Book review: ‘Proclaiming Christ’
“The past two hundred years of human history has seen the rise of so-called ‘modern’ thinking, which has created unprecedented challenges for Christians around the world.
As it stands, our current society is underpinned by a subjective approach to truth – emotions determine worldviews; objective biblical standards are labelled extremist; and unalterable biological realities like one’s own gender are contested on the grounds of personal feelings. In turn, this subjectivity has accompanied religious pluralism, as no revelation from God can be considered objectively true, because nothing is objectively true.
Against this cultural backdrop, believers are constantly in need of reminders to keep preaching Christ crucified. As a compilation of Packer’s 1978 lectures at Moore Theological College on Common Objections Against Christianity, this book serves to do exactly that. …“
As we noted when Campbell Markham reviewed the book last year, as well as reading the book, you can watch Packer’s 1978 Moore College lectures – About an hour each:
Lecture 1 – We’ve a Story to Tell.
Lecture 2 – The man Christ Jesus.
Lecture 3 – He emptied himself: the divinity of Jesus Christ.
Lecture 4 – The wonderful exchange.
Lecture 5 – No other name: the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
Writing an Article
“Here is some advice from an editor who does not quite fit E.B. White’s double-sided definition: ‘An editor is a person who knows more about writing than writers do but who has escaped the terrible desire to write.’
What follows is just some thoughts about escaping the desire to write terribly.
Your aim is to write an article for your monthly parish paper, or for AP, or for your local newspaper, or even for your own website. The length might be about 1000 words. How do you go about it? J. I. Packer called himself ‘an accidental author’. He was never taught how to do it. He was asked to do it, and he kept doing it. …”
Fearing God the Father
“ ‘I am a child of God, God is my Father; heaven is my home; every day is one day nearer. My Saviour is my brother; every Christian is my brother [or sister] too.’
This is my favourite sentence in J. I. Packer’s Knowing God. Packer persuasively argues that being adopted as a child of God is the highest blessing that God gives us, higher even than justification. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Richard Chin shares the third in a series on fearing God, “Fearing God the Father”.
( Part 1: Fearing God Our Creator. Part 2: Fearing God Our Judge.)
Saving ‘The Quiet Time’
Joshua Bovis at St. John’s Tamworth shares this message he wrote for his parish newsletter. We hope you will find it an encouragement to read and pray:
Saving ‘The Quiet Time’
I was introduced to the practice known as ‘The Quiet Time’ not long after I became a Christian. As someone whom has not been given the gift of silence by our Heavenly Father, (still working at it), quiet times were not often practiced. Turns out ‘The Quiet Time’ refers to the practice of spending time alone with God in prayer and in His Word. Yet over time, I had noticed that although the term ‘quiet time’ does not appear in the Holy Scriptures, these two seemingly benign words on their own often engender enormous guilt in the Christian’s life.
Of course, we all know (and should know) that time with God in prayer and His Word is vital, and we are all cognisant of the blessings and benefits that will entail.
Yet I have met so many of God’s people when I ask them how they are going when it comes to prayer and the Word, a common response is one of discouragement and guilt, with the added embellishments such as:
“I don’t know what to read”; “I cannot seem to get into the rhythm”; “I run out of things to pray for”; and there is the big one,
“I don’t have the time!”
Being an Anglican vicar, the context of which I asked this question is an Anglican one. Yet what I find interesting and rather sad is that so many Christians (who attend Anglican churches) are unaware of a practice that I have found to be so helpful in my own life, and that is the practice known as The Daily Office.
So what is the Daily Office?
The Daily Office or Divine Office, to put it simply, is a time during the day where Christians pray and read the Bible.
It is based on the ancient practice of prescribed daily times of prayer. The name comes from the Latin officium divinum meaning “divine office” or “divine duty.” Although it seems that liturgy is not in vogue or used by many parishes, the Prayer Book has a daily service in the morning and evening for this very purpose, (in fact did you know that the Book of Common Prayer prescribes this practice for clergy?) These services are accompanied by daily Scripture readings which include a reading from the Psalms, Old Testament, the New Testament, and a Gospel reading. The Daily Office includes prayers for morning and evening.
The late J.I Packer stated:
“None of us will ever find a better pattern for private prayer and Bible-reading anywhere than that offered by the Prayer Book’s own daily offices.”
God’s people who struggle with their ‘quiet times’ need to struggle no longer, there is a great resource available to be used, if only they were made aware of it.
I was first introduced to the Daily Office when I was an ordination candidate in the Newcastle Diocese. Although I was an Anglican Christian, I had not even heard of this practice let alone engaged it in. So at first I found it to be foreign, dull, repetitive and pedestrian. But after doing it every morning and every evening with my supervising Rector, I realised that my prayer life and Bible reading was changing. My relationship with my Heavenly Father was deepening. No longer was I dependent on how I felt on any given day when it came to pray. Time was no longer an issue as it was a scheduled non-negotiable part of my day.
Many years ago at a Clergy Conference in another diocese I heard it said that human beings are repetitive. Think about the hand you use when you talk on your mobile phone. Have you ever tried using your other hand? Or your other ear? It feels wrong doesn’t it? It is the same when you brush your teeth with your other hand. It feels wrong. With exceptions of course, generally there is no biological reason why we cannot use the phone in the alternate hand/ear. It is because we are creatures of habit. We all have rituals, and routines, and a place where we put things (as the saying goes, “a place for everything and everything in its place).
This is why I find the Daily Office such a helpful thing. It gives me the rhythm and routine that I am made for and at the same time makes prayer and the word part of that rhythm and routine.
The Daily Office is also helpful in that sooner or later when the day will come when you will not be able to pray in your own strength. On that day the liturgy will pray for you. There have been times and are times when I simply did not and do not have the words to pray.
What do you need?
• A set time – this way, the Daily Office will become part of your routine, your life rhythm, and before you know it will become a time that you look forward to.
• A place – your study, the chapel in your church, or somewhere nice and quiet, indoors or outdoors.
• A Bible – For me I use the ESV. It has been my norm for ages.
• A Prayer Book – for me it is mainly the BCP 2019 , though for years I used the original and best (BCP 1662).
• A Smartphone or iPad – this may seem like a weird thing to recommend but along with the BCP 2019, ACNA (The Anglican Church in North America) has produced an excellent App called The Daily Office. I find this app to be brilliant. It contains the Morning and Evening Prayer Services with the Collects (special prayer for the week) for every day of the year. It even has what is known as Compline (which is a service one uses before lights out for the night It even has a Midday Prayer (which I love to do each day). The Bible Translation is from the ESV (which is what we use here at St John’s) and the Psalter are the Miles Coverdale Version, which utilises English beautifully.
Anything else?
No. That is it. Just go for it. Take your time, enjoy God enjoy his Word, and abide with Christ. You may be sceptical, you be tempted to think what I think about the sport section in the Sydney Morning Herald, “Oh how dull”, but if you are struggling with your quiet times, it is certainly worth giving the Daily Office a go. Up until recently Anglican Christians have been doing it for a very long time. And before you know it, the next time your Vicar or anyone else asks you, “How is your quiet time going”?, you can smile and give an answer that is encouraging (and will give cause to give thanks and praise to God!)
The Tragedy and the Bigger Picture
In the light of this morning’s vote by the Church of England General Synod to move forward with the blessing of same sex couples, Principal of Moore Theological College, Dr. Mark Thompson, responds:
“It is very hard not to dissolve into a flood of tears as this all plays out in England. We on this side of the world owe so much to the English church and to its evangelical wing in particular.
We have been brought to faith, nourished in faith, grounded for a lifetime of ministry in faith, by the faithful ministries of men like Whitfield, Simeon, Ryle, Stott and Packer (and many others of course) and to watch much lesser men squander that inheritance brings great grief.
When we remember the Reformation martyrs, and the courage of generation after generation of their heirs, we have great cause to thank God and great cause to weep over what is happening now.”
Be sure to read it all below –
“The behaviour of the Archbishop of Canterbury in recent months has been nothing short of scandalous. Not only has he betrayed his ordination vows, as the delegates at GAFCON in Kigali earlier this year recognised, but he has recklessly pursued an agenda contrary to the Scriptures and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ despite urgent and repeated warnings from the vast majority of Anglicans worldwide not to do so. In this he has been supported by the Archbishop of York. The Archbishop will have a higher Judge than the rank and file of the Church of England, the GAFCON and Global South movements, and even future chroniclers of the history of the church to answer to for this, and, quite frankly, who would want to be in his shoes (James 3:1; Matthew 18:16; Hebrews 13:17)?
The bigger question now, though, is not how can Justin Welby recover from this (short of wholesale repentance I cannot see how he can) but how do faithful men and women within the Church of England continue to pursue the goal of re-evangelising the United Kingdom in the wake of what he, the Archbishop of York, and collectively the House of Bishops have done? This is, after all, the urgent need of the moment. Men and women all over Britain are heading blithely into judgment while ignoring or ridiculing or even openly defying the only one who can save them. How can we sit by and just watch that happen while we fight among ourselves?
