Read me!

Peter Bolt's reflection on what education is really teaching us highlights the dilemma facing Christian parents today. The exclusion of Christ from the curriculum of public schools has led to a situation where human models and theories have replaced true knowledge. Furthermore, the recent investigation of Pacific Hills Christian School in Sydney over its teaching of creation is one of many examples of the campaign by so-called Rationalists to exert control over education in all forms.

How parents respond to this challenge is for their own prayerful consideration. In Christian schools, parents, staff and administrators seek to be faithful to the principle that the earth is the Lord's, and that it is only through God's revelation by his incarnate and written word that we can truly understand the creation around us and the purpose and actions of humanity. The sovereignty of Christ over every part of our lives is demonstrated through allowing the living Word to inform and illuminate the observing, reflecting and applying that make up the learning process. The goal is to have the centrality of Christ pervade all levels of the curriculum, both the classroom curriculum and hidden curriculum.

Christian schools are by no means perfect, nor are they the only solution to the problem raised by Peter Bolt. But their formation has been a direct response to the recognition that education for its own sake is vanity. Whichever response parents make, it is important that their children learn that knowledge does not necessarily lead to understanding or wisdom, and that their lives are measured by far more than a number on a piece of paper.

Philip Cooney of Wentworth Falls, NSW, AUS (15/01/2009)

Thank you for some fascinating material on personal Bible reading in the latest Briefing. As one or two people observed, the problem is not simply people failing to read the Bible. Rather, there is a broader issue of people maintaining a healthy devotional life—not just reading the Bible, but also praying and praising God during the week.

One approach I've found immeasurably helpful in keeping my own devotional life at least reasonably on track is using some form of ‘daily office’, embedding my personal Bible reading within a framework of psalms and prayers. This can involve using a book such as ‘Celebrating Common Prayer’ or the Church of England's ‘Common Worship: Daily Prayer’. However, I've also used a simpler form, based on Martin Luther's advice to base one's devotions around the ‘catechism’ (i.e. the Commandments, Creed and Lord's Prayer).

In summary, this involves using the Ten Commandments as a basis for self-examination and confession, singing or reciting psalms to praise God, reading the Bible (including a Gospel reading each day), reciting the Apostle's Creed (as a daily reminder of the main facts of the gospel) and basing one's prayers on the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. A fuller version of this can be found on my blog.

This helps provide a bit more structure to one's devotions, which can be a particular help when feeling tired, busy or spiritually dry. It's also a good way of reminding oneself that the Bible is not only given to us to be read, but also to be sung and prayed.

John Halton of Orpington, UK (15/01/2009)

I refer to your “Five-word antidote” of Briefing 364, which I find a bit disturbing. From Matthew 5:22, which notes that “anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell”, it appears that the course of action you apparently commend is decidedly unchristian.

When I ask “What Would Jesus Do?”, I refer to Luke 10:41 where, faced with a complaint from Martha, he says sympathetically, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things”, though he adds gently that there is another option. A side comment: if Martha had not clattered in the kitchen, they all would not have eaten that night, and when they eventually got around to it, I don't doubt they were grateful enough. Martha seems to have absorbed something, notwithstanding, from her perceptive remarks in John 11:24.

You say that the nature of the original complaint has been lost. Why, then, do we uncharitably assume it was selfish or trivial? It might equally have been a legitimate observation of some error in the church, in which case the response would be even more reprehensible.

We are supposed to do unto others as we would be done by. The greatest of us is to serve the others. Maybe we do try. But finding others not behaving likewise, what should we do? We are to rebuke them (Luke 17:3). If we have a grievance, we are to speak to our brother (Matt 18:15). Therefore, it is not at all necessary that the unknown complainer with his unknown complaint was acting without faith and love.

Maybe someone will not consider newer music or someone makes someone feel unwelcome. Is it about them, then? I do not think so! And it is possibly not about me if I try to change it; speaking to the minister may be a suitable starting point.

Roger Dalton of North Ward, QLD, AUS (15/01/2009)

A couple of things ‘got me started’ in Up Front (January 09). Jean Williams (‘Just how sovereign is God?’) wrote a timely reminder of how vital it is to immerse oneself in the knowledge that God is sovereign, and I agree with most of what was written. I did find myself wondering, however, if there was a more nuanced way of understanding God's sovereignty over the ‘big history’ events and over “the small, everyday occurrences of life”. God's ultimate purposes cannot be thwarted, but God's sovereignty does not necessarily mean that every event in our lives is pre-ordained (as seems to be suggested by the quote from Spurgeon with which the article begins). God's sovereignty does mean, however, that he is able “to work all things together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). This applies equally to the ‘big’ and the ‘little’ things of life. Sometimes we mess up: we sin, we fall short, we rebel against his will, we find ourselves in a quandary, or out of fuel miles from a petrol station with young children in the car. We become ill (whether from a cold or cancer). Tragedy strikes. I take comfort not in knowing that God necessarily meant such things to be, but that he is able to make even these things work together for his glory and my eternal good.

