Strangers & Aliens

Micah has issues with false prophets. Not only are they endorsing the land barons property grabbing schemes (Micah 2.6), but they are self-justifying and self-satisfying money grabbers (Micah 3.5). They're the ones who are going to experience the darkness of God's terrible judgement (Micah 3.6-7). In contrast, Micah is the man:

Today is Bonfire Night. In my 1760 edition of the Book of Common prayer, these is a service of thanksgiving prescribed for today: "a form of prayer with thanksgiving to be used yearly upon the Fifth of November; for the happy deliverance of King James I and the Three Estates of England from the most traiterous and bloody intended massacre by Gunpowder..."

Just studying Micah today - and enjoying (mostly) Leslie Allen's Eerdmans' New International OT commentary. It is interesting though, how he tackles Micah 4.1-5. This is a passage which is also repeated verbatim in Isaiah 2.2-4 (Isaiah was a contemporary of Micah). Allen offers four possible explanations which he then analyses:

Many people know the story of Hezekiah and the Assyrian campaign (2 Kings 18-20 or Isaiah 36-40). But what neither of these accounts relate is what exactly changed Hezekiah's heart? The answer is tucked away in a little read part of Jeremiah - Jer 26.18-20. It was the preaching of Micah the prophet that did the trick. This is true preaching that God uses to change hearts.

Some Christians struggle to display any joy at all, and when they break through the barrier they are filled with relief. But it's not enough for a Christian to be joyful - the real question is deeper - where does your joy come from? Or, what is its focus?

.....glorified the word of the Lord?

I see that my more famous namesake, A. Warnock Esq has flagged up the new Logos app for iPhone. I'm on the case, and with a large collection built up over time, it's pretty neat. But Warnock's right - even if you only use the standard included Bibles, it's still a pretty neat app.

492 years ago today, a young professor Martin nailed his objections to one particular Catholic practice to the church notice board. The rest, as they say, is history. Praise God for the Reformation!

Luther's hymn still stands as one of the best (and ground breaking) of the entire Christian tradition. It is also, by the way, still one of the best ever written on spiritual warfare. Pity the church who never sing this any more....

Our God stands like a fortress rock,
With walls that will not fail us;
He helps us brace against the shock
Of fears which now assail us.
The enemy of old in wickedness is bold;
This seems his victory hour,
He fears no earthly power
And arms himself with cunning.

We win no battles through our might,
We fall at once, dejected;
The righteous one will lead the fight,
By God himself directed.
You ask ‘Who can this be?’
Christ Jesus, it is he,
Eternal King and Lord,
God’s true and living Word,
No one can stand against him.

And though the world seems full of ill,
With hungry demons prowling,
Christ’s victory is with us still,
We need not fear their howling.
The tyrants of this age strut briefly on the stage;
Their sentence has been passed,
We stand unharmed at last,
A word from God destroys them.

God’s word and plan, which they pretend
Is subject to their pleasure,
Will bind their wills to serve God’s end,
Which we, who love him, treasure.
Then let them take our lives,
Goods, children, husbands, wives,
And carry all away;
Theirs is a short lived day,
Ours is the lasting kingdom.

..by which I mean ministry to those in the autumn of life - I'm talking post retireds and elderly here. I've been thinking this through for some time now, and the more I think about it, the more convinced I become that:

• some churches' neglect of this area of ministry is bordering on the sinful
• most churches are obsessed with youth ministry to the exclusion of other ministries
• there is little teaching and material about conducting an effective autumn ministry
• I'm aware of very few churches that appoint autumn ministers, yet the ad pages are full of ads for youth workers
  

Just returned from a week's break in Cambridge which allowed Mrs R to visit all her old haunts. But we also discovered a few new ones, including Rock Baptist Church, Cambridge. We joined them last Sunday for their focus on the elderly. Most stirring to think about these things. I'm not sure what a well thought out autumn ministry might look like (though I am sure it would be more than a coffee drop in), but think of the benefits:

• it would ensure we place a biblical emphasis on the value of those with wider and longer experience - the grey hairs of our congregations
• it would ensure a biblical balance in our churches which too often are segregated along age lines - segregations that we have unwittingly (or knowingly?) created and sustained
  
• it would be strategic - we often kid ourselves that (only) youth work is this - building the church of the future - so we pour all our energies into it. But what if we're wrong and autumn ministry is the strategic work? There's plenty of evidence to show that a converted family head has more impact on the conversion of his family than one of the children
• In a 21st Century "both-at-work" family-based church, newly retireds are the backbone of church work - reaching them staffs the church
• older folk have often not the arrogance of the young and are willing to consider the gospel in a more measured way. Moreover they have a residual knowledge to build upon that a younger generation don't have
• statistically, the elderly are nearer the Day of Judgement

Yet there's no "elderly" track at Oak Hill. No teach-in day about newly retireds ministry run by our local gospel partnership. No separate shelf in the Christian Bookshop (no books, for goodness sake, in the Christian bookshop).

Perhaps it's high time we started thinking seriously about autumn ministry....?