Reformation – Mum in Zone One

Why Bother with Biographies?

In the Summer of 2014, the so-called Islamic State raged through Syria and Iraq, terrorising and murdering thousands, especially those who refused to convert to Islam. I think I was on holiday in an idyllic Welsh holiday village when I first heard about it. In the months that followed, as the situation in the Middle East grew worse, I found it difficult to hear the stories and still trust my good, sovereign God. I wrote about this at the time if you’d like to read about it.

Around this time I asked a lady I know to have a coffee with me. I asked her how we could still trust God, when our brothers and sisters were suffering so badly. I asked her because she’s wise, and because she too has suffered at the hands of wicked men. While living as missionaries in Nigeria, she and her husband were brutally attacked in their home by an armed gang. If she could still trust that our God is good and faithful, then I wanted her to show me how. I remember her telling me (amongst many other things) that what happened to them was what she had feared would happen and had prayed would not happen. Sometimes God’s answer to our prayers is not, “I won’t let that happen” but is to say, “Even then, I will be with you.”

It was this friend who recommended I read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. (She actually suggested another book, Killing Fields, Living Fields, but I said there was no way my nerves could take it.) She described The Hiding Place as “lovely.” If you want to read about how God is faithful even when the unthinkable happens, then The Hiding Place is a gentle introduction. It’s Entry Level. I have written about it here.

If you haven’t read Christian biographies before, I’d love to recommend it to you. I’m fairly late to the party and have mainly been introduced to missionaries and faithful men and women of the past through children’s books. Here are some reasons why I think it’s worth ‘bothering with missionaries’ (not just missionaries – Corrie Ten Boom for example was just a hider of Jewish people):

We see that the Lord gives strength to his people, even when the worst things happen. This helps us not to fear, and helps us to have a bigger view of our very, very big God.
If we live relatively comfortable lives, our children can see that Christianity is not a safe, sensible, squeaky-clean option. Following Jesus can be dangerous and we need to prepare our children for that. As Jesus said, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” For some children this will actually make them more interested in Jesus. For some it might just prepare them for what’s ahead.
The stories are absolutely gripping and exciting. Kids (and adults) love adventure stories. What could be better than an adventure in which our God is the hero?
They challenge us to live courageously for Christ. If Darlene (see below) can share the gospel with a brutal, violent POW camp commander, then shouldn’t I be brave and ask my kind, sweet colleague what they think of Jesus?
Old books are often better than new books. No offence to present-day authors, but older books that people are still reading have stood the test of time. So if a Christian book is old and still in print, it’s probably worth reading. Just as the old songs that are still played on the radio are better than most of the current songs. It’s why Wizard and Slade are better than Kelly Clarkson. Time burns off the dross and leaves the pure gold for us to enjoy. I think I’ve mixed some metaphors there, sorry.

If you don’t know where to start with introducing missionaries to your homes, then here are some ideas:

Preschoolers: The Good Book Company have just released a series of missionary biographies for very young children. We’ve read the one about Corrie Ten Boom and one about Betsey Stockton. These are a fantastic way to introduce these stories in an age-appropriate way. I was curious as to how Corrie’s story could be told in a way that wouldn’t give a child nightmares, but they managed it. The Betsey Stockton one is also refreshing because she had been an enslaved person. I wouldn’t want my children thinking that only white people can be missionaries! It also shows how God’s grace can enable someone who’s been treated horribly to be full of grace for others. You can get these books, and others, here.

Ages 5-11ish: My son likes reading books with loads of examples of historical figures, such as Everyone a Child Should Know by Clare Heath-Whyte and the Church History ABCs by Stephen J Nichols and Ned Bustard. I personally don’t find these as appealing because I think I’d just forget them all, but children do have incredible memories and they enjoy the little snapshots of men and women of the faith who’ve persevered and often done great things for those who’ve come after them (e.g. us). I’ve written a bit about this before in a post called Naughty. (Every year as a family we look at Church History in the Autumn. I’ve written about this here.)

The Light Keepers series of books each tells ten stories about Christians of the past, aimed at children aged 7-11. We like the Ten Girls/Boys Who Changed the World books. (Warning: the Ten Girls/Boys Who Didn’t Give In were all martyrs. This was too traumatic for our daughter when we tried to read them to her a few years ago!) We find these books are great to read on holiday. There’s something about being away from home and trying something different that helps you to remember. I still remember sitting at the table in Cornwall, silently weeping as my husband read to the children about Corrie and Betsie Ten Boom and their fleas.

