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  • Writing
    • Not in Vain: 1 Corinthians Devotional
    • Explore Lamentations
    • eBook: Good News People
    • eBook: Filtered Grace
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    • Explore Ecclesiastes
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That Happy Certainty - Gospel | Culture | Planting
Refill

The Sunday Refill – 7 Links for Your Weekend (2/8/20)

Seven up…

1) Echoes from Eternity – Throughout lockdown, Mark Meynell has been doing short readings and reflections on great, inspirational or devotional writing from the past. I’d love to have discovered it earlier! Well worth having a look at – perhaps choose a reading every day through August?

2) Catch-up on Keswick – All of last week’s Virtually Keswick is now online – and it’s a fab resource. Evening Celebrations on the biblical theme of hope, including singing from EMU Music, morning Bible-teaching on Psalms 2-6 from Christopher Ash, the youth programme and kids’ programme too. Well worth making the most of over the summer weeks.

3) Reflecting on Taylor Swift’s Folklore  – Taytay released a ‘lockdown’ album completely out of the blue this week. Here’s LICC’s take on the meaning and story behind the record. If you want a view from a non-Christian perspective, here’s a thoughtful review at The Atlantic.

4) Emerging from lockdown: advice and FAQs – A comprehensive current look at COVID legislation and recommendations for churches. John Stevens has his summary of lockdown changes here.

5) A Real Miracle in The Prosperity Network – Fascinating and encouraging report on Todd White (based on his own words), who’d I’d come across indirectly through watching the must-watch American Gospel (now available on Netflix). White was known for preaching a ‘prosperity gospel’, but seems to have recognised the distortions of the gospel he had made.

6) How to Make Meetings Less Terrible – This is a fun episode from the Freakonomics Podcast. One to ponder over the summer ahead of a new season of meetings in September perhaps?

7) Hamilton Mask-up Parody – For something a bit different, given Hamilton’s trending right now (thanks to its recent arrival on Disney Plus), this is the perfect way to riff on the social politics of wearing masks. Oh, and because it’s the summer holidays, let me throw in another Hamilton link – this interactive piece looks at how the musical has some of the most densely packed, complex rhyming lyrics in the history of musicals – so how exactly do they work?

Quote of the Week: 

“The Bible does tell us who we are and what we should do, but it does so through the lens of who God is. The knowledge of God and the knowledge of self always go hand in hand.”

– Jen Wilkin

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August 2, 2020by Robin Ham
Refill

The Sunday Refill – 7 Links for Your Weekend (26/7/20)

Seven up…

1) Trusting the Bible podcast series – This looks brilliant: Andrew Ollerton, who presents & wrote the Bible Society’s Bible Course, is launching a podcast where he interviews experts on the Bible from Tyndale House, Cambridge, a theological research centre. The aim is to grow our confidence in the Bible. The first episode drops tomorrow, featuring Dr Peter Williams. Looks set to be a great resource to get us tooled up – why not subscribe now?

2) Virtually Keswick Convention – Monday-Friday this coming week sees the annual Keswick Convention go online – all on the timely theme of Hope. Daily Bible readings (on Psalms from Christopher Ash), seminars, and evening celebrations (featuring EMU Music) are all on offer, as well as a kids and youth programme. I’m looking forward to sharing some reflections on our situation as part of Friday’s seminar on church life in and beyond lockdown. Take a look at this little ‘How to’ guide for all the tech details, as well as the main VKC site above for listings. And it’s all free!

3) Michael Tinker new kids’ track ‘Be Strong and Courageous’ – We enjoy Michael Tinker’s music as a family – and this new track is fab Springsteen-esque Tinkerage with a precious Bible message. It actually entered into the national Children’s Chart at #2. Check it out on all the usual channels!

4) The Power and the Glory – Interview with Tom Holland – Really interesting and extensive interview with author and historian Tom Holland. I suspect his latest, Dominion, will be on many Christians’ summer reading lists. This interview gives a decent insight into the man behind the book, as well as the fascinating journey his books have taken him on.

5) Rest and rhythm: a message from Genesis to Revelation for busy lawyers – The Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship have been running a series of online events looking at the issue of mental health. This event, with Rev Simon Vibert, looks at how the whole Bible story shows us God has made us for a rhythm of rest, work, and worship. Whether or not you’re a lawyer, I’m sure you’ll benefit from this free event.

