Selling our birthright for a mess of pottage

John Stott writes in the introduction to his Canticles and Selected Psalms in the Prayer Book Commentaries series:

Christian worship would be almost inconceivable without singing. During the service of Morning Prayer, for instance, the average Anglican congregation sings at least seven times – three hymns, three canticles, and a psalm.

I have written elsewhere why I am an Anglican, but as a matter of personal testimony, it was the liturgy which reintroduced me to Anglicanism when I was seventeen or eighteen. After squash on a Wednesday afternoon, I got in a little before four o’clock, and one week I tuned in to Radio 3 and heard a broadcast of Choral Evensong. For the first time I heard the Psalms properly sung. I dug out an old Prayer Book from my mother’s wardrobe and followed along. And I just kept listening, week after week. When I came up to university, I went to an Anglican church where I discovered that the Church of England wasn’t entirely dead but that there were still evangelicals in it, and that they were the ones who stood in direct succession to the Reformers.

However, it is a lamentable fact that the evangelicals who insist most loudly that they are the true Anglicans theologically tend to be those who have strayed most of all from the great, profound, Biblical, Anglican liturgical heritage. All we are left with is a pick-and-mix approach to the Anglican liturgy: one week we might say the Lord’s Prayer, another week we might say the Apostles’ Creed. The closest we get to a canticle is occasionally singing “Tell out my soul” by Timothy Dudley-Smith. I would suggest that forsaking the liturgical inheritance which we have received from men like Thomas Cranmer is to our detriment. I have written repeatedly elsewhere about singing the Psalms in corporate worship, and so I want to focus on the canticles, specifically the Benedictus (Zechariah’s Song: Luke 1.68-79) , the Magnificat (Mary’s Song: Luke 1.46-55) and the Nunc Dimittis (Simeon’s Song: Luke 2.29-32).

Over the past couple of months, I have been following the pattern of the Book of Common Prayer in my devotional times. It has a lot to commend it – the BCP lectionary suggests a pair of Bible readings in the morning and evening, taking one through the Old Testament and Revelation once in a year, and the rest of the New Testament twice, and going through the Psalter once a month. The canticles occupy the place of songs of praise in response to God’s word. What has particularly struck me is how helpful the canticles are in developing a biblical theology: these Scriptural songs celebrate the pattern of God’s salvation seen in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, patterns which echo throughout the whole Bible. Reading, saying or singing the canticles regularly attunes one to these patterns which find their ultimate fulfilment in the Christ. I am sure there are more examples of this than there are grains of sand on the seashore, but here are some recent examples to illustrate my point.

In the Benedictus, we praise God for how ‘he has raised up a horn of salvation for us’ that ‘we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.’ At the beginning of the book of Judges, we read that ‘the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them’ (2.16) and ‘whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies’ (2.18).

In the Magnificat, we read how God ‘he has filled the hungry with good things’, and in the story of Ruth, we learn that God has visited his people (also echoing Luke 1.68: ‘He has visited and redeemed his people) and provided food for them. We also sing “he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate” and in 1 Samuel, we see how God removes the kingship from Saul who rebels against his word, and instead chooses David, the youngest son of Jesse, the one who keeps the sheep, to be his anointed king. In the book of Esther, too, Mordecai’s elevation and Haman’s execution are more examples of God bringing down the mighty from their thrones and exalting those of humble estate, and although God is not directly mentioned in the book, the preservation of the Jews in the book as a whole makes the point that “He has helped his servant Israel in rememberance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever”, saving them from the hand of their enemies and showing them “the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant”.

The Nunc Dimittis beautifully ends the day, and can be a fitting response to readings such as Romans 3.21-26 as it was at Evensong a few months ago now. Simeon was able to depart in peace in the sense that he could die happily because he had seen the Lord’s Christ as he had been promised. We too may sing it at the end of the day in that we can sleep happily having seen God’s salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ if we’re Christian believers, with our sleep being both a picture of death, and also the time of greatest vulnerability where it is the knowledge of the salvation that we have in Christ which enables us to sleep peacefully, whatever may potentially befall us.

