The Rev. Jonathan Redfearn: “Facing Dark Days” (Psalm 54)
From the good people of Jesmond Parish Church in the United Kingdom, here is a message by the Rev. Jonathan Redfearn, titled “Facing Dark Days”. It is based on Psalm 54 and the YouTube notes say “Whilst writing Psalm 54 David was under intense pressure that seemed never ending; he was chased by his enemy and constantly in fear for his life. We may be facing similarly distressing situations or see them in the world around us. So how does knowing the Lord help David, and indeed us, to face these dark days? As we read through the Psalm we see David responding to his trials by prayer, by remembering truths about God and by holding fast to future hope. A wonderful model for us.”
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From the Beeson Institute of Anglican Studies: a podcast on “How to Read the Bible”
I came across another podcast from the Beeson Institute of Anglican Studies that is interesting to me because it addresses reading the Bible. Its title is How to Read the Bible and it features Alastair Roberts, who is the author of Echoes of Exodus: Tracing Themes of Redemption Through Scriptures, co-written with Andrew Wilson (March, 2018), and the forthcoming Heirs Together: A Theology of the Sexes (Crossway, 2019). Alastair is a Fellow at the Theopolis, Davenant, and Greystone Institutes, and here he is talking with Dr. Gerald McDermott of Beeson.
In this podcast they are discussing the public reading of Scripture, interconnections between diverse parts of Scripture, and reading Christologically. The transcript can be read here.
Dr. Brad Littlejohn: “Anglicanism’s Catholicity: Richard Hooker as a Guide for the Church Today.”
Speaking at Christ Church Anglican South Bend in Indiana recently, Dr. Brad Littlejohn of the Davenant Institute gave a presentation on “Anglicanism’s Catholicity: Richard Hooker as a Guide for the Church Today.” This is a lecture well worth the listening as he does indeed show Hooker’s continuing relevance for us today. (If anyone is looking for a church home in the South Bend, Indiana area, Christ Church would be worth considering!)
From the Rev. Thomas McKenzie: another podcast on the 2019 ACNA Book of Common Prayer
Here is the third in a series of podcasts by the Rev. Thomas McKenzie of Redeemer Anglican in Nashville on the 2019 ACNA Book of Common Prayer. (If you are in a parish that is moving to this BCP, you may find these quite helpful.) In this one, he talks about the Eucharist in this BCP.
Episode Three: The Eucharist
The Rev. Dick Lucas: Five messages on the Gospel of Mark
Today I came across a series of audio messages by the Rev. Dick Lucas that was given at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London, on the Gospel of Mark. The notes on St. Helen’s site say “This series summarises the thrust and key themes of Mark’s Gospel. The talks were given after the completion of ‘Mark revisited volumes 1 and 2’ series of talks. It serves both as an epilogue and a useful prologue to ‘Mark revisited’ for the first-time listener. It is aimed in the first instance at the Bible teacher, but all will benefit.”
These are, as always, very much worth hearing, and you can hear the whole series here. These are short messages so I am just linking to the entire series:
- Introduction and the king’s sovereignty (Mark 1:1-20)
- The king’s ministry (Mark 1:1-16:8)
- The king’s world
- The king’s servants
- The king’s mission (Mark 10:45)
Here is the second in a series of sermons on Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians, by the Rev. Sam Ferguson of Falls Church Anglican in Virginia. This is a very good message – well worth the time.
Now available: another episode of the “Miserable Offenders” podcast on “Knowing God in the Liturgy” by Peter Toon
From our friends at The North American Anglican, here is the latest episode of their podcast, Miserable Offenders. In this episode, Father Isaac Rehberg and Jesse Nigro discuss the importance of Common Prayer for common theology as they unpack more of Peter Toon’s “Knowing God Through the Liturgy.” As always this is worth listening to and I commend this podcast to you.
From the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word: an interview with Abp. (retired) Peter Jensen
Here, from the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word, is their podcast interview with Peter Jensen, retired Archbishop of Sydney. Their blurb describes him as “a hero of the faith” – and I would have to agree. In this interview he talks about his conversion, the current state of the Church, GAFCON, and his 2005 Boyer Lectures: “The Future of Jesus.”
From Church Society: the Rev. Andrew Towner on “What is Anglicanism and why does it matter?”
Speaking at the Junior Anglican Evangelical Conference 2019, the Rev. Andrew Towner gave a presentation on “What is Anglicanism and why does it matter?” This talk on why defining Anglicanism matters is well worth the listening.
A thought from Ryle, from “Holiness”
Here is another passage from Ryle that I find to be quite profound, from his work “Holiness”:
Suppose for a moment that you were allowed to enter heaven without holiness. What would you do? What possible enjoyment could you feel there? To which of all the saints would you join yourself, and by whose side would you sit down? Their pleasures are not your pleasures, their tastes not your tastes, their character not your character. How could you possibly be happy, if you had not been holy on earth?
Now perhaps you love the company of the light and the careless, the worldly-minded and the covetous, the reveller and the pleasure-seeker, the ungodly and the profane. There will be none such in heaven. Now perhaps you think the saints of God too strict and particular, and serious. You rather avoid them. You have no delight in their society. There will be no other company in heaven.
Now perhaps you think praying, and Scripture-reading, and hymn singing, dull and melancholy, and stupid work—a thing to be tolerated now and then, but not enjoyed. You reckon the Sabbath a burden and a weariness; you could not possibly spend more than a small part of it in worshipping God. But remember, heaven is a never-ending Sabbath. The inhabitants thereof rest not day or night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty” and singing the praise of the Lamb. How could an unholy man find pleasure in occupation such as this?
Think you that such an one would delight to meet David, and Paul, and John, after a life spent in doing the very things they spoke against? Would he take sweet counsel with them, and find that he and they had much in common?—Think you, above all, that he would rejoice to meet Jesus, the Crucified One, face to face, after cleaving to the sins for which He died, after loving His enemies and despising His friends? Would he stand before Him with confidence, and join in the cry, “This is our God; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation”? (Isa. xxv. 9.) Think you not rather that the tongue of an unholy man would cleave to the roof of his mouth with shame, and his only desire would be to be cast out! He would feel a stranger in a land he knew not, a black sheep amidst Christ’s holy flock. The voice of Cherubim and Seraphim, the song of Angels and Archangels and all the company of heaven, would be a language he could not understand. The very air would seem an air he could not breathe. I know not what others may think, but to me it does seem clear that heaven would be a miserable place to an unholy man. It cannot be otherwise. People may say, in a vague way, “they hope to go to heaven;” but they do not consider what they say. There must be a certain “meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light.” Our hearts must be somewhat in tune. To reach the holiday of glory, we must pass through the training school of grace. We must be heavenly-minded, and have heavenly tastes, in the life that now is, or else we shall never find ourselves in heaven, in the life to come.
We would, no doubt, be better off if we did consider this life to be our “training school of grace.”
