Billy Graham

Today's news of the passing into glory of Billy Graham reminds me of the great debt I owe to his ministry.  It has come in the form of people whose lives were changed during his London evangelistic meetings, several of whom have been key leaders in churches I have served.

Not so long after arriving in the (now) London Borough of Haringey, I had reason to travel to the old site of his 1950s Haringay Arena  meetings.  It is now a retail park.  You may not find the Lord there but you will find plenty of casual workers waiting for vans to pick them up for another illegal (?) day's work.  It was a stark reminder that times move on.

Sixty plus years later secular and social pressures would make such an evangelist and such an event very difficult to keep on its intended track of winning souls for Christ.  Mind you, the harshest things I have seen written about Billy Graham and/or his ministry have been written by (alleged) Christians and it is unlikely that any contemporary internet troll could come up with anything any more vitriolic.

Billy Graham diligently rose above all such political and theological spewing anger and simply preached Christ.  Was he always infallibly true?  Of course not.  Did he point people toward the One who is?  Of course he did.

It is easy to complain about a signpost.  It's worded incorrectly, it has spray paint on, it should be positioned differently, the typeface is ugly, the colour is wrong.  In the end, if it points uncounted numbers of people to the right destination - that is a good signpost.

And when it is gone, it will be missed unless it is replaced.

And today we miss Billy Graham.

“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.” Billy Graham

The day of love

It is terribly bad luck that Lent begins on Valentines Day.  It is the death knell to every abstemious vow that involved chocolate and probably several other things that are perhaps best not speculated about . . .

Ash Wednesday seems a dive of a day by comparison with its romantic counterpart.  Who'd ever give an Ash Wednesday Card?

Try this.

It's not going to revive the flagging High Street retail sector, is it?

Yet of course the two days are linked by more than a calendar coincidence.  They are linked by love.  The Valentine love that overwhelms but can never last and the other a Calvary love that died but can never die.

Free News!

There are very many things that you see in London that you are unlikely to see in many, or any, other places in the UK.  

This seems to be such a thing, outside one of our nearby underground stations.  A Jewish Newspaper stand.

The big word FREE also made me think.  The message of Jesus the Messiah is surely the most wonderful free news ever to be disseminated to the world from the Jewish people, and we pray that many of them, as well as others, in London and beyond may learn to embrace it by faith.

Barsanuphius

I'm not the greatest authority on Saints Days but today being that of Barsanuphius I thought he deserved some attention. In fact attention was exactly what he didn't have as he disappeared for 50 years as a hermit and communicated by correspondence only. That has a certain appeal as a lifestyle when faced with an unsympathetic culture, but he also wrote many things that offered wisdom to those more engaged with the world than he . . .

Do not demand love from your neighbour, because you will suffer if you don’t receive it; but better still, you indicate your love toward your neighbour and you will settle down. In this way, you will lead your neighbour toward love.

Don’t exchange your love toward your neighbour for some type of object, because in having love toward your neighbour, you acquire within yourself Him who is most precious in the whole world.

Forsake the petty so as to acquire the great; spurn the excessive and everything meaningless so as to acquire the valuable.

Shelter the sinner if it brings you no harm. Through this you will encourage him toward repentance and reform — and attract the Lord’s mercy to yourself. With a kind word and all possible means, fortify the infirm and the sorrowful and that Right Arm that controls everything, will also support you. With prayers and sorrow of your heart, share your lot with the aggrieved and the source of God’s mercy will open to your entreaties.

Do not distinguish the worthy from the unworthy. Let everyone be equal to you for good deeds, so that you may be able to also attract the unworthy toward goodness, because through outside acts, the soul quickly learns to be reverent before God.

Do not annoy or hate anyone – neither for faith, nor for his evil deeds… If you want to convert someone to truth, then grieve over him, with tears and love say a word or two to him, but do not burst out in anger, and may he not see any sign of hatred on your part, because love is not able to hate, or become irritated, or reproach anyone with passion…