The Proclaimer

Have you noticed how difficult some people find it to say 'sorry'? Take Joey Barton. I know. I must. It was a thrilling end to the Premier League last Sunday - perhaps there's not been anything like it since that great day in 1989 when my team won the title against all the odds. The matches had it all - including a sending off. Joey Barton (for it is he) is a thug. I don't think, legally, I can get into trouble for that. He has, after all, served a jail sentence for assault. Yesterday his team (QPR) did better without him after he was sent off for an elbow to Tevez, a knee in the back for someone else and a head butt on Kompany. Any of those three would have earned him a red card on their own.

His initial response seemed to be indifference. He didn't, he tweeted, give a ****. All that mattered was that QPR stayed up (i.e. were not relegated). The news today is that Joey is a bit more contrite. Here's his response. See if you can see what's wrong with it:

Right, enough about yesterday. I apologise to everyone offended by it. If that's not enough for some, so be it. Life is too short.

This, remember, is an apology. It sure has the word in the sentence. But the second phrase 'everyone offended by it' is a giveaway. Joey's cross he got caught and cross that some people are offended by what he did - implication: he's not. It's no apology, yet it's the way that many people - politicians, sports stars, celebrities, say they're sorry.

It got me thinking about church life. I hope you don't have Joey Bartons in your church, but we're sinners and so we do do things that cause upset. In some ways, it doesn't matter whether we're in the right or the wrong. Our aim is not to please ourselves but serve others. And when we step over the mark, sorry is needed. In fact, delving into OT law (remember that?) we might sometimes need to go further. For the principle there is not just 'sorry' but restitution. Put things right. And then some. 

If our covenant communities are going to be real communities we cannot afford to apologise like Joey. Preacher - take the lead. 

I've long been a fan of Two ways to live. It's short, pithy, clear and contains the essentials and heartbeat of the gospel message. Even if you don't use the outline in book form, having it in your head is, I find a great help in evangelism. Of course, it is important to know what these sorts of outlines/tracts are not. It's easy to pick holes - for example saying that TWTL should make more of the church into which we're saved. Perhaps. But that is to miss the point of what they are and what they are to achieve. Personally, I want to use it as a tool to talk to someone rather than something I give to a friend and think 'job done'. It opens the door to conversations.

So, I'm pleased to see an iOS app for iPhone and iPad. I like it. In fact, I like it a lot. I can see how using this on my phone or iPad with a friend could be really useful. It's the same material packaged for the modern age. Matthias are working at including enhanced content (video testimonies etc). That would also make it a good app for those who want to go off on their own and find out more. It's in English, Spanish and French so far, plus two languages I can't read but I'm reliably informed are Chinese and Japanese. Take a look in the iTunes store.

My only niggle is that it is not free. I understand that these things cost money to develop and that if you were to buy a TWTL booklet it would also cost you money, but I want people to come across it accidentally and read it by following through links, not just to read it when it is 'gifted'. That's a very minor complaint though. Overall? Brilliant. And it will be made even better with the enhanced content. Don't forget you can still make use of the online version by following the link above. The internet version also adds the children's version, 'Who will be king?'

We don't normally promote petitions - it would be very easy to get into all sorts of political debates about which Christians, in good conscience, hold differing views. But the question of marriage is critical. It's a creation ordinance; scarred by the Fall, for sure, but not, thank God, destroyed. And so, Christians should desire to see it upheld. Many of you will have already signed the Coalition for Marriage petition (currently standing at half a million signatories). I have. You should consider it too. Sign here. (If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it may interest you to know that a group promoting same sex marriage have set up a very similar looking website with a similar address - I won't paste the link.). The coalition for marriage is consciously non-religious: I think that's a very good thing - it's not just Christians who think highly of marriage.

But that does mean there are certain Christian arguments which also need to be heard. Another group Keep Marriage Special are fulfilling that role - sign their petition too. The two are not mutually exclusive. 

ebooks, as you may know, are subject to 20% VAT, whereas print books are not (funny how they always end up similar prices). You may be interested to know that one legal firm (Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP) is pursuing a case for removal of VAT "based on the EU principle that products which are similar from the customer’s perspective must have identical VAT treatment". Don't hold your breath. But watch this space. 

Well, some anyway. 

My heart always sinks when I hear the words "I'm not sure whether to use this illustration or not....." in a sermon. Mrs R tells me that at that point she always wants to stand up and shout, "Don't do it, preacher!" Nine times out of ten I agree. So, here are two top tips for when you're not sure whether an illustration works (i.e. whether it illustrates the point you are making) or when you're not sure whether you should use it or not. 

