tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52550611670721699182024-03-16T04:56:37.129-07:00MichaelQuicke.orgThis website belongs to Michael Quicke, C.W. Koller Professor of Preaching at Northern Seminary, Lombard, Illinois. As author, itinerant preacher and church observer, he will keep readers abreast of insights along his journey.MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.comBlogger1257125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-87755883298042298892024-03-16T04:56:00.000-07:002024-03-16T04:56:35.526-07:00Easter crosses<p>The art installation with its 3 themes Grace, Generosity and Gratitude required some quotes where people with impactful testimony referenced these particular themes. Kate asked me, with others, whether we could think of anyone. I had recently been re-reading the so-called spiritual autobiography of E. Stanley Jones titled <i>A Song of Ascents</i>. He is one of my heroes. Kate liked the quote which she agreed did justice to the theme of Gratitude but she didn't know who he was (and she would be in the majority). So she asked me to give a brief summary.</p><p></p><blockquote><i><span face="OpenSans-webfont" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px;">E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973) was utterly transformed by meeting Jesus when he was 17 years old. He surrendered his gifts .as an extraordinary thinker, imaginative writer and, passionate speaker to serve Jesus, becoming a world-famous Methodist missionary to India. A friend of Ghandi, he had remarkable influence in India and as an evangelist impacted thousands across 6 continents. In his spiritual autobiography </span><span face="OpenSans-webfont" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 16px;">A Song of Ascents</span><span face="OpenSans-webfont" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px;"> he tells about how Jesus became </span><span face="OpenSans-webfont" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-size: 16px;">his everything</span><span face="OpenSans-webfont" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16px;"> The quote below comes from his book and captures the sheer wonder on his knees before Jesus and the difference it made to him and the world.</span></i></blockquote><p></p><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">The actual quote which I offered bubbles with wonder at his conversion. Its a good testimony about gratitude. The idea as visitors walk past all the flowers to meditate at the crosses they will have an opportunity to sense how others experienced Jesus' death for them. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div><blockquote style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: OpenSans-webfont; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;">How did this happen to me? I felt so undeserving and so unworthy and...yet the wonder has turned into a life wonder. I gaze at him and wonder and wonder until my knees bend in gratitude. But I'm soon up on my feet again with a divine compulsion to share this with everyone, everywhere.</span></p></div></blockquote><p>Apparently the installation has now been put in place so tomorrow (Sunday) we shall see how the vision has developed! Some of it sounds ambitious like the provision of QR codes for visitors to view background details to the quotes, like the E. Stanley Jones stuff above. I'll let you know how the project is working out, though it really needs prayer and openness these next days leading up to Easter.</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-11579284799898676382024-03-08T08:33:00.000-08:002024-03-08T08:37:46.237-08:00Easter Crosses<p>Our minister's wife, Kate, is gifted with a highly charged imagination which further takes quantum leaps at Christina festivals. |Every Christmas and Easter she has visions. Even as Christmas was just over she had a picture of a fresh Easter installation. A couple of years ago we had 7 giant painted Easter eggs telling out the Easter story. I posted about my little part within this display which attracted a huge amount of interest..</p><p>This time she envisages three 6ft high crosses set in the corner of the church front lawn with a straight path leading up to them. Flowers in specially made boxes will line the path. You might expect the crosses to be reminders of Calvary with Jesus central and thieves on either side. But No. Each cross is to be a place of meditation. On each will be one of the key words that our minister has stressed this year: GRACE, GENEROSITY, GRATITUDE</p><p>At today's coffee morning I asked Kate how it was all going. She told me how thrilled she is that when she has an idea, people in the church rally round. In particular, one skillful member has offered his carpentry expertise to make the crosses and another church member, who happens usefully to be a professional sign-writer, has been working on the painting and lettering. The carpenter has also made flower boxes which will line the walkway up to the crosses.</p><p>Several weeks ago, the whole church was invited to plant some bulbs at home and they are to be brought to church this Sunday ready to be planted in the boxes next week. I bought some tulip and narcissus bulbs. The picture on the packet looks exotic but their three pots showed no sign of life until very recently. At least you can see some foliage but Kate assured me that they will be on display for 1 month and she is sure they will blook around Easter. </p><p>And I have been involved in another way too......</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-17852307148095984832024-03-01T08:15:00.000-08:002024-03-01T08:15:26.090-08:00Pictures please<p>One of our church members is on the cusp of publishing her book on telling the Bible in 60 minutes. The title is <i>Telling the Big Story </i>and the publishers (Kevin Mayhew) have given her permission to invite people to draw one of a number of internal small images for the book. 26 of us have been asked across the spectrum from children up to...well I guess I'm one of the oldest. The images really are small. We were asked to draw simple line drawings in boxes no larger than 7.5 cm by 7.5 cm which would then be reduced further to fit in with the text. </p><p>Lucy asked me to draw a queue of exiles in profile and to inspire me she sent a copy of an Assyrian bas relief sculpture off the internet. Being an Assyrian sculpture the exiles were dressed in Assyrian helmets and clothes! I had never pictured how the Israelites might appear in profile on the way to Babylon but I guess they would be carrying some of their essentials.</p><p>With hesitation I sketched out a line drawing. The Assyrian guard brings up the rear behind three laden exiles.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjLs8Gb0QcuSxnLjzua8gBgGX65idOF95EqEe-cOTKhAnpNELLiE8rVT0naeg1zqz0n5iTuFReQUuwcYXe9YD7wcyGn6Acs6CqPcJKImBPp8V7VaqRT2dbsSeHWJSxWytn-J3y9Pq-kTHXF1cKmwTLEgg6N1H__ukOGFMMDZybxXF6xgszLZNeCWNik5t/s2576/20240217_205225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2576" data-original-width="1932" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjLs8Gb0QcuSxnLjzua8gBgGX65idOF95EqEe-cOTKhAnpNELLiE8rVT0naeg1zqz0n5iTuFReQUuwcYXe9YD7wcyGn6Acs6CqPcJKImBPp8V7VaqRT2dbsSeHWJSxWytn-J3y9Pq-kTHXF1cKmwTLEgg6N1H__ukOGFMMDZybxXF6xgszLZNeCWNik5t/w208-h217/20240217_205225.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><p>Forgive the reproduction quality with its dark shadow but you get the idea. It's another first in the rich tapestry of life!