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Script for Keswick Convention Sunday Worship 2023

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Presenters: Jonti Taylor and Anna Putt

Preacher: Efrem Buckle (London City Mission)

Emu Music Group directed by Philip听Percival

Producer: Philip Billson

ANNA:

Good morning and welcome to the Keswick Convention.听

In the glorious but often wet Lake District with its magnificent hills and beautiful lakes, Christians gather together every year to join in fellowship with one another, be encouraged by great Bible teaching and lift our voices in praise of the God who created.

HYMN: All Creatures of our God and King听

Our prayer is that people will be equipped, inspired and refreshed to go back and live for Christ in whatever context he has placed them.听

This week, Christians of all ages and denominations gather under the banner 鈥楢ll one in Christ Jesus鈥� in the old Pencil Factory in the town of Keswick.听 They鈥檙e here to join in the first week of a 3-week summer Convention which has been running for nearly 150 years.听

The Keswick Convention regularly attracts over 12,000 people from across the UK and further afield. It鈥檚 streamed around the world and has a vibrant programme for around 2,000 children and young people too.听

I鈥檓 Anna Putt one of the Convention Trustees and leading today鈥檚 service with me is fellow trustee John Taylor.听

Jonti:

This year our theme is 鈥榟uman鈥�.

John Calvin, the 16th century French reformer once said, 鈥淚t is certain that humankind never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God鈥檚 face, and then descends from contemplating Him to scrutinize himself.鈥澨�

And that is our task this morning鈥�to gaze afresh on the God revealed supremely in Jesus Christ, and who speaks to us in his word, and to delight in Him afresh.听

Let鈥檚 pray:听

Loving God and Father, give us ears to hear afresh what you have to say about us as individuals and as a race this morning. We thank you that your word is pure, trustworthy, radiant and true. We praise this world that you have made, that you sustain moment by moment, this world that one day you will renew. Might we your image bearers, might live in your world in ways which honor and please you - to the glory of your name.听

Anna:

The main events of this morning鈥檚 service come from the Convention tent - but for other parts we will be out and about in the town and enjoying this beautiful part of God鈥檚 creation

VOX POPS from convention members

MUSIC: We are One in the Father鈥檚 Love - CCLI Song # 7145090 |听漏 2020 Claire Williams & Alanna Glover | emumusic.com听

Jonti: One of the wonderful things that I know many love about the Convention is having the afternoons free to come up onto the hills outside Keswick to enjoy the stunning scenery

听听听听听听听听听 Anna: It鈥檚 also a time for reflection, to let the great Bible teaching we receive here really sink in and listen to what God has to say to us, how our lives might be changed when we go back home as a result of all that we鈥檝e heard.

Or just to meditate on a particular piece of scripture, and spend some time with God, praying and speaking with him.

In a moment we鈥檒l hear one of the key parts of the bible around our 鈥榟uman鈥� theme this year - Genesis Chapter 3.听 The Bible begins with the account of God creating the world from nothing in the opening chapters of Genesis and declaring that it was good.听 Then when he made humans he declared them very good!听 So what happened?听听

READER IN THE TENT: A reading from Genesis Chapter 3: 1-19

HYMN: My hope is built on nothing less听

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ANNA: There are lots of different parts to the programme at Keswick this week, the morning begins with a prayer meeting followed by some interesting seminars around 鈥榃hat on earth are humans here for?鈥�

Later in the morning a group meets called 鈥楥ount everyone in鈥�. This is a celebration for adults听 with learning difficulties, with Janneke Klos

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Count Everyone In insert ending in reading from Matthew Chapter 26 and prayer.

听听听听听听听听听 MUSIC: Jesus strong and kind (Colin Buchanan, Michael Farren, Jonny Robinson and Rich Thompson 鈥� City Alight Ministries)听

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Efrem Buckle talk:

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Hi, my name is Efrem and this year at the Keswick Bible Convention, I am unpacking the theme HUMAN in the context of our two bible readings.听

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Socrates once said, 鈥楤e kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle鈥�.听

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We don鈥檛 need to be a great philosopher to understand that life can be hard. In fact, life is very often, very hard.听

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Hardship and struggle seem to be a fundamental part of what it means to be HUMAN.听

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I鈥檓 the Deputy CEO and Director of Training and Mentoring at London City Mission, and we work with people who go through some of the harshest experiences that life can throw at anyone.听

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Take Josef for example, he lost his long-term partner of 35 years and through loneliness fell into addictions and subsequent years of homelessness.听

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Unfortunately, Josef鈥檚 experience is quite common among those experiencing homelessness. Those who experience long term homelessness have a reduced life expectancy - in their mid 40s; and during his time on the streets, Josef said he saw people stabbed, and heard of other rough sleepers being set on fire.听听

At times, he slept in an old phone box just to feel safe.听听

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One in ten rough sleepers have been urinated on by a member of the public, and a third have been kicked without provocation.听听

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Such treatment is a tragic injustice, as if their lives aren鈥檛 hard enough.听

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The reality is tough times are indiscriminate, everyone goes through them to a lesser or greater extent.听听听

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Sometimes we are mere victims of circumstance, like when someone鈥檚 world caves in at a given cancer diagnosis, or when a mother endures the soul wrenching pain of a miscarriage.听

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At other times we fall foul of our own weaknesses, such as when we fail to regulate our anger and say and do hurtful things, maybe even alienating ourselves from the ones we love the most.听

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Then there are those times when we are prey to the treacherous and merciless, those who would steal our identity and empty our bank accounts without an ounce of consideration for the impact of their crimes.听

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Why do we go through such struggles?听 Why is life sometimes so hard?听 Why do we go through such pain?听

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Why isn鈥檛 humanity good enough to eliminate pain and suffering, or crime or harsh circumstances from our human experience?听

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These are the questions that filled my mind in 2018, as I stood over the grave of one of the students I had worked with.听 Having led the funeral, I was racked with deep questions. How is it this fun loving 15-year-old who I had seen week in and week out, could have his life so brutally cut short for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?听听听

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As I revisited those big questions, I found that the contents of the Bible proved to make a lot of sense in the stark coldness of the dark night of my soul.听听

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As a Christian, and a minister at that, I was very familiar with the Bible鈥檚 origin story.听听

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To me it makes sense that this beautiful world with all its joys, delights and intricacies is an intentional expression of an intelligent, loving maker.听

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It is entirely reasonable to me that from this we can conceive a being who is infinitely powerful and knowledgeable beyond our human capacity to comprehend.听

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For me there is coherence in the reality reflected in the Judaeo-Christian origin story, which is the setting of our reading.听

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As the late Christian apologist and author Dr Timothy Keller quotes in his book The Reason for God, 鈥榖elief in God offers a better empirical fit, it explains and accounts for what we see better than the alternative account of things鈥�.听

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Having created the cosmos, declaring six times in Genesis 1 that it is good,听

God created humanity, the pinnacle of his creation, at which he declares them to be VERY GOOD.听

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But by chapter 3 of Genesis, we read of Adam and Eve giving in to temptation only to disobey God by eating the fruit from the one solitary tree, of all the trees in the world, that God told them not to.听听听

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When I avoid the distraction of the talking snake imagery to focus on the meaning being conveyed, I see what feels like a very familiar picture of our human experience.听

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A battle for autonomy.听

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God had given Adam and Eve almost total freedom, but this clearly wasn鈥檛 enough for them.听听

They didn鈥檛 like being told no, to something they wanted, something they felt they deserved.听

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At the point the first humans assumed total autonomy and leveraged absolute freedom, suffering entered our human experience.听

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Here is, as William Shakespeare once wrote, 鈥渢he way to dusty death鈥�.听

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Death, conflict, and even environmental corruption.听

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By usurping the creator, they introduced corruption into the creation.听

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The Canadian Theologian Dr Don Carson puts it like this, 鈥楢dam and Eve endeavored to De-god God鈥�.听

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The act of defiance, and the corruption that followed is called sin in the Bible, and, according to our first reading, it corrupted not only our humanity, but the whole created order.听

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This is why there is suffering, sickness, and pain, why there is global warming and consequent natural disasters.听

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The reverberations of the human coup against God run to the deepest core of our existence.听

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Every facet has been scorched, root and branch.听

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This is why it has been said that the heart of the human problem is the problem with the human heart.听

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We are told later in the Bible, in Paul's letter to the Romans, that when humans reject God鈥檚 authority, he gives us what we want, and suffering is the result.听

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So, despite the fact it may feel like we live in a God forsaken world, we are actually living in a world that鈥檚 forsaken God.听

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BUT GOD, refused to leave us alone.听

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He chose to send a rescuer.听

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God took on the nature of humanity and lived among us. The name of that man is Jesus.听

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Not only did God live among us but he even participated in our human suffering.听

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In this he demonstrated the greatness of his love for people, his most precious creation.听

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Millenia after Adam and Eve in the garden of creation, Jesus is described in another garden.听听

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In chapter 26 of the Gospel according to Matthew - the reading we heard earlier - we meet Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, not seeking to assert his autonomy but rather, totally and utterly surrendering it.听听

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He is so agonisingly challenged as he does this that it is recorded his sweat was like drops of blood; a very rare condition called Hematohidrosis.听

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Jesus was deeply stressed at the knowledge of the suffering he was about to experience.听

He was about to face the very worst form of capital punishment, probably the worst ever invented 鈥� crucifixion.听

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The prophet Isaiah had previously spoken that the rescuer would come and suffer the outpouring of God鈥檚 justice toward sin.听

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Sin brought suffering and through the suffering of the divine man it would be cancelled.听听

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Adam and Eve lit the metaphorical fuse causing ongoing explosions of sin throughout human history, and yet Jesus absorbs the explosions, extinguishing them, with the giving of his very own life.听

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Jesus is the one who makes sense of all the suffering, pain and dissatisfaction in my life.听听听

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It is his selfless, sinless, and sacrificial participation in human suffering that has captured my heart.听

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But the significance of Jesus doesn鈥檛 end there.听

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The greatest reason Jesus makes sense of all suffering and hardship in life is because, after he suffered, he came back from the dead in victory, proving his power over sin and triumph over all suffering. With this he extends the promise of a new creation free of suffering.听听

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But for sin.听

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The previously mentioned author Tim Keller gleans from the philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard this definition of sin: 鈥榯he despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship with and service to God.听 Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity, apart from him.鈥櫶�

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This is the autonomy of the fallen.听

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Jesus offers true freedom and the expectation of a time when there will be no more suffering, to all who would totally trust and surrender their autonomy to him.听

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It is the undeniable experience of countless Christians throughout history, that through their faith in Jesus their experience of even the worst suffering can be utterly transformed. Noone actually seeks suffering 鈥� and neither did Christ. But through sickness, war, persecution, these, and other such trials become a herald of better yet to come.听

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MUSIC: Here we stand (CCLI Song #听7201507 | 漏 2022 Sam Brewster, Niki Shepherd, Alanna Glover, Tom Brewster | Emu Music Ltd.)听

Lord鈥檚 Prayer

MUSIC: Apostle鈥檚 Creed (CCLI 7201504 c2022 Tim Chester, Lix Chapman, Philip Percival, James McDonald, Alanna Glover)