Different people treated the crucified Christ in different ways.

The Jewish religious leaders of the day were more interested in observing the ceremonial laws. It was the sabbath, and they had no intention of allowing these events to interrupt their observances. They had missed the whole point of Christ’s sacrifice, that Christ had proclaimed his work as done, there was nothing left for us to do.

The world, as represented by the secular authorities gets very little mention. Pilate is just used as part of God’s sovereign plan. Even though his actions were not according to God’s will, God used it.

The soldiers merely followed orders. They’d seen it all before. Yet, Jesus had died already, so they had no need to break any of his bones. They had no compulsion breaking the legs of the two thieves who were also being crucified though. Yet through this, the requirements of the ceremonially law were being kept – the Passover Lamb was to be presented without a single broken bone.

Finally there was the one who recorded all of what was going on. He believed in Jesus, the Christ, and preserved was he saw, that he might tell others what Jesus Christ had achieved.

Yet another week away, this time at the EMW conference at Aberystwyth! Alas, I think this is my last holiday of the year until Christmas now. As with all my holidays this year, this was well worth the time.

The main addresses for this year’s conference were by Stuart Olyott on the way to Godliness, expositing Romans 6,7 and 8. Here the apostle Paul shows Christians the way to Godliness, to be without sin, to be sanctified. Before even starting to consider Godliness, we first need to be justified through faith. Then, through understanding his word and through using our minds, we are led to Godliness by the Holy Spirit. This isn’t optional, but all those who are justified will be sanctified, ultimately giving glory to God. The speaker gave a very clear explanation of this, and any Christian could do a lot worse than listening to a recording of these addresses.

As well as the various other addresses and seminars, there was plenty of time just to relax and enjoy the benefits of the conference, whether it was sitting on the beach in the glorious sunshine and catching up with old friends and making the odd new one along the way, or having a very harmonious acapella sing song on top of Constitution Hill at one in the morning.

My only regret is that the week wasn’t longer! A very enjoyable week.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger for ever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—
with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

Psalm 103:8-18

“You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.” GK Chesterton

Despite the many breaks I seem to be having, my violin playing is still improving – ok it’s possible my playing is so bad it can only improve. I’m slowly able to use all four fingers on all four strings at will, rather than having to stop and think about what I’m doing – I just need to make it all a little less wooden and more musical. 🙂 Of course, then there’s the challenge of moving my whole hand up and down the fingerboard, but one thing at a time – still need to make sure my intonation is good. Most of the pieces I’m playing now are old grade 3 examination pieces, so my progression through the grades seems to be reasonable. I wonder how long it’ll be before I get to grade 5?

Saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this evening. I wasn’t really sure what I thought I was going to expect really. It had been so long since I’d seen the first film adaptation of the book, and an even longer time since I’d read the book, that I couldn’t really remember anything of the story! As such, some parts of this film left me wondering, “Was this in the book?”

What I did notice was that this film adaptation was darker and noticeably more sarcastic than the previous film, and the characters seemed a little more human. The Oompa Loompas, however, seemed to get sidelined a bit as their roles didn’t seem so prominent and I couldn’t for the life of me work out what the song lyrics were!

All in all, an entertaining film, although I’m not sure I get on too well with Roald Dahl’s stories.