</p><p><br /></p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-1658351216837118242024-02-19T07:54:00.000-08:002024-02-19T07:54:49.516-08:00Lenten Prayer <p> My Lenten meditations include a prayer of Henri Nouwen's which not only sets the scene for these 40 days leading up to Easter, but expresses so much honesty and desire about making daily choices Jesus gives us. It is a fitting coda to my last couple of posts. It really challenges me.</p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Lord Jesus Christ</i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><i>It is time to be with you in a special way, a time to pray, a time to fast, and thus to follow you on your way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.</i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><i>I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, human respect, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.</i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><i>I know that Lent is going to be a very hard time for me. The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life. I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions. There are no times or places without choices. And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.</i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><i>{;ease. Lord, be with me at every moment and in every place. Give me the strength and the courage to live this season faithfully, so that, when Easters comes, I will be able to taste with joy the new life which you have prepared for me.</i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Amen.</i></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-83719422716155800432024-02-14T06:38:00.000-08:002024-02-14T06:38:37.529-08:00WIJDWU<p>I should have added this to the earlier post because <i>What Is Jesus Doing |With Me Now</i> is necessarily individual. That's where discipleship begins. But in our hyper-individualistic culture it is vital to add the all-important corporate dimension. Disciples belong to the body of Christ. When we gather together, seeking to be imitators of God, He desires us to be his holy people sharing in his mission. We need to ask: <b>What Is Jesus Doing With US now</b>?</p><p>How important it is to ask what God is asking of us as his church! Our daily prayer life should always include community issues about which the gathered church is asking WIJDWUN Where is God leading us now as his local church? Too often we act as though we know exactly what God's agenda is. We keep doing what we did last year. We assume we know how to run church efficiently. Same as, same as! But so often we don't know what God could do with us and through us as his community, alive with Jesus Christ.</p><p>So, I need to add WIJDWUN to my prayer life. </p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-15905451758349240212024-02-14T02:29:00.000-08:002024-02-14T02:31:21.043-08:00Second point!<p>Sorry for the delay if you were waiting for the second truth that must accompany the first (last post). But you will know what it is anyway!</p><p>The second truth: <b>Jesus is alive and by his Spirit walks the narrow way with us</b>. For real. <i>Because of his great love for us God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive <u>with Christ</u></i> (Eph.2:4). I am sure I have mentioned before about WWDJ and the way that it still emerges from time to time. It's based on a older book of fiction that imagined the vast difference it would be if people analyzed seriously their daily actions by asking What Would Jesus Do? But it seems to miss the essential truth that we don't have to try and imagine how different things would be. It almost assumes that the first point about <b>Jesus asks us to make a hard choice</b> is all about me. No. </p><p>It's much clumsier but it ought to be WIJDWMN! <b>What Is Jesus Doing With Me Now.</b> We are so often going to drift from the narrow way. That's why confession with repentance and fresh starts are essential to Christian living. But if we are going to be really different we need to set our minds and hearts intentionally (and that's a loaded word) by saying to Jesus every day: <u>Help me</u>. Intentionality means that we set our minds and will to act on what we believe. Being Jesus' disciples today, being imitators of God, doesn't just happen. It's not some vague spiritual state - we really need God's help to desire being different. </p><p>Jesus said: <i>The greatest command is to love God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength</i> (|Mark 12:10). Copying the world comes easily. God wants us to be as his best. For our own sakes, and so vitally for our church communities and neighbours too.</p><p>Oh yes, WWJDWMN!</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-77444168754422766612024-02-06T03:52:00.000-08:002024-02-06T03:52:28.805-08:00Deja Vu Preaching 3)<p>When I wrote there are two vital truths that we should not forget, let <i>me</i> be clear - that <i>I </i>should not forget! As I reread these verses about the nitty-gritty of effective Christian living <i>I </i>felt the challenge acutely.</p><p>First,<b> Jesus asks us to make a hard choice</b>. There is no better way of living than to follow Jesus and to live among people who take the command to imitate God seriously in being like Jesus. It <u>is</u> the way to eternal life. His love and his grace are the world's best news BUT he asks each of us to make the toughest choice to enter by the small gate and follow along a narrow road. Matt 7:14 gives a graphic picture. The small gate is highly unpopular for the narrow way involves restrictions and high expectations. Jesus demands disciples with discipline! After all he is Lord. </p><p>What a contrast with the wide gate and broad road which is as wide as contemporary culture, allowing us to move with maximum choices about how we live. The broad way goes with the flow of culture - how the majority of people think and behave. It involves everything - habits, ideas, customs, values, and it's subtly insidious, creeping in everywhere. The more secular culture becomes the more it minimizes God, and the more it allows self choice and self-assertion. </p><p>In the States I learned the expression <i>attractional church</i>. Often larger churches, they blacked out any windows with seating as comfortable as a cinema's. In fact, the whole experience was rather like being in a movie theatre with spotlights on the front stage, where a music group would be singing to the audience, before an articulate amusing preacher came on stage. Coffee and doughnuts were constantly available with movement when refills were required. And the preacher winsomely spoke of the love of God expressed in Jesus, who died for us that we might be forgiven and receive eternal life. </p><p>But not one word about a small gate and narrow word. About restrictions and high expectations of following Jesus. Nothing about the intentional hard choice required to obey the Lord.</p><p>I know I am guilty of some parody here but the contrast between the narrow road and broad way is a critical challenge today, isn't it? </p><p><br /></p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-33452776869893722922024-01-30T07:58:00.000-08:002024-01-30T07:58:34.461-08:00Deja Vu preaching 2)<p>I do believe that repeating sermons is permissible. In fact, when I was itinerant with a full-time job, it was my Plan B. But, with the theme: <i>Be imitators of God</i>, I knew I needed a fresh word. Rereading the whole passage, immersing myself, putting aside commentary helps or past sermon efforts I focused on Gal 4: 29-5:7, though the rest of chapter 5 is vitally involved too..