Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources seeks to provide Christian resources for clergy and church leaders that are true to the scriptures, reformed and focused on the grace of God in Christ. The objectives are to provide:
i] Concise expository sermons / Bible studies on the set readings of the Revised Common Lectionary;
ii] An exegetical commentary on the Greek New Testament;
iii] Biblically sound studies on doctrine, evangelism, apologetics, ethics... ;
iv] Studies on the ritual and order of the Anglican church.
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The sermons / Bible studies are available in a print-friendly format for publication to suit an A5 pew-sheet insertion. They can be downloaded and opened by any html text editor and the content edited as required. There is no copyright and no citing is necessary.
Guiding Thesis
The full appropriation of God's promised blessings are ours through faith, apart from a faithful attention to God's law.
Bryan Findlayson
Citing (not required)
Findlayson, lectionarystudies.com
Greek Font
The font used in this commentary is Bill Mounce's TekniaGreek, freely available from his site Teknia.com. For a compressed zip file, Mac / PC, go to FontsForWeb.com. For iPhone, iPod, or iPad, the application AnyFont will load and enable a zip download of the TekniaGreek font.
Index of Publications
Theology, Lectionary Sermons and Bible Study notes are provided in printable format on the web.
Author
Findlayson, Bryan. Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Australia. b 1942. MTC. ThL 1970, MC Dip (Hons) 1971; P 1972 by Abp Syd; C Narrabeen 1971; C Cronulla 1972-1975; C Engadine. 1975-1978; CIC Helensburgh 1978-89; Sabbatical 1989-1990; R Cronulla 1990-1999; Retired.
Dedication
For my children: Marelle, Paul and Justyne.
My journey
![[St. Martins Killara]](images/stmartins.gif)
I grew up in Killara, situated in the northern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. As a toddler I was marched off to Sunday School at St.Martin's Anglican church. I graduated about a year later after getting bashed up one Sunday morning. My education continued in a more secular vein at Knox Grammar School, a Presbyterian school where I learnt the art of singing "adjusted" words to the hymns at assembly.
![[The Gunderman Farm]](images/farm.jpg)
I had a very fortunate childhood. We had a happy home, although my father did get a little intoxicated during the week - the stress of work and all that. There were the holidays and in my early teens, "the farm". The farm was a property on the Hawkesbury river at Gunderman. What a wonderful place to spend weekends and holidays - tractors and motor bikes, this was the life.
![[The mates and our Austin Healy Sprites Mk. 1]](images/mates.jpg)
Confirmation was an important "social" event for a young person having reached the magical age of 14 and so, with much protest, I was back at St.Martin's under the jolly hand of Rev. Norman Fox. My grandfather, a staunch Presbyterian, was not amused. I was soon a member of the Servers Guild, learning to appreciate the art of liturgical worship, but above all, under the hand of Richard Frith, a young trainee minister serving at St.Martin's, I was introduced to Jesus. I put Jesus on hold, with cars, girls, ... the order of the day.
![[Perfumery at Cox Findlayson & Co]](images/cfc1s.jpg)
Having left school, I started training as a perfumer at my father's company, Cox Findlayson & Co., learning to distinguish hundreds of essential oils and chemicals, blending them, matching them and creating. I just couldn't settle at the job, fascinating though it was. I had this strange sense that I should become a minister, a preacher of the Word. I was more gifted at perfumery than preaching, but God's call gives little weight to natural talents. Anyway, the more I thought about the call the further I ran.
![[The family with the 1923 Rugby]](images/rugby.jpg)
Marriage, a new home, raising kids, had me away from church, but deep down I sensed that the Lord was still reaching out to me. It was when I went to see our local minister at Eastwood for my child's Christening that I was again confronted by Jesus. The Rector, Rev. Allen Funnel, asked if I had faith. I said "No", of course. He then asked if I would read a little book he would like to give me. A reasonable request, so, "Of course." He gave me the pamphlet, "Becoming a Christian", by John Stott. I read his little book and I knew I could run no longer. By the way, the 1923 Rugby (a Durant in the US) was a toy, not my regular car!!
![[Moore Theological College, the class of 68]](images/moore5.gif)
After my conversion I felt I had no other choice but to enter the ordained ministry. I teed up an interview with the principal at the Sydney Anglican training center, Moore Theological College. Of course, the then principal, Dr. Knox, asked the obvious question: "how long have you been a Christian?" I innocently told him it was a matter of a few weeks. He was very kind, letting me down gently. Still, I kept coming back and after two more years he let me in. The year was 1968.
![[St.George's Anglican church, Stanwell Park]](images/park.jpg)
Four years of training and then six years as a minister in training (Curate). My first parish was Helensburgh with Stanwell Park, an urban area South of Sydney. With Doreen my wife, and three kids, we made it our home for 17 years. For me, the focus was community/fellowship and outreach. The church community took on a "Fisher Folk" style. Something quite special evolved over those years - one in Christ. I do love "the Burgh" (Burgh as in iceberg).....
