Holy Trinity Brompton

It occurs to me that I haven’t yet told you about my church home in London. Since arriving in the UK I have been attending Holy Trinity Brompton, an ‘evangelical’ Anglican church serving the Kensington parish in London since 1825 (sorry for the scare quotes, but you have to be careful with your adjectives when you’re part of the Anglican Communion… it’s all pins and needles at the moment). HTB is a vibrant and growing church with a serious focus on evangelism: the Alpha Course, a sort of investigative Bible study for the post-modern world where seekers can ask honest questions about the Christian worldview without having to endure any “howdily-doos” or “okily-dokilys” from Ned Flanders types, was created in this church and in the past fifteen years HTB has sent out ten church planting teams to revitalize dying Anglican congregations on the verge of redundancy. Apart from strong teaching and incredible worship, the thing that excites me most about HTB is the crypt. A large subterranean crypt lies beneath the sanctuary, providing space for the church library, kitchen, nursery, and children’s Sunday school. Have you ever been to a church where you could drop your kids off at the crypt to learn about Jesus and His disciples? I didn’t think so. Awesomeness. The heart of adult education and fellowship in the church is the pastorate, a small group of about 25 people who meet weekly for dinner, worship, and Bible study. And where do you suppose my Tuesday night pastorate meets? That’s right – we party in the crypt! It’s been a lot of fun hanging out with my British brothers and sisters, though our differences come through every once in a while. Just last week, on Armistice Day, the congregation paused to thank God for our freedom and remember those who have died in various conflicts defending it (in my mind I ditched the conflict with Argentina in the Falklands and replaced Northern Ireland with Vietnam). When the congregation began to sing a moving rendition of “God Save the Queen”, I silently mouthed the words to “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” in typical rebel fashion.



One thing I have to give the Christian limeys – is that a derogatory term? ‘cause I don’t mean it in the pejorative sense… I’m really quite fond of the limeys – these kids are bold in their witness, and they rarely hesitate in telling people about Jesus. I’ve been convicted by it really, and I’ve finally decided to do something about it. After all, I’ve used lots of pretty pictures to get you hooked on my blog, so I might as well take this opportunity to tell you about my faith. If I’ve never told you about my faith before it’s probably for one of three reasons: (1) I didn’t want to offend you with a worldview that believes not only in absolute truth, but in the knowability of absolute truth, (2) I didn’t want to be revealed as a hypocrite since I may have done things in your presence that weren’t very Christlike, or (3) It simply didn’t cross my mind. The blog takes care of the first reason, since this has to be the most non-confrontational format available. As far as my hypocrisy, let me apologize in advance and tell you that any measure of righteousness I have comes from Jesus alone – I could not bare the thought that my actions would in any way keep you from confronting the claims of Christ. And concerning the third reason: Sorry, I’m an idiot.

I grew up in the church and, at an early age, became well acquainted with the three basic tenants of the Christian faith: (1) We are sinful. We have rebelled against God and our actions and attitudes fall short of His perfect standard (Romans 3:23), which results in our separation from God (Habakkuk 1:13) and there’s nothing we can do about it; we deserve death (Romans 6:23). (2) Because of His great love, God sent His only Son Jesus to die in our place (John 3:16) so that through Jesus’s death and resurrection, the penalty for our sins might be paid and our separation from God ended (I John 4:10). (3) Jesus claimed to be the only solution for our sorry state (John 14:6) and it is our responsibility to accept or reject the free gift of salvation He offers (John 1:12). Specifically, “[i]f you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9).

So I suppose the relevant question becomes: Was Jesus really the Son of God? Jesus certainly claimed to be on various occasions, with the most glaring declaration coming at His trial before the chief priests when they asked Him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of God?” Jesus replied, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:60-62, Matthew 26:63-65, Luke 22:67-70). The chief priests certainly understood that Jesus was claiming to be divine, as they condemned Him to death for His answer on the grounds of blasphemy. As Josh McDowell famously observed when summarizing the apologetic writings of C.S. Lewis, the claims of Jesus create a ‘Liar-Lunatic-Lord’ trilemma forcing us to accept one of three mutually exclusive possibilities: (1) Jesus didn’t really believe He was the Son of God (Jesus as Liar), (2) Jesus believed He was the Son of God, but was merely delusional (Jesus as Lunatic), or (3) Jesus believed He was the Son of God, and was the Son of God (Jesus as Lord). Here’s my man Lewis in his own words:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come away with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (Mere Christianity, pp. 40-41)

I confronted the claims of Christ when I was in elementary school and while I’ve struggled through some sticky theological issues and still have a lot to learn about God’s character, my faith remains very much the same: I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He paid the penalty for my sins on the cross, that He rose from the dead on the third day, and that He offers each of us the opportunity for salvation, if only we will admit our need for salvation and place our faith in Him. Like St. Patrick I was “… lying in the deep mire; and He that is mighty came and in His mercy lifted me up.” Christianity isn’t about being good or effectively managing your guilt through a series of feel-good rituals; it’s about following Christ and living a life of gratitude in recognition of His grace and mercy. It was gratitude for God’s work in my life that compelled me to write this post, and it is my prayer that you will take this opportunity to confront the claims of Christ for yourself. Before this becomes the longest post in the history of blogdom, I’ll end by admitting that my simplistic explanation of the gospel of Jesus Christ may not answer your questions or criticisms concerning the Christian faith. If you have a question about Jesus, Christianity, life, the universe, or anything, please don’t hesitate to ask (simply e-mail me at ‘cairo_jennings@yahoo.com’), or look for the answers yourself by signing up for an Alpha course in your area (http://alphacourse.org). Grace & Peace friend.