Brutal deshelving

I have mentioned before my grief at needing to find good homes for my books.  On the eve of my 80's I need to let go. Of course, my main academic library I left in the US. My precious preaching books complete with dedications from friends and rich accompanying stories, came back to Cambridge but have now gone to a seminary.  But I still have an odd assortment, gathered through the ages, residing in my garden shed study back in Cambridge. Now I am left with a rag-tag (is that the expression?) of mostly older books some of which are in past-their-best condition. In particular I have books of sermons of some of the 'greats'.  My Holy Week post mentioned the famous Methodist preacher W.E. Sangster.  I have 15 volumes of his sermons, teaching and devotionals that were lovingly found, mostly in the used book shop in Saffron Walden.

But I have many other old books of past worthies.  I have reached the point where I know I must deshelve (again, is that a word?)  If any of you, dear readers, have particular favourites you might like to give a  home to, I might just have the odd volume or two.  You never know. I would gladly pack them off to you for the cost of postage. 

It's so sad to jettison books for recycling though I think some probably deserve it.  But, let's see if there are any rescues possible!  

The Resurrection Dance.

A glorious joyous Easter to you. My last post's reference from Mere Christianity triggered C.S. Lewis' memorable summary of living the resurrection life as Easter people. It has a contemporary ring and reminds me of Richard Rohr's book Divine Dance (2016) which invites readers into encountering Trinity life - God as community, friendship and dance. 

The whole dance, or pattern of this three-personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way round) each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in the dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made. Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into the thing that has them They are not the sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great foundation of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you; if you are not you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God how could he not live forever? Once a man is separated from God what can he do but wither and die.

What happened that first Easter is 'the very centre of reality'. Encountering the risen Jesus, with willingness to remain close, also places us in relationship with the Father and Holy Spirit that overwhelms. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into the thing that has them.  I love Easter Sunday. The Cross and Resurrection are the very centre of reality for my life, my everything.  May it be a deep joyful day for you too. 

Holy Week

This Holy Week I have been reading one of my old books by W. E. Sangster ( a renowned Methodist preacher 1900-1960) titled: They Met at Calvary.  Its sobering to reflect on: the teachers who hated him, the priests who bought him, the traitor who sold him, the crowd who cried, 'Crucify him!', the judge who sentenced him, the thieves who died with him, the people who ministered to him.  For the most part it's an extraordinary tangle of dark motives unfolding in fast real time. The book's last chapter is a typical gospel challenge from this master preacher who coined the expression ' preach to convict'. It's called I was there!

If you come to Calvary with some admiration of His life and some pity at His death and see in Him nothing but another good man beaten by the wickedness of the world, you have not really come to Calvary at all. No mere man could save you.

If He was a man, it was murder; if He was God it was an offering.

If He was a man it was martyrdom; if He was God it was sacrifice.

If He was man, they took his life from him; if He was God, he laid it down of himself.

If He was man we are called to admiration; if He was God we are called to adoration. 

The teaching of this Church Universal is this: the immortal God has died for you.

All the happenings of his week that changed the world are complex as they lead through to the death of Jesus.  To think that there are so many haters in the story which leads to the most glorious foundation of Christian faith in the Cross and Resurrection. I was reminded of C.S. Lewis' comment in Mere Christianity.

If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete, in simplicity, with people who are inventing religions. How could we? We are dealing with Fact. Of course, anyone can be simple if he has not facts to bother with.

 We are called to adoration before the Easter facts.

Acorns

Opposite the Cambridge church (nicknamed St A's by the students) where I was minister 1980-1993, Emmanuel College has inscribed words to describe their past students: I have set an acorn which when it becomes an oak, God alone knows what will be the fruit thereof.  When the new minister, Simon Cragg, was inducted a couple of Saturdays ago at a full and joyous service he reproduced this quote with a picture of an acorn on the front of the printed service sheet.

I was thrilled that the church was jam packed for Simon's new beginning - in fact they had prepared 200 hot lunches for guests and found 320 stayed. Careful stewardship (!) fed everyone though several, like myself, were unable to stay.  

To my surprise it turned out that the acorn theme proved personally significant. Simon explained in his description of the steps leading to his call to pastor St A's that he had heard Michael Quicke (that mention jolted me!) when he was a child.  Apparently I preached a sermon that struck him as a 5 year old. When he was 15 years old he found a cassette recording (remember those?) of the same sermon in his father's collection. His re-listening led directly to his calling from God into ministry. Wow!  I had no idea that this happened and his father told me afterwards it was news to him.  Simon referred to the inscription, how he was an acorn planted in the church's past ministry and how he shares the vision of many acorns being planted to flourish in the future.

At the end of the service I was met by one of the former students who is now a local Baptist minister. 'You baptized me', he said. Right behind was another former student who told me he was now in Anglican ministry in a church not far away. Talking with them I heard of two more former members of the church who are now in ministry,  One of them remarked how these were all acorns planted in my time.  

We can never tell this side of heaven what God is doing in the lives of others but as you grow older it is one of the greatest encouragements to learn stories like this.  

Missing punchline

Preaching without notes (in my case) involves careful oral writing of a full, timed script which I 'internalize' so that I can preach from the heart. (This is not memorization but a holding of structure in mind with certain key phrases that stay with me when I first preached it to myself).  I always leave the ending open for you never know where the Holy Spirit will lead. However, I do prepare some possible endings as I have sensed God moving my preparation.

With Zacchaeus Richard's contemplation piece was delivered so effectively.  He used his smart phone in the conversation with his wife and the end result registered so powerfully that one visitor said he was nearly brought to tears by its portrayal of Zacchaeus' transformation. It was powerful. It led me to conclude with a brief challenge about the way Jesus views us all as lost when he first meets us. 

This meant that I failed to use one of the ways I might have ended!  Only one commentary I consulted mentioned how one of the early church leaders (and preachers) called Clement of Alexandria, referred to Zacchaeus in his homily 3:63.  And guess what? He writes that Zacchaeus became Bishop of Caesarea in the early church. I love that detail.  There's a factual follow-up to the Luke 19 story.  Zacchaeus' momentous declaration to Jesus, right there and then at the foot of the tree, that he would give away half his possessions and repay any he had cheated, is a prelude to such changed character that he becomes a leader in Jesus' church. I wish we knew more. You can only imagine how that the personality that once took him to chief tax collector position, with gifts of leadership, organization, and team work is turned on its head. As a generous, gracious bishop his caring, compassion and ability are refocused on the kingdom of God, living for Jesus, in his way with his people. Maybe he told his testimony. It would have made a great evangelistic story. This outcast up a tree, found by Jesus.

On reflection I believe I was right to finish the sermon as I did. but follow-up stories have their own gospel power too. And that leads me to another recent experience.....