Dear fellow servants of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Last week at the end of Sabbath School, I sat as a visitor in a small Adventist church in England. (My Sabbath plans had been unexpectedly changed!) There is a stereotype that ‘Southerners’ are not friendly so I expected there would be a time of quiet as the congregation waited for the beginning of the service. To my surprise, as I looked around, almost everyone was quietly talking to their neighbour. Old people were smiling in conversation with the young. Trendily dressed professionals were listening and engaged to those without work. A child was happily drawing on a work sheet lovingly supervised by a parent. Nobody was being ignored. I experienced a beautiful moment of wonder – holy awe.

The stereotype of southern coldness was shattered by the love of God showing in the members’ interactions. It did not take a degree in psychology to realise that these people really liked each other and enjoy being together. The pianist stopped playing, the worship leaders walked in, and conversations were replaced by a moment of silence as the worship time started. During the service there was a focus on teaching from the Bible and prayer. After the service ended, almost everyone stayed and talked together over drinks and snacks.

In Acts 2:42 it says after the Holy Spirit was poured out, the early church ‘Devoted themselves to:
1. The apostles teaching. 2. The fellowship. 3. The breaking of bread and 4. To prayer.

I came away from that service having experienced great teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer and I was truly blessed. How is your experience of church on Sabbath morning? What can you do to ensure that everyone leaves church on Sabbath having experienced the presence of God and the love of His family? Even though there are many different approaches to meeting together, let’s ensure that we do what the early church members did. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and following the practices of the early church, I believe that God will really bless and grow all our churches.

Let us pray for the Spirit and love one another and trust that God will perform miracles of love among us.

Pastor Bernie

Dear fellow servants of our Lord Jesus Christ,

It has been a very eventful week for the Holford family.  The move to Scotland has taken us a frustratingly long time, partly due to an unusual boundary issue over the drive of our ‘new’ home. So it was a wonderful answer to prayer, and a great relief, when we finally received the green light from the solicitor. Everything was set for a final sale on the 21st August. We confirmed the moving date with the removal company and Karen took a train to Scotland to collect the keys.  Joel and I drove up on Monday the following week after tidying up our old home in Hemel Hempstead.  Now we are unpacking boxes in our new home in Auchtermuchty, Fife. We thank God for bringing us safely to Scotland, in time for our son Joel to start school and finally to be with you all after such a long time apart.

I am writing this letter sitting in the car by St Andrews castle ruins. There is a GW inscribed in the road next to my parking place where the protestant preacher George Wishart (a mentor for John Knox) was burnt at the stake in 1546. In the country where we live, many lives have been sacrificed to ensure that the gospel of grace could grow in this beautiful land.

Today, our church has been commissioned to continue the reformation work in Scotland. This is an enormous challenge and I am both daunted and excited as I am looking forward to seeing how God is going to use us all for this task. As I review God’s leading in bringing us to Scotland and providing us with a home and a mission I am reminded of the temporary nature of all we do in our own strength. The ruined castle at St Andrews, with its tragic stories contrasts with the Psalmist’s words; ‘The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer.’ Ps 18:2. ‘To the faithful you show yourself to be faithful.’ Ps 18:25.

I am deeply grateful to God who has shown that he is faithful to those who try to follow him. This may involve sacrifice, but our faithful Lord will be with us. We can thank God for our homes and his answers to all our prayers. At the same time I am looking forward to meeting you and hearing and seeing how God is working in your life as you serve Him. I am also really looking forward to hearing the vision that he has given you for your future. If I don’t see you in person, I hope that you will get in touch with me and let me hear about God’s direction for your life and the mission he has given you.

Blessings and grace,

Pastor Bernie

Dear Friends

For those who were not at the recent SM Day of Fellowship, let me introduce myself in a ‘back to front’ way by telling you about me. I am Karen’s husband and Bethany, Nathan and Joel’s father as well as Tim’s father-in-law. I am Alison, Graham, Colin and Robert’s brother as well as being Alec and Hedy’s son. My nephews and nieces from Australia, Denmark and London call me Uncle Bernie. To many I am defined by my familial relationships. Beyond that, many other people call me a friend, ‘pastor’, or colleague. However, the most important identity that I have been given is that of a ‘son’ by my Father in heaven.

