Matthew Henry John Bartlett

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Monday 09 October, 02006

by Matthew Bartlett @ 2:19 pm

A sermon from me about Saint Francis

38 responses to “”

  1. Aaron says:

    I’d just like to reiterate what I said below about this blog being boring and mine being far cooler.

  2. Aaron says:

    I’d just like to reiterate what I said below about this blog being boring and mine being far cooler.

  3. Aaron says:

    And what’s more, this blog doesn’t even have a duplicate comment detector.

  4. Yeah, Aaron, way to gloat about your comment protection algorithms. Have you noticed I haven’t posted on your site in about 9 months? That would be because your spam-guard is far too fiffin strict and has banned the shit out of me!

  5. dennisbartlett says:

    On a different note just saw WATER the movie…10/10 a sad case of Hinduism

  6. Sambo says:

    I hear water may have been invented in Switzerland. Can you confirm this, Dennis?

  7. dennisbartlett says:

    They were not able to make it in India it was shot in Sri Lanka who also have water.have you seen it?

  8. a says:

    sigh. i think Water is about far more than “a sad case of hinduism” the director herself is hindu. women’s positions/independence/modernisation vs tradition etc etc. Fire is probably her best work.

  9. david says:

    I’m working on a film called ‘Wind’ at the moment. mphmfsniggerparp.

  10. Anonymous says:

    I’m working on a film called Farts at the moment…oh…

  11. kathy says:

    sorry to be on topic, but i would say your sermonising seems to be getting much better: clearer presentation of thoughts, easy flow of ideas and a compelling and applicable ending. woot! you’ll be a priest/pastor/guru before you know what’s hit you.

  12. dennisbartlett says:

    re 8 what’s FIRE about how they got rid of widows?

  13. Matthew says:

    Here’s the Roger Ebert review, Dad. Looks pretty interesting I reckon.

  14. dennis bartlett says:

    darkest Africa doesn’t know much abpout homosexuality either no doubt Holly or Bollywood will enliten them

    A pity they couldn’t read Song of Soloman and get the good oil

  15. Matthew says:

    Um…
    when was the last time you were in darkest Africa, Dad?

  16. Furthermore, in response to comments #1 and #2: Aaron, are you the only one not to notice that your blog has the single least inviting name of anything ever? Ever.

  17. dennisbartlett says:

    do you need to go to a place to know anything about it

  18. Matthew says:

    Oi! you! No commenting for a week!

  19. aaron says:

    Richard stop being an arse. I haven’t commented on this blog for ages. Or written on mine for about as long.

    I’m busy.

    All recent comments on mhjb under my name (at least since my contribution to the pot debate, quite some time back) are fake. As in, not mine. Too many people want to be me. Whereas I think there should be less of me around.

    Thankyougoodbye.

  20. Sambo says:

    “busy”

    He’s back on the Civ 3 wagon.

  21. Matthew Baird says:

    Ah, but a weener carrying the American flag of truth!

  22. Tim says:

    Basically, Aaron, if you would just pause your game and write a post on your blog people wouldn’t feel the need to impersonate you. Even if you wrote a post about your Civ III game.

  23. Matthew says:

    Which link, Deb?

  24. Deborah says:

    Your sermon about St Francis sounds a lot like the sermon you preached in September. Am I doing something dumb?

  25. richface says:

    Yeah I’m with Deb, something is screwy with your link.

  26. Matthew says:

    On the contrary, it is I who am dumb. Fixed now.

  27. Sambo says:

    You should see him. Every time we walk past his room he will alt-tab out of Civ 3 and pretend to work on a Word document which never changes throughout the day. He gets all defensive if you ask to read it because I am pretty sure we will find its dated last year and unedited since. Like an eternally distracted novellist.

  28. kathy says:

    hey mate, now that i have reada the actual st francis sermon, i’m even more impressed. those long winded boring sermons of our youth are completely out done by this effort.

  29. Tim says:

    Your St F sermon is interesting reading, Matthew. I particularly like the point about not worrying so much about climate change etc because God is in control – something many Christian hippies seem to forget. However, I like it more as an article than a sermon.

  30. Matthew says:

    O dear, that would probably be the last point I’d hope you take from the sermon. I want people to work not worry. The Keeper of Israel is the Keeper of Earth, so the earth is safe, but there’s no reason to think our civilisation is.

    What’s the difference between an article & a sermon?

  31. Obviously, Matt, a sermon should be boring.

  32. dennisbartlett says:

    and have three points

  33. Tim says:

    Re 32: I suspected that wasn’t the point you wanted gleaned from that sermon. It was the point I wanted to get from it though. Aren’t Christians the new Israel? So that would mean the Keeper of Israel is the Keeper of Christians too?

    Um, I think a sermon should have the Bible as its foundation. So start from a Bible text/s and work out from there rather than start with a biography of a saint and then tie in some Bible passages.
    NB: Creeds and confessions aren’t good starting points either.
    ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’ – 2 Tim 3

  34. Tim says:

    Re 33: They don’t have to be boring, but on the other hand the aim is not to entertain the ‘audience’.

  35. Matthew says:

    Sermon-wise, my guiding principle (unevenly enacted) comes from David Newton’s injunction to invite the hearers into the story. To assist them to see the world in terms of it. The story is Creation, Fall, Israel, Jesus, Church, Restoration. The story is rooted in a normative way in the 66 books. I think it is legitimate to on occasion come at the story from a different angle, in this case the life of a saint. On occasion.

  36. Tim says:

    On occasion. Hence my saying ‘I like it more as’ rather than ‘that is sooo wrong’.

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