James B. Jordan’s words remind us of the significance of liturgy in enabling us to understand the Bible correctly:

Ancient and medieval literature abounds in numerical symbolism, large parallel structures, intricate chiastic devices, astral allusions, sweeping metaphors, typological parallels and symbolism in general… When the Psalms were at the center of the Church’s worship, Biblical symbolism was much better understood because the Psalter abounds in it… The traditional liturgies of the Church, being thoroughly grounded in Scripture, communicated Biblical symbolism… This has disappeared from the modern… Church, and the result is that it is much harder for us to read the Bible accurately. – Through New Eyes pp. 14-15

Nehemiah 2-3

Click below for the recording of the sermon I preached at Morning Prayer at St. James’s, Poole, on Sunday 22nd June.

Nehemiah 2-3 (27:03, 6.19MB)

(Apologies for the poor recording quality.)

Sermon Outline: Nehemiah 2-3

For Morning Prayer, St. James’ Poole, Sunday 22nd June 2008.

Introduction

The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build. - Nehemiah 2.20

A recent report has found that the Government has shown a lack of understanding of, or interest in the contribution of the Church of England, and has consciously decidd to focus almost exclusively on minority religions. This, the Communities Secretary said, was common sense. ‘We live in a secular democracy.’ One bishop replied, “That comes as news to me – we have an established Church, but the Government can’t deal with Christianity.” This comes on the heels of the Bishop of Rochester’s article about the steep decline of Christian values and influence in society. What part does the church have to play in the public life of our nation? It’s an important question, as the present situation could lead us to despair, withdraw or give up, or make us think it’s not worth bothering with as there’s no future. Nehemiah 2-3 forces us to consider the question: it’s a drama about kings, queens, governors, armies, high office, accusations of political subversion, and the servance of God. It first shows us the right perspective on the church and the society in which it exists:

1. God’s power extends over earthly rulers (Nehemiah 2.1-8 )

The plight of God’s people and city (Jerusalem) moved Nehemiah to tears, fasting and prayer. God’s city is at the heart of his purposes for healing our broken and divided world: it’s a community, a society where his transforming rule is known and flows to the end of the earth. To Nehemiah that looked as though it was in tatters. As he discharges his duties, his grief shows through, the king notices it, doesn’t appear to have much time for it, and leaves Nehemiah very afraid (v. 2). This is understandable: he’s being rebuked by the king of one of the greatest empires the world had yet seen. Nehemiah gives his reason (v. 3), the king realises something’s up and asks him what he wants, Nehemiah realises this is his opportunity, and prays (v. 4), the culmination of a time of extended prayer in chapter 1. He had prayed for favour in the sight of the king, which seems to be going through his mind as he replies (v. 5). They discuss details and timings, and then it pleases the king to send him. If that’s not extraordinary enough, he asks for a passport (v. 7) and building materials (v. 8 ) and gets them all, as well as an army (v. 9). It’s like the PM giving the doorman at No. 10 permission to rebuild Pompeii, and giving him a blank cheque from the Treasury and an armed escort. It’s inconceivable. Nehemiah tells us why it happened. God did it. He answered his prayers. He overrules the decisions of one of the most powerful kings the world had yet seen, in order that through one of his people he might build his city. See Proverbs 21.1. This matters profoundly for Poole in June 2008. From those who returned to the rebuilt city came Christ, and living this side of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, God’s city is no longer limited to one physical place in the Middle East, but is a heavenly city, the community of those who through faith in Christ, because he bore God’s right judgement on sin when he died on the cross, have been brought into fellowship with God the Holy Trinity. That city is visible in local congregations like St. James, into which we’re admitted in baptism. See Hebrews 12.22-24. It’s in the church that people know Chrit and his rule and are transformed by his word by the Holy Spirit to live how God intended us to live, rightly relating to him and to one another. So this section of Nehemiah 2 has much to say to us here, today, as we think about the part the church has to play in the public life of our nation and how we relate to our society: God rules even over the most powerful earthly authorities, and exercises his rule to establish and build his city, the church founded on Jesus Christ in this world, through which the world finds rescue and restoration. Nehemiah 2 is a part of that work and in a small way foreshadows it. That has implications.

