Sunday 27 February 2011

Hymn of the Day

Here is this weeks hymn by Fanny J Crosby:-

To God be the glory, great things He has done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Refrain

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Refrain

Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Refrain

Saturday 19 February 2011

Hymn of the Day

A fellow blogger posts a Hymn of the Day each Sunday and each one I think I have seen has been one of Charles Wesley's hymns. While this is very good I have thought for some time there are other hymn writers who could receive the same treatment and I thought I would look at a hymn writer who was probably as prolific as Charles Wesley, plus I like the persons hymns that I have chosen.

Here is the first hymn from Fanny J Crosby (Frances J van Alstyne)

My friend, Mrs. Jo­seph F. Knapp, com­posed a mel­o­dy and played it over to me two or three times on the pi­a­no. She then asked what it said. I re­plied, “Bles­sed as­sur­ance, Je­sus is mine!”

Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Refrain

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Refrain

Been there, done it, bought some books!

Well I popped across to Quinton this morning to the book sale in aid of Engelsea Brook. I did pick up a few books at the sale and they were very reasonably priced.
I noticed some fascinating books for students of Methodism, lots of history of Methodism type stuff, quite a few hymnbooks including a Primitive and a Sunday School hymnbook as well as lots of general reading.
It might have been an added bonus if we could have got a drink but perhaps no one had thought of that.
I would have to say if you like books it is well worth a visit.

Grand Book Sale

As requested by Methodist Preacher please see this grand announcement:-

The grand book sale in Quinton starts today! 10,000 volumes!

The renowned Englesea Brook book sale in the West Midlands starts today and runs until next Saturday, except tomorrow Sunday. There will be 10,000 good quality second hand books on sale.

This is truly an exceptional event and draws in book lovers from all over the region. All proceeds go to support the excellent museum at Englesea Brook in Cheshire.

The museum attracted a rave review in the Guardian last year so you can be assure it is for a good cause commemorating both Methodist and working class history.

The venue is Quinton Methodist Church in Ridgeway Avenue, between Spies Lane and Halesowen Road. It is on the route of the 9, 140, 141, 202 and 636 bus routes and is opposite the Reel Cinema, Quinton.
The post code is B62 9AU. There is a large (free) car park and the entrance to the sale is off the car park. It is right next to the M5 and equidistant between Junctions 2 and 3.

Opening hours are 10am to 5pm with late opening until 8pm on Thursday

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Communication, Information and Advertising

I have been thinking a lot recently about the three topics of communication, information and advertising and looking at how well or how badly we do as the church.
I suppose this started not long before Christmas when I came across, by accident the 'Not Ashamed' project and started to wonder why no one at church or in our circuit seemed to have picked this up and told us about it (communication) why we didn't know about it (information) and how well it was publicised (advertising).

The second thing was the Biblefresh project which is taking place this year and while this may have reached a few more churches it still seems to me that there are lots of churches that know nothing about it.Certainly in our circuit it appeared that our church was the only one who had any information on the project. I was preaching at a Baptist church on Sunday gone and mentioned Biblefresh and they said they had no knowledge of the project.

The third thing was the new Methodist hymn book 'Singing the faith'. I find it quite incredible that at least one of the churches in our circuit didn't discuss it at their church council and that's only one I know about. I heard from one of our members that a relative of hers who is a local preacher in another part of the country didn't even know that we were looking at having a new hymn book. How well has this been communicated and how well has it been advertised?

The fourth thing I picked up on Methodist Preachers blog when he raised questions about the website of the Methodist Church Connexion and the news pages that each district can use to publicise and advertise events. Apparently there was nothing on there at all - the cupboard was bare so to speak.

How well are we getting the message of the things detailed above to our folk and if we are doing badly with this how are we doing with communicating the gospel?

Some interesting things to consider and think about - not sure what the answers are but look forward to any thoughts or comments my readers might have.

Where am I?

Where am I? Where have I been? might be two question those regular visitors here have been asking themselves or on the other hand it might be you haven't noticed my lack of posting.
Well the answers are I am still here and not a lot. I have been thinking what I might say on here that would be interesting or thought provoking but a lot of the time I sit in front of the computer and there is little or no inspiration, even after visiting other blogs (although I have commented in a number of places).
I haven't gone away and will no doubt be back to normal service (whatever that is or was) at some point and just hope you will keep dropping by because you never know when there might be something really interesting.

Sunday 6 February 2011

Local Authors

I am always interested in writers of local history and came across a book by Brian Stringer from Walsall Wood called 'The Clayhanger Kid' which he had self published. If you can get a copy of this book it is well worth a read and while it is set earlier than my book I can relate to many of the things he talks about.
I have just read that he had a book signing in a library yesterday which was very well attended and enjoyed by many.
I do still have a few copies of my book available if any readers are interested - the book is called 'A bang or a Whimper' and is available from me directly for the princely sum of £10 which includes post and packing.
I recently sent one to an old school chum up in Northumberland and he emailed me to say that it was the best tenner he had spent in ages.