1. Don't.

2. I said, don't. 

Put it this way. If you're unsure of your illustration's effectiveness, you're unlikely to sell it to the crowd. A preacher who can't explain his explanation is a sorry sight and runs the risk of undermining his message. And if you're not sure whether it is appropriate, it almost certainly isn't - rather it sounds as though it is going to distract your listeners, or at least some of them. If you're not sure, don't use it. Think of a better illustration. I don't think preachers should be shock-jocks. 

Pontification.

End of. 

Just sat through a great session at our younger ministers conference with David Cook on preaching in Acts. Audio and video up soon, but for now, here are David's conclusions on Peter's three sermons (Acts 2, Acts 3, Acts 4):

• 'cut me and I bleed the Bible' - Peter's sermons are infused with the Bible throughout. This is our task, to proclaim Christ from the Scriptures. 
• engagement - we respect both the Bible and the people we are preaching to. Answer the questions that the text encourages us to ask.
• courage - too much preaching today uses phrases like 'perhaps' or 'maybe' or 'may I suggest' - these are never present in Peter's preaching
• gospel - Peter never loses sight of the gospel in his preaching
• Peter doesn't rush to imperatives. E.g. first command in Romans is Rom 6.11. Go to indicatives first. Who is God and what has he done? Imperatives derive from the indicatives.

I noticed last week that David Meredith preached from an iPad. I asked him for a few tips to which I'll add one or two of my own. These are, of course, not hard and fast rules. But it's useful to hear what others have found helpful. David pointed out that the glare from the screen and the lack of uplighting in his church made his face shine.... not sure that is exactly the kind of image we preachers want to present! But it made us smile.

And if you're not a techy. Sorry. I just see an increasing number of guys with tablets; I use one myself. Therefore, some wisdom on how to use them in preaching seems apposite.

• tablets lend themselves to situations where you have a lectern or a pulpit. Frankly, if you are a note holder and wanderer, they are too heavy, too slippery, too likely to fall. 
• save your notes as a pdf and read them in something like dropbox. An iPad (not sure about other tablets) does not preserve Word formatting, so if you rely on notes looking a certain way, then you need a pdf
• However, this makes the file uneditable. Personally, I am still scrawling over my notes with a few minutes to go as I think of last minute things to say (or not). I use an app called goodnotes (iPad only) which allows you to annotate pdf files with a finger or pen - so I scrawl, highlight, cross out. Wonderfully, these last minute changes are then saved as part of the pdf (whilst a computer Word document rarely contains the final version of a sermon).
• Check you're charged. Duh! A tablet has plenty of charge to last a sermon. As long as it is charged, that is!
• Shut down other apps. You don't want pop ups distracting you during the sermon
• Seriously, if uplighting is a problem, you can turn down screen intensity. Worth knowing how to do this.
• Use a case that carries the weight of the iPad. I have an Apple smart cover whose back stops the iPad slipping when it's on a slope, except very steeply raked lecterns.
• Don't use your tablet for your notes and your Bible. It's difficult to keep switching between the two and, for my money, I think it's good for people to see you with a Bible in hand. There's nothing sanctified about a paper copy, I don't think, but your weaker brothers (i.e. the congregation) may not think so. 

In broad terms, don't make a big thing of using a tablet. Be discreet. Don't show off. It should be serving you and the congregation, not the other way around. At the end of the day, it's just a techy way to display notes. Don't think it's more. 

Having spent two conferences with Dr John Dickson, we've been encouraged to think rightly about history. We'll post the audio and video soon, but in the meantime, here are his top three history/background books:

• The Oxford Classical Dictionary, this is expensive, shop around
• The Dictionary of NT background, bit cheaper!!
• The Encyclopedia of the historical Jesus, another pricey volume, but apparently, as they say, worth it.

There's a longer list of twenty, but this seems a good place to start. Personally, as a history lover but history dunce, I have also found the NIV Archeological Study Bible edited by Walt Kaiser to be really useful. And slightly cheaper too....

How many of us have had to endure this 'nice' little poem at funerals:

Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner.
All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

This week and next I'm chairing workshops at our ministers' conferences on preaching at and leading funerals.We've had some interesting tips. Here's one from Tony Cannon who ministers in leafy Surrey: often times the closest relatives are too upset to take in what you're saying so if you're the kind of preacher who uses a manuscript (and even if you're not) why not give the family a nicely presented copy of your semon in an envelope, perhaps with a hand written note or invitation to the church and a copy of the order of service if you have one. Who knows? They may read it later. And they may take it in. They will certainly appreciat that you are not just a professional but someone who's interested in them. Great idea. Nice touch, Tony.