2. God’s people can serve with courage and boldness (Nehemiah 2.8-20)

Nehemiah sets out and gets through passport control (v. 9) and building takes place in the context of opposition from those who do not want the promotion of the security and prosperity of God’s people (v. 10). Nevertheless he is conscious that God is over and above it all, achieving his purposes – it was God who moved Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem in the first place (v. 12) – so undeterred in the face of opposition, he embarks on a commando operation to survey the ruins in order to being the building work, which is top-secret, happens in the dead of night, with the minimum of equipment, and is not easy (vv. 12-14). Despite the shadow of opposition, he goes public, reminding the people of the problem and the derison they suffer (v. 17), and when he tells them how God is at work behind it all, and even the king is within his power and has allowed and resourced the project, the people say, “Let us rise up and build,” and they strengthened their hands for the good work. Trouble intensifies – they are laughed at and threatened, yet Nehemiah doesn’t back down. He doesn’t argue that what he’s doing is legitimate (although he could have). The point is that he knows God is ruler of all, his power extends over all, he has promised to restore his city, and so he and his people are confident to do the work of rebuilding, because God will make it prosper (v. 20). These kinds of opposition are modern – it’s a source of displeasure to people if the church prospers as it’s uncomfortable to hear the gospel message and it’s uncomfortable when Christians by their lives show up the self-centredness of the world and its morals which fall short of God’s standards. The church is a source of laughter – in the light of science, we are thought of as primitive, and in our weakness, divisions and lack of influence, we are thought to have no future and to be wasting our time. The accusation of rebellion against the king is very contemporary, e.g. the experience of the two preachers in Birmingham recently. The challenge to us is to allow what we have seen of God’s power over the rulers of the earth to penetrate our hearts and minds, allow it to move us to defy those who don’t like what we stand for, who write us off, who oppose us in the name of a tolerance which tolerates everything except Biblical Christianity, and so be stirred up to be involved in that work to build God’s city, that his kingdom would come and his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. No matter what temporary blips there are along the way, God will make the work prosper. Those who oppose the building of God’s city will not have a share in its future. When God rescued the people, he gave them the Promised Land as their inheritance and each family had a portion of the land as their possession for ever, and the abundance of the land and rest in the land was God’s blessing and gift for them to enjoy, their spiritual inheritance. Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, because of their opposition to the building of Jerusalem, will not have an inheritance or place in it, and will not enjoy God’s blessing. It may be that there are some for whom that is a warning: like them you’re not on board with God’s plan of building his church, whether it offends you, you find it laughable, or whether your priorities are to follow the priorities of society. God will make his plan prosper. One day Christ will return and bring it to completion, God will ‘wipe away every tear’, ‘death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more’. If you have not supported the building of God’s city, then you will be shut out from the experience and enjoyment of those things in eternity. See Matthew 12.30. You need to turn back to Christ, seek refuge in him as your saviour, and become one of his servants, and you’ll be forgiven, included in his people, and given a share of that great inheritance when God’s city is built.

What does this courageous and bold service look like in practice?

3. God’s city is built by his varied servants (Nehemiah 3)

Nehemiah takes us on a circular tour of the walls. All kinds of people are involved in the building – priests (v. 1), goldsmiths and perfumers (v. 8), rulers (v. 9), temple servants (v. 26), merchants (v. 32). In the building of God’s city, there is something for everyone to do, whatever your status or occupation. There is no one for whom the work of building God’s church is above them or beneath them. The city is built as people serve in their immediate contexts. People build opposite their own house (vv. 23, 28-30). It’s built as you and I in our own little spheres of influence speak about Christ and live in obedience to him. It’s looking for that opportunity to just say something about our faith to a colleague at work or a neighbour down the shop, or inviting a friend to a course explaining the Christian message. It’s living distinctively at work, not engaging in the gossip, and showing love for and serving our colleagues in a practical way. It’s growing in personal holiness, battling against that particular sin, whether in our thoughts or acted out, as God answers the prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” All these are ways in which the community, the society is build where Christ and his transforming rule are known and experienced. This is not just about us as individuals (v. 12). Whole families are involved in the work. This is a perspective that we perhaps need to regain that runs through the whole Bible, OT and NT. God promises to be God to us and to our children (which is why we baptise our children). The expectation is for us to bring up our children to know and trust him from their earliest days, telling them about him and what he has done and how we should respond to him, praying to God that he would be at work in them. Our homes are to be places where Christ is known, and trusted, and obeyed, established as little communities over which Christ is king. Just like termites we see on nature programmes, small but diverse, each fulfilling their own particular function, creating huge colonies and building complex nests, so in all our different walks of life, with all our different skills and abilities, as we witness to Christ by our words and actions in our own lives, as we bring up our families to know and trust Christ, mundane though our lives may appear to be, small though our efforts may seem, those are efforts that take place alongside many other people, and God’s city will be built.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Household Liturgy

