Maidwell 2007 Part 1

On Sunday I returned back from a fantastic week or so at a Christian camp in Maidwell, near Northampton. Now when I say camp I don't mean we were under canvas but actually in dorms of a boys prep school; however we, the Bereans', slept in classrooms which included the Latin one. Now the Bereans are neither members or leaders, although legally we're the latter. Our motto is study and service. To get a feel of how this works here is a typical day:

0830- Quiet Time (which normally involved going through one of the seminars from the day before)
0855- Breakfast
0920- Business Meeting (sorting out the practical issues of the day)
0940- Corporate Prayer
1015- Bible Overview
1100- Break
1110- Bible Overview/ Seminar (depending on which day)
1145- Break
1210- Seminar (at which the senior members could attend)
1300- Lunch (then washing up for 140 people)
Free Time
1630- Afternoon Tea
1645- Bible Study
1745- Question Time (write any question on the board and get it answered)
1830- Tea Proper (then more washing up)
2030- Evening Meeting
2115- Evening Entertainment
2200- Free Time 2
2300- Sleep (well allegedly)

The Bible Overview sessions were conducted by Andrew Towner who recently graduated from Oak Hill Theological College with a Masters in Theology. We spent most of the time in the Old Testament since most people know little about the Old Testament and it has far more narrative in it than the New. The basis of the overview was People, Place and Blessing, which was nicked from Vaughn Roberts' God's Big Picture. Interestingly, we didn't start the overview immediately in Genesis but in Ephesians 1 where God declares his eternal plan of Christ being the vessel by whom we are saved, thenceforth to be his people, and to bless them through him. However we were taught Calvinistic predestination based on a faulty exegesis of the passage; however this didn't unduly affect the content of the overview. The reason for starting there is that how do we know where to start if we don't know where we're going. i.e If you ask a potter to make something he doesn't know where to start unless you tell him what you want making. This may sound a plausible argument especially since Ephesians 1 is chronologically before creation however I believe it carries many presuppositions which it brings to the text, not just Calvinism, and can yield interpretations filtered through one's own previously created system instead of allowing the Bible to naturally create the system. Further since Genesis was revealed first surely it follows that one should automatically start there and if there are greater insights from latterly revealed scripture then one should apply them latterly. (I will write on this at a future date) However I must repeat this did not unduly affect the overview.

We then skipped back to Genesis for the Creation and then the Fall: the second most momentous event in history. In this small part of the Bible a great theme is begun and the most eagerly awaited prophecy ever. The theme is that God blesses his people, they then turn away from God, he punishes them but then acts graciously: Creation is very good and Adam and Eve, not Steve, enjoy the blessing of God in the garden; they then sin by demonstrating that they believe God to be a liar by eating of the FRUIT, not apple, of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; God then punishes them by kicking them out of the Garden and cursing creation; but God provides skins to clothe Adam and Eve. This pattern is best outlined in the Exodus: God frees the Israelites from Egypt and carries them through approaching the promised land; now instead of trusting in God and taking Canaan they send spies in and get scared that the Canaanites are giants and do not attempt to take the promised land; God punishes them by condemning the Israelites to 40 years in the Wilderness however he provides manna for them in the desert.

We continued through the Law, Wisdom Literature and then the Prophets. One of the most interesting aspects of the Wisdom Lit. is that the Psalms are far more ordered than one might imagine: they are split into five distinct books put together by an editor. The first book focuses on David and God's commitment to him; the second on the Davidic line; the third on the failure of the Kings; fourthly on the nature of God- God is God; and finally on cries out to God for help followed by Psalms of huge praise to God.

We then studied Jesus' death and resurrection and how this fitted in- Towner also stressed the importance of Jesus' life since if it had not been perfect his death would have been in vain. Finally we looked at heaven and glory- the latter being living in the New Earth, not the one with cat nurses, in our resurrection bodies. This was particularly helpful in focusing our minds on what an unbelievable future we have and we should live for that and not now. Not surprisingly the millennial kingdom was conspicuous by her absence.

The other morning sessions were seminars on a variety of subjects including lust, doubt, suffering and ,in my opinion, most helpful those on image and pride. The former was done by Kate and it focused on how God sees us and how this changes our view of ourselves and consequently of other people. If one sees themselves as made in the image of God, and thus made to be in relationship with Him, this completely reorientates our outlook on life. Instead of defining ourselves by the world's riches, though these my be good in and of themselves, we see ourselves how God sees us. This then changes our view of other people since instead of primarily viewing them as ugly, beautiful, thick or intelligent we see that they're image bearers and are deserving of our love- this in particular should spur on our evangelism since if we now see them as they truly are we will see that their main need is that of Salvation.

Stuart did the seminar on pride which main point was to show how heinous pride actually is. I have come to the conclusion that pride is the essence of sin: it says I don't need God, I'll go my own way. This may seem obvious however pride can creep in unawares. The talk was a good boost in the arm for myself, and others, to critically evaluate our motives and actions to see whether we are doing things our own strength and thus feeding pride. Note well at this point false humility is worse than pride- it is being proud of the fact you are humble. What we need is to see what gifts God has given us, use them according and thank God for them. So if a position or role comes up which you believe God has given you the gifts to do it then do it. If you don't know what your gifts are try things out until you do. There is nothing worse than being given a fantastic present and refusing to use it.

The Bible studies were based on the overview. The first was on Ephesians 1. Subsequent ones included Exodus 20 (the 10 Commandments unfortunately not featuring Charlton Heston), Ruth and the "model" prophet Amos. These were helpful in going over parts of the overview in more detail.

Question Time was greatly useful and also entertaining; especially when we got discussing Baptism- Towner believes that non-professing belief baptism is legit whereas Stuart and myself believe solely in professing Believers baptism. Other topics discussed include the perennial predestination question (during which I bit my lip and put my head down), application of the Mosaic law today and capital punishment. On the latter the helpful distinction between 1st and 2nd party relations, and 3rd party relations was raised: in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus states "turn the other cheek" his analogy is between two people- first and second party relations. Whereas all instances of execution of justice are meted out by third parties. This distinction is important since it retains an eye for an eye, retributive justice, for legal authorities to execute.

The evening meetings were a mini service with singing and a talk. The songs were actually pretty good and most were contemporary. Who says I only like old music?! The talks were on the basics of the Gospel and the Christian faith; all were clear, concise, and Biblical.

The service aspect and anecdotes will be dealt with in a subsequent post.

To see photos see here:

http://cardiffuk.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=2223143238&view=all