Seville – In search of evangelicals.
On Sunday morning in Seville I went down to the reception desk of my hotel to ask for directions to the church
I intended to attend that morning. After searching extensively, the young woman et reception finally told me she could not find it, the address apparently was not on the map. She then offered to do another web search and asked what I had ‘googled’ initially, I said ‘evangelical churches Seville’. Shortly afterwards, the girl I spoke to came back to me, with another girl in tow who assured me that I need not go to any trouble since there was a church down the road, whose name she did not remember. I insisted they search for the one I had initially picked out, whereupon ensued a most interesting conversation. Read more
Heligoland Travelogue (extract)- Vintage Spurgeon
“The church externally looks as though it required some one to take pity upon it; it stands much in need of a frequent replenishment of the box for repairs, which is placed at the gate, with a reminder that the spire points to heaven, and that it would be well to keep in order the house where men meet to worship God. Inside it is quaint enough, the gallery front being enriched with paintings by Van Daub, or some other rustic notability. The font, like nearly all ancient specimens, is large enough for immersion; the ancient candlesticks upon the altar are the gift of Gustavus Vasa; the seats are adorned upon their backs with the names of the owners of the pew behind, painted in all the colours of the rainbow: from the ceiling hangs a ship with three masts, in full sail, a votive offering from a grateful mariner; and, as for the pulpit, it is right glorious to behold: so huge is the screen in which it is set, and so elaborate is the whole concern, that the minister looks like a fly in amber, or a miniature portrait in oil, set in a frame of mahogany, six feet deep all round.
We suppose the natives go to church in winter, but we can bear personal witness that they do not overcrowd the edifice in summer; there was enough to form a quorum, truly, and the minister was not quite reduced to Sydney Smith’s small assembly, which he addressed as “Dearly beloved Roger;” but the worshippers were few and far between. It was sadly odd to see the young men when they entered, put their hats over their noses and stare about to see who was there; all the while, we suppose, professing to be seeking a blessing in silent prayer. Query: Is not that putting the hat over the eyes one of the present ensigns of hypocrisy which genuine believers should utterly renounce? “Ma, why does Mr. Black always smell his hat when he comes into church?” was the very natural question of a youngster not yet trained in the fashions of Phariseeism. Where there is least of the kernel there is usually most of the shell.
Lutheran worship is plain and unpretentious, and would have reminded us of the conforming Puritans, if the specimen before us had not been rather too grotesque. Read more
Rwanda – the genocide, personal stories
My friend Patrick is on a trip to Rwanda, he sent back email reports of his trip and he graciously authorised me to post portions of them while changing the names of the people involved. This is Patrick’s account.
‘Yesterday was my first church service here and what a difference it was too. The majority of the members are survivors and orphans of the Genocide. The singing was absolutely amazing and a blessing. You could truly tell the grace of God was there.
Then came the testimonies.
What the leadership has found over the years is that testimonies have a variety of benefits.
- First, to give glory to God and thank Him for what He has done in saving and healing people.
- Secondly, the public testimony helps further remove the poison and damage in the testifier’s life.
- Finally it means that new people coming to the church who have been very damaged can see that there are people like them who have been through hell, this gives them hope for their own solace and builds up trust so they can start to open up.
Mama Jo and the young woman
One of the elders, Mama Jo was encouraging and exhorting us all to worship and praise God with all that we’ve got. Mama Jo was widowed during the Genocide and lost eight of her children during this period.
Mama Jo gave an account of how a young woman exhorted one of the churches to praise God with all they’ve got and there is something wrong if they can’t or won’t. The young woman concerned was happy and grateful to praise God by lifting up her fingerless hands to him.
During the Genocide she was a house girl when the mobs came to kill the Tutsi family she worked for. She fled with one of the babies and she being Hutu thought she’d be safe. Unfortunately the killers counted the victims in the house and concluded that one of the babies had been stolen away for safety. They found the girl and baby. They murdered the baby and then punished the girl by chopping her fingers off.
Another young woman Read more
Free wifi – a lesson in communication
As I prepared last week for my trip, i again experienced some difficulty finding a hotel room. Finally i had several offers before me and quite naturally, as they were all in the same category, I selected the one with free wifi connection. I am a good hotel guest, very undemanding; despite my life long love affair with tea, i forgive the lack of tea things in the room, i forgive the lack of dressing gowns (bathrobes for the americans) and bedroom slippers, but not free wifi. To think that some hotels still charge you for wifi connection whereas the cost to them is next to nothing.
The point is that wifi is now widely availaible, it is no longer a luxury item or a scarce commodity. So when a hotel charges top euro for it, i am forced to the conclusion that either its management is antediluvian or cares nothing for customers’ comfort and well being, and is only interested in squeezing the last cent out of them. It shows a thin mindset. At that price level, eking out the last euro on wifi is grossly indecent. I increasingly give such hotels a wide berth save in case of absolute necessity.
Well it set me thinking about church, and about the things we do. Are there perhaps things that would cost us little but would go a long way to improving the worship experience of our guests? Are there Read more
Books, Gospel, Rick Warren etc
I have been away. I stayed in a lovely hotel i have stayed in several times and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It is billed as five star but despite its excellence i would call it a four star luxury. Still it is only the second hotel room i have considered copying the design for the bedrooms in my new home. And that is saying a lot considering that i perhaps average about 100 hotel nights a year. The room has a bookshelf where they leave books for guests to read. This time interestingly they had The Purpose Driven Life, a first as christian books go. In Europe this is saying a lot.
I know Rick Warren has his critics, who does not; and no doubt some of the contention is justified; but can we stop for a moment and simply celebrate the fact that a book that unabashedly says man cannot find his purpose outside of God, not the Great Spirit, not Self; a book that empasises the importance of church, the christian kind, not just any community, has reached such a wide group of people and can find its way onto the bookshelf of my decidedly high brow five star hotel in a European city where church in any language is a foreign concept and with no obvious sympathy for the christian faith.
The self appointed guardians of the temple and defenders of the faith will no doubt disagree but that is their prerogative. One person decried Warren’s forty days of purpose as preventing people from reading the Bible for themselves, and so concluded that Warren was against bible reading. This is spurious logic to say the least. No one would conclude that Spurgeon was against Bible reading because he produced devotionals. The Bible, thankfully, today is available for all men to read and only the lazy will claim using a devotional, and that is what it is, prevents them from so doing. These are the same ones who never read it to begin with. Personally, i do not do devotionals, i need to pore over the text for myself and be free to meander and wander around without restriction.
I love books and one thing that has always bothered me as i look in the religion section of secular bookshops, is the paucity of the offering for true seekers after Christ. In America christian living titles abound, not so on our continent. You are more likely to find books critical of christianity in the religion section. I have prayed for years that pro christian books particularly of the evangelical kind will find their way to these shelves, so that enquirers who have no access to a christian book store can pick up something that will lead them to Jesus. It is beginning to happen.
In light of the aforesaid, i rejoice. Perhaps Rick Warren is perfecting his theology, perhaps he disagrees with his critics. I do not know. Yet permit me to celebrate. In the spiritual desert of Europe, i celebrate this cup of water offered to weary travellers seeking their way to God, in the comfort of their room and with the utmost discretion.
royal splendour
10:1-5(1) Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. (2) She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. (3) And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. (4) And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, (5) the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more breath in her.
AUTHOR
pastor bola olivia ogedengbe,
The Theophilus Company,
ABBA HOUSE, Paris,
see profile-