Teens/Adults: I don’t have any teenagers so I haven’t delved into any aimed at teens yet I’m afraid. I’m also a complete rookie at reading missionary biographies, despite going on about how good it is to read them. I have, however, just finished reading Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose. It’s absolutely gripping. I’ll follow up shortly with a blog post about this book. If you’re going to start it (the book, not my post!), beware that you will struggle with any interruptions. When you’re on the edge of your seat wondering when the Japanese soldiers are coming back, what’s happened to Russell or whether Darlene will get a banana, you will struggle to be patient with the unassuming child who comes in and asks for a plaster.

One thing I’ve really been hugely encouraged by in the days I’ve spent with Darlene and Corrie, is that our God really and truly does answer prayer. He is a God of miracles. He absolutely can do the impossible. I know this, because he even saved me. But I’m a forgetful creature. And sometimes I’ve prayed about something a lot, and it doesn’t seem like God is answering. If you can relate to this, I’d love to recommend to you that, if you haven’t already, you get a clearer view of our big, big God by reading about God’s faithfulness in extreme circumstances. The God who heard the prayers of Miss Ten Boom and Mrs Deibler is the same God who I pray to now.

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

²When the wicked advance against me
    to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.
³Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident. Psalm 27:1-3

What should I read next? I’d love to hear your recommendations!

(I do not get paid by anyone for recommending these books. I just wanted to tell you about them.)

Going Rogue for Halloween

This isn’t so much a blog post as just a brief update of what we’ve been doing this week.

We’ve never really had to do anything about Halloween here. We don’t get trick-or-treaters and the children have never been invited to a Halloween party or to trick-or-treat with anyone. I know some of you probably join in with Halloween in various ways and I’m not saying you shouldn’t, but we don’t feel comfortable with it so I’m glad we’ve never had any pressure to do so.

A few years ago we went to a Halloween drop-in at a local church because I thought it’d be fun. It was not. There’s nothing fun about sugar-high, wide-eyed greedy monsters everywhere. And on the way home in the dark there were some frightening sights and I wondered what on earth I’d been thinking. I announced that next year we’d be having takeaway pizza (probably for the first time ever) and staying indoors.

The other thing that has stopped us having any Halloween issues is that we’re busy celebrating Reformation Day. (See here or click on the Reformation tag to the right for some posts about that.)

This year, however, has been different. Our children’s school (which we love) decided to have a Halloween dress-up day. Since we couldn’t very well play truant and I didn’t want my children to dress up as anything dark – I don’t find stabbings, demons or witchcraft funny – we decided to be rebels instead. And by rebels I of course mean Jedi Rebels – the Light Side of the Force.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6.12

We didn’t want the children to feel like outsiders – but the truth is, they are. And they do need to get used to it. In the end, it didn’t matter because there were a variety of costumes. Our daughter even won a little prize (a slinky) for her Princess Leia costume. But rather than just saying “NO!” to Halloween, we talked to them about why they weren’t going in dressed as something death-related. (I mean, really? In 2020?)

We talked to them about how there is a Dark Side and a Light Side in real life. We’re on the Light team. We’re the rebels (which reminds me of this post). We used to be in the Empire, but now we’re against it. So it wouldn’t be right to dress up in things to do with the darkness, because that’s not our team anymore. It’s not our thing.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Ephesians 5.8-11

There was a boy at school dressed as a Coronavirus. It was a very creative piece of art and he seemed to get quite a lot of praise for it. But in a world so confused that it celebrates and jokes about the thing that’s brought suffering to millions of people, I’m so grateful that our children don’t need to be confused. The enemy has been defeated and we don’t need to have anything to do with the darkness anymore.

Plus come on, Obi Wan is cool.

Psst! If you like my blog (which I know at least some of you do), please could you let just one friend know about it today? That way more people can be encouraged, as I don’t advertise this blog in any other way. Thank you so much!

Naughty

Are you a stay-inside-the-lines person or a rebel? Do you like rules and order or would you prefer anarchy?

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My daughter and I recently went to see Matilda the Musical in London’t West End. It’s the sort of evening out that makes you wonder at what human beings are capable of with enough practise and a generous dose of creativity.