</p><p>Among the many responses possible, it struck me how many imperatives crowd in - almost in a shouty way! Recently, my local church has started singing the Phil Wickham song: <i>Yahweh, Lord of all the earth </i><i style="font-weight: bold;">we shout your name, shout your name.</i> Some psalms encourage shouting and certainly my church lets rip. Right through the song it's SHOUT your name.</p><p>We should note how some passages of Scripture also shout at us. Many words are to be heard in bold, action words to make us sit up and take notice. Megaphone words. Like WAKE UP (5:14). stop sleep walking. They come thick and fast: Be imitators of God (v1), Walk in love (v2), Don't partner disobedient people (v7), Be very careful how you walk (v 15), Don't be foolish (v17). There is urgency and seriousness. It really matters to God that we behave better. The Message paraphrases Be imitators of God: <i>Watch what God does and then you do it, like children who lean proper behaviour from their parents.</i> Much of Chapter 5 is about proper behaviour and the crunch question comes: IS IT WORKING? </p><p>After all, the gifts of God's love in Christ should result in different living. I remember one senior minister confiding in me: <i>Michael I have been preaching to this church for years now about the difference Jesus makes but they never seem to change for the better.</i> You can never tell the difference sharing good news can make, but our nitty-gritty behaviour shows whether we behave as God copiers. That's a continuous challenge to us as disciples, together.</p><p>There are two truths in particular that we should never forget.</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-89562517267314548212024-01-23T08:27:00.000-08:002024-01-24T02:13:04.534-08:00Deja Vu preaching <p>As is obvious from my postings I am rarely invited to preach nowadays. For this I am mostly grateful - only too aware that nearing 80 others should take my place. But, in a couple of weeks I have another opportunity and, strangely, the Bluntisham church preaching plan gives me the same chapter in Ephesians as I preached in 2022. Chapter 5! I no longer have my notes so I thought I would dig out the recording on our church web site. My first thought was that having prepared a sermon I could recast it! However, the listening experience was dismal. I knew that my voice has lost much power but, in addition, I seemed to be suffering from an irritating cough that, frankly, <i>was </i>extremely irritating to hear. With moderate self-criticism I confess the content it did not feed my soul though, in common with many preachers, I admit my general dislike of hearing myself.. </p><p>At the same time, my daily devotions came to Acts 14:1-7 as Paul and Barnabas continue their pioneering missionary preaching tour to reach Iconium. The NIV translates the end of verse 1: <i>There they spoke so <b>effectively</b> that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. </i>I had missed that word effectively in past readings. How extraordinary to use a quantitative word like that. Presumably, the opposite applies that we can preach ineffectively!</p><p>I immediately went to find out what the original word is. All of us who preach long to be effective. What characterizes this particular preaching event? I found the word effectively was an attempt to translate four Greek words, literally, <u>to speak so as to believe.</u> The KJV translates literally: <i>They so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.</i> 'So spake' expresses a particular quality of speaking that God things happened. I guess that the NIV translation 'effectively' is as good as any way of expressing this particular quality. </p><p>It is clear in Acts 14 something special occurred. God's Spirit moved in a powerful way through their speaking. God's involvement is strikingly confirmed by accompanying signs and wonders. Yet their preaching was essential. The bearing of immediate spiritual fruit in faith responses remains a glorious sign of effectiveness and, of course, there are other desirable outcomes of biblical preaching, especially its role of upbuilding Christ's people.</p><p>However, the conjunction of hearing an old sermon with a challenge to effectiveness gave me a much needed jolt. So I am working afresh, asking the Lord to wake me up to the new things he is saying to me that I should share. Perhaps it might be worth sharing and who knows, past preparation may be leaking into the process!</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-53507482696917344062024-01-15T07:45:00.000-08:002024-01-15T07:47:33.361-08:00Olive tree, soap, antibiotics<p>When I take down our Christmas cards I always dilly dally, spending time absorbing pictures and messages before disposing of them. And among them are charity gift cards where friends have made donations in our name.</p><p>This year, unusually, one told us that an olive tree has been sponsored on our behalf which (hopefully) will be planted in Palestine in Spring 2024. The card explains how for the Middle East planting olive trees is an act of hope and resilience as they grow, bear fruit and provide sustenance for generation. Healthy olive trees help the Palestinian people maintain their ancient ties to the land and preserve an important source of income.</p><p>An accompanying card had to be registered in our names and sent off to the organization<i> Embrace the Middle East </i>which<i> </i>promises to send a Planting Certificate telling the story of the farmer we have supported. What a great idea but what a tragic context. I cannot help but see the signs of devastation on the current news. I wonder when it is going to be possible for farmers plant freely with all the destruction around them. I eagerly await that Planting Certificate as a sign of hope and promise to celebrate in a posting.</p><p>Another friend sent two colourful charity donation cards telling us of antibiotics and hygiene kits that Christian Aid is given to people in emergency disasters in our name. I feel very grateful and extremely lazy that such vital gifts are going to needy places this year courtesy of such kind good friends' thoughtfulness. It's a powerful reminder of how little us can make a difference in a world of need because Jesus Christ is Immanuel. And a challenge to my priorities in 2024.</p><p><br /></p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-15412952992718474382024-01-12T08:20:00.000-08:002024-01-12T08:24:35.197-08:00The importance of alignment<p>For the last three weeks our front door was out of order. We left home having locked it after setting the alarm only to find that it refused to open when we returned. The key failed to turn more than a quarter of the way. Fortunately we had a back door key, though I couldn't reach the alarm before its shrill loudness did it's best to awake the neighbourhood. A kind neighbour who is something of an engineering genius, though his specialism is veteran racing car engines, managed to unjam it and proceeded to unscrew bits of the long strip running down the length of the door. Its design has locks at top and bottom as well as at the handle.</p><p>With some huffing and puffing he diagnosed internal trouble with the lock mechanism itself. Just as he was giving up he used brute force to free up the lock mechanism. 