Everybody appears to be making the contrast between our Olympic athletes and footballing heroes. It’s not hard to understand why this is the case. I heard many interviews with Olympic performers over the last two weeks and, as a general rule, they came across as humble and generous in their praise of coaches, opponents and […]
Apologies to those who didn’t enjoy them- but I loved the Olympics. I am just back to work after two and a half weeks of holiday- and it would be fair to say that the time was dominated by the events in London. Along with my parents I spent a couple of days in the […]
Writing this is the last thing I am doing before starting a two week holiday. That this period covers the Olympics is, of course, purely co-incidental. When I mentioned this to somebody this evening they jokingly observed that I had only just been away… Which is true. I’m just back from an enjoyable week away […]
On Sunday we completed our studies in Isaiah. I started preaching through Isaiah in the autumn of 2003 so it has taken a while to get to the end- although we have still moved speedily covering 66 chapters in 32 sermons. The first three were preached before our sermons were downloaded but you can find […]
This morning I spent some time with the Oxford International Outreach team. They are at the start of their second (and final) week running a coffee bar each night for international students. Optional Bible Studies form part of this. It was good to hear of their progress so far and it would be great to […]
I don’t know whether anybody remembers the phrase from maths exams. We were told to show our working: to show how we got to an answer so that if our final answer was wrong (and to be honest I lost the plot with maths when we stopped using numbers and started using letters…) we might […]
This is probably one of those posts that will have people reaching for the imaginary “Dislike” button on Facebook. And I know how you feel. When I am sitting in the congregation on a Sunday evening it is tempting to want to sit back, listen and not feel I have to contribute very much. On […]
A few weeks ago I spent some time with a good friend. I suspect I am not always the easiest character to read but my friend has an unnerving ability to discern my thoughts accurately: to spot when I am finding an issue difficult even when I don’t say anything. At times that can be […]
Sometimes friends ask me what I have been reading recently. Often my mind goes blank- I know I have been reading books but I can’t for the life of me remember what they were about. So I’m hoping that writing up lessons that I have picked up from my reading will at least be of […]
It is always hard to get used to a different situation. For the last couple of hundred years or so, there has been a widespread perception in this country that to be a Christian is a good thing. This would be a view held even by those who would not have a strong Christian allegiance. […]