Andy fire juggling with Esther in close proximity.

At our service tonight focussing on the life of Charles Spurgeon I closed by sharing the words of his hymn ‘Sweetly the holy hymn’ (see below), which I discovered in a 1933 Methodist Hymnal this week. I hadn’t realised that Spurgeon, most noted for his preaching, also wrote some hymns. In fact Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle produced ‘Our Own Hymnbook’ in 1866.

Sweetly the holy hymn
Breaks on the morning air;
Before the world with smoke is dim
We meet to offer prayer.

While flowers are wet with dews,
Dew of our souls, descend:
Ere yet the sun the day renews,
O Lord, Thy Spirit send.

Upon the battlefield,
Before the fight begins,
We seek, O Lord, Thy sheltering shield,
To guard us from our sins.

Ere yet our vessel sails
Upon the stream of day
We plead, O Lord, for heavenly gales
To speed us on our way!

On the lone mountain side,
Before the morning’s light,
The Man of sorrows wept and cried,
And rose refreshed with might.

Oh, hear us then, for we
Are very weak and frail,
We make the Savior’s Name our plea,
And surely must prevail.

—

I had also forgotten Spurgeon’s Communion hymn.

Amidst us our Belov’d stands,

And bids us view His pierc’d hands;

Points to His wounded feet and side,

Blest emblems of the Crucified.

What food luxurious loads the board,

When at His table sits the Lord!

The wine how rich, the bread how sweet,

When Jesus deigns the guests to meet!

If now with eyes defiled and dim,

We see the signs but see not Him,

Oh, may His love the scales displace,

And bid us see Him face to face!

Our former transports we recount,

When with Him in the holy mount,

These cause our souls to thirst anew,

His marr’d but lovely face to view.  

Thou glorious Bridegroom of our hearts,

Thy present smile a heaven imparts:

Oh lift the veil, if veil there be,

Let every saint Thy beauties see!

Life rattles on at quite a fast pace at the moment. September has come and gone in a flash but it was a productive month:

Loved Waste Watchers Holiday Club at church: report and photo here.

Finished reading Desmond Alexander’s interesting book ‘From Eden to New Jerusalem’: see here.

Visited the local British Legion office (in readiness for Remembrance Parade Service in local park in November) and got shown all their memorabilia.

Enjoyed taking Emilia to a local football training session led by a former Watford player, Paul Devlin.

Inspired by the stories of good citizenship at the local Police Awards Evening.

And finally… Amazed to discover that one of my friends from Primary School days, Richard Green, appeared on X Factor recently. I used to share a lift to school with him, but little did I know 20 years ago that he would one day be a national celebrity (of sorts…) See below for a good laugh:

“God will put a wind at our back and a rising road ahead, if we work with each other as one.”

These were some of the pre-recorded words on the lips of Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the video screen at the U2 concert in Sheffield last Thursday. It was a very good way of publicising the One campaign. No prizes for guessing what legendary song Bono followed Tutu’s inspiring message of love, justice and hope with (it’s the name of the campaign!), but the whole of Tutu’s video message can be seen here from a previous night of the current tour:

It was good to see some strong Christian themes woven throughout the concert. For me, perhaps one of the dominant themes was joy. Bono managed to squeeze a snippet of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy and also a quick rendition of “O come all ye faithful, most joyful and triumphant”  (Rev Black Grape version, not Christmas carol) in-between some of the material. This is a band who, in my mind, are at the top of their game and as fresh as they sounded when they first set out in 1978. On the same day as A Level students found out their results, the band members also humbly admitted to not possessing many between them although The Edge did say “more than you” when Bono asked him how many he achieved!

Steve Stockman (Presbyterian minister and chaplain in Belfast), who wrote about U2’s Christian spirituality in his book Walk On, gives a theological reflection on this current tour here.

It’s been an enjoyable and relaxing few weeks. Here are the highlights and photographic evidence:

1. Watford v Doncaster Rovers. Our first home game of new season ended 1-1 but was notable for the fact that it was Emilia’s first trip and indoctrination (?) into all things football. She enjoyed the venture but hasn’t asked me for her first replica shirt yet. Maybe I’ll have to wait a bit longer for that.

2. Our camping adventures took us to mid Wales as we took in the sights of Borth, Aberystwyth, Machynlleth, Tywyn and Aberdovey. We took a narrow gauge steam train to Devil’s Bridge and were amazed at the waterfalls, steep steps and breath-taking woodland valleys.

3. From the western edge to the eastern edge as we visited my Grandparents in Suffolk and the girls were able to compare and contrast Welsh sandy beaches with Felixstowe.

4. The long awaited 360 Tour from Irish rockers U2 steam-rollered into Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium and it proved a worthwhile venture. Had a better view from my previous trip to see them in Cardiff a few years’ back. Good company (thanks Steve, Eileen, Ste) and despite queueing for 2 hours the sounds and sights were out of this world.

Whilst listening to some audio internet lectures on eschatology and resurrection, I heard about a project that Starbucks in the US ran a few years ago (and possibly still continuing?) called ‘The way I see it’.

The campaign sought to provoke conversations in their coffee houses based on provocative and inspiring quotes. This one, from a Los Angeles Times columnist, Joel Stein, is particularly challenging to much of our inadequate eschatology that sees heaven as just a vague, lifeless place of future disembodied souls:

Heaven is totally overrated. It seems boring, clouds, listening to people play the harp. It should be somewhere you can’t wait to go, like a luxury hotel. Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17ht century, but Heaven has to step it up a bit. They’re basically getting by because they only have to be better than Hell.

Click below! (warning: the file is 14MB and may take a few minutes to download!)

Summer Letter 2009

I’ve been pressing on with my preaching theme of notable saints from the past: Isaac Watts (the great hymn writer), Corrie Ten Boom (the Nazi holocaust survivor), John Calvin (the Reformation theologian) and most recently George Whitefield (eighteenth century preacher and revivalist). It is said of Whitefield that in his final sermon in September 1770, in New Hampshire, in his conclusion he commented:

‘Works! works! A man gets to heaven by works! I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand.’

I’m having to resist the temptation to go looking on the Internet for reviews and set-lists from the current U2 360 Tour which kicked off in Barcelona recently (though I have had a look at the ‘Claw’ which looks breath-taking). It seems a long time until they play at the Don Valley stadium in Sheffield in August but I’m sure it will live up to my expectations and hopes. To pass the time I’ve had a look at this interesting article which explores the biblical references to the whole U2 catalogue. 

The Stourbridge Carnival rolled into town yesterday. The theme was ‘Food’ and the Hanbury Hill Baptist Church entry into the procession was ‘top banana’ as it is every year. In fact even the Minister was called upon to partake. A little arm twisting and cajouling and he soon agreed to join in the fun. What he hadn’t predicted was the sound of about 10 cars beeping and hooting their horns along the ring road as Reverend Bananaman raced to catch the start of the procession. “When Andy eats a banana, an amazing transformation occurs… Ever alert for the call to action!!”

If you want to see the real Bananaman in action try this: