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Short Notes

Reviewed by Paul Beasley-Murray.

SHORT NOTES – Paul Beasley-Murray

A Meal with Jesus: discovering grace, community and mission around the table (IVP, Nottingham 2011; 157pp; £8.99; ISBN 978 1 84474 555 5), by Tim Chester, is a lively, stimulating read, and an ideal resource for ministers wanting to encourage their people to engage in hospitality. Chester argues that “meals should be an integral and significant part of our shared life. They represent the meaning of mission, but they more than represent it: they embody and enact of our mission. Community and mission are more than meals, but it’s hard to conceive of them without meals”. Within this framework of understanding, he expounds Luke 5 (meals as enacted grace), Luke 7 (meals as enacted community), Luke 9 (meals as enacted hope), Luke 14 (meals as enacted mission), Luke 22 (meals as enacted salvation) and Luke 24 (meals as enacted promise).

Last Thing at Night: Prayers and readings for the end of the day (Darton, Longman and Todd, London 2011; 128pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 0 232 52884 8), compiled by Rima Devereaux, contains  material for 42 days, arranged in six week-long sections.  For each day there is a Psalm, a Gospel reading, and a devotional extract, mostly taken from the writings of Carmelite saints. The readings chosen follow the twin themes of literal and metaphorical night. It is a thoughtful  collection.

10 Second Sermons – and even quicker illustrations (Darton, Longman and Todd, London 2011; 80pp; ISBN 978 0 232 52882 4), by Milton Jones, consists of a series of sharp one-liners , designed to make us think about what we believe from a completely different perspective – for example: “Christianity is like a cornish pastie. There’s something in it, but sometimes it’s difficult to find out what it is”; or “Some people think Christianity is like a mosquito – if you get infected you could turn into a gibbering wreck”. Ho-hum!

A book from which every minister would profit is Building the Waterline: Shoring up the Foundations of Leadership (Hendrickson, Peabody, Massachusetts 2011; 250pp; £14.99 hardback; ISBN 978 1 59856 669 7. Available in the UK through Alban Books of Edinburgh), by Gordon MacDonald, a former mega-church pastor and later IVF president, who argues for the need for ministers to build a strong foundation below the waterline, and then observe the fruit of this above the waterline, for, he says, ”the work done below the waterline (in a leader’s soul) determines whether or not he or she will stand the test of time and challenge”. As one who is now in his 60s, I found his question, “What sort of an old man do you want to be?”, amazingly challenging. MacDonald goes on: “If you don’t plan for the kind of man (or woman) you want to be when you are eighty (God willing) and being building that when you are forty or fifty, that is not likely to happen”. In this context he shares his own personal mission statement: “My life is focused on serving God’s purposes in my generation so that the kingdom of Christ might be more firmly established wherever I go. In my dealings with people, I want to be a source of hope, encouragement, enthusiasm, friendship and service…”. Full of good stuff, this book, if it is read reflectively, will benefit ministers more than most! 

The warmest of welcomes to one of the most recent contributions to the thematic series of The Bible Speaks for Today, namely The Message of the Word of God (IVP, Nottingham 2011; 281pp; £9.99; ISBN 978 1 84474 551 7), by Tim Meadowcroft of Laidlaw College, Auckland, New Zealand. The exposition of 20 key Bible passages is divided into four parts: 1. God speaks; 2. God speaks in the written word; 3. God speaks in Christ; and 4. God speaks today. The combination of insightful exegesis with helpful application results in a great resource for preachers. This is definitely a book to buy!

The Message of Kings (IVP, Nottingham, 2011; 374pp; £11.99; ISBN 978 1 84474 550 0), by Australian Baptist scholar, John Olley, is yet another helpful contribution to the The Bible Speaks Today series – and at an amazingly reasonable price! The way in which Olley seeks to relate the Bible to the world of today is particularly welcome. This is a great preaching resource!

About to preach through 1 Corinthians? Then read The Wisdom of the Cross: Exploring 1 Corinthians (Apollos, Nottingham 2011; 229pp; £11.99; ISBN 978 1 84474 548 7), edited by Brian S Rosner, is a collection of nine essays dealing with Paul’s pastoral practice and his understanding of the cross. Based on the 2010 Moore College School of Theology, the aim is to help ministers preach not so much from 1 Corinthians, as to preach the message of 1 Corinthians – an interesting distinction!

The Colonized Apostle: Paul through postcolonial eyes (Fortress Press, Minneapolis 2011; 365pp; £23.99 hardback; ISBN 978 0 8006 6458 9. Available in the UK through Alban Books of Edinburgh), edited by Christopher D Stanley, is a collection 16 scholarly essays, in which the authors seek to relate the recent insights of post-colonial studies to the life and writings of Paul.  Although this is no doubt ‘cutting-edge’ scholarship, it is frankly irrelevant to the ordinary minister and belongs to the world of academia alone.

Excellence in Preaching: Learning from the best (IVP, Nottingham 2011; 174pp; £8.99; ISBN 978 1 84474 519 7), by Simon Vibert, Vice Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, draws lessons from twelve of today’s outstanding preachers, namely John Piper, Vaughan Roberts, Simon Ponsonby, J John, David Cook, John Ortberg, Nicky Gumbel, Rico Tice, Alistair Begg, Mark Driscoll and Mark Dever. Although there is much good advice, the drawback of the book is that there are no excerpts of the preachers’ sermons – presumably for that one needs to go on-line.   As an English Baptist minister, I personally found it somewhat sad that not one outstanding preacher is apparently to be found in the English Free Churches!

Recent booklets published by Grove of Cambridge, all 28 pages in length and priced at £3.95 (although a year’s subscription leads to a 30% reduction), include:

Timeless Approaches to Prayer: Drawing inspiration from Christian Tradition (Youth 23, 2011; ISBN 978 1 85174 797 9), by Paul Northam, which looks at how youth workers can teach young people to pray – needless to say, teachers of prayer must first be people of prayer!  

Understanding and Using Power: Leadership without corrupting your soul (Leadership 5, 2011; ISBN 978 1 85174 799 3), by Roger Preece, who argues that those who use power without careful reflection and thought are a liability to themselves and to their congregations!

Good News Story Workshops based on the five Marks of Mission (Evangelism 95, 2011; ISBN 978 1 85174 803 7), by Janet Hodgson, examines the five marks of mission developed by the Anglican communion, namely: to proclaim the good news of the kingdom; to teach, baptize and nurture new believers; to respond to human need by loving service; to transform unjust structures of society; and to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation. I confess that there is not sufficient substance for home groups we run in my church; nor is the material particularly helpful for churches of an evangelical persuasion for the booklet as an overemphasis on social action against evangelism.