'Well, if in trouble just hit with a hammer' he said. Alas, two days later it jammed again. </p><p>The fitters agree to send an engineer in three weeks time. Yesterday he arrived, having drivne from Great Yarmouth. He drove a large orange van but came in with a screwdriver and a can of oil. To my astonishment he didn't touch the door at all. With some deft turns of the screw driver at the hinges he opened and closed the door several times. Than squirted oil into the lock as he pronounced it was now operable.</p><p>Over an Americano I expressed surprise that it had taken only a couple of minutes. 'Ah' he said. 'It's all about alignment. It wasn't properly aligned so I had to work with the hinges.' Of course, I am no longer a regular preacher but what a gift about the most important alignment in life. Alignment to God's will, seeking first his kingdom. We know how easy it is to be misalligned (is that a word?) and jammed up, but what joy, in confession, to know his Spirit is ever ready to help us make adjustments and open ourselves up to his renewing work. And there's fresh anointing possible too.</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-43078122972457004452024-01-08T08:02:00.000-08:002024-01-08T08:06:36.106-08:00To Ponder<p>Its language is dated but this thought from George Morrison (related to Isa 46:8,9) is worth pondering:</p><p>Of all the powers that God has given us, none is more wonderful than memory. It is a twofold power - the power that gathers in the past, crowding in twice ten thousand things that we have learned. And the power that out of the crowded storehouse calls them to mind. There is no religion which lays such an emphasis on memory as Christianity. It is the glory of Jesus that He pressed all powers in his service: thought, hope, imagination, fear. But he exalted memory in religious service as it had never been exalted by another teacher. And he recognized its moral character as it had never been recognized before.</p><p>We call Christ's sayings memorable words. Not merely words that we remember but words so chosen and set that they make an instant impression on the memory. Like barbed arrows. And when we sit at the Lord's table what do we hear? <i>This do in remembrance of me</i>. There at the very centre of the Gospel the dominant note is memory. It is not hope, though I am hopeful there. It is not knowledge, not even faith. It sets a crown upon memory, showing what Christ expected of it: more than a gift or aptitude. It is a moral power, a religious force.</p><p>What a daring thing it was of Christ to lay such an emphasis on memory. It is the glory of Christianity that it has a message for your past. As life advances, memory grows richer. In age it is memory that plays the larger part. I only know that seeing all the past shaded and filled with the pardon and love of God, I shall be readier to cast my crown down at his feet. Happy that we can remember Calvary tonight!</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-46023250553053206382024-01-04T09:02:00.000-08:002024-01-08T08:07:40.361-08:00And one more response<p>To finish off the sermon I have to mention - <b>the sheer hatred of Herod the
Great.</b> Called 'great' because of the
impressive buildings of his reign, but known in history as a paranoid, bestial tyrant whose distrust of potential rivals led him to murder even members of his own
family, including his wife. When he was dying he instructed that leading
citizens of Jericho be killed so that there would be weeping at his funeral. His
behaviour in Matthew 2 is sadly in character. Furious that his trickery with the Magi is unmasked as they are warned not to return to him, he gives orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and the vicinity <i>who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the mag</i>i.
V16.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p>Why in the history of the world have there been such authority figures whose cruelty and sheer wickedness can unleash such violence to cause such appalling destruction? Why are we constantly faced by p</o:p></span>ower-hungry arrogant men who can pursue such bestiality? In this broken, fallen world we know this remains a constant factor in sinful humankind's existence. This is the normal world for so many today.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US">When we ask 'After Christmas - what?' for Jesus, we see a refugee baby with a price on his head, escaping to the south
into Egypt. To the south of Gaza and Israel where refugees flee today, in a world of violence
and grief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning. </i>Matthew wants us to know that all grim reality was
prophesied. God <i>intended </i>entering the world of pain and brokenness. There's no point in arriving in comfort
when the world is in misery; no point in having an easy life when the world
suffers violence and injustice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Jesus is
to be Emmanuel, God with us, he must be with us where the pain and violence is. Though he escapes cruelty and death this time, he will meet it head on on the cross. </span> </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US">That smiling cynic who dismissed
Christmas as a story of a baby which is happy but means nothing, could not be
more wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the truth is that Jesus
has come weirdly and wonderfully into our world, our normal world. The Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem explained in the Christmas TV news about the nativity scene which set Jesus amidst rubble this year. '<i>That's where Jesus is with us'</i>, he said. What a conviction in response to the devastation around his people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US">I ended my sermon with a challenge in our easier lives in Histon, and a call that in saying the Covenant Prayer we might identify together with a deep personal response for 2024. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-47475213050394489372024-01-01T03:36:00.000-08:002024-01-01T03:36:17.858-08:00another response<p>I have woken up to sunshine as the New Year opens, so welcome after days of gloom. But whatever the weather for you may today begin a significantly good year with God. I preached yesterday on the good news as wise men worshipped because they had found Christ. But I also pushed into the story to find another very different response - <b>a religious response</b>.</p><p>It is striking how summonsed by Herod on a three line whip - <i>all</i> the
chief priests and teachers - to answer the question about where this child born to be king of the Jews is to be found, they get
the right answer. Did they know the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah? YES. Could they see Jupiter and Saturn or the comet or whatever was bright in the sky? Probably YES. Do they have
authority so that the King orders action on their words? YES. Everything is lined up on paper. They really know their stuff. They know that the outcome of all the Old |Testament yearnings focusses on the coming Messiah.</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US">Yet when the Magi set off <i>they
don’t.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can look up the facts, get them right, but
not move a muscle in response. They stay in Jerusalem as these searchers move on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the utter tragedy about knowing some facts about the Christ but rejecting any possibility of meeting him. They could pass
examinations on Scriptural interpretations but they don’t want any spiritual