![[The Jesus Light and Power Co.]](images/jlpc80s.gif)
The youth outreach program ended up one of the largest ministries on the South Coast of Sydney - The Jesus Light and Power Co (not an original name by the way). Club House with jukebox, pin ball machines, pool table, etc. and of course, Buses. Over the years I have owned three buses, total madness. One was actually a double decker bus, a 1948 Albion with vacuum breaks and a top speed of 30 miles per hour. It was possible to go faster in "angel gear", for those game enough to try it, although stopping was a problem
![[The Gunderman camp site lodge]](images/gunderman.jpg)
A camping ministry soon developed at a 30 person camp site on a 5 acre riverside block of land on the Hawkesbury river. I took 10 weeks leave and built the lodge with the wharf and boat-shed coming a few years later. So, it was canoes, tinnies, and a sailing dingy to keep the troops occupied. Behind the lodge was a sheer mountain with a half hour climb to reach the top. Anyway, youth camps were soon a regular part of the church outreach program.
![[The regular weekly Bible study]](images/bibstudys.jpg)
The weekly Bible study at our home was something special, particularly as I had picked up the "Wesley" virus. I was attending a Bible Study led by one of my mates. He was tackling what Paul meant by "the law" in Galatians. I was undone. Just like John Wesley, I was a pietist through and through; totally into sanctification by obedience. It took a year or two, unlike Wesley, but in the end I discovered the extent of God's grace. I was set free by the discovery of God's total acceptance of me in Christ, even with all my terrible sin, recurrent and ingrained. 'Amazing grace!'
![[Relaxing at Braidwood]](images/braidwood.jpg)
By 1990 I was getting a bit tired and having some difficulty reconciling my new freedom in Christ with my pietist leanings and the emergence of the new perspective on Paul. The answer was to take a sabbatical. We sold the Gunderman camp site and purchased a beautiful Californian bungalow in Braidwood, a historic town on the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. In the mornings I worked to produce a paper on the grace/law issue and in the afternoons played house and gardens. It was a wonderful break.
![[Bryan Findlayson with Fred Camaroux, rector for 27 years, d.01.]](images/fred.jpg)
In 1991 I was appointed to the parish of St.Andrew's Cronulla, a southern beach suburb of Sydney. St.Andrew's was substantially a traditional Anglican church and my focus there became the preached Word and liturgy. I particularly enjoyed the challenge because the majority of clergy in Sydney were into dismantling Anglican form on the premise that the adoption of pop-culture in worship provided better access for the gospel. Oops! isn't the gospel itself the power of God unto salvation? "'Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit', says the Lord God almighty."
![[Kiama]](images/kiamab.jpg)
Of course, life has its downs. Early in my time at Cronulla our son died from a brain tumor. No words can describe the loss of a child. Then in my final years at Cronulla I hit a wall, the proverbial "burn out." My personal life ended up a mess and my marriage on the rocks, prompting an early exit from ministry in 1999. My wife and I finally separated some years later and in 2007 I remarried and moved to the seaside town of Kiama, south of Sydney. Of course, I don't look back on this time with any pride. Still, it's when we are down that we are most dependent on God's merciful grace.
![[Bryan in his study]](images/study.jpg)
On leaving full-time ministry I did some time in the building industry, then truck driving and finally became a civil celebrant, while working to develop lectionarystudies.com. Much of my time was spent in the study and for the first time in my life I had the space to work over the scriptures. I finally got a handle on "the new perspective" and the law/grace issue. Mind you, many of my "theo" friends are not fully convinced, but then, when have theologians ever agreed? The search, along with the cut-and-thrust, is a joy in itself. I am still brought to tears at the wonder of Biblical truth.
![[The Comboyne home]](images/comboyne.jpg)
In 2008 I retired and my wife Tricia and I moved from Kiama to the Comboyne plateau in Northern New South Wales. What a wonderful part of God's creation, some 700 meters above sea level, high rainfall, basalt soil meters thick. Our cedar cottage sat on two acres with room to play house and garden, producing fresh fruit and vegetables for the table. Now, with more time to play with old machines, I got to and and restored a wrecked TEA20 Ferguson tractor. Best of all, freedom to work in the study. The little village of Comboyne was three kilometers down the road for life's little essentials, and church on Sunday.
![[Scotts Head]](images/scottsheads.jpg)
In 2016 we decided for a sea change and headed for Scotts Head on the North Coast of New South Wales, purchasing a beach house an easy stroll to the beach and shops, and an even quicker bike ride. The workshop is up and running, carpentry and restoration projects underway. Church on Sunday took a hit; the powers that be up and sold our one and only church building in Scotts. I think I might become a Desert Father, although there's no desert and no caves! The study is pumping again. At this point in time I have completed about 80% of the Commentary on the Greek New Testament, and so I press on while the brain continues to work.
I am aware that the day of glory is just that little bit closer, that day when I will hide behind my mate Jesus and say to the Boss, "I'm no one, I'm just with him!" Given the list of my failings, hiding seems the best option! So yes, I'm a Conservative Evangelical (Methodist) believer of reformed persuasion who is committed to Anglican liturgical form and polity. In simple terms, I am a Prayer Book Christian who rests on the amazing grace of God.
![[Pumpkin Cottage]](images/cottage1s.gif){kind=small}
