Yesterday in a very different web-based context, I came across a recordig of a very long sermon that ought to have interested me because it related to what I will be speaking about this Sunday.  I couldn't get past the first five minutes or so because the exegesis, which was very authoritatively delivered, seemed so incredibly iffy! 

The speaker boldly asserted that the reference to 'little children' in the gospels meant 'infants' or 'babies', which is inaccurate, at least so far as any Greek I can find suggests.  'Paidon ' can mean child (and clearly does in context) but can also mean a 'slave/servant boy/girl' or even, ahem, a 'boy' whose role was to satisify an older male.  The translator's choice to render this as 'little child/children' is probably defennsible, given the use of the word 'mikron' (small, little, wee) in the wider context, but it sure isn't 'baby' or 'infant'. At no point does the Greek have either the narrator or Jesus saying 'little child/children', it is always either 'child/children' or 'little ones'.  Tsk, translators!!

Then, today as I've allowed my mind to ruminate, I found myself recalling the Pauline concenr with the need to 'put away childish things'... which is not what the Greek says either.  The word 'nepios' used in 1 Corinthians 13 means... (according to my interlinear anyway) infant.  So, rather than contradicting (or seeming to) Jesus, what Paul is eschewing is an infantilised faith.  Which is something very different indeed.

So that has given me much to ponder and play around with between now and the final version of whatever I end up writing!  And it all goes to prove that those Greek classes through which I laboured weren't entirely wasted!!

I very rarely tell jokes in services/sermons.  There are many reasons for this, but basically I'm not good at telling jokes, and rarely does anyone laugh, so best not to.

Today we had two "funny stories" which weren't all that funny, at least as I told them, but people were kind and a few chuckled politely.  And they did provoke a bit of comment after the service, so I know people were good enough to listen to them.

But it's eminently clear that my calling is not as a comedian... so that's as well to know!

Been an interesting and different couple of weeks... I've certainly enjoyed the challenge of engaging with some very different passages.  No more jokes for a while though, much to everyone's relief :-) .

Today I was in our local Christian bookshop to pick up a few bits and bobs, including some cards.  I chose to spend almost £2 to buy this one which I think is well-intentioned but somewhat unhelpful.

The quote is from 1 Peter 2 (KJV) rather than more familar, at least to me, Isaiah 53, which is present tense, so that threw me slightly.  Either way, its referent is not physical healing, at least not as I read it.  Creative idea, but not really a 'get well' message.

To top it all off, what drew me to the card was the section it was filed under, which was labelled 'coping with cancer' where it was the only option. (It also appeared in the general 'get well' section too).

I was left puzzled as to why we needed a special "coping with cancer cards" section in the first place (there was also one for depression, but no other specific condition or disease).  It seemed like one of those well-intentioned but not everso helpful ideas.

Unfortunately the only 'coping with cancer' cards I've seen that seemed to hit the mark would not be suitable to cite on the nice polite blog of a Baptist minister (unless I already did ages ago and have forgotten!)

This little quotation from a commentary on Ephesians gave me the way in to last Sunday's sermon:

“The whole armour of God who won his pacific victory over the powers through the cross [...] is nothing less than the naked, defencelessness of the crucified Christ”

John Muddiman The Epistle to the Ephesians London,. Continuum, 2001 page 283

Go ponder, it's worth it!