Monday, August 11, 2014

Links - Monday 11 August 2014

(I am going to trial here a reproduction of a weekly 'links' service provided by a commenter here, Pageantmaster, which is also reproduced on other sites. The reproduction is made without redaction by me).

What a dark week it has been for the persecuted church and man's inhumanity to man.  To some considerable degree that colours what follows, and has led to an examination of the hope in Christ to break out of the cycle of sin.  Prayer and proclamation seems to be key.

#5 How Christianity's message struck home to a war weary Maori people related by Charlie Hughes; #6 William Taylor considers the tragedy of sin and yet the unchanging hope in the character of God; #7 Jonathan Redfearn with some helpful suggestions on how to pray effectively.

Perhaps some of the following articles if a rather lengthy list develop these themes further and Christian leaders in Iraq have asked us to pray for them today.

I hope all is well and prayers for the coming week

WORSHIP
1. The bells of the Parish Church of St Thomas, Norbury in Hazel Grove, Stockport - BBC Radio 4

2. Sunday Holy Communion livestreamed from St Helena's Church, Beaufort, South Carolina at 10:15 am Eastern Time, 3:15 pm London Time

3. Sunday Hour - BBC Radio 2

4. Some archived choral services during the holidays from the chapel of King's College Cambridge
and St John's College, Cambridge

SERMONS AND TALKS
5. How Christianity Came to the Maori people - Charlie Hughes - Harvest Church Henderson Audio

6. Human Wickedness and the Grace of God - William Taylor - St Helen's Video [Genesis 34:1-31]

7. How to pray effectively - Jonathan Redfearn [James 5] - Clayton TV
text

8. Various other sermons available
All Souls, Langham Place
their 4,000 sermon searchable archive
St James the Less, Pimlico
Cathedral Church of the Advent, Birmingham Alabama

PRAYER
Please pray for the Christians of and all facing persecution and crime in Iraq, for the Church of England and for the release and rescue of the abducted Nigerian schoolgirls; for the persecuted church in the Middle East, Nigeria, Iran, Sudan, Kenya; for peace in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza; for wisdom in dealing with the Ebola outbreak in Africa and for the Diocese of South Carolina.

9. Iraq: Please pray today for Iraq - the request of Christian leaders there:
Prayers for Iraq - Lent and Beyond
A Reminder: Crisis in Iraq - five things you can ACTUALLY do to help - Christian Today
Islamic State killed 500 Yazidis, buried some victims alive - Arab News
Islamic State Seizes Iraq's Christian Capital: Qaraqosh - Christianity Today
Qaraqosh falls, thousands flee - WWM
Religious Liberty Commission statement on the plight of Christians and other minorities in Iraq - There are also many pleas from Christian leaders around the world
Canon Andrew White on BBC Newsnight - FRRME

10. Topical Prayers - Church of England
Prayers for the Church of England - Lent and Beyond
Prayers against Ebola - Lent and Beyond
Middle East: Message from Bishop Mouneer Anis
Nigeria: Gunmen attack Catholic church in Kaduna State - CSW
Iran: Pastor Matthias Haghnejad - Pastor charged with "war against god" - CSW
Sudan: Meriam Ibrahim's husband describes being terrorised by 'Agents of Fear' - Christian Today
Eritrea: Eritrea Faces Human Rights Investigation - CSW Video
South Carolina News
More news may be collected here:

CURRENT AFFAIRS
11. Sunday Programme - current affairs with Edward Stourton - BBC Radio 4

12. WWI Anniversary
Remembering the Great War: Seven lessons we must learn 100 years on - Christian Today
What chaplains did in wartime... - Christian Today
Memory and Delivery: World War One - Bishop Graham Kings
Archbishop Sentamu's Lament for Suffering

13. Food for thought
Some Hard Truths behind Israel/Gaza and Iraq/ISIS - Thomas Creedy
The Assisted Dying Bill & The Gospel : Our Culture Has Replaced the Fear of Death With the Fear of Dying - John Stephens
The Loss Of a Friend To Suicide - Fr Dale Matson
Baptist minister Ergun Caner reveals 'excruciating pain' after son's suicide - Christian Today
Joey Barton: how could a loving God stand by and watch suffering? - Dr Vince Vitale - Christian Today
Belonging Before Believing – A Recipe for a Dying Church - David Robertson
Consider Jesus: Living in Dead Churches - Justin Buzzard - CP Op-Ed
Serenading the cattle with my trombone - Farmer Derek Klingenberg

FINALLY
14. The Character and Purpose of God - St Helen's Video

15. The Way - Worship Central

16. New Zealand - J&K Schwartz


God bless

3 comments:

Father Ron Smith said...

