By way of 1) filling the yawning void that is this dustblog and 2) informing whoever possibly might be reading it, it's probably time to mention that we're moving in a couple of months, to Shoalhaven Heads. I'll be looking after the Anglican Church there...which I believe is the only church there, to save anyone getting confused. It's a branch church for Gerringong parish, still on the small side, in a town of 3000 or so.
By way of adding some useful thought content to an otherwise purely informative post, here's an idea from an essay I'm writing (or at least, should be writing) at the moment on The Pilgrim's Progress.
Very early in the book, Christian is shown a portrait of what's usually perceived as the ideal pastor - full of God's word, pleading with men to follow God, focused more on the world to come than the trappings of this one. J. I. Packer says so, and he knows more about the Puritans than me.
What's caught my eye, though, is what happens next in the story: in short, Christian receives assurance of salvation, and instantly starts pastoring those he meets. It appears to be a deliberate attempt by Bunyan to show the 'average believer' has a pastoral ministry. It's an idea that seems to have been missed by the scholars, and it's always fun to find something that the great ones have missed!