The Brooks family is now very much obsessed with the Matilda soundtrack. If you’re in West London any time soon, you’re likely to hear my children marching the streets singing “The School Song.” As soon as you finish reading this, you should definitely check out some of the Matilda tunes.

At the show’s climax, the children sing a song called “Revolting Children.” It’s not about disgusting children, but about children who are starting a revolt against the tyrannical authority figure, Miss Trunchbull. (“Revolting” is a verb, not an adjective, for fellow grammar geeks.)

Never again will we forget the day
we fought for the right to be a little bit naughty.

One of the tensions in the show is between the evil disciplinarian who sings about staying inside the lines and the anarchic children who want to be free. Of course, the children win in the end.

As Christian parents we spend a lot of time teaching our children obedience. They must respect authority – ultimately God’s authority. We teach them grace and we also teach them to obey Jesus’ commandments, “Love the Lord your God… and love your neighbour as yourself.”

But as I drive through the streets of London singing “Revolting Children” at the top of my voice, I’m also reminded that as a people group, God’s people are often rebellious. They have to be. I want my children to grow up to serve Christ with such obedience and devotion that they are willing to “be a little bit naughty,” or even a lot naughty, for the gospel and for Christ’s glory.

Jesus didn’t lead a revolt (he even said, “Am I leading a revolt?”) but by bringing God’s Kingdom he brought division, subversion and controversy.

I want our children to see that following Christ is exciting, and will sometimes get them in all kinds of trouble. The trouble itself might not be exciting, but Jesus is worth it. Jesus should never be seen as the well-behaved, insipid option.

With this in mind, I present to you my Top Ten Revolting Role Models for my children. Excitingly, it was hard to pick just ten (ish). And apart from the no. 1 spot, they could be in any order, I’m sure.

10. Rahab of Jericho
She harboured spies; she deceived the king’s men; she’s honoured in the family line of Jesus. She’s a sign to us that God’s salvation has always been first for the Jew and then for the Gentile. (See Joshua 2 and Matthew 1.)

43BC3856-3B0D-4E33-A003-DD891567154E — from the Beginner’s Bible

9. Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, the Oxford Martyrs
English reformers. Burned at the stake during the reign of Queen Mary I:
“Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”
Where would we be without these brave men, and many like them, who went before us?

8. Brother Andrew
God’s smuggler. Driving round the Eastern Bloc with a modified VW Beetle full of contraband Bibles. Adventure stories don’t get much better than this!

7. Mary Slessor
My 10-year-old daughter suggested that this courageous Scottish woman be included in our list. When she arrived in Calabar, Nigeria in 1876 (aged 28) she discovered that the people there had certain practices which she felt compelled to rebel against:
“[The baby] has an evil spirit… That’s why its mother died and that’s why nobody else wants it.” Mary began rescuing babies who’d been left out under bushes to die of exposure and starvation. She also discovered another horrifying tradition:
“When twin babies are born one of them is the child of an evil spirit. But as we don’t know which one, they’re both killed.”
… There was no arguing with Mary Slessor.
“I’ll look after the twins,” she said… “The Lord God made them both.”
(Excerpt from Ten Girls who Changed the World by Irene Howat, p. 74-76.)

6. Simon Peter the Fisherman
There’s hope for all of us as Peter, the loud-mouthed, trigger-happy coward became the fearless founder of the early church!
¹⁸Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John replied, ‘Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! ²⁰As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ Acts 4:18-20. If you haven’t got it already, I do recommend the Diary of a Disciple, Peter and Paul’s Story. Let your children see their forefathers getting into all kinds of scrapes for Jesus.

5. Saul of Tarsus
It seems from reading Acts that most places he went, Saul/Paul was accused of leading a revolt. Take Ephesus for example, where he inadvertently caused a riot because the blokes who made and sold little wooden and silver gods weren’t happy about Saul’s message about One True God. He didn’t ask for trouble, but it did seem to follow him wherever he went:
²²“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. (Acts 20)

