Zachary Veron
Anglican Press Australia, Sydney, 2009. 204pp.
Pragmatism is always dangerous.
Passages like 2 Corinthians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 2:3-6 and 2 Timothy 4:3-4 warn against methods that may seem to get results and gain listeners for the message you preach.
But pragmatism is also commended.
As a middle-aged git, an aspiring baldy man, someone as uncool as you can get and a rock dinosaur, much of my wisdom is drawn from song lyrics from bands that most people under the age of 35 have never heard of. Thus, in this final blog post, I want to make the case for church history with reference to a line in a song by The Pretenders (called, I believe, ‘Hymn to Her’): “Some things change, some stay the same”. It's not too profound, I guess, but it's a critical element in the historical task, given that the very possibility of history requires some analogy between the present world in which the historian lives and the past that is being studied. Were they identical, history would be pointless, for the past would be the present; were they utterly different, history would be impossible, for there would be no way of analyzing, categorizing or describing the past. No, for history to be possible, there must be things about my world that are the same as those in the past.
My family and I have just returned from two weeks in Utah and Idaho—the areas in the USA (and possibly in the world) with the highest concentration of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). While their theology is completely graceless and works-based, it was interesting to observe the way they do things. Perhaps there are things we can learn from them.
We're in the middle of our Saturday series on church planting, and this week, Phillip Jensen, in a 1997 address, talks about the reasons why we avoid church planting.
Sandy, I am delighted of course that you are with me on so many things. And I hope you will also be pleased to know that I am with you completely on the goodness and value of singing. (In fact, the only thing I wouldn't be with you on is the need for that ‘but’ at the beginning of your second paragraph. But let's not quibble.)
As for why we don't sing more or better, and in particular why your men aren't singing, I think the Bible also points us to the answer.
Just a tip for our Sola Panel readers who are in Sydney (or who are willing to travel to Sydney): the 2009 Ministry Intensive is on 17-18 August 2009, and looks to be a really stimulating programme. Speakers are William Taylor from St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, in the City of London; Mark Dever from Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC; and our own Phillip Jensen from St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney (where the Ministry Intensive is being held).
There are more details available at: mtd.org.au.
Matthias Media will have a number of excellent new resources available at the event. So we hope to see many of you there.
It is almost a given today that history is oppressive. That is why there has been so much hoo-ha about how it is taught over the last 30 years. Everybody wants their say: if you're a woman, you need a woman's history; if you're gay, you need a queer history; if you're black, you need a black history, and so on and so forth. The making of many histories is itself a reflection of the priorities and, on occasion, the pathologies of modern society. How long, one wonders, before we get a history written from the perspective of Frank Sinatra impersonators, ginger haired people and compulsive hand-washers?
Okay, Tony, I'm with you on not calling our singing the ‘worship time’. I'm with you on not even calling our church gathering the ‘worship service’. I'm with you on wanting to avoid mere emotionalism. In fact, I also know you believe the emotions (or better, the affections) matter.
But I believe singing is important.
I believe the Bible says it's important.
This post is the second in a series designed to help you to get to know and love some of the important words used in the Bible. Today we'll clarify the meaning of ‘forensic’, and then look at what ‘righteousness’ means in the forensic setting.
There were only three of us in Bible study group the other morning, and the other two guys were both in sales—one in property and one in software. We were talking about how to encourage other people with the message of the Bible (whether Christian or non-Christian), about why we fail to do so, and so on.
I started to say that I sometimes find it difficult to talk easily about Christian things, especially with non-Christians, because I'm not a natural ‘salesman’ sort of personality—“Not like you two guys”. But one of my friends pulled me up short.
Stephen Jackson on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Sam Freney on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Marty Foord on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Dianne Howard on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Mike Bull on Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia
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Paul is one of the Staff Editors at Matthias Media. He is married to Cathy and has three fantastic kids. He loves student ministry, reading, writing music and playing the saxophone, and is looking forward to meeting Jesus face to face.
