Matthew Burden's Blog, page 18

A Prayer from Sadhu Sundar Singh

Dear Master, Thy varied blessings and gifts have filled my heart to overflowing with gratitude and praise. [...] Thanks and praise be to Thee that Thou hast brought me, unworthy though I am, out of death into life and made me to rejoice in Thy fellowship and love. I know not as I ought either myself or my sore need, but Thou, O Father, knowest full well Thy creatures and their necessities. Nor can I love myself as Thou lovest me. To love myself truly is to love with heart and soul that boundless love which gave me being, and that love Thou art. Thou hast therefore given me but one heart, that it might be fixed on one only, on Thee, who didst create it. [...] Graciously accept me, and wheresoever and howsoever Thou wilt, use me for Thy service. For Thou art mine, and I belong to Thee, who didst take this handful of dust and make me in Thine own image and didst grant me the right to become Thy son. All honor and glory and praise and thanksgiving be unto Thee for ever and ever. Amen.

Church History: The English Reformation

(Click here for the church history series page)

Lecture audio: The English Reformation (click here to listen or right-click to download)

Lecture Notes Outline

-       The English Reformation

-   William Tyndale & the English Bible

-   Henry VIII’s dispute with the Roman CatholicChurch

-  Seeks marriage annulment

-  Becomes head of the English Church

-  Dissolves England’s monasteries

-  Seeks to retain certain other Catholic practices

-   Thomas Cranmer and the Book of Common Prayer

-   Resurgence of Catholicism under Queen Mary

-   Queen Elizabeth and the Thirty-Nine Articles

-   Anglicanism as a “via media”

-   King James and the Authorized Version (KJV)

The Evangeliad

(Click here for an introduction and previous installments of the Evangeliad)
Section 28, extended (corresponding to John 8:6-7)
They said this to test him, trap him with words,Force him to stand on a bad choice, or worse--To flaunt Moses' law and disturb the crowds,Or keep it and break what Rome had allowed.
But Jesus, he answered nothing at all,Made no response to the Pharisees' call.He stooped to the ground, and there in the sand,Wrote in the dust with a sweep of his hand.
But they persisted in asking, and soHe stood back up and straightened his robe."Let any men here who never has sinnedNow pick up a stone, and let him begin."

Photo of the Week

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;It is good to wait quietlyfor the salvation of the Lord.
- Lamentations 3:25-26

Quote of the Week

"You can often help others more by correcting your own faults than theirs. Remember, and you should, because of your own experience, that allowing God to correct your faults is not easy. Be patient with people, wait for God to work with them as He wills."
- Francois Fenelon

Devotional Column: The Peace that Passes Understanding

I've been hoping to be able to post a link to the video of my PhD oral defense here on the blog, but it has not been made available yet. In the meantime, here's a devotional column I wrote recently for publication in my local hometown newspaper:

The Peace that Passes Understanding
I can remember, as a child in Sunday School, hearing a turn of phrase in songs and teachings that always stuck with me: “the peace that passes understanding.” It spoke of a blessing, a sense of rest and harmony that no ups or downs of daily life could touch: a peace that was beyond comprehension, unexplainable by any cause except God’s own work in one’s life. This phrase comes from Philippians 4:7, as part of a lovely promise. Here it is in the words of a more modern translation: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

This promise is winsome and beautiful, but to understand how one obtains the promise, you have to look back at what came before. Here’s the preceding verse: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil. 4:6). In this context, the promise becomes clear—the peace of God is a gift that is given in response to our regular, faithful, daily act of praying. In every situation, we are called to present our requests to God.

But notice that verse 6 also gives us an intriguing command: “Do not be anxious about anything.” How is it possible not to be anxious, when our feelings get worked up by the busyness of life and the whirlwind of bad news that surrounds us in this age of terrorism, wars, and pandemics? We don’t have any control over those external events, so how can we control whether or not we feel anxiety?

The Bible isn’t telling us not to feel our genuine feelings, but rather is instructing us what to do with those feelings. Here’s how I like to explain it: Imagine that all your worries are drops of water, filling up a basin that you hold in your arms. As more and more of life’s busyness and tragedies come your way, those drops continue filling up the basin, making it heavier and heavier. At this point you have two options. You can either just keep holding that basin and all the water in it—letting the worries of life drive you into deeper anxiety, getting heavier and heavier—or you can just dump them all out of the basin. By holding onto them, you are choosing anxiety. But the verse tells us to pour them all out—do not be anxious, but instead, in every situation, present your requests to God. Rather than holding onto your worries, turn them into prayers instead. Pour them out to the Lord. If you’re a person who’s just naturally a worrier, that doesn’t have to be a negative thing; it could mean that you are equipped to be a great prayer-warrior, always interceding for your family and community.

If we can do this, turning our worries into prayers, then the promise of God’s peace becomes applicable to our situation. The peace that passes understanding—a peace that literally makes no sense at all, given what’s going on in our lives—is on offer for us. How? By turning over our worries and fears about things that we cannot control to One who reigns supreme over them all. When the situation is given to God, we can have peace. That doesn’t mean that everything will always work out perfectly, but it does mean that we can hold onto a deep, restful sense of hope even in the most tumultuous of times.

Photo of the Week

Give us the wings of faith to risewithin the veil, and seethe saints above, how great their joys,how bright their glories be.We ask them whence their victory came:they, with united breath,ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,their triumph to his death.
- from a hymn by Isaac Watts

Quote of the Week

"The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God."
- Martin Luther, from his 95 Theses

A Prayer from Desmond Tutu

Disturb us, O Lord
when we are too well-pleased with ourselveswhen our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little,because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, O Lord
when with the abundance of things we possess,we have lost our thirst for the water of lifewhen, having fallen in love with time,we have ceased to dream of eternityand in our efforts to build a new earth,we have allowed our vision of Heaven to grow dim.
Stir us, O Lord
to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seaswhere storms show Thy mastery,where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.
In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopesand invited the brave to follow.
Amen

Church History: The Reformation's Second Wave (mid-16th century)

(Click here for the church history series page)

Lecture audio: The Reformation's Second Wave (click here to listen or right-click to download)

Lecture Notes Outline

-       The Anabaptists (the Radical Reformation)

o  Beginnings in Zwingli’s Zurich – Conrad Grebel& Felix Manz

o  Distinctives: peace, simplicity, religiousliberty, congregational polity, and believer’s baptism

o  The Hutterites & the Bruderhof in Germanyand eastern Europe

o  Michael Sattler & the Schleitheim Confession

o  The Munster Rebellion

o  Menno Simons

-       John Calvin & the Reformed Churches

o  Conversion to Protestantism & flight toBasel

-  Writes Institutes of the Christian Religion

-  Doctrinal focus on the sovereignty of God

o  William Farel invites Calvin to Geneva

o  Strasbourg sojourn & return to Geneva

o  Heinrich Bullinger & the HelveticConfessions

o  Reformed churches in France and the Netherlands

o  John Knox in Scotland