I have the pleasure to eat regularly with a family from church who begin their weekly Sabbath meal delightfully with a Sabbath liturgy consisting of a toast, a little catechism, blessings for the family and a prayer. For no particular reason, here is a short liturgy with a bit of an Anglican flavour.

Catechism

1. What is the fourth commandment?
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

2. How is the Sabbath day to be kept holy?
On it you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

3. Why is the Sabbath day to be kept holy?
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

4. Why else is the Sabbath day to be kept holy?
You shall remember that you were a slave and the Lord your God brought you out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

5. Why do Christians keep the Sabbath on the first day of the week?
On the first day of the week Jesus rose again from the dead, rescuing us from slavery to sin and death and resting from his work of new creation.

Responses

The Lord is gracious and merciful
Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love

The Lord is good to all
And his mercy is over all that he has made

The eyes of all look to you
And you give them their food in due season

You open your hand
You satisfy the desire of every living thing

(Psalm 145.8-9, 15-16)

Collect

O God who causes grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden his heart, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen his heart, we who believe and know the truth receive this food with thanksgiving, for everything created by you is good, and is made holy by your word and prayer, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, the living bread who came down from heaven, and gave himself for the life of the world. Amen

University Sermon by Tom Wright

Does ‘Thou shalt not covet’ apply to ministers’ studies?

Click HERE for possibly the most exhilarating sermon I’ve heard this year, preached by the Rt Rev Dr Tom Wright in Oxford on June 1st.

Isaiah 11

So far in Isaiah 6-10, we have seen a number of problems with God’s people. King Ahaz is characterised by unbelief (7.12), they fear things other than the Lord (8.12-13), the Northern Kingdom is characterised by pride (9.9), false teaching (9.16), devouring one another (9.21) and gross injustice (10.1). As a result, there will be destruction of the land (10.23).

However, there have been glimmers of hope – the ‘holy seed’ of 6.13, Immanuel of chapters 7 and 8, the child who will reign on David’s throne whose government will be ever increasing (9.6-7) and who will establish an era of peace, justice and righteousness, and the remnant of 10.20.

The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ prophesied in Isaiah 11 in many ways continues that trajectory of hope and provides the solution to those problems. He is the Spirit-anointed king (v. 2), descended from Jesse (v. 1), who will be wise, understanding and might, whose fear is in the Lord (vv. 2-3) who reigns and judges justly (vv. 3-4). The ‘fruit’ that the branch from the roots of Jesse bears is described in the terms of a vivid metaphor in vv. 6-9. We shouldn’t be surprised at this kind of language, given the genre of this section of Isaiah. It is poetry, after all. We have already had lots of imagery – Assyria is a bee and a razor (ch. 7), a mighty river (ch. 8), a forest (ch. 10). Moreover, similar language is used in ch. 65, which also talks about the longevity of the people – ‘the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed’. I think there is good grounds for thinking that Isaiah 11.6-9 is therefore not talking about the new creation which will be established when Christ returns, but about the present reign of the Messiah. Isaiah 65.17 speaks of this state of affairs as a new heavens and a new earth – through Christ’s reign, the new creation is being established now, on this earth, although it will only be fully consummated when Christ returns. Richard Sibbes has this to say about this portion of Scripture:

“It, by way of prophecy, foretelleth what shall be the fruits of Christ’s kingdom under the gospel, shewing that miraculous change Christ should make upon men, shadowed out in the scripture under the similitude of beasts, as lions, wolves, bears, leopards, &c. The sum whereof is, that God will take from us that fierceness, malignity, and bitterness of nature in us, and bring us, in place thereof, to a loving, sweet, mild, and meek society together.” - Works vii, p. 129

