O Christmas Tree
This year’s Christmas video from Revival in the UK is out. It’s a little quirky – yet has an excellent message. Watch and share.
Previous videos:
Christmas in Dark Place.
Santa vs. Jesus.
Retiring Dean preaching this weekend
Retiring Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, is preaching his final Sunday Sermons at St. Andrew’s Cathedral tomorrow, Sunday 21st December 2014, at 10:30am and 5:00pm.
Phillip is also preaching at the Cathedral’s Christmas Day Celebration at 10:00am on Thursday.
A unique salvation
“Article 18 of the Church of England’s 39 Articles must surely qualify as one of the most culturally unpopular of Anglicanism’s core beliefs.
Even the title is enough to upset contemporary sensitivities: ‘Of obtaining eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ.’…”
– At Church Society’s blog, Simon Scott draws our attention back to Article 18, official teaching of the Anglican Church.
Related: The Thirty Nine Articles.
Wise Judgements
“For many years biblical scholars have baulked at the idea that Jesus was a transcendent figure and have busied themselves redefining him in humanistic terms.
Is this due to the ‘secular’ spirit of the age that airbrushes the Almighty from the public square?
For a period in early the twentieth century some thought there was little we could know about Jesus, for example, in 1934 Rudolph Bultmann declared, ‘We can now know almost nothing about the life and personality of Jesus’. The pendulum has swung back so that in 1985 Ed. Sanders could say, ‘We can know pretty well what Jesus was out to accomplish… we can know a lot about what he said…’.”
– New Testament scholar Bishop Paul Barnett has published some fascinating work he’s been doing on the judgements of Jesus.
‘Logic on Fire’ trailer
At The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor shares the trailer for a forthcoming film, “Logic On Fire: the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones”.
Reform Statement on the appointment of the first CofE woman bishop
“Members of the Reform network will be praying for the Rev Libby Lane and for the Diocese of Chester in the light of the announcement. Whilst not surprised by this appointment we are very concerned about the strain it will put on local diocesan relationships.
Rod Thomas, Chairman of Reform, said,
“We have known since July that the Church of England would seek to appoint women to the episcopate – against the biblical model of good church leadership. Though it grieves us, it comes as no surprise. We pray that the Bishop of Chester will uphold the promises made in July and enable the many thriving conservative evangelical churches in his Diocese to continue to serve their communities with theological integrity under the oversight of a male bishop.”
This appointment is an outworking of the decision of the majority of General Synod, which also dedicated itself to enabling evangelicals to flourish and we trust that the House of Bishops will uphold that commitment in the coming months as women are appointed to these senior roles.”
– from Reform.
“Christmas speaks more loudly than ever” — Hope and Prayer service at St. Andrew’s
“A packed service of Hope and Prayer for Sydney has shown the depth of feeling, shock and mourning after the siege in Sydney’s Martin Place in which two people died…”
– Report from SydneyAnglicans.net.
Includes links to news reports, and the audio of Archbishop Glenn Davies’ sermon.
First woman Bishop in the Church of England
“Downing Street have today announced that the new Bishop of Stockport – and the first woman bishop in the Church of England – will be the Revd Libby Lane, currently Vicar of St Peter’s, Hale, and St Elizabeth’s, Ashley.
As Bishop of Stockport she will serve as a suffragan (assistant) bishop in the Diocese of Chester. She will be consecrated as the 8th Bishop of Stockport at a ceremony at York Minster on Monday 26 January 2015…”
– from The Church of England. Video message from the bishop-designate.
Related: Writing as an outsider to Anglicanism, Jeremy Walker at Reformation21 asks if evangelical Anglicans need to make a stand.
More than 120 people killed in Taliban attack on Pakistan school
“At least 126 people have been killed and 122 injured in an attack by Taliban militants on a Pakistani high school.”
– ABC News report on the attack in Peshawar.
