Ramblings along the narrow way

Travelled back to my home town this weekend to join in the birthday celebrations of my nephew. It was good to catch up with family, as well as the enjoyable (and exhausting) experience of playing with my (now) three year old nephew. If anything, it reminds me that being a parent is a hard and difficult task, and should not be entered into lightly. However, it is also a very rewarding task and a very honorable task, having the responsibility of bringing and nurturing a new life into this world, whilst at the same time having one’s own life affected and enriched by this new life. I am now very very tired, and just want to sleep.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!”
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!”

I saw Shrek 2 today. Sequels are usually poorer than the originals, but Shrek 2 delivered. Stunning visuals, courtesy of CGI, were on cue, as was a good story. The story had its usual twist on well-known fairy tales, and was varied enough to be slightly unexpected. All in all, a good film and definitely worth watching. I only hope the other sequel of the summer, Spiderman 2, lives up to the hype.

Good job I took this morning off of work. This evening was rather energetic! The five-a-side football after work turned into 4-a-side, which meant more running required…

After running around for an hour, I ended up playing Robin at snooker for another two hours. I think the running around took its toll on me as I lost 3-1. Saying that, the games were very close, with the last one ending on a respotted black – and this was the first time I’d played snooker with my contact lenses which, as any contact lens wearer will appreciate, gives a slightly different field and depth of view. That’s my excuse anyway!

This morning’s sermon was an exposition of John 14:19-24. Jesus was explaining how a Christian could be recognised. There were three positive points made by Jesus and one warning.

1. We would see Jesus – we would see him for who he is – our Lord and Saviour, and so love him.
2. We would know his commands and obey them. This is not to say we will be perfect, for original sin will cause us to fail. We will, however, endeavour to know his commands, trying to keep them to the best of our ability because we love him and when we fail, we acknowledge we have failed and seek forgiveness.
3. We would know his words, not just his commandments. If we love him, we would seek to know the mind of God and his will, that everything we do would be pleasing to him.

The warning was quite sobering though, “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” John 14:24.

What a cool day. Went to the British Museum today with Ally, Nigel and Sarah. We roughly followed the guidance given by Through the British Museum – with the Bible which had useful extra notes on how things fitted into history. Starting in the in the Great Court, we went through Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Israel, Ancient Egypt, Assyria, Ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, Roman Britain and finally finishing in Medieval Europe – with lunch somewhere in between. Quite a day, with loads of things to look at from the scale of the Elgin Marbles, to archaeologically important artifacts such as the Rosetta Stone through to the cutlery used by Roman subjects. Still haven’t seen everything though, will need to visit again.

Finished the evening playing Scrabble at Sarah’s. I think my brain was beginning to struggle with the pace towards the end, requiring assistance from the hostess. All in all, a very good day for which I am grateful.

“O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.
You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.
“Now LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.’
And now, O LORD, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true.
“But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple that I have built!
Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence.
May your eyes be open towards this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays towards this place.
Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray towards this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling-place; and when you hear, forgive.

Hmmm, still walking with a twinge of pain in my ankle since yesterday’s game of football – which was a good run around, ending in a pleasing final result, albeit with a one or two unexpected goals!

This morning’s sermon was a look at the next of Jesus’ topics in the sermon on the mount. The manner of Jesus’ sermon was certainly ear-catching – In reference to adultery, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Mt 5:29. Evidently Jesus didn’t literally mean that if we look at woman (or man) lustfully, we should gouge our offending eye, as even without eyes, we can have lustful thoughts. What he meant was that sin is so grievous that we should try our utmost to avoid it. In the case of lust, don’t look, don’t even dwell upon it. No point in praying “Lead us not into temptation” and then walking into temptation.

Of course, the whole sermon on the mount is aimed at those who acknowledge they are poor in spirit (Mt 5:3) and put their faith in Christ to forgive them. It is not aimed at showing us how to be right with God, but how the poor in spirit should live.

Just viewed an interesting video clip by the BBC covering an American organisation called The Silver Ring Thing who are over here to promote their cause – that intimate sexual activity should only occur within marriage, as taught by orthodox Christianity from the Bible.

The commentator appeared to agree that such a cause, sexual abstinence until marriage, would lower such things as the teenage pregnancy rate as well as the incidence of STDs in Britain, but considered the cause to be unrealistic and thought that the group’s religious leanings would deter people from listening to them.

Now I’m not usually one for following American fashions but, in the 2001 census, 37.3 million people in Britain regarded themselves as Christian. (About 7/10 of the adult population). If the commentator was right, it would appear most people don’t understand what Christianity is about. Why would anyone claim to be something they don’t understand? Why would anyone claim to be something they don’t even want to be?

Ultimately, according to Christianity, God isn’t a killjoy, God loves us and every command he has given us is for our own good. If we claim to love God and trust God (which are fundamental Christian tenets), we will do what he commands – even keeping intimate sexual activity within marriage. If we do not do what he commands, then it would seem we neither love him nor trust him. Are we truly what we claim to be?

Q: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
A: The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.

Q: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
A: The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.

Q: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
A: The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called Original Sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.

(Questions XVI, XVII and XVIII from the Westminster Shorter Catechism)

Beat Robin 2-1 at snooker. Still playing rather scrappily.

Well, spent the evening watching the England-Croatia football match with some friends, in the garden, with a barbeque, under the sun of the first official day of summer. Strangely enough, come the first England goal, we were all rushing into the house as the English summer produced a not entirely unsurprising downpour. At least the final result was a bit better than the weather, with a 4-2 win for England, and a fixture against the host country in the quarter-finals.

In John 14:12-21, Jesus tells those who have put their trust in him that they’ll be able to great things, not because of any power of their own, but by the power of the Spirit working in them. These great things will be in accordance with Jesus’ will, as the Spirit carries out the will of the Father and the Son. As such, anyone who puts their faith in Jesus will do what he commands, at least some of the time. Alas, our old nature will still battle with the Spirit and will still cause us to sin.

Another day of golf! I’d forgotten my brother had arranged for us to play golf in Stockwood Park, so I had golf two days in a row. Fortunately, my standard of play was on a par with yesterday, with a few cracking shots. Only problem was that, around the 11th hole, the heavens opened, and it was all rather damp. Ah well, completed the course and went to my brother’s place to a fine meal prepared by his wife. My hands are slightly tender now.