I am passionate about the vision of the church in Scotland and the enthusiasm I am finding in the Scottish Mission to move forward in the strength of our Saviour Jesus Christ. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, who is in all his children, to reveal his purpose and hopes.

I believe we are living in the time of the end when old and young will have visions and dreams. (Joel 2:28) I am excited about hearing these dreams and visions that the Spirit has given to adults, youth and children as I will be meeting with many of you over the next few months.

This is an exciting time for me as I am looking forward to getting to know as many of you as soon as possible. I have a problem with remembering names and would appreciate it if you could help me out in any way you can!

May God bless us all as we dream His dreams for us all.

Pastor Bernie

Dear Friends

Introducing Pastor Bernie and Mrs. Karen Holford

Pastor Bernie Holford has been called to take up the role of President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Scotland, following Karin’s and my departure. He will also be the Pastor of our faith community in Crieff. He and his wife Karen have three children; Bethany (Married to Tim Craggs in 2008), Nathan (Studying physics in London) and Joel (16)

Bernie’s initial call came out of an evangelistic campaign and that, coupled with God’s direction in his life led him into ministry in the church. In recent years he has been the Family Life Director of the South England Conference. Before coming to work at the SEC, he worked in various positions in his service for God – as a Pastor, a Coach and a Therapist. His aim has been to help individuals set and reach the goals they are looking for and encourage them to realise that God wants them to achieve these goals too!

Karen has been working as the Assistant to Bernie Holford in the Family Ministries Department. She handles a lot of the writing element in their work for families and her role as assistant includes preparation for campaigns, seminars and events such as the Lone Parent or Family Camps held in Cornwall each year. Karen is thrilled to be able to plan and participate in children’s work, calling it ‘exciting’ because of the amazing levels of creativity that children allow themselves to express. She enjoys working with themes and crafts in many ways, using ‘fun things to increase children’s spirituality’.

Karen holds an MA in Education and Development Psychology and has authored a number of books including ’100 Creative ideas for Sabbath’, ‘The Family Book: Creative Ideas for Families’ and ‘Muddy Fingers and Sticky Feet: Help for Mums Under Pressure’. Bernie is currently studying for his Phd. Unfortunately Bernie’s commitments, including some weeks at Andrews University in the USA working on his doctorial studies, mean he will not be in Scotland until toward the end of August.
They clearly bring great talent to their role as President and Pastor. I believe they will be a huge blessing to the church in Scotland and it is my prayer that the church family here in Scotland will embrace them and treat them with even more love than we have been privileged to enjoy.

Bernie will take over the role of President on the weekend of the Session, 21 June 2009. Plans are that Karin and I will leave for Egypt at the beginning of September.

Llewellyn Edwards

Dear Friends

Are you Jesus?

Most will know the story of the man running to catch a train who bumps into a small boy playing with his swap cards. The cards are scattered about the platform and the man has to choose between catching his train or helping the boy. He decides to help the boy and misses his train. After they have found and picked up all the cards the man apologises and is about to walk off to find out when his next train is when the boy asks him “Mister, are you Jesus?”

A similar story is told of a down and out shelter where a Christian [let’s call him Peter] over some time has been lovingly helping a tramp. One day a service is held at the centre and the trump who is a little intoxicated goes along for something to do. Not being familiar with the person of Jesus the tramp gets bored by the preacher going on about Jesus and begins to get a bit troublesome. He is asked to leave which only makes him belligerent until the speaker has to stop and comes up to him and says “You need to change and become like Jesus!” To this the tramp replies “I don’t want to be like Jesus – I want to be like Peter!”

Both stories illustrate the same concept. Being like Jesus or mistaken for Him must surely be the greatest compliment one could be paid.

