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A definition of love

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‘The line separating good and evil passes, not through states, nor through classes, nor between political parties... but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts.’

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008),

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The Remarkable Spread of Christianity in the First Hundred Years

One of the most remarkable facts about Christianity is the speed by which it spread over the Roman world. Think about it: in about AD 25, all we see is an oddball preacher in the Judean desert and his slightly younger relative in a backwater Jewish village named Nazareth. That's it.

Fast-forward a hundred years, to AD 125, and we find this:

1. There are churches scattered through Judea, Syria, Asia Minor, Rome, and most likely elsewhere in the empire, such as Egypt.

2. A Roman governor in Bithynia (northern Asia Minor) named Pliny has written to Emperor Trajan to complain about Christians. He has arrested, interrogated, and tortured some of them. And he says they comprise every age and class, men and women. Moreover, whole villages and rural districts are being (in his words) "infected through contact with this wretched cult."

3. Ignatius, the bishop of the church in Antioch (the most important city in the Roman province of Syria), writes letters to seven different churches, across the Roman empire, while he is on his way to be martyred in Rome.

4. Emperor Domitian, who reigned over Rome from AD 81-96, has interrogated blood relatives of Jesus on the suspicion that they are members of another, rival royal house that might subvert his power.

5. In AD 64, there are enough Christians in Rome that Emperor Nero rounded them up as scapegoats and had them torn to pieces by dogs, crucified, and burned alive. Writing about this, Tacitus says of Christianity, "This deadly superstition," which began in Judea, worked its way "even to Rome."

6. Finally, the Christian apologist Aristides has written to the Emperor Hadrian to defend the faith, and to proclaim that there are now four races in the world: Greeks, Barbarians, Jews, and Christians.

All of this, and much more, happened in the first 100 years. Followers of Jesus, far from remaining in little ghettos, keeping to themselves, were boldly bearing witness across the empire that another king was truly reigning over the entire world: the crucified and resurrected King Jesus.

Chad Bird. From Facebook. 22 02 2022

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People have been undeservedly kind; they have formed an ideal picture of myself -- the devoted pastor, the kindly old gentleman, and the courageous prophet! They don't see me as I really am, selfish, self-centered, seeking and enjoying the praise of men, lazy, possessive and timid."

Cyril Foster Garbett, Archbishop of York, diary entry on occasion of his 80th birthday; from a sermon by John Stott

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Philosopher Vladimir Solovyov ironically summarized the ethical reasoning of humanism like this--‘Man descended from apes, therefore we must love one another.’ What's his point?

From Timothy Keller

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Giving an answer to the hope that you have!

https://twitter.com/colbertlateshow/status/1489470018957942784?s=21

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What is success? What does it look like?

It looks like the next door parish?

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Preaching

Sermons are like the meals my wife cooked every day in our 60 yr marriage.

A few were memorable for how great or how awful they were. Most I’ve forgotten. But every one fed me.

You don’t need to be memorable. Just feed me.

From Twitter

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‘Lord... you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.’ God is the source of all good things.- Augustine

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Charles Spurgeon

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New Year Prayers-with thanks to Ian Paul.

God Knows- Minnie Louise Haskins, a

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:

What need our little life

Our human life to know,

If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife

Of things both high and low,

God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will

Is best. The stretch of years

Which wind ahead, so dim

To our imperfect vision,

Are clear to God. Our fears

Are premature; In Him,

All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until

God moves to lift the veil

From our impatient eyes,

When, as the sweeter features

Of Life’s stern face we hail,

Fair beyond all surmise

God’s thought around His creatures

Our mind shall fill.

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Ring out, wild bells- Lord Alfred Tennyson-

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

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Ring out - Michael Perry

Ring out the bells, and let the people hear

let hearts be open now, and faith draw near;

receive the grace that only God can give

by word and symbol feed and grow and live.

Ring out the bells, and let the people sing

through changing seasons to our changeless King:

all perfect gifts are sent us from above

respond with praises for such faithful love.

Ring out the bells until that glorious day

when death shall die and sin be done away:

then comes our God so everyone shall see

let all the bells ring out in victory!

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A new year poem by Arthur Bennett

O Lord,

Length of days does not profit me

except the days are passed in Thy presence,

in Thy service, to Thy glory.

Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides,

sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,

that I may not be one moment apart from Thee,

but may rely on Thy Spirit

to supply every thought,

speak in every word,

direct every step,

prosper every work,

build up every mote of faith,

and give me a desire

to show forth Thy praise;

testify Thy love,

advance Thy kingdom.

I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,

with Thee, O Father as my harbour,

Thee, O Son, at my helm,

Thee O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.

Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,

my lamp burning,

my ear open to Thy calls,

my heart full of love,

my soul free.

Give me They grace to sanctify me,

Thy comforts to cheer,

Thy wisdom to teach,

Thy right hand to guide,

Thy counsel to instruct,

Thy law to judge,

Thy presence to stabilize.

May Thy fear by my awe,

Thy triumphs my joy.

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Disturb us, Lord-Francis Drake

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

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#Totalitarianism from the book Live not by lies.

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I am not what I ought to be.

I am not what I wish to be.

I am not what I one day will be.

But, by the grace of God, I am not what I once was.’

John Newton

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One definition of grace is ‘undeserved love’. There is a mnemonic used to explain grace: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. We see today how Jesus Christ makes just grace available for you and me.

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You become like what you worship. If we worship worthless idols, our lives become worthless. If we worship God, eventually we will become like him.

Nicky Gumble