Why We're 'Ere

Two great Trinity quotes from the great Jonathan Edwards. Note that Edwards uses "end" here primarily in the sense of "goal":

"God created the world for his Son, that he might prepare a spouse or bride for him to bestow his love upon; so that the mutual joys between this bride and bridegroom are the end of creation" (Works, 13, p. 372; Misc. no. 271).

"This spouse of the Son of God, the bride, the Lamb's wife, the completeness of him who filleth all in all, that for which all the universe was made. Heaven and earth were created that the Son of God might be complete in a spouse." (Misc. no. 103).

That last quote will sound heretical in some ears - that the Son of God was incomplete without a Bride, but I think (and others may have better answers) the point is not that the Son of God is deficient in some way until he receives the church - I was single for the best part of 33 years, but never considered myself sub-human as a result - rather that love finds its ultimate expression in giving and sharing. And so in drawing the church up into the life of God, Christ gives new and fuller expression to the perfect love that has eternally flowed from him.

Sometimes you just have to say there is a beautiful mystery to all this...

Poking at Our Prejudices

Are you one of those people who assumes that churches which have a high liturgical content have more nominal Christians in them than the "Free" non-liturgical churches?

If so, let Peter Leithart make you think again...

There’s a widespread instinct that the higher a church’s liturgy, the more apt a church is to be full of lukewarm nominal believers. Mainline liturgical churches like the ELCA, ECUSA, PCUSA are, it is argued, full of people who know nothing of the Bible and little of Jesus, and they have high liturgical traditions.

Of course, correlation does not prove causation. And there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. Anyone who thinks only high church traditions are afflicted with nominal believers should spend some time in the Bible Belt, where there’s a low-church nominal Baptist everywhere you look, a Baptist who stepped into a revival meeting 25 years ago and got himself saved.

The rest of the article is here.

Jane Austen - A Heavenly Sister

Source: alresford.org

Elli is a fan of Jane Austen, and yesterday I took her to Jane Austen's house.

In one of the bedrooms, my eye fell upon an abridged version of the prayer below. One to be read in the evening, written by the late Miss Austen and framed on the wall. It read thus:

Give us grace, Almighty Father, so to pray, as to deserve to be heard, to address thee with our Hearts, as with our lips. Thou art every where present, from Thee no secret can be hid. May the knowledge of this, teach us to fix our Thoughts on Thee, with Reverence and Devotion that we pray not in vain. 

Peppa Cochon

This is about the extent of what I can intellectually manage on a Friday night, but if you fancy swatting up on your old French classes - then take a look:

Getting Engaged... Take Two

Take two is not a reference to the fact I had to ask Elli twice to marry me, but that I hit publish on this post before I meant to. For most, ney all of you, that fact won't make a blind bit of difference to your life, but it did briefly appear as a ghost post on a number of people's blogrolls and on Facebook.

I had planned to propose to Elli in the half term holiday. She twigged that I must be up to something, I had proposed (informally) regularly up to that point so it was only a matter of time.

After some detective work and help from trusted female colleagues, I bought the ring and formulated a fairly fluid plan of action.  The Friday of half term week, we went to my parents' house for lunch. On the way, we stopped at the little village church where my parents met during a wedding, after 5 years of moving in different worlds and where love sprung into life for them. Elli knew this and was visibly excited - but no proposal was forth-coming. I admit, it was a deliberate tease.

Sermon Notes: Come Everything is Ready

If you’re an outsider looking in on a church, communion is an odd ritual isn’t it? Symbolizing cannibalism - eating Jesus’ body and drinking his blood? Moreover, if it is only a memorial (a remembrance), aren’t there better ways to remember? E.g. bible reading, DVD watching, worship CD listening?

Do You Worship God Like the Devil?

The Devil worships Jesus. Did you know that?  Jonathan Edwards explains...

The Devil once seemed to be religious from fear of torment. Luke 8:28, 'When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Son of the most High? I beseech thee, torment me not!' Here is external worship. The devil is religious; he prays: he prays in humble posture; he falls down before Christ, he lies prostrate, he prays earnestly, he cries with a loud voice; he uses humble expressions - 'I beseech thee, torment me not' - he uses respectful, honourable, adoring expressions - 'Jesus thou Son of God Most High. Nothing was wanting [lacking] but love.

We imitate the devil when we sing loud, pray loud, lift our hands, yet have no love for Christ, his Father and his Church.