The reason for this is in v. 9. Sibbes goes on to say:

“And this is the reason which is added why there shall be no hurt nor destroying in all this holy mountain, because the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea; meaning there shall then be an abundant knowledge, which shall keep everyone within their limits, everyone knowing his duty, so maintaining a mutual peace in all this holy mountain.” - Works vii, p. 129-130

The earth being filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea will be seen in the gospel age. The time when that happens, is the time when the nations shall enquire of the root of Jesse who stands as a signal for the peoples (v. 10), when the nations, and the exiles of Israel, are gathered together as one (v. 12) under him. The apostle Paul describes God’s mercy to the Gentiles through the gospel as the fulfilling of this prophecy. Christ’s resting-place, that is, where he reigns, will be glorious (v. 10). We have seen how the Northern and Southern kingdoms were hostile to one another. That will come to an end (v. 13). This is described in terms of those who rally to the signal the Lord has raised – Christ – conquering and plundering and ruling over the Gentile nations (v. 14). This is a second exile, described again in poetic terms (vv. 15-16).

In terms of the implications of the text, it holds out hope for God’s people still living very much in a society like that described in chapters 6-10. It impresses upon us the goodness of Christ’s reign and the transformation he brings in people’s lives, which should increase our love for him. It should humble us when our behaviour is out of tune with the behaviour that characterises Christ kingdom and cause us to repent and pray for him to change us. It should strengthen our trust in and commitment to the Lord Jesus – he is the signal the Lord has raised for the peoples, that they may flock to him and know his blessing. It should give us confidence in our evangelism, to know that in the long-term, there will be much fruit. And it should motivate our prayers: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” is what we should be praying for the world now.

Covenant Grace In Utero

“Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.” – Psalm 22.9-10

I was studying Psalm 22 with a younger brother at the weekend, and what we noticed was that in David’s distress, a pattern ultimately written large in the suffering of Christ upon the cross, one source of comfort for him, one ground for prayer for deliverance, was his past relationship with God. God had been committed to him from his mother’s womb and so he could faithfully pray, “Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.” Psalm 71.5-6 makes the same point.

It is the normative experience for someone born in the covenant community to grow up trusting in the Triune God and knowing him as his God. This is what God promised Abraham in Genesis 17.7: “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.” It springs entirely from God’s grace. David says, “You made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.” It is on this basis that we baptise our infants, giving them the sign and seal of God’s covenant, formally establishing that relationship. It is on this basis that we can say with the Prayer Book, on the principle of charitable assumption grounded on the word of God, “We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Infant with thy holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own Child by adoption, and to incorporate him into thy holy Church.”

It must therefore be concluded (and this saddens me, for I have dear friends who are of this persuasion) that a conversionist and antipaedobaptist approach to those born within the covenant community, in which they are regarded and reared as outsiders, unbelievers and unregenerate, until such time as they reach a point where they pray a prayer of repentance and commit their lives to Christ, withholding baptism from them until profession of faith, is profoundly out of tune with the hope and experience held before us in the Psalter, to the detriment of their faith and comfort in later suffering.

But it was a great joy on the Lord’s Day, at the annual river baptism service, amongst all the students and similarly aged people being baptised, to hear one family declare their intention for their infant daughter to be a Christian, their belief that the Bible teaches that children should be brought up from their earliest days to know and trust the Lord, and that baptism in the Bible marks the beginning of that process, and consequently their desire for her to be baptised.

On earth as it is in heaven

Can anyone explain the vesture here?

This morning I went to the University Sermon, where the Rt Rev Dr N. T. Wright was preaching, and he was absolutely superb. He is a gripping preacher and I could listen to him for hours.

He began by mentioning that he seems to come down to Oxford or London only to lament the lack of interest in ministry in the North. His staff in Durham are having a meeting tomorrow about how the needs for the ministry of word and sacrament, and evangelism are going to be met in the diocese. When posts become available, few apply for them. This is in considerable contrast to the situation in Dorset and other such places. Part of the problem is that the church centrally is trying to reduce the number of stipendiary clergy. Rich dioceses can afford to ignore this and pay for however many clergy they want. Poor dioceses, like Durham, have to abide by the rules, otherwise they will go bankrupt. To approach this problem, one has to consider it against the bigger picture of God’s kingdom.