experience.</span> </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US">The evangelist David Watson used to say that the number one reason why people reject Christianity is
because they don’t want to change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bluntly, they feel if you should take Jesus seriously nothing will be
the same again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> They know about him but they don't want to know him personally.</span></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US">I saw a cartoon two weeks ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a science class and the teacher had
all these squiggles on the blackboard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And he was saying :<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along with
antimatter and dark matter we’ve recently discovered doesn’t matter which
appears to have no effects on the universe at all. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">The behaviour of these religious leaders is a reminder that religious people can behave as though the coming of
Christ has no effects on the universe at all. Certainly not upon them! What a challenge to those of us who come to church and over the years have heard so much about God yet keep him at arm's length. Please, let's be more open to him in our lives and community in 2024.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">And there is one other more obvious response in the story......</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-58189079379943788472023-12-30T04:05:00.000-08:002023-12-30T04:05:30.859-08:00A Happy New Year<p> For my New Year Eve's sermon I have immersed myself in the story in Matthew 2: 1-18. Within the narrative of the Magi visiting Jesus and Herod's violence I see vastly different responses. </p><p>The first is glorious. Genuine worship. When these wise men, with obvious wealth and status, are able to enter Herod's palace, they ask: '<i>Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?'</i> The king gathers all the chief priests and teachers of the law to give the right answer. Which they do. They know their scrolls and bring out Micah (5:2) <i>In Bethlehem in Judea</i>. I don’t know if they quoted the whole
section, Matthew does: '<i>For you Bethlehem, out of you will come a ruler who
will be the shepherd of my people'</i>.
And the king says '<i>Go and find him</i>'. </p><p>And they do in a weirdly
wonderful story with which we we should never become over familiar. Weird because the first visitors were shepherds who fit
exactly in the rural picture, but wealthy intelligentia who read the stars,
travelling from far off lands, they enter the story too. They just don't belong. They contrast in every way. Rank outsiders breaking in with their strange gifts for royalty, exploding what could be a cosy local Galilean story into an international one for all kinds of people. Every kind of person.</p><p>That is the wonder. Their worship, their gifts. <b>Their not belongingness in the story which lays foundations for our not belongingness too. </b>For Jesus the King will not just be king over
Jews but Gentiles the world over. CS Lewis once wrote:<b> Look for Christ and you will find Him. And with him everything else.</b></p><p>It is the wise men's kneeling in worship, outsiders who are brought into the heart of the story that emphasizes the best response to Christmas. That God has revealed who he is to US! And as we go into a New Year this is the best response to share. That's why the Covenant Prayer will be said in church tomorrow - a personal commitment for 2024. </p><p>A happy worshipping New Year! </p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-53607542160859417652023-12-27T03:43:00.000-08:002023-12-27T03:43:43.202-08:00A Sunday preach<p>I have been asked to preach so little this year so I was surprised to be asked a couple of weeks ago to speak at next Sunday's service. <i> </i>Dec.31st is a bridge Sunday with the celebration of the miracle of the Incarnation caught up in the beginning of a new year. Those who practice the <i>Christian Year</i> know how it slows down preparation periods and then lengthens celebration. For Christmas this includes four weeks of Advent, twelve days of Christmas, and Epiphany with the Magi. Many churches, like my local church, tend to begin the Christmas event really early so that Christmas Day is almost an anticlimax before New Year activity takes over. This runs the danger of reducing the extraordinary, heavyweight doctrine of the Incarnation of the Word made flesh to a side message, alongside a focus on children and festivity. </p><p>What am I going to do? I am planning the worship service with a friend who will lead communion after I have preached and led prayer. We agree that the service will have two parts. The first will include song, Scripture and me. I will focus on Matthew 2: 1-18. It won't be heavyweight though I shall aim to be challenging. My friend in part two will lead communion and the congregation in saying the Covenant prayer. This comes from the <i>Methodist Covenant </i>service usually held at the beginning of the year. John Wesley adapted it from the writings of Richard Alleine in order that believers could make personal recommitments to God at the beginning of each New Year.</p><p>Its words are demanding. The modern version (below) emphasizes each disciple's surrender of will </p><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">I am no longer my own, but yours.</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">put me to doing, put me to suffering;</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">exalted for you, or brought low for you;</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">let me be full,</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">let me be empty,</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">let me have all things,</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">let me have nothing:</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">to your pleasure and disposal.</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"></dd><dd style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">And now, glorious and blessed God,</dd><dd style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">Father, Son and Holy Spirit,</dd><dd style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">you are mine and I am yours. So be it.</dd><dd style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.</dd><dd style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">Amen.</dd><p>These powerful words will be anticipated in my message, though I am still in the process of preparation. Anyway, I'll keep in touch as you continue celebrations too.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-9394026481215752222023-12-23T08:45:00.000-08:002023-12-23T08:48:53.270-08:00Squeezed in greetings<p>The last few weeks have been hit by Carol's ill health, with an eventual diagnosis of Diabetes 2 which could explain her dearth of energy and life force. However, I must squeeze in before Christmas my greeting to kind readers. I know who some of you are though many are unknown. I really want to <span style="font-size: 11pt;">wish </span><u style="font-size: 11pt;">you</u><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
a wonderful Christmas at this very significant time of the year. For us the
birth of Jesus marks the beginning of the best news this world can ever see.