I’d like to challenge our membership in Scotland to take a careful look at Jesus – how he treated prostitutes and ‘sinners’, related to children, respected the outsider and those of other faiths, cared for the poor and the lonely, and then ask ourselves if the way we treat others could possibly lead others to mistakenly ask “Are you Jesus?”

What greater tool for evangelism and witness might our presence in Scotland be if we thoughtfully sought to measure our lives not by what we think is right but simply by the meekness and disinterested love of Jesus.

Ellen White wrote, “Now that Jesus has ascended to heaven, His disciples are His representatives among men, and one of the most effective ways of winning souls to Him is in exemplifying His character in our daily life. Our influence upon others depends not so much upon what we say as upon what we are. Men may combat and defy our logic, they may resist our appeals; but a life of disinterested love is an argument they cannot gainsay. A consistent life, characterized by the meekness of Christ, is a power in the world.” DA141

Are you Jesus?

Llewellyn Edwards

Dear Friends

By the time you read this, I hope you will also have received sheets of paper to write your part of the “Adventist Church of Scotland’s Bible”. Each of our churches and companies are assigned sections of the Bible and we hope that the act of writing out the Word will be an opportunity for us all to renew our commitment to being people of the book. Our aim is to complete the project in time for our Day of Fellowship on Sabbath 20th June.
Please read below an article by Pastor Mark Finley. Also, if you have access to the internet, take a look at the sites about this world-wide project [www.followthebiblesda.com/] which is the General Conference website, or [www.adventistinfo.org.uk/followthebible] which is the British Union site, but above all renew your daily commitment to reading and understanding the Word.

Llewellyn Edwards
Historically the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been known as “a people of the Book,” although the terminology “people of the Book” originally came from the Qur’an, referring to the three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. “Do not dispute with the People of the Book: say, we believe in what has been sent down to us and what has been sent down to you; our God and your God is one” (Sura 29.45). The term “people of the book” was often used in reference to Adventists because, in the past, they studied their Bibles. For more than 150 years Seventh-day Adventist families have begun their day by reading the Bible and used its teaching for inspiration, guidance and source of encouragement for their daily living. Seventh-day Adventists promote the Bible as the voice of truth in this sinful world. Sadly, an alarming picture emerges today.
The findings of the Barna Research Study of June 2001 should concern us. In comparing seven religious practices of 12 major denominations, the Barna Study concluded that Seventh-day Adventists ranked number seven in the frequency of Bible reading, and only number twelve in prayer practices. The Barna study correlates with a survey (3,646 surveys returned) by the Institute of Church Ministry at the theological seminary at Andrews University reveals that only 51% of the Seventh-day Adventist administrators, pastors, and lay people who responded have any form of daily devotions and family worship. These studies indicate that Seventh-day Adventists in some places are no longer the “People of the Book.”
We are reminded by the pen of inspiration that “no other Book is so potent to elevate the thoughts, to give vigor to the faculties, as the broad enabling truths of the Bible” (SC 90), and that “none but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict” (GC 593). Therefore, there is an urgent need for all leaders at all church levels to do something to increase the number of Adventists spending time each day studying their Bibles and witnessing for their Lord.
Follow the Bible is part of a coordinated initiative by church leadership to lift the vision of Seventh-day Adventists worldwide in renewing their commitment to read and share the Bible. Church leadership envisions an international Bible Route with a Bible travelling the world between GC annual council, October 2008 and GC session, June 2010. The eyes of the entire Adventist community will follow this Bible as it journeys the world. As it is brought into cities, towns, and villages, large numbers of Adventists will gather to recommit their lives to following the Bible. Millions of Adventists worldwide will participate in Bible reading marathons as the Bible passes through their areas. Church leaders will speak to large and small groups gathered to rededicate themselves to the word of God as the Bible is brought to their church or school. Thousands of evangelistic meetings will be planned to encourage seeking men and women to “Follow the Bible.”
Therefore, Follow the Bible will have the following objectives:
•    To create worldwide community awareness that Seventh-day Adventists are people who believe and follow the Bible as the Word of God.
•    To revive and encourage Seventh-day Adventist members around the world to return to the Bible, to accept its authority, and determine to follow the Bible in their daily life.
•    To involve Seventh-day Adventists around the world in personal study, small-group study, and sharing the message of the Bible to others in the community.
This will possibly be the most travelled Bible in the history of the world as it makes its journey, and momentum will build within the Adventist community. This Bible will be preached from and read in more languages than any other book in the history of mankind. All of the media ministries of the Church will cover the story. The public media will feature its journey. This initiative will surely restore the image of the Church, that Seventh-day Adventists really are people of the Book. We are truly people who follow the Bible.

