Archive for June, 2009

Unite Against Fascism?

by Hugh on June 9, 2009 in Current Affairs, Politics with 2 Comments

So I was just watching the news and newsnight following the incident where the BNP’s press conference was broken up by the Unite Against Fascism group – a gang of 50 people turned up shouting, hitting them with placards and throwing eggs. Then you get some really stupid spokesman on newsnight saying how the BNP have no right to be heard – with really weak arguments.

Now, I should say that I have never voted for the BNP or supported their policies – but about 1,000,000 British people said they do… that alone gives them a right to be heard – it’s called FREE SPEECH, and DEMOCRACY.

That’s my first reason for not supporting UAF. The second reason is that the methods they employ are the same methods used by Fascists throughout history… intimidation, silencing free speech, negative propaganda… it’s just a huge irony and hypocricy that you can think it right to use Fascist methods against Fascists!

Here’s my third reason… UAF are stupid… Nick Griffin’s press conference probably wouldn’t have made it to the main news tonight, but the actions of UAF get them to the headlines, more airtime, and an opportunity to promote his policies and attack Labour and the Conservatives!

The BNP need to be defeated through free speech, honest debate, and the Government and opposition to step up and actually deal with the real problems affecting real people throughout the UK!

8 Days

by Hugh on June 9, 2009 in Technology with No comments

In 8 days Apple will release their 3.0 update for the iPhone… I’m quite excited… two features listed on BBC News that I’m interested in is the ability to cut and paste, and ‘tethering’, the ability to connect the phone to a laptop and use the phone’s Internet connection on the laptop. I also heard there might actually be some Bluetooth functionality on the iPhone now!

Also, coming on June 19th is a brand new iPhone, the iPhone 3GS… the ‘S’ stands for speed! Big obvious features so far are a 32gb version, and video capture… looks good, but could be pricy!

Anyway… I love my iPhone… so much better than any other phone I’ve owned (which isn’t saying a lot – a Nokia 5210, and a Samsung Z400)… you should get one, then Apple can take over the world!

Advance09

by Hugh on June 5, 2009 in Faith with No comments

Right now there’s a conference happening in the States, in Durham, North Carolina, called Advance 2009.

Piper, Driscoll, Chandler, Stetzer, Chapell and a few others…

I’m guessing that full audio/video will be available at a later date, but the audio is being made available straight away on Desiring God… listening to Chandler ranting, his intro makes me laugh becuase he has “a picture of Dr. Piper on his fridge”.

Matt Chandler FAQ

by Hugh on June 3, 2009 in Faith with No comments

I’m a bit of a Matt Chandler ‘fan’… his teaching via podcast has often been a great encouragement to me. The good news is that he’s still preaching through Luke (part 39), although he’s been doing some thematic stuff on the Church and repentance… on the subject of thematic preaching Matt has a classic quote:

“I’ve got no problem with thematic preaching, as long as it’s done exegetically!”

I’m always intrigued by what makes people like Matt Chandler tick, below I copy Matt’s FAQ page from the Village Church…

Also, check out his blog…

What books have been most influential in your life and thoughts?

The Bible
Desiring God and Pleasures of God by John Piper
Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul
Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
Anything by C.S. Lewis but especially The Weight of Glory
Anything by Jonathan Edwards but specifically Religious Affections
Anything by John Owen but especially The Mortification of Sin

What ideas have strongly influenced you?

Christian Hedonism - The idea that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him has absolutely ruined me. It shook me out of trying to be good and created in me the questions: “Does this stir up my affections for Christ?” and “Does this rob me of my affection for Christ?”
Missional living - The idea of intentional living and contextualizing the Gospel for this generation and culture as well as engaging the world instead of isolating ourselves from it have shaped my preaching and living.

What books do you recommend for Pastors?

The Bible - I understand the need for books on leadership, theology and history. My hope is that you would feast on the scriptures, feel the angst and awe and be overwhelmed by the Gospel of our great God and King. This book is life changing and sufficient.

What books are you currently reading?

The Divine Commodity by Skye Jethani
God, Marriage, and Family by Andreas Kostenberger
Total Church by Tim Chester
The Study of Evangelism by Paul Wesley Chilcote
The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever
Hearts and Minds by Kenneth Boa and John Alan Turner

What books have you read recently?

The Historical Reliability of the Gospels By Craig Blomberg
In My Place Condemned He Stood by J.I. Packer
Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity by Mark Noll
Culture-Making: Recovering our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch
Till We Have Built Jerusalem by Philip Bess
Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright
The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like Minded America is Tearing us Apart By Bill Bishop
Who’s Your City? by Richard Florida
Approaching the Heart of Prophecy by Graham Cooke

Mission in France

by Hugh on June 3, 2009 in Faith, Life with No comments

Last week I had a few days holiday with a few mates in France… we had a day in Rouen, a day in Caen (and Aromanches – near the D-Day beaches), a day in Lille, and an afternoon on a beach in Belgium (De Panne). We had intended to spend all our time in Rouen… but we discovered that it was a dump and our motel was in the part of town where you buy your drugs, and stay in when it gets dark… so we went on a road trip instead!