4. Corrie Ten Boom
Corrie and her family were punished most severely for rebelling against the Nazis by hiding Jews in their home. The courage and faithfulness of Corrie and Betsie throughout their time in the hellish Nazi concentration camps is truly miraculous – a work of God’s unfathomable grace and power. Here is a more lighthearted anecdote:
Many Jews were saved because of the ten Boom family but there were some hairy moments. One day the whole family and several ‘guests’ were sitting round the kitchen table when a window cleaner climbed up his ladder and started to clean the outside of the window! One of the Jews thought quickly. ‘Start singing Happy Birthday,’ he whispered, ‘then they’ll think we’re having a party.’ And that’s what they did. They all sang Happy Birthday to Papa ten Boom and they never did find out if the window cleaner had just come to the wrong house or if he was a German spy! (Ten Girls who Changed the World, p. 141.)
Have you ever tried reading aloud to your children about Corrie Ten Boom? Man it’s hard to get through without tears. When my husband read a child-friendly account to my kids, we were both in bits. If you haven’t read The Hiding Place, I command you to go and do so immediately. Do not pass Go or collect £200.

3. William Tyndale
The heroic Bible translator! Humanly speaking, if it weren’t for him, we English-speakers wouldn’t know Jesus. We give the Lord great thanks that, by the grace of God, Tyndale cared more about peasants (like me) hearing the Word than he did about obeying the rules of the Church or the State. Here are his famous words, spoken to a Catholic scholar:

“I defy the Pope and all his laws. . . . If God spare my life ere many years,
I will cause a boy that driveth the plow,
shall know more of the Scripture than thou dost.”

2. Daniel the Hebrew
Oh Lord, grant that our children might grow up to be people of whom it can be said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this [man/woman] unless it has something to do with the law of [his/her] God.” (Daniel 6.5). May they say to the world, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did, “… we will not serve your gods.” (Daniel 3.18) Amen!

1. Jesus of Nazareth
Our perfect, peaceful, revolting rebel! He turned the world upside-down, teaching that the first would be last and the last would be first; he touched the leper; he spoke to the Samaritan woman and ate with tax collectors and sinners. His Kingdom is not of this world and if we’re part of His Kingdom then we’re not of this world anymore either.

“Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.”
Luke 12.51

How to fear God and love children

Does it really matter what children do in Sunday School?

This week we’re celebrating 500 years since the Reformation in Europe – a time when big changes occurred in the church in order to get vernacular Bibles into the hands of people who’d never understood the Bible before. They’d been going to church all their lives without understanding a word of what was said, and they’d hoped they were good enough because they’d tried to follow the rules the church had set out for them, and they’d picked up on some Bible themes from the stained glass windows. Their actions gave them a Christian appearance, regardless of any understanding of the gospel. This is a very brief and inadequate description but this isn’t actually a post about the Reformation.

I’ve been thinking about children’s work in churches (although most of what I will write also applies to teaching our children at home). I’ve noticed that sometimes the way children’s work is done bears some resemblance to this pre-Reformation religion. Sometimes children’s work is done more for appearances than for any actual spiritual benefit. Children hear a story and/or do an activity, and probably come away with tangible evidence, e.g. a craft. But this is mostly done to show others that the children are participating in the church service, and they’re learning Christian stuff.

These children come out of creche or Sunday school with a lovely craft, but with no relationship with God. They have learnt some Christian morals, but they have no knowledge of the Word of God. They have been shown role models, but they haven’t encountered the gracious God of the Bible. (I think the role model topic might be another blog post in itself.)

Why does this happen? Maybe it’s because it’s the easy option. But I can also think of two beliefs behind this way of doing things:

Christian children are nice and well behaved. Therefore, it’s good if children come to church every week, because we all want nice and well behaved children in our community, don’t we?
Children can’t really get to know the living God who’s revealed himself to us through his Word. After all, they’re only little. They can’t even tie their shoelaces! How can they be expected to understand doctrine? Let’s be realistic.

I guess there are many ways I could argue against these two points. As usual, I’ll come back to Deuteronomy 6. You need to read the whole chapter really but here’s one extract:

⁴Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^[a] ⁵Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

The Lord has always commanded his people to teach their children about him, so that they’ll know who they are and what the Lord has done for his people. For us New Covenant believers, we don’t just need to teach them about a rescue from slavery in Egypt, but also (and ultimately) about our rescue from slavery to sin, through our Saviour Jesus Christ. And a Saviour is what we all need:

“And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.” (Deut 6 v25)

Like the Israelites, we are unable to keep the law, and so we need a righteousness from God that is by faith from first to last. (Romans 1:17). We desperately need Christ’s righteousness, and to stop trying to rely on our own good behaviour. So why on earth would we think that what children really need most is to be well behaved?