Pastor Mark Finley [Vice President, General Conference of SDA]

The Lord is coming – we know the time!
Adventists by the very nature of our wonderful and exciting hope are constantly tempted to study the ‘signs’ and try to figure out how soon is the time of His coming. We have been doing it since the disciples asked Jesus the same question in Matthew 24:3 “…what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” When someone whether by DVD or website points out some [often clandestine] happening and links that to another event or quotation, then adds a vague reference to a Biblical text or statement of Ellen White and comes out with a date for His coming – our hope so easily rises and a certain excitement grips our minds. And rightly so that our hearts are excited – our longing for that day of release and redemption constantly calls out “How long, Lord Jesus” and “even so, come Lord Jesus”.

But it’s dangerous. It is like the story of the boy who kept yelling “Wolf, wolf!” Either he was lying or he was over enthusiastic about the signs. But the effect was that when the wolf did come and he cried out, the people were so tired of his calls that no one responded and the flock was ravaged. So time-setting and its failures has a deadening effect on the church.

Jesus refused to set a time and even made it clear that no one knew the time [Matt 24:36, 42] and Paul warned against time setting [2 Thess. 2:2].

Early Adventism came out of a mistake of time setting and was plagued with the problem for some time after 1844. Historian George Knight writes “Thus William Miller and Josiah Litch came to expect that Jesus would appear before the end of the Jewish year 1844 (that is the spring of 1845). H H Gross, Joseph Marsh, and others projected dates in 1846, and when that year passed Gross discovered reasons to look for Christ in 1847.”

No less than Joseph Bates – who led the introduction of the great Sabbath truth to Adventism – thought that he had found a way to determine the date of Christ’s coming. George Knight again – “In that year [1850] he wrote that ‘the seven spots of blood on the Golden Altar before the Mercy seat, I fully believe represents the duration of the judicial proceeding on the living saints in the Most Holy.’” From this Bates concluded that Jesus would come in October 1851. Bates gathered quite a following. Wrong – Wolf, Wolf!

“Then on July 21, 1851, as excitement on the topic mounted, she [Ellen White] wrote in the Review and Herald that ‘the Lord has shown me that the message of the third angel must go, and be proclaimed to the scattered children of the Lord, and that it should not be hung on time; for time will never be a test again. I saw that some were getting a false excitement rising from preaching time; that the third angel’s message was stronger than time can be. I saw that this message can stand on its own foundation, and that it needs not time to strengthen it, and that it will go in mighty power, and do its work.’”

1964 – 120 years after 1844 with its parallel to Noah preaching for 120 years before the destruction of the earth and 2000 – with the idea of the seventh millennium, both created excitement as to the date of Christ’s return.

In Matthew 24 Jesus, after talking about the ‘signs’ – not about the nearness of the coming but of the necessity of His coming – addresses the rest of His sermon not to the topic of time setting but to that of faithful, loving service in the light of that certainly coming day. He asks [Matt 24:45] “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?” and answers [v46]  “Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.”

He calls us to trust the certainty of His promise to return and give our lives to the living and giving of the eternal gospel [Rev 14:6-7] to those who live on the earth–to every nation, tribe, language and people.

The Lord is coming – we do not know the time.

Llewellyn Edwards

[All quotations by George Knight are from his 2009 daily reading book Lest We forget. Well worth reading!!!!]

Death or Life?

