This Sunday represents a year since the first meeting of Grace Church Kidlington. We had a staggered start- three weeks of not very visible services in September to make sure we knew what we were doing before a public launch at the beginning of October. However, the events of this coming Sunday make this an […]
A while back, a friend of mine came up with a pithy tweet. “You’re so vain, you probably think this Psalm is about you.” The character limit didn’t permit an explanation but I am pretty confident that this was an argument that the Psalms, like the rest of Scripture, are first and foremost about Christ […]
I have preached a lot on the subject of prayer recently- it has come up in a number of passages that we have covered as a church. My sense is that it is probably an area where we fall short compared with Christians of a previous generation. I continue to be struck by CH Spurgeon’s […]
With extensive plagiarism- and some changes- from Bishop Michael Curry: From the Song of Solomon in the Bible: Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot […]
On Wednesday I had the privilege of speaking at the Chapel service for Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. We have had a number of their students as part of the church over the years. That has been enriching for us particularly to hear from brothers and sisters serving in areas with a relatively small Christian […]
We have had a couple of events this week where we have taken the opportunity to look back with thanksgiving on the past year. You can listen to my brief reflection on the evening of New Year’s Eve here. But I wanted to note a few highlights from the year here in the hope that […]
In my first post on the Mountain Bible School I noted that I had persistently used a phrase when teaching through John 13-21: “It is a wonderful thing to be a Christian.” It was an attempt to summarise the raft of privileges that Jesus promises His disciples in these chapters. However, I can imagine circumstances […]
When the great theologian Jonathan Edwards was 18 he had a fascinating experience- it may well have been the moment when he became a Christian. He had come across the description of God in 1 Timothy 1:17- the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. He thought to himself- “how excellent a Being that […]
I spent last week speaking on John 13-21 at the Oak Hall Mountain Bible School in the German Black Forest. It was a busy time- I covered those chapters in eleven sermons and five interactive sessions. However, there was something wonderful about that. Speaking day after day rather than week after week it was more […]
If people know two things about me they probably know that I am a Christian and that I have always been a bit of a sport obsessive. Scarcely a putt can be holed, a try scored, a race won or a wicket taken without me being interested in it. So I was struck by a […]