The Bishop's Hymns - II

The Ridley Hall Quad

I will come in to him. Revelation iii.20

Come in, O come! The door stands open now;
I knew Thy voice; Lord Jesus, it was Thou;
The sun has set long since; the storms begin;
'Tis time for Thee, my Saviour; O come in!

Come, even now. But think not here to find
A lodging, Lord, and converse, to Thy mind:
The lamp burns low; the hearth is chill and pale;
Wet through the broken casement pours the gale.

Alas, ill-order'd shews the dreary room;
The household-stuff lies heap'd amidst the gloom;
The table empty stands, the couch undress'd;
Ah, what a welcome for the Eternal Guest!

Yet welcome, and to-night; this doeful scene
Is e'en itself my cause to hail Thee in;
This dark confusion e'en at once demands
Thine one bright presence, Lord, and ordering hands.

I seek no more to alter things, or mend,
Before the coming of so great a Friend:
All were at best unseemly; and 't were ill
Beyond all else to keep Thee waiting still.

Then, as Thou art, all holiness and bliss,
Come in, and see my chamber as it is;
I bid Thee welcome boldly, in the name
Of Thy great glory and my want and shame.

Come, not to find, but make, this troubled heart
A dwelling worthy of Thee as Thou art;
To chase the gloom, the terror, and the sin,
Come, all Thyself, yea come, Lord Jesus, in!

H.C.G.M.

The Bishop's Hymns

Entrance to Durham Castle

Bishop H. C. G. Moule wrote some beautiful and very edifying hymns. Sadly, there are none in the 1940 Hymnal! I wish to share some of these gems with you, starting with the following.

Yield yourselves. Romans 6:13

My glorious Victor, Prince divine,
Clasp these surrender'd hands in Thine;
At length my will is all Thine own,
Glad vassal of a Saviour's throne.

My Master, lead me to Thy door;
Pierce this now willing ear once more:
Thy bonds are freedom; let me stay
With Thee, to toil, endure, obey.

Yes, ear and hand, and thought and will,
Use all in Thy dear slavery still!
Self's weary liberties I cast
Beneath Thy feet; there keep them fast.

Tread them still down; and then, I know,
These hands shall with Thy gifts o'erflow,
And pierced ears shall hear the tone
Which tells me Thou and I are one.

Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Durham_Castle_Eingang.jpg

Vote Pro-Life!

I've had to pull off the video from the Mccain website; looks like lots of people have been having trouble with it.

Please Pray for Orissa, India

Update from a former YWAM'er:

Thanks for your concern for the India YWAMers. There is an email
currently circulating about YWAM India, but it is not actually written
by YWAMers or about YWAMers, so we haven't been able to verify the
specific details of that email. However, the persecution is very real,
and we do know that about a dozen of our staff have been physically
assaulted, and both private and ministry property belonging to our
teams has been damaged or destroyed. One couple had their house burned
down. In addition, though over 50 believers have been killed, and 50
churches damaged or destroyed, so the issue is much bigger than YWAM;
in fact our staff specifically asked that the whole body of Christ
there, particularly in Orissa and Karnataka state, be lifted up in
prayer. The best resource for up-to-date information on this situation
can be found on the website of the Evangelical Fellowship of India
(www.efionline.org).

Thanks again for praying for this issue, and if people ask, do be sure
and tell them to pray for all the Christians there!

Dated Oct. 20
This is a request for prayer for YWAM missionaries and their churches in Orissa, India. The request came from her friend, MH, an associate of HCJB Global. Please read and make this a matter of urgent prayer..

Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India.

We have never seen anything like this. We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off the continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went about His work. But none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage.... And it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media ..... Let me explain.... A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and 'reconverting' people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last weekend. Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry rose up...'Kill the Christians!' And the horror began.... In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have be en slaughtered.

For no other reason than they bear the name of Christ.

Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa... they are right in the middle of all this chaos. In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They have promised to come back and 'finish the job.'

Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer.

More police have come to offer protection. In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace. In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore.
All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled i nside and police outside.
The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a chance to kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher in house and burned them to death.

Many believers have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road.... even women and children. At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: 'We stay with our kids.... we live together or die together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.'

More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen. This will continue for another 10 days.... suppose dly the 14 day mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down.

The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask for your prayers. Only the Hand of God can calm this storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times.

Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal: the transformation of a community by transforming its children. Orissa will be saved... that is our heart's cry. If we can take these thousands of throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission.

What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second, pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom. The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help us to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations.... Prayer works!
____ Col 2:2 MBI Team Facilitators to YWAM frontlines

George Will on the Communion

Washington Post, Sunday, October 19, 2008; Page B07

Nihil Sub Sole Novum

There is an "exceptionalism" about these United States, but, at the same time, there is really nothing exceptional about how the country is deteriorating along with the rest of the West. However the upcoming election pans out, it will be business as usual as far as history is concerned. The principles of freedom will still exist and they will still work. God will still reward righteousness with its precious fruits. But men, because of their evil hearts, will turn their backs upon them. Men with little responsibility in this world will harm little more than themselves. Men with great responsibility in this world will harm multitudes.

I, along with others, keep thinking about the 1930's. I keep hearing Churchill's words ringing in my ears. Such words as, "So we go on preparing more months and years - precious, perhaps vital, to the greatness of Britain - for the locusts to eat." [Nov. 12, 1936] The same kind of selfish and foolish actions of politicians in his day, which brought about horrible consequences, we see in our own.

The cultures of our world will continue to change. We complain of the rapidity with which American culture has changed in the last one hundred years. The culture of a middle European county could change just as rapidly with the invasion of the latest version of the barbarian horde. "There is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man."

Nothing about our lives in this world is certain and perhaps many of us in the Church need a bit of a shake up to remember our true purpose in life. What are we the most concerned about with this election? Is it the economy? The threat from Islam? As important as these are, we Christians must not forget the millions of innocent lives murdered every year in the womb. We cannot forget the threat from the radical "left" to religious freedom for our descendants. We must be concerned for these things, and we must fight for them as any decent citizen would for any just cause. We must especially fight with our prayers - our greatest "weapon." Let our concerns be dominated, not by the media, but by our own world-view, by Holy Scripture.

It is right to love one's country. It is right to love the good things that are in one's culture. It is right to be grieved when truth, goodness and beauty are on the scaffold. But let us not forget who we are, by definition, by redemption. We are the sons of God. And we are here to serve Christ, whatever the world around us does. Let us not be too shocked when the country we love deteriorates. Let us rather, with the eyes of faith, fix our eyes on the One who always leads us in triumph. While not shirking our responsibilities as citizens, let us be more happy to be citizens of heaven than of any earthly "State." Let us endure, seeing Him who cannot be seen, but will be seen, when He comes to make everything right, good, and new.

Keep the faith! Fight the fight. He that endures to the end will be saved.

Image: http://www.myhero.com/myhero/heroprint.asp?hero=winstonchurchill

A Few Thoughts on Hope

Our hope is critical for our survival and our effectiveness, usefulness, and testimony. We must recognize our hope as not in a hopeful frame of mind. It is a Person, unchangeable, and He is in us. Our Hope is always, therefore, with us, though all other hope is gone. So, we rejoice, yes, and will rejoice (Hab. 3:17,18).

The reality of our joyous hope displaces an idolatrous obsession with unhappy things in our life, enabling a more wholesome reflection upon the affairs of life in general, with the varied benefits obtained thereby.