Last Sabbath I attended a wonderful baptism service for the Glasgow-Faifley-Paisley fellowships in which 23 folks became members of the church. I was privileged to address the candidates and spoke on the tragedy of people who choose death when by the grace of the Lord Jesus they can choose LIFE and life eternal. The act of baptism places us in the camp of the Lord of Life and millions of years hence we shall still be rejoicing at our choice while those who refuse the offer of Life have only whatever life offers them in the few years before death.

This morning I visited a young man I am having Bible studies with and one of the questions he asked me was “What if this earth is the only thing there is – there is no heaven?” John Lennon asked his fans to imagine there is no heaven and claimed that if we all did this the ‘world would be one’.

The ‘White Witch’ in C S Lewis’ book The Silver Chair tries to convince the children in the story that there is no Narnia [Heaven] and that the dark cold underworld where she lives is the only reality. The children are nearly persuaded except one of them suddenly burst out saying that she would rather live life with the dream of a better place then live as if this ugly and cold ‘reality’ was all there is. Someone should have asked John Lennon where the hope is if we are all ‘one’ about a world with no heaven.

To the young man above I replied that not only is Heaven better than our very best ‘imagined’ heaven but our hope is not based on mere dreams for as Peter says “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye-witnesses of his majesty” NIB 2 Peter 1:16. God Himself became manifest in time to show us the nature of that kingdom – a gracious kingdom with no more pain, no more suffering, no more death, and no more tears.

May you be encouraged to hold onto the promise that says that “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”- NIB 1 Corinthians 2:9

Llewellyn Edwards

Dear Friends
President Obama and Daniel 2
It was fascinating to watch the historic inauguration of President Obama a few days ago. The story of Obama’s rise from his African past to become the leader of the most powerful nation on earth is the inspirational American dream at its best and this event stated for all to see that the dream is the dream of all peoples not just the right of white people.
I watched it live on a website that permitted comments to be posted up on the site while we were watching. These comments and most of the interviews revealed a desperate hope that this man would solve the world’s problems. And how important hope is – I am reminded of a quote that I think was made by Martin Luther King who said “Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.”
But then some of the expressions of hope began to get a little wild – one man stated that he hoped the president would solve his personal mortgage problem. And then came the height of a folly based hope. Several were posted up during the prayer by Rick Warren and said that the prayer was a waste of time – our hope was in Obama not God!
Several Bible passages came to my mind including
Psalm 118:8-9   It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
and
Psalm 146:3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

The sad record is that there is no hope for a better land on the cursed earth. You would think that the simple message of the vision of Daniel 2 would have got home to all of us even without knowing the vision of the statue and the stone. The great leaders and successive empires of Daniel 2 demonstrate, that neither wealth, nor brute force, nor strategic brilliance, nor the iron rule of law, and in the time of the toes not strategic alliances, nor the ideals of communism or the economic theories of capitalism, can deliverer us that better land.

While we pray for and hope that President Obama will do well and the progress of the gospel be assisted, we look to a kingdom whose hope is founded on the Rock kingdom which is cut out and conquerors without human assistance [Daniel 2.34 and 8.25].

I would encourage you to keep the trust of your soul anchored to the Hope that is sure and steadfast and stands in the presence of God almighty [Hebrews 6.19].

Llewellyn Edwards

Dear Friends

Roseto and Prayer

This month sees probably the first ‘Prayer Retreat’ in the SM. That has got me thinking about a connection between Jesus’ advice to enter your closet and close the door and a town called Roseto*.

Roseto Valfortore is a very small mountaintop town of approximately 1317 residents in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. The residents, desperately poor and mostly illiterate have through the centuries worked in the quarries of the surrounding hills. In 1882 a group ventured to move to a land of opportunity – and found work in the quarries near the town of Bangor, Pennsylvania, USA. News went back to Italy and soon others from Roseto followed. They all began buying land near Bangor on a hillside and set up town called Roseto – modelled on the one back in Italy and attained a population of 1,653 at the 2000 census. Bangor is largely Welsh and English and the next neighbouring town is largely German and given the traditional relationships between the Brits, the Germans and the Italians, Roseto is strictly for Rosetorians.

