. This is a complex cup with plenty going on - highly recommended!

Please pass this on to anyone you think may be both interested and suitable. Further information can be obtained at http://www.stjamesaudley.co.uk/job.php.

Thanks to Graham Wintle for this one: friend, my vicar 10 years ago, now at St Stephen’s Willoughby in Sydney

A stone can affect a river in one of two ways. It can cause the waters to ripple – in slight, but intriguing ways. Or it can be a large boulder that diverts the entire course of the river.

You have to love Microsoft Word’s “smart tags” feature.

Liberalism is no longer spoken of as a church tradition. Does this mean that it no longer exists? Quite the reverse. It's on a mission to take over entirely, eclipsing all the previous churchmanships within the Anglican church. Read on to see what I mean

Thanks to Marc Lloyd for this one.

Doug Wilson is very helpful in articulating with clarity a Calvinist view of the Lord's Supper.

In a nutshell: Are the bread and wine that we share just bread and wine? His answer is: Yes... In the same sense in which the words on the page of the Bible are just words on a page.

The comments beneath his post are as worth reading as the post itself, because they clarify precisely what he is and is not saying.

I love the fact that the Egyptian magicians think it is clever to copy the first few plagues. (They run out of steam when it gets to the gnats).

The Egyptians "grow weary of drinking water from the Nile" (7:18 - !), because it is turned to blood. So the Egyptians produce... more blood.

Pharaoh is pleading (not very dignified for a king of Egypt, 8:8) with Moses and Aaron to take away the frogs. But that's alright - his magicians can produce... more frogs.

I mean: What use is more blood and more frogs?! The one thing they cannot copy is Yahweh's ability to take away the plagues. Thus it's clear, even from plague 1, that Yahweh is without rival in Egypt.

There are many temporal expressions of God's anger in today's world. The false gods we all serve to varying degree can replicate many of these expressions of anger. But there is no god in the world, except the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who can take away the anger of God.

I don’t know whether this week’s Church Times’ reporting of the Exeter CU (sic) debate is accurate or not. But:

The ECU had hoped to have a ruling overturned that had forced it to add the word ‘Evangelical’ to its title. Instead, it had its Student Union bank account frozen, and was banned from free use of Student Guild premises, or advertising events within the Guild.

The new equal-opportunities policy was introduced this term by the Students’ Guild. The Guild told the ECU that it failed to meet the criteria because of a doctrinal statement that all speakers and committee members have to sign.

The Guild asked that other people who did not abide by the statement should be on the ECU committee.