6) Drained and Depressed by the Internet? Go Outside – Yes and amen. I mean, the title is persuasive enough, right? But this is a beautiful reminder of how nature is ‘life-giving and wisdom-enhancing’. So, what you waiting for?

7) WindowSwap – For something a bit different, if lockdown screen time has got you pining for a different view, then this is the perfect antidote! Does exactly what it says on the tin – from the confines of your desk!

Quote of the Week: 

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

– John Lubbock

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July 26, 2020by Robin Ham
Refill

The Sunday Refill – 7 Links for Your Weekend (19/7/20)

Seven up…

1) Precious in sight of the Lord is the death of his saints: J.I.Packer & Peter Maiden – This week the news broke about the deaths of English-born Canadian Anglican evangelical theologian, J. I. Packer (aged 93), and the former international director of Operation Mobilisation (OM) and former chairman of the Keswick Convention, Peter Maiden (aged 72).

Thinking about it, I may own more books by Packer than any other writer (to be honest, it’s probably a close-run thing with Tim Chester and Julia Donaldson) – and I would say his writings have probably been one of the biggest indirect influences in me identifying as an Anglican. Reading his outstanding Knowing God was a rite of passage for many young Christians. To remember him, Crossway have put an amazing set of links together capturing J.I.Packer’s life and ministry, including a powerful 15-minute video made-up of Packer’s own reflections on his ministry. Here are 40 quotes from Packer, exemplifying his insightful theological mind, and I appreciated Don Carson’s tribute and introduction to some of the defining issues in Packer’s writing and legacy, as well as Sam Allberry’s perspective as a younger British Anglican evangelical.

I wasn’t especially familiar with Maiden, but I know his legacy, both here in Cumbria and around the world, has shaped many, not least through Keswick Ministries. David Vardy remembers Peter Maiden here, as does the Bishop of Carlisle here. Peter’s final book, Radical Gratitude, which was written as he discovered he had incurable cancer, is out now.

2) CPAS’s Leadership in Lockdown Seminar – CPAS and James Lawrence have produced three excellent webinars for Christian leaders over the past few months. The latest, ‘Back to the Future’ is available now. The whole playlist is available here for free – well worth the investment.

3) We Are One – Love the new single from EMU Music – As the writers say, “There are few songs that focus on Jesus’ commends to his church to love one another as part of our witness to the world…. we are members of one body, Christ’s body; may this song encourage us to live that out in our churches.”

4) 17 Take-aways from Mental Health in Lockdown Webinar – Dan Green shares some key take-aways from the FIEC Leadership in Lockdown webinar on Mental Health in Lockdown with Steve Midgley and Dan Steel.

5) Go Chatter Classic Hymns Lyric Videos – Something you may want to make use of for digital church services. These are performed in a contemporary style by Josh Lucas and produced by Holy Trinity Eastbourne. They’re sung with a British accent and have no copyright issues as all are public domain songs recorded with a license by the artist to use in services. They’re only £4 each.

6) Gettys and Andrew Peterson for their weekly #FamilyHymnSing – We enjoyed watching this the other week – Keith & Kristyn Getty (and their kids) invite Andrew Peterson and his daughter Skye to sing a bunch of their songs together on their porch. Nice.

7) NT Wright & Francis Collins sing ‘Genesis’ – For something a bit different, whatever your reading of the opening chapters of Genesis, you’ve got to hand it to these guys for an impressive bit of fun and a lovely window into the friendship that this theologian-bishop and physician-geneticist share!

Quote of the Week: 

“Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel. The traitor is forgiven, brought in for supper, and given the family name. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater.”

– J.I. Packer

 

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July 19, 2020by Robin Ham
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About Me

 

Hello, my name is Robin. Welcome to That Happy Certainty, where I write and collate on Christianity, culture, and ministry. I’m based in Barrow-in-Furness in South Cumbria, England, where I serve a church family called St Paul’s Barrow, recently merged together from two existing churches, St Paul’s Church and Grace Church Barrow.

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“If we could be fully persuaded that we are in the good grace of God, that our sins are forgiven, that we have the Spirit of Christ, that we are the beloved children of God, we would be ever so happy and grateful to God. But because we often fear and doubt we cannot come to that happy certainty.”
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