Two famous men died fifty years ago today. In many ways they are a study in contrasts.

One death was violent and loud, eclipsing the other more quiet passing.

One man was president of the United States, the other a professor at Cambridge and author.

One event will get far more media attention today than the other.

But let me pay my small tribute to CS Lewis.  I owe my faith, so far as I can tell,  and all the good that has come to me with believing and following Jesus Christ, to him.  My debt to JFK is much smaller.

Lewis saw the future with amazing accuracy, because he understood the past so well and his consciousness was not blurred by wishful thinking or illusions about human nature.

I recently encountered his essay, “On Living in an Atomic Age, ” written in 1948 when the world was still adjusting to the dark possibilities of nuclear war.  Though we have gotten used to that, we still have our fears of economic collapse, climate change, terrorism, antibiotic resistant diseases, etc.  If anything we are even more obsessed with survival now than we were then, ironically at a same time when we are being told that life is essentially meaningless.

If you have 15 minutes and some curiosity, take a look at this clever and effective Youtube presentation of Lewis’ essay.  I doubt you will find anywhere more insight packaged so clearly.  It will also give you a window into this great soul and mind.

Here is another very helpful short video from Fr. Robert Barron, discussing the influence of C.S. Lewis.

I hope you are seriously and prayerfully considering the challenge David Bell gave us two weeks ago to read through the Bible this year.  This will be a group project.  We will commit together and support each other along the way.

We will be using the ESV One Year Bible which has divided the whole Bible into daily readings. Each day you will read a portion from the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Psalms and Proverbs.  It takes about 20 minutes to read the portions for the day.  Some people prefer to read half in the morning and half in the evening.  Whatever works best for you.

Fortunately, this reading plan is the same as the one followed in the Daily Audio Bible which St Andrews is heavily promoting.

Brian Hardin, the producer of the Daily Audio Bible will in Versailles for a multi-church presentation on Jan 4th.

Here is a short video clip that explains the vision of “A Year That Changes Everything.”

So, whether you listen or read or do some of both begin planning on making 2014 the year you read through the whole Bible.  Don’t be surprised if the Lord meets you in unexpected and life-transforming ways.

How wonderful that we can lay this most important foundation stone as St Peter’s Anglican Church moves into its first calendar year as a full, independent parish!

People are still asking me about GAFCON.  I think David Virtue’s latest post does a great job of summarizing the results of this historic event.  His analysis of Archbishop Welby’s position in the Anglican Communion is particularly insightful and, I fear, accurate.

If you missed this last night live, please find 30 minutes sometime today to watch it.  Or watch it again!

God has always sent prophets to warn His people and to call us back to forgiveness and the way of truth.  As I watched this I realized that we have been warned and called one more time.  As a nation we cannot say we do not know.

How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? (Hebrews 2:3)

 

In an earlier post I shared with you the exposition of Ephesians 5 by Rev. William Taylor at St Helen’s.  Here is a link to the first session of a Bible Overview Course they offer on video.  It is 5 minutes long.  I think it will prime the pump for our time with Joe Dongell this Sunday.  See what you think.

We sang this at the Synod for Saturday Morning Prayer.  I thought I would share it with you this morning.  The refrain is one of the constant calls of the Psalms to “worship the Lord, O my soul.”  Truly, we have 10,000 reasons to give thanks and worship to our Heavenly Father, but “… above all for His inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ…”

I was heart-sick that the video of this teaching by Rev. William Taylor did not find its way on to any of the GAFCON internet outlets.  Fearing a potential glitch I had purchased a dvd of the address from the conference before I left.  When I got home and tried to play it I found it was either heavily edited or coincidentally damaged at the most important and controversial points. That is still a mystery.

I am thrilled to find that the text at least has been posted.  For me this teaching was the high point of the conference.  Here is the great take-away quote: The local church, in its life lived out, is to be an eruption of the cosmic victory of Christ.

Here is some info about Wm Taylor and his church, St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.  The website is chock-full of great resources including some video Bible courses.  I would love go and spend a few weeks with them.  What a great model for a full-service, fully-engaged missional Anglican Church.

I have been eager to see how the fellows at Anglican TV evaluated the conference.  Here it is.  The whole broadcast is excellent.  Of particular interest is their perspective on Archbishop Welby which starts 5 minutes 55 seconds into the video.  Also see if you can find their reference to our Bishop Foley.