Gavin Perkins (‘Doing the little things well’) states that “We need to remember that ministry is about godliness, not gifts”. I find this an extraordinary statement. Ministry is about both. The exercise of gifts without godliness generated a lot of what Paul had to say in 1 Corinthians. But he didn't go on to imply that it's ‘either/or’. Surely what we should say is that ministry is not just about gifts; it's about godliness too. While we mustn't mistake giftedness for godliness, neither should we confuse godliness with giftedness.

Alan J Bailyes of Exeter, UK (15/01/2009)

Paul Grimmond's article on ‘The gospel and the quiet time’ was fabulous. I have noticed over the past few years that The Briefing very graciously (and I do actually mean this; I'm not being sarcastic) encourages us in the week between Christmas and New Years of the need to start again in our Bible reading and praying (i.e. in time to get in on our New Years' resolution list). Paul's article does this very graciously. (I've got to admit, this is actually the best way to win me over; I don't usually respond well to the ‘firm rebuke’.) So thank you, Paul!

Also regarding this article, I found myself set free by Paul's creative suggestions regarding how to read the Bible, and the sometimes unhelpful differentiation between devotions and Bible study. I must say that devotions don't do it for me, but ask me to spend a month writing a Bible study series on a particular book, and that book will be studied like never before. So thank you for allowing more than just the ‘read two verses and learn a moral lesson’ approach.

More generally, I would like to thank you for (and encourage you to continue) including at least one article in The Briefing for which I don't require either a theological degree or a good night's sleep to be able to read. I am an educated woman who holds a Bachelor degree in Applied Science, and I run my own small business, but some of the big words and sentences are just too big for me. This is okay, because I'm sure that some of the small words and small sentences that are perfect for me are too small for many other people. Regarding the good night's sleep, my youngest child is now five. I am in no way the worst-suffering of people in this category, but sometimes nappy brain overrides the brain's fundamental functions of alertness and concentration. This makes the big sentences absolutely enormous! And then we don't have time to re-read the same section several times over because someone needs feeding or changing, and so on. So I want to say thank you for keeping at least one article at my level!

Jenny Wise of Kogarah, NSW, AUS (15/01/2009)

I read Paul Grimond's comments on male leadership with some interest. I would like to make the following comments, in no particular order.

By means of a classical Anglican fudge, here in England we have the way opened for female bishops. Faced with this and other examples of the outworkings of radical feminism, what price male leadership now? The whole idea is (in British Anglicanism anyway) ridiculous.

Again, perhaps the focus is wrong. Many years ago, Major Mark Fillingham wrote an article for the magazine of the Officers Christian Union on ‘Followership’, on the grounds that too much emphasis in the military was on leadership at the expense of learning and teaching about following. Perhaps one of the problems facing men leading is that no-one knows how to follow.

Leadership involves responsibility and authority, whereas followership involves the acceptance of the authority that goes with the responsibility of leadership. By the end of the 20th century, feminism had successfully destroyed the whole concept of male authority consequent to leadership. Men, being rational creatures, quickly realized that taking responsibility without authority is a mugs game; when you have no authority, why take the blame? As a reinstatement of male authority, to go with male leadership and responsibility is, in the current ideological and philosophical climate, a non-starter; we can expect the current situation to persist.

I know of a man who has finished four years of part-time pastoral studies. He is unlikely to take a pastoral charge as his wife flatly refuses to move house. Male leadership and responsibility?Bah, humbug.

John Allen of Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, England (21/01/2009)

Peter Bolt's article (‘So you think you can spell?’) was spot-on in highlighting that an education system without Christ at its centre is no education at all (“Eductaion: without God's word, there is no illumination”). Here in the UK, we have been shy to consider the appropriateness (and biblical imperative?) that education (especially for Christian children) is thoroughly undergirded by Scripture. Maybe it is time The Briefing considered a case for distinctly Christian education?

Kip Chelashaw of London, UK (18/02/2009)

Just wanted to say how impressed we were that you have an option to share old articles in your library via Facebook. Although personally I think Facebook is a tool of Satan, my wife loves it, and being able to quickly share articles for discussion and use in the church is a great benefit.

Thanks for your technological insight.

Andy and Cathy Hyland of Rochester, Kent, UK (18/02/2009)

I don't read The Briefing; it looks and feels like The Sydney Morning Herald, and we live off The Telegraph in Western Sydney. My wife Robyn said we should cancel our subscription if we are not going to read them. Past issues can be found left lying around our house. She occasionally reads; I don't—only when I have to or when I've got a Bible study or sermon to write.

Such was Saturday—another Saturday sermon ... yuuuukkk. I hate Saturday sermons. Kamakazi week. I had done a bit of preparation, but not enough to feed the flock. It's like cramming for a Moore College exam. But The Briefing came to my rescue: ‘Blood, sweat and tears’, January 2009. I sat back and read, and prayed my prayers of repentance, and brought before God my crisis of self-confidence, which regularly happens every time I start preparing. But as I have worked out, preaching is for the preacher. I reckon it's God's practical joke sometimes ...

Anyway, thanks Briefing! The subscription will remain ... for now—or until the next crisis comes.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot: the fairtytale ending. By the grace of God and the inspiration of ‘Blood, sweat and tears’, the sermon ‘came off the bat’; even my boss said it was good ...

Craig Blacket of Oakhurst, NSW, AUS (11/03/2009)