"First of all I will confess quite freely - I believe that the Bible alone is the answer to all our questions, and that we need only to ask repeatedly and a little humbly, in order to receive the answer. One cannot simply read the Bible, like other books. One must be prepared really to enquire of it. Only thus will it reveal itself. Only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, shall we receive it. That is because in the Bible God speaks to us. And one cannot simply think about God in one's own strength, one has to enquire of him. Only if we seek him, will he answer us. Of course it is also possible to read the Bible like any other book, that is to say from the point of view of textual criticism, etc.; there is nothing to be said against that. Only that that is not the method which will reveal to us the heart of the Bible, but only the surface, just as we do not grasp the words of someone we love by taking them to bits, but by simply receiving them, so that for days they go on lingering in our minds, simply because they are the words of a person we love; and just as those words reveal more and more of the person who said them as we go on, like Mary, 'pondering them in our heart', so it will be with the words of the Bible. Only if we will venture to enter into the words of the Bible as though in them this God were speaking to us who loves us and does not will us to leave us along with our questions, only so shall we learn to rejoice in the Bible...
"And I would like to tell you now quite personally: since I have learnt to read the Bible in this way - and this has not been for very long - it becomes every day more wonderful to me. I read it in the morning and the evening, often during the day as well, and every day I consider a text I have chosen for the whole week, and try to sink deeply into it, so as really to hear what it is saying. I know that without this I could not live properly any longer."
Quoted in 'Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy' by Eric Metaxas, p 136.
Friday, 27 May 2011
Monday, 16 May 2011
A Trip to Sri Lanka
Things have been quiet here recently largely because I was in Sri Lanka for two weeks after Easter. Rarely have I been so conscious of the meaning of Paul's thanksgiving to 'the Lord who has given me strength' - physical health and stamina which enabled me to preach or teach (through interpreters) some 26 times in the time I was there, including sessions at the youth conference (four studies on Jonah and two from Mark’s gospel), the Christian workers’ conference (twelve sessions on the doctrines of man, sin and the church) and Sunday services and Bible studies. Thankfully I suffered no illness and though tired after it all I was able to complete everything that was asked of me. The spiritual fruit must be left up to God and for this we can still pray.
Perhaps the greatest privileges in ministry were three unexpected ones: to preach at a baptism service on the beach where 27 young people were baptised – I knew this was going to happen but was not asked to preach until the evening before; to preach at a wedding in a village about 15 miles from Trincomalee; and to preach at a funeral where the immediate family was Christian but the wider family was Hindu, so 60 or more Hindus heard the gospel.
Our base was the children’s home run by the Lanka Evangelical Fellowship of Churches near Trincomalee on the north east coast of Sri Lanka. The people were predominantly Tamil Christians though some Sinhalese speakers were among us. The LEFC has 27 churches, all but two being Tamil. My travelling companions were Gary Donaldson the secretary of the LEFC in England, and Pastor Jeyekanth, its founder; Alan Peel, a young man from Liverpool came with us to help out at the children’s home. For the first week there was also a small group of young German Christians from a church in Koblenz.
Much of the strain of a trip such as this is the coping with all that is new and strange –the heat and humidity, the language, food, habits, and the sheer unpredictability of each day – ‘take things a day at a time’ has never been so meaningful. Plans would change frequently. For example the workers’ studies changed from being three each day over four days, to three days of five, three and four studies respectively.
It was not all work; we made some memorable trips into the ‘bush’ to visit village churches, and saw elephants, monkeys, snakes, buffalo and beautiful birds, all without leaving the vehicle. The last two days were spent in the tea plantation areas of Hatton, in the hill country east of Colombo and south of Kandy: beautiful scenery, tea picking and production as it has been going on for generations, and memorable fellowship with local Christians.
The crying need of this group of Reformed Baptist churches is a trained leadership. The men are good gospel men, utterly dedicated to Christ, his people and his work, their evangelistic zeal proven by the number of churches planted in the last 15 years. Yet the pastors need theological education; able young men need training and the opportunity to come through as leaders. Pray for pastor Jeyekanth as he and others wrestle with these issues.
Perhaps the greatest privileges in ministry were three unexpected ones: to preach at a baptism service on the beach where 27 young people were baptised – I knew this was going to happen but was not asked to preach until the evening before; to preach at a wedding in a village about 15 miles from Trincomalee; and to preach at a funeral where the immediate family was Christian but the wider family was Hindu, so 60 or more Hindus heard the gospel.
Our base was the children’s home run by the Lanka Evangelical Fellowship of Churches near Trincomalee on the north east coast of Sri Lanka. The people were predominantly Tamil Christians though some Sinhalese speakers were among us. The LEFC has 27 churches, all but two being Tamil. My travelling companions were Gary Donaldson the secretary of the LEFC in England, and Pastor Jeyekanth, its founder; Alan Peel, a young man from Liverpool came with us to help out at the children’s home. For the first week there was also a small group of young German Christians from a church in Koblenz.
Much of the strain of a trip such as this is the coping with all that is new and strange –the heat and humidity, the language, food, habits, and the sheer unpredictability of each day – ‘take things a day at a time’ has never been so meaningful. Plans would change frequently. For example the workers’ studies changed from being three each day over four days, to three days of five, three and four studies respectively.
It was not all work; we made some memorable trips into the ‘bush’ to visit village churches, and saw elephants, monkeys, snakes, buffalo and beautiful birds, all without leaving the vehicle. The last two days were spent in the tea plantation areas of Hatton, in the hill country east of Colombo and south of Kandy: beautiful scenery, tea picking and production as it has been going on for generations, and memorable fellowship with local Christians.
The crying need of this group of Reformed Baptist churches is a trained leadership. The men are good gospel men, utterly dedicated to Christ, his people and his work, their evangelistic zeal proven by the number of churches planted in the last 15 years. Yet the pastors need theological education; able young men need training and the opportunity to come through as leaders. Pray for pastor Jeyekanth as he and others wrestle with these issues.
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