Anselm was born in Italy in 1033, moved to France for his education and entered a Benedictine monastery under a Prior named Lanfranc who later became Archbishop of Canterbury.
Anselm succeeded him as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093, although he spent some years in exile due to disagreements with William II (about the royal seizing of church lands and other matters) and his successor Henry 1. He rejected Henry I’s claim to be able to appoint bishops. This struggle between church and crown reached a climax some years later in the time of Archbishop Thomas Becket, although it was not finally resolved until the time of Henry VIII.
Anselm was one of the great thinkers of the medieval church.
There is a scary verse in the Psalm we read last week (115.8), “Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” It’s talking about idols of course. The Psalmist says people who trust in idols that can’t hear or speak will become like that themselves.
But what about the people who serve only the Lord God? Does the same apply to them? Moses is the great example. His trips up the mountain to meet with God resulted in his face becoming so radiant that it spooked the Israelites who demanded he cover it up (Ex 34, 2 Cor 3).
A future like this awaits God’s children.
Key Builders of the Church – 2. Augustine
In Milan, around 386, a confused teacher of philosophy was struggling with his sensuality and sin, trying to work out answers to the problem of evil, and wrestling with an internal conflict as to whether he was willing or not willing to become a Christian.
His mother Monica had prayed for him all his life, and had urged him to follow what he had heard as a child. But his life to this point had moved away from Christianity to the philosophy of the Manichees that tried to explain good and evil as two opposing principles of “light” and “darkness”. This did not satisfy and he moved towards Neoplatonism which asserted there was only one principle from which everything else emerged.
His contact with Ambrose, bishop of Milan, gradually moved his thinking back towards the Bible. But he was still unhappy and unsatisfied, especially as to how he could live a life free from his sensual lusts.
Read more: Key Builders of the Church – 2. Augustine 15 Aug 10
Starting in Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom in 2004, Back to Church Sunday has now gone international. Back then 160 churches united agreed to have one Sunday when people could try church again - and receive a specially warm welcome.
In 2009, 82,000 people came back to church through the prayerful invitation of a friend in each of the 44 Church of England dioceses, Churches together in Scotland, the Church in Wales, Baptist Union of Great Britain, Methodist Church, United Reformed Church, Salvation Army and Elim Pentecostal Churches throughout the UK..
Now Back to Church Sunday has spread to churches in Argentina, New Zealand and Canada.
Back to Church Sunday was launched in Australia on 13th September 2009. 600 churches across 19 Anglican dioceses took part. On that day 12,000 people returned to church at the invitation of a friend.
In the early years of the fourth century it might have been thought that the future of the church would be peaceful and smooth. The Roman Emperor Constantine had declared his faith in Christ and stopped the terrible persecution of Christians that Emperor Diocletian had begun a decade earlier.
But big debates were festering about the nature of Christ. Was he fully divine, or was he only a created being who shared the divine nature but was not equal with God the Father, as Arius and others suggested? Both Arius and Athanasius were clergy in Alexandria, in Egypt. The debate spread across the church and became so divisive that the Emperor called a Council of the whole church to resolve the issue.
Read more: Key Builders of the Church – 1. Athanasius 1 Aug 10
United Methodists in the United States have undertaken a massive research project to identify the factors that lead to healthy churches.
Not surprisingly they came up with four of the usual factors: small groups; worship in a mix of traditional and contemporary styles with relevant sermons; pastors who mentor lay people; and good lay leadership.
The report of the research was a bit vague on what a healthy church looked like, but suggested it had to do with experiencing the reality of Jesus in the church and witnessing to that in their community.
How would we estimate the health of a church? Numbers? Money? Is that like estimating a person’s health by the bathroom scales, or their bank balance? Perhaps. There may be some correlation but we would want a better diagnosis.
At the Alpha Course this week we heard that the Bible was by far the best-selling book ever. According to one list between 2.5 billion and 6 billion copies of the Bible have been sold. The Qu’ran and Quotations from Chairman Mao come next with 800 million each. The next most popular English language books are A Tale of Two Cities (200 million); Scouting for Boys (150 million) and Lord of the Rings (150 million).
The Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, so presumably most of the Bibles sold are translations. According to Wycliffe Bible Translators there are more than 6,900 languages in the world. At present at least some of the Bible has been translated into most of these languages. Only 2,200 languages are still without any part of the Bible. In human terms that represents about 350 million people – more than the population of the USA and nearly six times the population of the UK.
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