That there is a God, and we can see his Son in flesh!</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In this dark world we need to celebrate this
glorious news and that’s why we wish you a very happy, meaningful Christmas!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I try to issue a lighthearted summary of Quicke happenings at the end of each year which I send to unwitting friends. This latest epistle assured readers that </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">we are
both still alive. </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Bouts of pestilence and plague have kept us local this year
with Carol’s Long Covid living up to its name.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The decline in sprightliness has mercifully seen matching clumsiness,
memory mishaps and hearing loss which has kept our marriage together for
another year. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Sometimes one major theme dominates a year. As in the past it was
a book, but in 2023 not mine! Contracted to produce 120k words, £170 in
hardback, titled: </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">Finding your Voice</i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">, Rob was facing his final final
deadline for manuscript delivery this Summer. Events had conspired to frustrate
his writing as he moved from a highly unsatisfactory University (putting it
mildly) to a completely new role as Director of a large journalism and media
department at Marshall Univ. in W. Virginia. He had good ideas with a mound of
raw possibilities. Underline </span><u style="font-size: 11pt;">raw!</u></p><p><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Memorably he said to me: </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">Dad, how
good it is for a father to be able to help his son!</i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">’</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">On Jan 7</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> my journal records ‘3
hours on Ch 1 Rob’s book.’ Thus began daily fatherly duty. On Jan 12</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
he arrived via Iceland for an intensive week’s work in my garden shed which
thrashed through three chapters. A further exhausting week in March bashed
onwards. You need to be spared the intervening daily grind with zoom and google
doc. keeping me umbilically involved. Carol mourned my long absences with
patchy patience. However, Routledge accepted the ms. and promised speedy
publication. Astonishingly it arrived several days before its Dec. 19</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 11pt;">.publication date.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Carol’s frustration with the process
communicated with so many friends and neighbours that complete strangers would
call out: How’s the book?</span></p></blockquote><p>Long-suffering readers of my posts will be aware of this saga. It's happy conclusion is a great cause for celebration. Now, we move towards 2024 I hope to have some fresh thoughts to share.</p><p>A joyous Christmas to you, wherever you are!</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-77385274775989448142023-11-29T10:24:00.000-08:002023-11-29T10:26:04.249-08:00A brief follow-up<p> <span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">We have just heard from Simon who has returned home, exhausted and in pain. They told him the op. would normally be 20 minutes but his would be longer. Well, it was over 90 minutes during which Simon heard (courtesy of local inaesthetic) of several complications which needed the supervising prof's intervention. The prof commented to his surgical team that it had been very tricky. We are not surprised with all the complications along the way. </span></p><p><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">He was told nothing positive but when he returns to hospital in 3 weeks time they will examine him again. I guess they cannot really tell for a while and probably have to scan the eye to establish how much bleeding was hidden behind the cataract. So, we continue in prayer. </span></p><p><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Thanks for reading this personal post from an anxious parent. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-block: initial; margin: 0px;">,</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-block: initial; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-80027683441269566072023-11-28T03:52:00.000-08:002023-11-28T03:52:50.161-08:00Recovery of some sight<p>To interrupt my posts on life statements (though I must admit some difficulty in finding another one!) I am asking all those readers who are pray-ers whether you would please include a prayer for my son Simon. He undergoes some long-awaited eye surgery tomorrow at Moorfields, our national eye hospital in London. For years he has struggled with different diseases in each eye which have deteriorated at contrasting rates. Whenever there has been a bleed in either eye they have injected (in his words)| a superglue to stop the bleeding. But each time that bit of sight has been lost. The downward slope of unretrievable sight is continuous.</p><p>However, on his worst eye the plan tomorrow is to remove the cataract which has grown on a tissue paper surface (his consultant's words) to establish how serious the bleeding has been behind. The sensitive scanning of his eye condition has been blocked by the wall of his cataract (again, the consultant's words), so they have no idea whether removal of the cataract, without damaging the retina (a dangerously possible outcome), will help the underlying condition.</p><p>Our under-pressure NHS has delayed action for many months but on Weds. 29th. November at 8:30 am his surgeon will operate. So, prayers please. As an editor whose work with magnified large font just about continues, and as a Dad whose family life has been incredibly diminished, we pray that the Lord of Healing will bless tomorrow's surgery. Thanks for reading. </p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-52130603524835450912023-11-19T08:56:00.000-08:002023-11-19T08:56:26.471-08:00Life Statements 3\)<p> A few months after my Ordination I was inducted to Leamington Road Baptist Church, Blackburn on September 2nd. 1972.</p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><p><i>Being called to your first pastorate tests your faith and your motives in ministry. As I entered my last year in training there was much advice I could call on to ascertain God's leading. But two remarks particularly stayed in my mind. One was the ironical remark of an eminent Baptist minister, a Northerner, who said;' 'How strange it is that the Holy Spirit calls so many ministers to the South-East of England.' That challenged me as an absolute Southerner. I felt it would be unfaithful to limit the scope to the South and, indeed, coveted a church in the North for my first ministry.