At this point, he identified two kinds of Christians, gospel Christians and epistle Christians. Gospel Christians tend to read the gospels, and see all that Jesus is doing and make that paradigmatic for what the coming of the kingdom should look like. The epistles get neglected. It’s the position of modern liberalism. Wright recounted the story of the time when he was chaplain of Worcester College and the Provost asked him what his DPhil was about. When he replied, “St. Paul,” the Provost answered, “He was a wicked man.” Epistle Christians on the other hand focus on Paul’s letters and treat the gospels as merely illustrative material. Conservative evangelicals tend to occupy that position. They are wary of the gospel Christians because it has the potential to undermine justification by faith. They emphasise those parts of Scripture that supports their system of saving sinners from the world and use the gospels to illustrate those truths. Despite claiming a high view of Scripture, this doesn’t do justice to the Scriptures at all. Evangelicals have had more in common with Bultmann than they realise. With regard to the NT reading, Luke 8.4-15, they would point out that it is the word that is being spread; we have to preach the message about how people can be saved. The gospel Christians would say that Luke 8.4-15 is abot the word of the kingdom, so we need to get on with transforming society. The gospel Christian position is itself inadequate, no better than social work with a pious face. Wright acknowledged that he was generalising and caricaturing here.

It is about time the gospels and the epistles were brought together. To do that, we need to consider the great biblical themes of new creation and covenant. Genesis 1 is programmatic. This fallen world is being redeemed: Luke 8, like Genesis 1-2 are about seed being sown and bearing fruit. The renewal of the covenant is described in creation terms. The Old Testament reading we had – Ruth 2 – points to this – abundance and fruitfulness. Paul’s letters are full of new creation allusions, according to Wright, but to unpack that would take a whole series of lectures. As Wright said, “Another time.” As in the Lord’s Prayer, this reality is to be increasingly known now, on earth as it is in heaven. But it will not come through our own attempts to make the world just a little bit better than it is now. It is new creation, and it comes as people are redeemed and transformed through the gospel message. The doctrine of new creation is like Nelson looking out and keeping the hordes who advocate a two-tier universe (being saved from the earth for heaven) at bay.

The heart of the new creation is the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Evangelicals have tended to have the wrong emphasis on the resurrection – proof that there is life beyond death, or a purely individulised affect on personal outlook and behaviour. Yes, it is about those things, but it is about new creation. Liberals on the other hand, in seeking to demythologise the resurrection, have removed the theological, ontological and epistomological foundation of their own movement.

This has massive implications. It has implications for the poor, for example, those communities with third-generation male unemployment, those scarred by the closure of the pits. The seed must be sown there. As Ruth 2 indicates, the poor and the foreigner find abundance in God’s new creation. Those who hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and patient heart, and bear fruit and serve the Lord do not have to live sixty miles from London! Wright also pointed out implications for third-world debt and climate change. The former I am not certain of the details and the second I am unconvinced about, but the principle that these things matter to God is, I think sound. He left the rest of the application to us. When we sow the word of the kingdom, it will be plucked from some, others will receive it joyfully at first and then fall away, others will be choked by the cares of the world, but in yet others it will bear fruit, and it is through this that the world is renewed.

Overall, I think it was entirely fair. Evangelicals and liberals rightly got beaten up by Wright in his sermon. A couple of things to be concerned about have been highlighted by a learned minister of the word. Wright has a tendency to identify two errors and then present his view as the solution to them. Also, while error is error, the consequences of the liberals’ error, rejecting the gospel of salvation from sin, are different to the consequence of the evangelicals’ error, while they were presented as equivalent. I think that’s a fair representation of what he said. If anyone was there and wants to add or correct something, please do. I’m hoping there’ll be a transcript to which I can link in the near future.

I was very impressed by the good bishop. Now I need to read properly some things he has written on justification so I can get my head around that. But on the new creation and resurrection, he is excellent.