“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 […]
The question is beginning to be asked: what should we learn from the coronavirus pandemic? There are wise answers around- we need to be better prepared for such eventualities. More profoundly we need to reflect on how we value certain groups. The vital individuals over the last few weeks have been cleaners, hospital porters, carers […]
Those who have had to listen to my preaching a bit will know that I have a couple of hobby horses. Partly because I think they are under-taught I will tend to major on the themes of union with Christ and strength in weakness. What I have not been good at is bringing those two […]
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 […]
It doesn’t have to be this way- but I am aware that it is very easy for your Christianity to get out of shape even as you spend your life talking about being a Christian. It is largely that the pressure of responding to concerns, needing to produce a sermon, working through a TO DO […]
One of the most discomforting of Scriptural statistics is that when the Lord Jesus speaks to the churches in Revelation 2-3 five of the seven have something of which they need to repent. It is a helpful caution for us against the complacency that says we must be OK. It is a reminder as to […]