</i></p><p><i>A second valuable piece of advice came from my father. It concerned the emotion I should ideally feel when confronted by the right church. He said 'You should fall in love with it!' Well, I have now fallen in love twice in my life. The first time does not concern us here. But when Carol and I visited Leamington Road last October, for the first Sunday of your interregnum, we both fell in love with the church and tow. It was the Rev. Peter Lorkin who had suggested me as a pulpit-filler and that happy visit remained in our memories for a long time. At that stage the likelihood of my receiving an invitation to meet the deacons seemed remote. However, when in the Christmas post, I received an invitation to visit Blackburn again my excitement was considerable. After meeting the management committee I returned to Oxford exhilarated. Even though my experience of living north of Oxford was nil, and the scope of Leamington Road sent my knees trembling (and still does!) I prayed that this might be the right situation for Carol and me. In our devotions we prayed earnestly that God's will would be clear for us.</i></p><p><i>When I came on the weekend of January 29/30th 1972 there was little doubt in my mind. There was plenty of opportunity to meet man y of you on the Saturday evening and during the Sunday I had a strong conviction that God was leading me here. That conviction has never left us, and has been reinforced by other events. My prayer is that your step of faith as a church entrusting the pastoral oversight to a young man may be blessed as together we commit our future life to the Lord.</i></p></blockquote><p>Though I wrote this statement down my developing speaking style already gave me freedom as I spoke. I know that the emotional engagement was high as was the gratitude to God and the humbling awareness that this was it. My first place for actual ministry! I was to write in block capitals: GOD HAS CALLED ME HERE TO SERVE FOR HIS GLORY. I had to remember that!</p><p><i></i></p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-21434576969370315092023-11-13T07:31:00.000-08:002023-11-13T07:31:08.167-08:00Life Statements 2)<p> Ordination statement cont.</p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><i>Since I committed myself to this vocation and began training at Regent's Park College in Octobers 1969 there have been confirmations that this is the right course. The most recent is my call to Leamington Road Baptist Church, Blackburn, which sets a seal on my training for the pastoral ministry.</i></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p><i>But there is one thing more I must say to this congregation in Chatsworth. On 3rd. August 1969 Chatsworth took a great step of faith - it invited me untrained, inexperienced and very nervous to preach. Only I know how great your faith was! Preaching, of all the aspects of the ministry was one where I felt least adequate and there are churches not far from here which, courtesy of the London Baptist Preachers' Association will readily agree. Yet, when I climbed the mount for the evening service on that August date I experienced something which will always stand on a peak. I cannot really describe the loss of self-awareness, the peaceful confidence, not rooted in a careful script but grounded in the humbling strength of the Holy Spirit. Only those who have known extremes of butterflies, dry throat and a crippling ill-ease which may accompany public speaking can appreciate why this experience is a turning point I can never forget. It gave me for the first time the happiness of preaching the good news unhampered by my own limitations and borne up by the Spirit's power.</i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>I cannot explain why I felt this until I remember the prayers of this people, with me every minute. For those prayers and that day I thank God.</i></p></blockquote><p>As I read these words I picture this Ordination day in sharp focus. But, when I describe what happened on 3rd. August I realize how I pulled my punches. It really was true that preaching was part of my calling which I dreaded. As a lay preacher I had recently visited a Baptist church, travelling by tube. That day's pulpit experience still makes me shiver. No one spoke to me at the end and the Treasurer grudgingly flipped me half-a-crown (old money = 25p) to cover my travel! It was awful. What happened on 3rd. August was so momentous I felt it was too presumptuous as a young man to mention it. Surely many would think it was the product of an overwrought imagination rather than spiritual reality. Only many years later did I dare to tell the story how God had unmistakeably spoken to me. Even while I was preaching another voice clearly said: <i>Michael I call you to preach</i>. As I later wrote in <i>360degree Preaching</i>: God gave inadequate me a vivid, lifelong commitment to preach. </p><p>I think I was right to keep quiet in 1972 but am sure I needed to go public later. It explains so much of my subsequent life. It also raises questions about whether God calls specifically for preaching. Is this among the gifts to the church? Good questions.</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-69319473070878931552023-11-07T03:30:00.000-08:002023-11-07T03:30:06.784-08:00Life Statements (1)<p> Occasionally I have needed to explain myself in a public statement. These have come at critical junctures of new beginnings. I have just found the first two relating to my Ordination and my Induction to my first church. They reveal wrestling and conviction. Please forgive my introspection but reflecting on these has provoked some deep thankfulness to God. My Ordination was in Chatsworth Baptist Church, Carol's church which had become mine (see romance post!) on May 21st. 1972.</p><blockquote><p><i>It is not easy to convey the sureness of my conviction that brings me to my Ordination, and yet do justice to the chequered course of events leading here. There have been periods of confusion doubt and of slipping backwards, and even as I declare here that I believe God wants me to be his minister there is still sheer disbelief that God wants me.</i></p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><i>Today I give thanks for those powerful influences for God in my life - the most important of whom are my parents. Their saintly example gripped me as soon as I could think and the effectiveness of my Christian home began in my conversion and baptism by my father in 1959 and continues fittingly as my father ordains me. My younger brother, already a Baptist minister reinforces this testimony to my home.</i></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p><i>But the thought of following in my father's footsteps as a 'clergyman' always horrified me, and still does. When I first went to university to read Geography I was determined to be a dedicated Christian, but a layman. However, towards the end of my three year course, as I was drifting into a probable teaching career, I suddenly felt acutely dissatisfied with the way I had decided my future with God, certainly no wrestling. In my indecision I was advised to wait, to take time to work and pray out my future. And in my waiting, quite out-of-the-blue I was asked to consider a new appointment at the Baptist Union Headquarters, working amongst students. This was a God-given opportunity to test my faith and future. Many events occurred within the first few months and throughout I prayed and thought hard.