Enter Stewart Wolf, a physician and John Bruhn, a sociologist who both taught at the University of Oklahoma. Wolf stumbled across the fact that heart disease is rare under 65 for people living in Roseto. He triggered a large research project into the heart disease rate of the town. Medical records, genealogies, blood samples, EKGs, – every person was tested. The results were amazing – virtually no one under 65 had heart disease. Men over 65 had about half the heart disease for the rest of America. Now the search was on for the reason. Sociology, dietary factors, genetics, location, exercise, location – all came to dead ends.

Then one day as Bruhn and Wolf were walking around Roseto – they noticed how the people related to each other, visiting each other, stopping to chat, cooking with and for each other, respect for grandparents, three generations living together, the unifying and calming effect of their church, the other centred ethos of the community etc – and they realized that they were looking at the key to the health of Roseto – community!

Now – what about Jesus’ prayer closet? The truth is that if you go into your prayer closet and close the door and you are the only one in there –then you have simply entered an echo chamber and I suspect that God may be outside. But if you go in and take your community with you, He is in there too and will abundantly bless your heart – spiritually and physically!

Llewellyn Edwards

*See ‘The Roseto mystery’ in “Outliers – the story of success” by Malcom Gladwell

Dear Friends

On the Lookout for Grace

Acts 11:23, 24. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.  He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

The pastors and sponsors of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Scotland met recently for their autumn ‘excellence’ retreat near Pitlochry. Pastor Richard Duerksen was our speaker and inspired the team with wonderful stories of the work of Maranatha International and great insights into a number of Bible passages.

Among the studies that struck me was one that dealt with Acts 11. This chapter deals with the challenge that Jewish Christians had when Gentiles begin by their faith in the Lord Jesus to flood into the church.

As Christians fled the persecution that arises after the martyrdom of Stephen they ‘tell’ the good news ‘only to Jews’ [v19]. Choosey aren’t they! However – and it appears that the central Church [Jerusalem] must learn not from its leadership but from Christians on the edge [Cyprus and Cyrene] – some begin to share with the Greeks, and the Lord – contrary to what the wisdom of the Church so far – blesses so that “a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”[21]. Still coming to terms with this the Jerusalem church dispatches “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith” whose name is Barnabus [22-24] to find out what is going on.

Now, if you or I had been sent to check out the genuineness of the conversions of pagans – I wonder what we would have looked for to measure whether God was at work? I wonder if we would have been tempted to look at their health habits or dress styles or outward appearances or spiritual exercises or their clarity of doctrinal beliefs. I guess we may even have measured them against ourselves!

Praise God for good men like Barnabus, who have the mind of the Spirit and faith [both in what God is able to do and in the people who He is working with], that looked for the evidence that grace was at work, rejoiced in that and “encouraged them to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.” [v23].

What I like about Barnabus’ approach is that we cannot be sure if God is at work amongst people who appear outwardly clean and shiny like us – He may be, He may not be – but where grace occurs you can be sure God is at work. Grace is God’s authenticating signature.

May we be churches that are always open to God’s working – good people – full of the Spirit of God and on the lookout for where grace occurs eager to encourage it on with all our hearts.

Llewellyn Edwards
President – the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Scotland

Dear Friends

Responses to the Financial Crisis – Standing “from a distance” or standing “firm”

Over the past few days of financial crisis, the words of two 1st century Biblical writers seem to have a 21st century application –
James 5:1-8  Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.  2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.  3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.  4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.  5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.  6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.  7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.  8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.