George Whitefield @ 300
“Today, three hundred years ago, on December 16, 1714, was born the man Martyn Lloyd-Jones said was ‘beyond any question, the greatest English preacher who has ever lived”. The great Bishop J. C. Ryle had said, ‘No Englishman … dead or alive, has ever equalled him.’…”
– Sandy Grant at The Briefing gives thanks for George Whitefield – and also provides some links to learn more.
Related:
Church Society has a lecture by Lee Gatiss which some of the opposition Whitefield faced, and puts it into its 18th century context.
Hear the audio of the talks given at the Whitefield Symposium at George Whitefield College in Cape Town in August 2014. (You may need to scroll down in the list of audio files.)
Hope and Prayer for Sydney
“The Governor of NSW, General David Hurley, and Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione will attend a special service at 6pm, Wednesday 17th December in St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney Square, in the aftermath of the Martin Place siege.
The service of Hope of Prayer is open to all and will include prayers for victims’ families and friends, police and emergency services and media.
The service will be led by the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies.”
– from SydneyAnglicans.net.
Update: 2UE’s Andrew Voss spoke this morning – Wednesday December 17 – with Archbishop Dr Glenn Davies about the upcoming service. (h/t SydneyAnglicans.)
Moses without the Supernatural
“What is missing is the very point of the Exodus in biblical history and theology. What is missing is the truth that God acted in history in faithfulness to the covenant he had made with Abraham, rescuing Israel from captivity in Egypt.”
– Thinking of seeing Exodus: Gods and Kings? Albert Mohler has a review.
Pray for the Hostages
From Anglican Media Sydney:
The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, has urged all Christians to pray for the safety of the hostages in the Martin Place siege and for police and security forces dealing with the situation.
Dr Davies issued a statement this afternoon, commending the swift action of police.
“It is alarming when terrorism reaches our shores but that alarm reaches a new height when it occurs in the centre of the city in which so many people live and work.”
“I was heartened by the swift response of our police and security officials. We are well served by Commissioner Scipione and his team” Archbishop Davies said “Premier Mike Baird is right when he describes this as a test for this city and for our peaceful, democratic way of life.”
“We must pray urgently for the outcome of the siege. I ask Sydney Anglicans, and all Christians, to pray for the safety of those still held hostage, for the police and security forces working so hard to protect lives, and for the speedy delivery of justice for those who would seek to invade our world with such a doctrine of hate and violence.”
– source.
Christmas mission, Christmas transmission
“For years I’ve been wrestling with how we might ever attract non-Christians to willingly engage with media that communicates the gospel. And then it hit me. The one time non-Christians do want to engage with the Christian message is at Christmas – and there’s no starker example of this than the church carol service. But there’s more. Each Christmas I’ve also heard media channels such as Classic FM playing lots of carols amongst their regular programming, even taking requests for carols!
How interesting that the Christmas story is being broadcast on secular media, to a Christmas-hungry audience. And so after years of wondering, an idea was born – Christmas Carols Radio…”
– Ben Vane, studying at Oak Hill College in London, had a great idea.
Check out Christmas Carols Radio and pass on the URL to your friends in time for Christmas.
[We first posted this link in October. Now’s the time to mention the site to your friends!]
Naive?
“The Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent remarks are once again somewhat puzzling. One question that comes to mind is whether he really believes this statement that he made: ‘I could see circumstances in which there could be people moving apart and then coming back together.’ …
The problem with looking at tertiary issues is they are often the result of more basic disagreements which in the final analysis have far more leverage on the Anglican Communion. It is my contention that the authority of Holy Scripture as noted in 2 Timothy 3:16 and the person and work of Jesus Christ are actually the primary points of disagreement, though the so-called progressive wing of the Anglican Communion, and indeed the leadership of much of the Western church will not acknowledge it. …
If Archbishop Justin Welby actually thinks that the tertiary issues ARE the issues and in the fullness of time we can all come back together, forgetting the punishment that the Episcopal Church inflicted on those members who chose to depart, and all drink tea and sing Kumbaya together, he is at best naive.”
– Bishop David C. Anderson, President and Chairman of the American Anglican Council, writes in his weekly commentary.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…