Wow. I'm out of breath! Is this a taste of things to come, Peter?

Did love the musical offerings, though!

Pageantmaster ن said...

Dear Peter+

Thanks for linking this.

Father Ron is right in that it is far too long, being something of a camel, a horse designed by committee, which performs different functions with different people in mind.

Perhaps I should explain a bit about it. It started with an email to a few friends in July 2007, or at least that is the earliest reference I have managed to trace.

My original reason for sending it out, as I have done pretty much weekly since, then was concern for some of those friends who were in remote parts of the world [missionaries in some cases and those in the military in others] without Anglican churches available.

It was also out of concern for some in North America who had left their denomination and were 'floating'. I felt some indignation about the lack of care for them from our own denomination and the way it appeared they were being rejected and wooed by other denominations at the same time.

It is one of the quirks of radio in the UK that it is still required to provide religious programming and there are some outstanding broadcasts each week including Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3 which has been running since the 1920's. These broadcasts are still pretty good, although in some cases the Christian content is sadly declining.

So my original idea was to collect together these broadcasts and any other online services, talks, sermons and articles for those correspondents I had in mind.

Over time, various and surprising ly varie websites asked if they could publish it, and I thought that is great as I strongly believe that on one day a week at least we in the Anglican world should all concentrate our thoughts and worship on God.

If you notice, things are collected in pretty much the order one might find in a church service, starting with bells and ending with a video instead of an organ voluntary, usually on some aspect of the beautiful world God has provided for us.

In between, there will be services, usually choral as this is what is being broadcast. Increasingly some of the college choirs are also putting up weekly choral services though sadly Anglican churches are far behind other denominations in livecasting or podcasting their more modern services. I hope we get better at it.

Then there will be talks or sermons followed by prayers, particularly with news for prayer from the persecuted church. What the release of Pastor Nadarkhani, Meriam Ibrahahim and others have in common is the worldwide publicity and pressure from social media which has shamed their captors into releasing them. Amazingly this has included some of the most remote and isolated regimes who have yet felt the pressure on them, and it has also pressured our governments into applying diplomatic pressure too.

This is the only reason they are alive and the only hope for others, so I am unapologetic in pushing our need to pray and be informed about what Christians and others are going through in so many places.

Then there is a general bucket category of articles and news which I know some correspondents will be interested in. I don't always agree with everything in it, but it usually gives me something to think about.

I don't expect that anyone will follow each link any more than read a telephone directory, but hope that one or two items may catch the eye.

However, if the links are followed sequentially, there are often themes and patterns which I am usually unaware of until I am at the end of the compilation, and which just develop in ways I can't take the credit for.

Pageantmaster ن said...

Comment continued:-

I try to concentrate on worship rather than church politics and avoid direct criticism but aim to build up and encourage.

I am aware that given the linking here, that item #5 from Charlie Hughes might be rather 'topical' - my reason for including it was in wandering around on the internet, as I do, and wondering what had happened to him and his church, I came across this sermon on Christianity in New Zealand.

Though it may be a familiar story to you, it blew me away and I thought that others might be encouraged by the truly remarkable story it told. Given the carnage of warfare in the Middle East it also brought home to me that the only hope for these situations is the Gospel of Peace and led into the themes of other sermons.

These links are a personal choice and selection so it may not be everyone's thing, but hope that some may be of use.

For Father Ron - thank you for persevering with it and I am glad you enjoyed some of the music - usually there are even more choral links and music, but with holidays and the 'August factor', pickings this week have been a bit leaner than usual.

Thank you Peter+ and it would be great if people are encouraged to consider putting more services and talks online. That is where people are these days. God bless you and your readers and have fun with the links. All feedback and suggestions gratefully received.