It is very hard not to dissolve into a flood of tears as this all plays out in England. We on this side of the world owe so much to the English church and to its evangelical wing in particular. We have been brought to faith, nourished in faith, grounded for a lifetime of ministry in faith, by the faithful ministries of men like Whitfield, Simeon, Ryle, Stott and Packer (and many others of course) and to watch much lesser men squander that inheritance brings great grief. When we remember the Reformation martyrs, and the courage of generation after generation of their heirs, we have great cause to thank God and great cause to weep over what is happening now.
So what is the way ahead? Who am I to tell my English brothers and sisters what they should do? It is up to them now, the faithful remnant within the Church of England joining cause with those who over recent years have left for refuge elsewhere, to find the way to put the things that matter most back at the centre of the agenda. We need to do that here too, of course. We can all let the heartache at God’s word being trampled by those charged with preaching it and defending it distract us from the victory of Christ, the urgency of his call to faith and repentance, and the clear, gracious yet insistent preaching of the gospel and its implications. But we cannot afford to do so.
When we stop talking about Jesus, we stop talking about the gospel. When we stop loving his word, we stop loving his people and the world over which he wept. So let’s not fall into that trap, even as we respond in tears to what has been done by the leadership (so-called) of the Church of England. Let’s get back to the core truths and hold on to them even more tightly. Our world is lost because we have sought to determine for ourselves what is right and what is wrong without reference to God, let alone in humble obedience to him. The only hope for every man and woman is the Saviour who came among us to exhaust the judgment we deserve and triumph over every consequence of our sin (John 3:16). In his generosity he calls on all to “come to me” and to “find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28–30). But it is only those who do come to him in faith, abandoning the empty, disappointing allegiances of their life without him, and taking hold of the rescue only he can provide, who will be saved (Rom. 10:9, 13). Most wonderful of all, he promised “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).
So what has happened is scandalous and the last day will unmask its perverse folly. But what lies ahead is a magnificent challenge. This is still the age of gospel proclamation. It is only when the gospel of the kingdom has been “proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to the nations” that the end will come (Matt. 24:14). The sheer brilliance of that gospel will not be seen if, for whatever reason, we soft-pedal on the truths our world finds unpalatable. So our excitement at the challenge must be matched by a courage not to budge even a millimetre from the truth taught in Scripture. Nevertheless, I dare to dream of a new reformation, not just in the Church of England, but in churches throughout the world.”
– First published at Theological Theology.
Tribute to Roger Beckwith
“Latimer House’s warden from 1962 was an up-and-coming evangelical theologian, James I. Packer. His deputy from 1963 as Latimer House librarian was Roger Beckwith, a young church historian and liturgist.
An Oxford graduate, Beckwith had served his first curacy at St Peter’s, Harold Wood, in east London, a parish with a long evangelical history, followed by four years as tutor at Tyndale Hall, Bristol…”
– For the Latimer Trust, Andrew Atherstone has written this tribute to Roger Beckwith, who was called home last Saturday.
David Short shares his Journey of Faith; Leadership and Surviving a Split in the Anglican Church of Canada
“The tectonic plates of global Anglicanism have shifted and are realigning around the theology of Scripture and the gospel.
The shifting surfaced first in our diocese which was strongly theologically liberal. When the bishop announced he would proceed with the blessing of same sex unions, we walked out of Synod and appealed for alternative episcopal oversight from the Canadian house of bishops. The bishop brought charges against us and we then entered years of processes from the national and international church – all under the hostility and threats of the diocese.
It was our view that we had not left anything, but it was in fact the diocese which had abandoned biblical historical orthodoxy. …”
– David Virtue speaks with David Short, Moore College graduate who continues to serve Christ in Vancouver.
Related:
The Good Fight of Faith – Links to a 2022 interview with David and Bronwyn Short by Simon Manchester for Southern Cross magazine – and other relevant pages.
Many other posts on this website.
Image: David during a GAFCON online tribute to J I Packer in 2020.
Netflix gives Narnia to “Barbie,” “Little Women” director
“It seems the post-modernists that C.S. Lewis spent so much time skewering have finally decided it’s time for endless winter in Narnia.…”
– News (and opinion) from Not the Bee.
Image: Christianity Today.
Related:
https://vimeo.com/43983754
J I Packer speaks about reading C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, the Narnia books, and his conversion. – 2012 video from Desiring God.
Charles Simeon: a model for preachers
“Charles Simeon was the pastor of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Cambridge from 1782 to his death in 1836 – a period of 54 years. It is difficult to find anyone before Charles Simeon who set about so systematically to teach people to preach.