</i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>It took nearly 14 months for me to accept the new direction towards which God was thrusting me. After hours of discussion with friends, of talking with my wife, a heaping up of experiences and sharing in student missions I found my devotional life was giving me less and less room for maneouvre. People prodded me, unawares but irritatingly on this sensitive spot - the full-time Christian ministry. The Holy Spirit was compelling me to think again and again, as the needling persistent conviction grew that I could never be happy outside the full-time Christian ministry.</i></p></blockquote>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-20745896355991138812023-10-31T08:45:00.033-07:002023-10-31T08:59:27.108-07:00Diary Disaster<p> For decades my pocket diary (or calendar for US friends) has accompanied my every move. Over the years I have experimented with different sizes and layouts. Occasionally I have mislaid one - but never for long. It has been an indispensable tool. In ministry it was filled with duties right through twelve months, often with commitments in the next year's space squeezed at the back. Ever since 1987, I have had to log in the three monthly Botox injections that lay ahead to ensure none clashed with major absences. Gradually it became an indispensable guide to email addresses and passwords. Every December I laboriously recopied them into the next diary. And always it kept personal data for my leaky memory.</p><p>The last few weeks have been frantic because my precious diary disappeared. Desperately I have searched in all the obvious places. Where did you last use it? etc. Everywhere I began hopefully. Surely, it had to be somewhere! And every time the search failed. Someone helpfully chided me for not using my phone calendar.</p><p>Eventually, I concluded that when I last saw it had to be on my desk among a heap of papers. A big untidy heap. (I hope Carol doesn't read this - she has strong views on the state of my desk. She came me a plaque PLEASE DON'T CLEAN UP MY MESS. YOU'LL CONFUSE ME AND SCREW UP MY WORLD!) Alongside my desk is a large waste bin in which there is often an untidy heap of papers too. With a heavy heart I realized that the diary must have slipped into the waste bin as the heap occasionally avalanches. In the past multiple pens and even books have slid out of sight. Usually I would check but woe is me...I failed this time. </p><p>However, life has slowed down with ageing, Appointments, which in Spurgeon's could be four years ahead, are now absent. I am attempting to use my phone diary and am coming to terms with my loss as bravely as possible. </p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-90479738583583220512023-10-17T05:53:00.008-07:002023-10-17T05:57:17.077-07:00Surprise re-connections - All Greek to me 4)<p> Just recently I came across a name from the past. Prof. G.D. Kilpatrick. Actually, it jolted me back to my student days in Oxford. For our university exams, just one set at the end of three years, we were allowed to specialize in one paper. Though an extremely disappointing student of French and German I really enjoyed one particular dead language -New Testament Greek. I won a university prize for translation which encouraged me to opt for the specialist final examination of NT textual criticism. This involved studying the various textual possibilities that are sometimes found in old manuscripts and occasionally noted at the foot of our Bible translations. I was fascinated to find out more.</p><p>Unfortunately only two other students joined me in preparing for the exam. The four of us would meet around a large table in the professor's room as he gave us exercises to work on.. Dr. Kilpatrick was a leading Bible translator with an international reputation, yet he treated us as fellow translators. I tell you, I had to concentrate in that room! It was all Greek because it was assumed we would automatically translate. The different symbols for important codex manuscripts needed mastering with an awareness of their dating. It was pretty overwhelming as was the final exam, taken in sweltering heat as I wore my gown (a statutory requirement). The three of us were scattered across the room, heads bent and (in my case) attempts to subdue panic.</p><p>And the surprise re-connection? While on sabbatical in Cambridge, the Dean of the vast South Western Seminary for Baptists in Texas attended my church. One day he asked me whether I would like to accompany him to Oxford because he had been asked by his Seminary to examine an impressive library of books and manuscripts with a view to purchase. Would they be worth the thousands of dollars asked? And yes, it was the very same room we entered. It was one of those very strange experiences of being catapulted into a space you never thought you would see again.</p><p>I am not sure whether the seminary did purchase the collection. I think others were interested! But how's that for an odd re-connection?</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5255061167072169918.post-80858920006127652742023-10-11T09:18:00.030-07:002023-10-12T09:05:31.724-07:00Surprise re-connections - Spurgeon's 3)<p> About the same time that I saw Carol for the first time, a friend who I met in my first year at University, invited me home. Paul told me that his father was Principal of a Baptist College. Of course, I had heard of Spurgeon's but it was in fresh territory in South Norwood.</p><p>I set off on my Honda C90, which was my first low-powered motorcycle (later to be replaced by more powerful steeds!). Unfortunately it put-putted as far as Tower Bridge but as I was crossing the Thames into South London it gave up. I began pushing it out of the traffic. Its spark plug no longer sparked. I carried emery paper to pep up the plug, for my limited student resources meant I had no spare. I replaced the plug but it kept misfiring allowing only painfully slow progress. At the end I had to push it up S. Norwood Hill, and up the driveway into Spurgeon's. Much later than I hoped I plopped the bike by the columned entrance to this large house. I could see extensive grounds beyond and admit I was mighty impressed.</p><p>Paul greeted me and took me up the grand staircase, along the corridor opposite a large stained glass window into the Principal's apartment, which occupied the corner of the big house. We entered the lounge with high ceilings and windows overlooking the grounds. I met his mother and was told his father would be in later. When he did appear much later, he greeted me graciously before throwing himself on the sofa and putting on a vinyl record of <i>Liszt/s Piano Concerto No 1</i>. The image of him in that room with this vibrant loud music has stayed with me ever since. In fact I used it to begin his memorial lecture many years later.</p><p>Many of you will know where I am going with this story. In one of God's twists and turns of my journey, in 1993 I found myself becoming Principal of Spurgeon's! Going back to this place remains one of the greatest surprises of my life. By now that room where I had heard the Liszt had become my study. My re-connection seems unbelievable still. I treasure this story - it humbles me and speaks of God's extraordinarily mysterious ways of working.</p>MichaelQuickehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11268769366142928882noreply@blogger.com0