My good friend Bret, who goes by the alias “Xander Coomber” came with me… he took some photos and shares some similar thoughts…

While I made a few jokes about blowing out the candles, jumping over the barriers into the ‘holy of holies’ and genuflecting when we arrived, it’s actually quite sad… France is, it would seem spiritually dead!

Here are the stats from Joshua Project… only 0.5% of French people are Evangelical Christians, 33% of the population are considered to be in an unreached people group. Compare this to somewhere like Malawi… my church has run several mission trips to Malawi (doing very good work in training leaders)… however the country is majority Christian and only 13% of the population would be considered to be ‘unreached’.

Now obviously where there is any unreached people, it’s worth investing there… but a lot of mission work goes in to East Africa, which is pretty Christianised, with established Evangelical churches… and it is a popular place for missionaries to go. BUT… why don’t we send more missionaries to places like France? There’s 33 unreached people groups in France, which make up a third of the total population, many are either trapped in the religion and ritual of Catholicism or have embraced the secular worldview of modern France… this country needs missionaries to go there, there is a greater need for gospel workers here than in East Africa!

…and here’s some good news – my church is going to be supporting a gospel worker in France for the next 2 years. I’m hoping she’s gonna blog while she’s there…

Angels and Demons

by Hugh on June 2, 2009 in Film & TV with No comments

I went to see Angels and Demons last night, the anticipated sequel to The Da Vinci Code, in Dan Brown’s series of books following the stories of conspiracy theories within the Catholic church and the life of Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks).

Like Da Vinci Code it’s a fast paced, edge of your seat thriller. There are suprises, plot twists and some good suspense. The film starts with the death of a Pope and a murder and robbery from the CERN centre, and it doesn’t slow down much.

I actually guessed who the bad guy was as soon as I saw him, but then I got sucked into the plot and changed my mind, only to be proved right. Ewan McGregor is really good (except for a dodgy Irish accent) playing ‘the Camerlengo’. He has some interesting monologue where he discusses the place and role of the church in a changing world, particularly in its attitudes towards science.

Worth a watch, I really enjoy all the symbology stuff (like in Da Vinci) where they try and work out the meanings of stuff. It’s a little far fetched, but it’s grounded in fairly recent events and that nagging instinct that you kind of feel the Catholic church might have a big underground archive of ‘stuff’. I don’t see that it poses any challenges to the Christian faith, in the same way that the Da Vinci code tried to, if anything it promotes thought about what the church is and what place it has in the modern world… however, this may not be a great thing as the church is portrayed as old men in red capes!

Psalm 123

by Hugh on June 2, 2009 in Faith, Talks with No comments

I did a talk the other week on Psalm 123… �I had no idea where to go with this but was greatly helped by Alec Moyter’s book on the Psalms of Ascents called ‘Journey’, and also Mike Reeves (in a talk at All Souls) helped with some thoughts on illustrating the points. Here’s an outline of the talk…

Introduction

Psalms 120 – 134, The Songs of Ascent

Songs for the Pilgrimage – when the Jews journeyed on the way to the feasts; Passover, Tabernacles, Harvest, heading for Jerusalem

The Psalms come in triads (sets of 3), following the pattern of: 1)Distress 2) God’s protection 3) Safe Arrival

Psalm 123-beginning of the 2nd triad, a situation of distress. But even in this situation we find hope in our faithful God

Eyes that looks up to Heaven

The world says “look to yourself” – find the strength you need inside yourself

The Psalmist says… “Not chin up but eyes up!”

The eyes looking to Heaven are symbolic of praying to our God

Robert Murray-McChene-Every look at myself, take ten at Christ

The hand that acts

Looking shows our dependence on God – God our master

Hand of the LORD our God – Hand of provision

My dog Glennie… his eyes fixed upon the dinner table – expectant that his master will provide

The mercy given?

The cry for mercy goes seemingly unheard… But remember to whom it is we cry-it’s the LORD!

I AM the LORD… who rescued you… this is the God who is in the business of giving mercy

We see his mercy in the past and we await the great day of mercy to come

The hardships of the journey

Contempt from the arrogant: Faith and prayer is just a sign of weakness

Ridicule from the proud: You don’t really believe that do you? I’m a good person, it doesn’t matter what you say!

Eye of Hope - (called by ancient scholars)

Look to Heaven

Wait for His mercy

Remember the One who made The Journey… Jesus made a journey at the feast of the Passover… he journeyed away from the city, he endured much contempt and ridicule… so that you can now journey to the New Jerusalem

Top 100 Spirituality Blogs

by Hugh on June 2, 2009 in Faith, Random with No comments

That’s right… The Ramblings of HughBo is considered to be one of the ‘Top 100 Spirituality Blogs‘ in the world! And rated the 7th Christian one… there you go, if ever you needed anymore proof that the world has gone mad… this site has definitely lost it.

So, in the mean time… why not read someone who has something interesting to say, I haven’t blogged for ages anyway…

On a side note, I’m coming to the conclusion that people who blog frequently need to spend more time with their friends, family, meeting new people, talking to non-Christians, actually doing ministry etc. because I’m really struggling to find time to blog…. Thoughts?