How do you imagine God? For all of us the danger is that the God we have in our minds is different to the God who is really there. Truth be told, that’s true all the time. I remember a comment from Julian Hardyman in a sermon- “None of us have ever had an adequate […]
“How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!” Such was my thought whilst recently taking my exercise in Oxford city centre looking at the historic sites, normally packed with tourists and students now lying empty. And such is the first verse of the Old Testament book of Lamentations. This reflection prompted me to […]
Here is Charles Spurgeon speaking to other pastors at the end of the 19th century: “Brethren, we shall never see much change for the better in our churches…till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.” While the prayer meetings in his own church at the Metropolitan Tabernacle flourished he was […]
Once a year we consider the story of a well known Christian as part of our Sunday evening service. This is largely a chance for me to be self-indulgent and pretend that I am still studying history. The more serious aim is to be encouraged by the Lord’s work in years past and also allow […]
My colleagues are always wary of me returning from sabbatical. That may simply be that they have enjoyed a working environment that features a bit less of me. But I guess it is also reflective of the fact that I tend to return with ideas. (“Hey- let’s plant a church!”). This time has been different. […]
I am writing this on the last day of my sabbatical. It has been a huge privilege, for which I am grateful, to have time away to read (I think I have got through twelve books), enjoy scenery and get ahead with sermons for the new academic year. But the thing for which I have […]
I mentioned last week that my tendency in the opening week of a sabbatical is to focus on my own relationship with the Lord. This week I wanted to reflect a little bit more on the life of the church whilst reading and walking in various beautiful places. On previous occasions, these have been times […]
How do you pray when your soul is overwhelmed with sorrow? Or in the furnace of temptation? We need to know because all of us will experience those things. Recently we concluded a series on prayer in our homegroups. We started with the Lord’s Prayer as Jesus answers his disciples’ request to teach them to […]
Last weekend I was on the Cumbrian coast speaking at St.John’s/Claytonbrook Whittle-le-Woods Church Weekend. It was a joy to spend time with a warm hearted group who had the additional benefit, being from Lancashire, of speaking properly. And I loved returning to my favourite theme for a church weekend- Union with Christ. Now it appears […]
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 […]