Multicultural Ministry Matters

Angels from the realms of glory, Wing your flight o’er all the earth; You who sang creation’s story, Now proclaim Messiah’s birth. Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King! Shepherds, in the field abiding, Watching o’er your flocks by night, God with us is now residing; See: there shines the infant light: Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King! Sages, leave your contemplations, Brighter visions beam afar; Seek the great Desire of nations; You have seen His natal star. Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King! Sinners, wrung with true repentance, Doomed for guilt to endless pains, Justice now revokes the sentence, Mercy says: come, break your chains. Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King! Though an Infant now we view Him, He shall fill His Father’s throne, Gather all the nations to Him; Every knee shall then bow down: Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Chris...

Christmas is a fun time for most of us, because everyone’s happy and nice to each other. We meet our family – sometimes people we haven’t seen for years. And we give each other gifts and reminisce about old times and share our hopes and dreams. And it’s all fun and lovely. But then we hear things like this: Each year police and support services prepare themselves for a spike in domestic assault cases over the Christmas to New Years’ eve period. A combination of financial strain, families spending more time together, and increased alcohol consumption contribute to the rise in figures. Nina Funnell, ‘For many women, ‘tis the season of fear, not joy’, National Times December 21, 2010 The prophet Isaiah spoke to people who were oppressed and afraid, because they were under threat from their enemies. Isaiah 9:1-2: 1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour G...

It’s the last week before Christmas. Many of us are probably stressing about last-minute Christmas gifts. But really - why worry so much? The best Christmas gift isn't stuff. Most of us have more things than we know what to do with anyway. The best Christmas gift is – yourself . Christmas is a time when we can meet family members and friends, and catch up and chat and joke and laugh and share our lives with them. And that makes sense because on that first Christmas day, God gave us a gift. Not a thing; not a toy. God gave us – himself . The Apostle John says, at the beginning of his gospel: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:14a The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Jesus is God. And in giving us Jesus, God gives us – himself. On that first Christmas, he came to live with us. Not just visit - to live, to make his "dwelling", his "home" with us. It’s the difference between tourism and im...

News flash: the Free Church of Scotland , one of the most significant Presbyterian denominations which split in the 1800s from the Church of Scotland , has permitted hymns and musical instruments in its churches. To be precise, they have given "liberty to its congregations to sing hymns and use instruments, if individual Kirk Sessions [Church Elder's Committee] so choose". Yes I know that sounds really lame, but bear with me while I explain why it's important. The Free Church is theologically conservative, but has also been historically energetic. They set up New College at the University of Edinburgh , which now hosts the School of Divinity - that is, the university's theological faculty. They sent missionaries to Africa, India (Calcutta, Bombay, Poona and Madras), Canada, Australia (!) and the Middle East. Their theology was probably the closest to the Old Princeton Presbyterianism of Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield . A lot (most? all?) of this energy has c...

Patrick Schreiner , Tom Schreiner's son, has posted his dad's responses to N. T. Wright and Frank Thielman .

John Dickson , director of the Centre for Public Christianity , is at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature . He posted the following summary of an exciting paper by German NT scholar Jorg Frey, in which, John says, "with one simple insight, he resolved a major 'problem' concerning the differences between John and the three other Gospels." He kindly let me re-post it: * * * * * Scholars have long pointed out that the central theme of Jesus' preaching, according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, was 'the kingdom of God'. It is everywhere in those Gospels. John virtually ignores that theme, preferring to speak of a nebulous 'eternal life' instead. This was seen as one serious against John's reliability. It does look like a serious problem. Prof Frey, after outlining the problem, pointed out that in John 3 in the Nicodemus story we find the first and only references (two of them) to 'kingdom of God' AND the first references to...

N. T. (Tom) Wright is famous (or infamous) for his view on justification, which many (myself included) take to be closer to a Catholic, synergistic view than the classic Protestant view - which we insist is the Biblical view. To simplify the debate (without, hopefully, distorting it too much): Wright says "justification" refers to the church - God accepts those who identify with Christ as the mediator of the covenant. The "Lutheran" or "traditional" response is that such a view makes our act of identification with Christ meritorious - it waters down the idea that justification is an entirely gracious act of God, springing entirely from his willed generosity. The "Lutheran" view of justification is that it is a judicial declaration which sets the sinner in a perfectly right relationship with God. God is therefore the active agent in justification; humans are merely passive recipients. Wright replies that the Holy Spirit is active in empowering th...