James’ words echo Revelation 18’s with its tormented cries during the collapse of the financial empire of Babylon.
A number of lessons are writ large for our attention:
o    The insecurity of riches – Rev 15:17 how rapidly the financial world collapses. “In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!” [Rev 18:17 NIB]
o    The exploitative basis of riches – the merchants of wealth have been living in [to use Revelation’s phrase – 18:7 & 9] luxury [NIB] deliciously [KJV] – while more than a billion live in abject poverty – how the cries of the ‘ripped off’ must sound in the ears of the Lord [James 5:4].
o    The corruption that accompany riches – our wealthy western world has become not only the home of “demons” [Rev 18:2] but the primary exporter of immorality – so that “…all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries” [Rev 18:3].
And not least,
o    The response of the Lord – He hears the cry of the oppressed that begs his intervening wrath [James 3:4 & 5; Rev 18:20].
In all this I find myself wondering if, like the merchants who had participated and enjoyed the system’s luxury [‘The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing’ Revelation 18:15], I am now standing at a distance pointing the finger and fearful of my losses….

Or grabbing the opportunity to rethink my response to things like:

o    The basis of my security
o    The cry of the naked, the hungry and the poor
o    The moral corruption that I casually and occasionally indulge in
o    And … the patience of the saints in the certainty of the coming of the Lord [James 5:7,8; Rev 1:9; 3:10; 13:10; 14:12]
May I remind our church family that this crisis is the world’s not our Kingdom’s crisis and that we are to listen to James’ instruction and stand firm [5:8].

Llewellyn Edwards

Dear Friends

A Response to Sunshine – watch yourselves and pray!

Karin and I have just returned from an enjoyable break, by the sun drenched shores of Lake Balaton, Hungary. One afternoon as we walked among the hundreds of walrus-like tourists thronging the lake shore, I was struck by an anomaly – these myriad sun seekers were doing all they could to NOT look at the sun. Dark glasses, umbrellas, towels, – anything to avoid that fierce light.

I asked myself, “Is it possible that I who seek the Sun of Righteousness and the fierce light of His glorious appearing will on that day be unable to look at His face?” Then we will stand stripped of all covering and face the ultimate test of our honesty in the face of absolute truth and love. How difficult it is to discern our honesty!

Jesus’ instruction to those who wait His coming is “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” A paraphrase could read “As you wait for that glorious day keep taking a good look at yourselves and pray! And don’t be tempted, by the evil one, to excuse yourselves.”

Testimonies Vol. 6 p.410 comments on Jesus’ instructions thus: ‘Watch against the stealthy approach of the enemy, watch against old habits and natural inclinations, lest they assert themselves; force them back, and watch. Watch the thoughts, watch the plans, lest they become self-centred. Watch over the souls whom Christ has purchased with His own blood. Watch for opportunities to do them good.’

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, puts it this way: ‘We have to live in the light of the end – not gloomily and fearfully, but trying to bring ourselves relentlessly out of the shadows where we hide from God and ourselves and each other.’ [Tokens of Trust p99]
May God bless us as we enjoy the Sunshine here in wet Scotland.

Llewellyn Edwards

Dear Friends

….and they lived happily ever after

Once upon a time … is the way every good story starts. And as soon as you begin a story like that everyone knows how it will end – whether the story is about Frodo Baggins, the 3 little pigs, Snow White, or the dark knight Batman – and they lived happily ever after. There is happiness for the heroine or hero and comeuppance for the villains. If it didn’t, the story would have no point and whoever heard of a story with no point. Boring! It is the satisfaction of the ending …and they lived happily ever after, that makes a story worth listening too.

John Eldredge has written a superb little book – one of the best witnessing books I have ever read – how I wish it had been an Adventist author! – called Epic. Let me quote from a flier: “Life, for most of us, feels like a movie we’ve arrived at forty minutes too late. Sure, good things happen, sometimes beautiful things. But tragic things happen too. What does it mean? We find ourselves in the middle of a story that is sometimes wonderful, sometimes awful, usually a confusing mixture of both, and we haven’t a clue how to make sense of it all. No wonder we keep losing heart…. For when we were born, we were born into the midst of a great story begun before the dawn of time. A story of adventure, of risk and loss, of heroism…and of betrayal. A story where good is warring against evil, danger lurks around every corner, and glorious deeds wait to be done. Think of all those stories you’ve ever loved – there’s a reason they stirred your heart. They’ve been trying to tell you about the true Epic ever since you were young.”