And why would we think that they can’t have a relationship with the Lord? In order to think that, you need to ignore all of the commands God gives to teach children his word (e.g. Psalm 74:5-6) plus what Jesus commanded about letting children come to him, plus just common sense. Does a child know his/her mum and dad? Do they know their siblings, their grandma, their neighbour? Do they know their Sunday school teacher? So why can’t they know Jesus? Is he not real? Knowing the Lord is what they were made for. Of course I know that their understanding of things will be different to ours (although don’t forget Jesus told us to learn from them (Matthew 18:3), but teach a group of children for a period of time and you’ll see some of them relating to their God. Hopefully this relationship will lead to good behaviour (that’s certainly what I’m praying for my children!), but good behaviour without a changed heart is just a veneer. Let our creche not be a Pharisee factory, because I’m quite sure Jesus wasn’t impressed by the Pharisees.

If you’re teaching creche or Sunday School, your responsibility is not to churn out well-mannered children who can tell you who Moses and Jonah are: it’s to faithfully teach God’s word to them, and to pray for their souls. Don’t underestimate that responsibility. These people are made in God’s image, and their precious. If we fear God, we should teach his word with reverence to him. And if your church isn’t doing this, then I would urge you to remedy that, even if it means you have to take charge of it (I know, as if you haven’t got enough to do).

Can I just say that I help run the creche in my church, and we do want the children to behave well, plus they do crafts, so I hope it’s clear that I’m not saying those things aren’t good. But they’re really not the point of us all being there. If we really believe in the power of God to speak to us by his Spirit through His word, regarding his Son our Saviour, then we’ll believe that for our children, too. I hope you can see how this links to what I wrote at the top about the Reformation. Let’s do children’s work the great Reformers would be pleased to see. We have the Bible in their language, so let’s not just show the kids some pictures and send them away thinking that all they need to do is try their best to be good.

And if you read this and feel encouraged that the children’s work in your church is good, maybe you could encourage the leaders this week, and thank them for faithfully doing the Lord’s work.

This reminds me of a post I wrote a long time ago called Hearts Not Garments.

Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5.1.

I don’t know if you’ve ever thought this, but I find it susprising that after reminding people that they are free, Paul’s instruction to them is to stand firm. Not, “run around, then, and do a dance of freedom.” Sometimes that is totally appropriate, of course, but Paul is writing to people who are being told that if they really want eternal life they need to be circumcised. So in the face of that, the Galatian believers needed to stand firm in the freedom they’d been given in Christ.

As I wrote last week, I am so grateful for the likes of John Wycliffe and William Tyndale, who put God’s word into English so that common folk like me could read it for ourselves. And the best thing about this is that it means we can know the true gospel, straight from God’s word. I want to celebrate the Reformation with my children because if it weren’t for those brave men and women, many of whom gave their lives or their livelihoods, we would still be relying on priests and icons to tell us about God.

The Bible in my tongue means true freedom, the gospel of grace that has saved me from hell and brought me into a relationship with the Mighty God, my Heavenly Father.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast.” Ephesians 2.8-9.

It is by grace, through faith in Christ, to God’s glory.

I don’t need to confess my sins to a priest, because Jesus is my Great High Priest. (1 Timothy 2.5).

I don’t need to do good works in order to be saved, because Jesus has done all the work for me. (See Ephesians 2.8-9 above.).

I don’t need to pray for the dead, because the Lord is just and will judge everyone fairly (Hebrews 9.27-28.), and Jesus paid the price in full for those who trust in him.

It’s not just that I don’t need to do these things, but that by doing them I take away from Christ, as if he didn’t do enough: “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3.18

I can’t be saved by baptism, or pilgrimage, or charity, or taking communion – only by faith in Christ. (Romans 1.17 and Galatians 3.11 are just two examples.)

So in light of all that, I thought I’d let you know what we’ll be doing to celebrate. I’m using the book pictured above, which – as the title suggests – has a different character from church history for each letter of the alphabet. I’ve chosen six of these*, and between now and Monday we will look at one per day (we’ll just read their page from the book and thank God for them). We’ll do Luther last because I have a separate book about him (the little lights one) and it means we can dress up and pretend to nail something to the door, plus eat worm sweets and learn about his trial at Worms.