By 1832 Simeon had published what he called a ‘skeleton’ or sermon outline on the entire bible – over 2,500 in all! They are quite detailed – a lot more flesh and blood than you might expect on a skeleton. But the skeletons were perhaps an outworking of his own experience as a preacher where for the first 7 years he said he ‘did not know the head from the tail of a sermon’.
JI Packer says that the genius of the skeletons was that they showed the preacher how to make sure that it was the text that did the talking throughout the sermon, rather than the preacher loading up the text with his own ideas. They also encouraged the preacher to find and stick to the one big idea of the text. …”
– Encouragement for preachers from Stuart Coulton at The Expository Preaching Trust.
The Life of Faith – Peter Jensen Book Launch
From Moore College:
“Moore College invites you to attend the launch of Peter Jensen’s latest book, ‘The Life of Faith’.
Date: 14th March 2023
Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm – supper will be provided afterwards
Location: Moore Theological College, Marcus Loane Hall
This event will be a wonderful opportunity to hear from Peter Jensen himself as he discusses the themes and ideas behind his book, as well as answer any questions you may have.
About the book:
An introductory-level systematic theology from one of the evangelical world’s most influential theologians, perfect for the keen layperson but with enough depth and stimulation to be relevant and interesting for full-time gospel workers. The Life of Faith sits within the tradition of books like In Understanding Be Men by TC Hammond and Concise Theology by JI Packer, written for today’s audience.”
– Book to attend via the College website.
The Life of Faith — by Peter Jensen
New from Matthias Media, The Life of Faith by Peter Jensen.
“An introductory-level systematic theology from one of the evangelical world’s most influential theologians, perfect for the keen layperson but with enough depth and stimulation to be relevant and interesting for full-time gospel workers.
The Life of Faith sits within the tradition of books like In Understanding Be Men by TC Hammond and Concise Theology by JI Packer, written for today’s audience.”
We’re sure there’ll be much more said about this book which will be launched at Moore College on Tuesday 14th March, but is available to order now.
See the Matthias Media website for all the details.
Also see the Recommendations, including this one from William Taylor, Rector of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in, London –
“This is a magnificent book. There is gold on every page. For those who benefitted from the blessing of being taught by Peter Jensen at Moore College it will be a must-have – if only to remind of privileges once enjoyed. Those who missed such riches now can play catch up. Knowledge of God is the beautiful theme – through the Scriptures, in salvation, as Lord and by faith.
This is no dry textbook. Every page drives towards practical knowledge of the living God. It will fill your mind, delight your soul and, above all, enrich your relationship with God.”
The Good Fight of Faith
In the July–August 2022 issue of Southern Cross magazine Simon Manchester has an insightful interview with David and Bronwyn Short in Vancouver.
They share something of the battles for the truth of God’s Word, and the cost of doing so.
Do take the time to read it all (pages 24-26), and continue to uphold in prayer the Shorts, St. John’s Vancouver, and all of the Anglican Network in Canada.
Simon mentions the recent book The Anglican Church in Canada. Read more about it here.
Long-time readers will be well aware of events in Canada the last twenty years. David’s 2004 article “Are we stronger than He?” is a good place to start.
See also:
St. John’s Vancouver leaves the building, praying for God’s blessing on New Westminster, September 2011.
Posts relating to Vancouver, and Canada.
In the interview David Short says, “Jim Packer wrote a wonderful essay called ‘Why I Walked’ that is well worth reading.”. It certainly is, and is available here as a PDF file on the GAFCON website.
Photo: Bronwyn and David Short via SydneyAnglicans.net.
Bishop Julian Dobbs on when Doctrine goes Bad
“I’ve been this week at the conference of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word (ACNA), led by Bishop Julian Dobbs.
The bishop gave his annual address on Friday morning, and … Lord have mercy, if only ten percent of bishops and pastors talked like this man, we would be living in a different country. I present to you here the entire text…
Imagine a bishop talking like this! Catholics and Orthodox can scarcely wrap our minds around it. I asked the diocesan communications director to send me the text, which was so extraordinary. Here it is…”
– At The American Conservative, US conservative writer Rod Dreher shares his gratitude at hearing an address by Bishop Julian Dobbs.
Bishop Dobbs has seen what happens when a denomination turns away from the Bible to embrace the surrounding culture.
From his address –
“One of the many reasons why I am so sensitive to wokeness and this pattern of capitulation within the Anglican Church is because I am, and many of you are, refugees from a church that lost her way when she began to succumb to appeals for compassion, tenderness and a capitulation to culture as the justification for dismantling the faith ‘once for all entrusted to the saints’.