Adventists in very name look to that happy ever after ending. So did all the heroes of the Bible. Hebrews 11 tell us they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. We call it the great advent hope. It is sounded out in such passages as Gen 3 where the serpent is crushed; Psalm 23 and we will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever; Isaiah 35  where the saints enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy crowning their heads; John 14 where Jesus promises to come back and take us to be with Him; and of course, Rev 22 where God says He wipes every tear from our eyes and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. It just doesn’t get any happier ever after than that!

I officiated at a funeral this week in which none of the family or the deceased had a faith. As I met with them I longed for them to know that Christians believe that death is not the end of the story – in other words the story isn’t over! If it ends there it isn’t a happy ever after story. Rather we are part of a far far bigger epic. There is One who makes it so and says “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” and “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

I pray that my words to them gave a glimpse of this hope and that each of us remind ourselves each day that there is a larger story and we have a crucial role in it.

Llewellyn Edwards

Friends
Someone asked me recently “What are the big hot potatoes in the church at present?” I have mulled on the topic since and find it would be easy to say things like – the ordination of women, abortion, homosexuality, music etc. But on reflection I find myself thinking that the really ‘hot potato’ isn’t an issue like the ones I have mentioned – but rather the way we deal with them.

It seems to me that Satan would find his greatest joy in a divided church and doesn’t care what the topic of division is; and on the other hand Jesus would command us to – whatever the topic is – love one another. Thus the really hot potato in Christ’s and Satan’s view is unity. And it is when we deal with each other without the love, patience and respect that Christ enjoins, that Satan triumphs.

Once upon a time there was some sort of real clash between two church members. We don’t know what the issue was but they were both clearly influential, active and well known members of the church. One can imagine the church board’s heated discussions, the arguments being rehearsed by gossip, sides being taken, friendships spurned, anguished prayers, the poor old pastor being blamed, threats of resignation, accusations flying – all the elements of a really hot potato. How comical that must have looked to Satan – can you imagine the riotous laughter in his ranks and the quiet sad look in the Master’s eyes.

It all got so bad that it came to the attention of Paul – all the way from Philippi to Rome. [The story is referred to in the letter to the Philippians]. Oh, how today some involved in division in the church long for an authority who would write and confirm their side of the argument and sort the problem out. How easy it would be if there was a “Hot Potato’s Cooled” office at the GC or BUC!

But isn’t St Paul the inspired Apostle just the person to sort it out?

Yes he is – he does so by appealing to them to love each other. He doesn’t even tell us what the issue is and what the answer to the problem is! He knew that the real ‘hot potato’ is how we are prepared to treat each other.

The matter is so important to Paul that on another occasion he actually allows the false doctrine teachers to remain in the church that the loving unity of the church might remain intact.

Here is Ellen White’s comment on this – “Paul writes to the Galatians: “I would they were even cut off which trouble you. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

False teachers had brought to the Galatians doctrines that were opposed to the gospel of Christ. Paul sought to expose and correct these errors. He greatly desired that the false teachers might be separated from the church, but their influence had affected so many of the believers that it seemed hazardous to take action against them. There was danger of causing strife and division which would be ruinous to the spiritual interests of the church. He therefore sought to impress upon his brethren the importance of trying to help one another in love. He declared that all the requirements of the law setting forth our duty to our fellow men are fulfilled in love to one another. He warned them that if they indulged hatred and strife, dividing into parties, and like the brutes biting and devouring one another, they would bring upon themselves present unhappiness and future ruin. There was but one way to prevent these terrible evils and that was, as the apostle enjoined upon them, to “walk in the Spirit.” They must by constant prayer seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which would lead them to love and unity.” [5T.243-244]

It was the burden of the Saviour’s last prayer – not that our hot potatoes be all sorted – but that through the trials and struggles of life and its hot potatoes, we remain committed to loving one another; to personally getting alongside the erring and struggling with an attitude like the Saviour’s that would give his life for them; to finding paths to redemption – in fact to using hot potatoes to be occasions for unity.
Llewellyn Edwards