I drew a map (I’m not good at drawing but who cares really?), so that when we learn about a reformer we can cut out their head (so to speak) and stick it on the map. This will hopefully make it more fun and help the children remember it.

At some point, probably Sunday or Monday (31st is officially Reformation Day), we will do this craft to help them learn the “five solas” which are five phrases that help to sum up the Reformation. (I don’t think I’d heard of these before, thanks Rebecca Croft!). Here is a picture of the craft. If only I were good with technology I could let you download it, but if you have a compass and protractor you could make it yourself. A photocopier may help, depending on the size of your brood. (I will see if I can upload it but am away now until Saturday so it may be too late by then, sorry.)

So the children will colour it in and then put one on top of the other, stick butterfly pin in the middle and hey presto:

Imagine it coloured in, with a butterfly pin, and not wonky.

So there you have it, I hope this is helpful and has inspired you to get excited about the Reformation (not just Ian Dury and the Blockheads).
*we’ll be looking at Lady Jane Gray, Zwingli, Ridley, Knox, Calvin and Luther.

Reasons to be Cheerful (about the Reformation): Part 2

I recently read a book called Radiant about “fifty remarkable women in church history.” I realised reading this that many people have suffered greatly in the UK and Europe (as well as elsewhere of course) in order to reach people with the true gospel of grace. Here is an extract from the chapter about Katharine Hamilton, the sister of James Hamilton. They were Scottish aristocracy in the 16th Century. James read the New Testament as well as some of the writings of Martin Luther, and began telling people about the forgiveness Jesus offers to sinners. In this extract, James is explaining to his sister what he has learnt:

“But can it be that simple?” Katharine asked. “All I need to do is trust in Jesus, and all my sins are forgiven and I inherit heaven?”
“As I have been showing you from Scripture,” Patrick said, lifting up his English New Testament, “we sinners can find peace with God only by believing in Christ. He that lacks faith cannot please God.”
“But the priests and friars have always taught us,” she said, “that the way to heaven is through obedience to the church and good works.”
“Whoever believes or thinks that he can be saved by his own works,” he told her, “denies that Christ is his Saviour and that Christ died for him. For how is He your Saviour if you can save yourself by your own works?”
“Are you saying that all my acts of penance and alms for the poor and pilgrimages to holy shrines – that none of that wins God’s favour?”
“Faith in Christ alone makes a sinner right with God,” he answered. “Look to Jesus who did it all for you on the cross. Forsake your trust in religious acts and come to Christ.”

If I were to underline the important bits, I’d have to underline the lot. I’m so thankful that our gracious God allowed people, especially influential people, to unearth the true gospel and preach it to rich and poor alike. Whoop, whoop! If that ain’t worth baking a cake for, I don’t know what is.

Reasons to be Cheerful (about the Reformation): Part 1

It might seem strange to celebrate a big bust up that has lasted centuries and led to much suffering. I would love to explain to you why I think the Reformation is worth celebrating with my children. First I’d like to let Hilary Mantel do some of the explaining on my behalf. I don’t know if you have read or watched Wolf Hall. I loved the book but the first episode of the TV series made me sob so I gave up, however I intend to try again at some point.

Here is a quote from the book about the difference it makes to have the Bible in your own language, compared to relying on church traditions and on priests telling you what to do:

There is an obdurate winter ahead. But [Cromwell] feels a force ready to break, as spring breaks from the dead tree. As the word of God spreads, the people’s eyes are opened to new truths. Until now, like Helen Barre, they knew Noah and the Flood, but not St Paul. They could count over the sorrows of our Blessed Mother, and say how the damned are carried down to Hell. But they did not know the manifold miracles and sayings of Christ, nor the words and deeds of the apostles, simple men who, like the poor of London, pursued simple wordless trades. The story is much bigger than they ever thought it was. He says to his nephew Richard, you cannot tell people just part of the tale and then stop, or just tell them the parts you choose. They have seen their religion painted on the walls of churches, or carved in stone, but now God’s pen is poised, and he is ready to write his words in the books of their hearts.

Since the Reformation in Europe, common people like me have been able to read the Bible for themselves in a language they understand. We’ve been able to learn the whole story, not just the bits chosen for stained-glass windows. Praise God.