I am a refugee from a church that deposed the late Dr. J.I. Packer from the ordained ministry. I am a refugee from a church that put our own assisting Bishop William Love on trial for believing the bible. And I am a refugee from a church which just three days ago reaffirmed its commitment to the murder of unborn babies and said, ‘As Episcopalians, we have a particular obligation to stand against Christians who seek to destroy our multicultural democracy and recast the United States as an idol to the cruel and distorted Christianity they advocate.’
Brothers and sisters, when doctrine goes bad, so to do hearts, minds, churches, nations and eternal destinies. That is why this matters. …”
Read it all. Or, better, watch it all. Most edifying.
Ordinary Time
Ordinary:
adjective
with no special or distinctive features; normal; ”he sets out to depict ordinary people”.
Similar: usual, normal, standard, typical, stock, common, customary, habitual, accustomed, everyday, regular, routine.
example of usage:
not interesting or exceptional; commonplace.”he seemed very ordinary”
noun
what is commonplace or standard; ”their clichés were vested with enough emotion to elevate them above the ordinary”
I don’t know how may parishes in my beloved Armidale diocese observe the Church Calendar and so I know even less if there are parishes in the Sydney diocese that observe it, (my guess is about ten?). But for those of you who have a vague curiosity about it or foggy recollection of it, we are once again about to enter in what the church calendar refers to as Ordinary Time.
Taken as a unit, the season of Ordinary Time is the longest season of the liturgical year and is composed of 33 or 34 weeks (June to November).
Although it is long, and the liturgical colour is green (which I do not see the same way as everyone else thanks to being colour blind), it is far from ordinary, for it is the time where we strive to grow together as the Body of Christ and His witnesses in the world, to grow in our Love for God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The means to our growth is being grounded in the Word of God, being people of prayer, being nourished spiritually by the sacraments and being encouraged by others and encouraging each other.
So if you are one of those Anglican Christians who observes the church calendar, how are you going to spend the time, the ‘ordinary time’?
Here are some tips:
1. Remember that you follow the risen and ascended Lord of the Universe, the Lord Jesus! Who ascended into Heaven, not to rest, not to relax but to reign!
2. Be consistent in your time with God. This is why I find the Daily Office such a helpful thing. It gives me the rhythm and routine that I am made for and at the same time makes prayer and the word part of that rhythm and routine. (The Daily Office), is to put it simply, a time during the day where Christians prayer and read the Bible. It is based on the ancient practice of prescribed daily times of prayer. Although the Prayer Book is not in vogue or used by most parishes, the Prayer book has a daily service in the morning and evening for this very purpose. Anglican theologian and author, the late J.I. Packer says, “None of us will! ever find a better pattern for private prayer and Bible-reading anywhere than that offered by the Prayer Book’s own daily offices.”
3. Be committed to your church. Although since the Covid lockdown opportunities for online church are so much more readily available, there is no substitute for face to face fellowship and physical corporate worship. It is also easier than ever to have a laissez-fair attitude to church, since we can attend anywhere at anytime, with no checks.
4. Be open and honest with God about your sin. Do we have the determination to see ourselves before God as we are, without excuse? We must face “the things what we have done and the things that we have left undone.” How am I participating in the systems of the world and the flesh? In what ways have I given the devil place in my decisions?
5. Get practical with your faith None of us can expect to follow the Lord Jesus and simply have our own comforts baptised. Sacrifice has to cut deep. The Lord Jesus calls us all to radical discipleship and it is costly. It costs to be an agent of the Kingdom in this world. Where are we letting go of the riches we cling to in order to use our time, energy, and resources to serve, the body of Christ and also to help those in need?
6. Be a contagious Christian The Christian faith is contagious, it is to be shared and spread. Pray that God will grant you boldness and opportunities to introduce people to the Lord Jesus. I am praying that this time will open people’s eyes to the folly of the cultural idols that are in our lives and will be receptive to the Lord Jesus and the abundant life he offers.
We may be in ordinary time, but following the Lord Jesus is far from ordinary!
– Joshua Bovis is the Vicar of St John The Evangelist in Tamworth.
Engaging Preaching
“In his substantial biography of J.I. Packer, Leland Ryken interviews Dr. Packer regarding his literary and spoken style and rhetoric:
Did Packer consciously cultivate the stylistic and rhetorical strategies that I have explored?
I asked him that question and he said yes. He followed that affirmation with the explanation, “One of the things I am is a communicator”.
Ryken highlights Packer’s anticipation of questions in his hearers, ‘but someone will say’, or, ‘but wait a minute’, or ‘you may still be wondering’, all of which serve clarity…”
– At The Expository Preaching Trust, David Cook shares encouragement for preachers.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…