So what was 2018 like for you? Looking back I have had a good year- enjoyable holidays, pleasant times with family and friends, the privilege of speaking in a variety of contexts alongside a good year for us as a church (that I’ll aim to write about later in the week). But what if 2018 […]
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 […]
Once a year I attempt to do a biography of a leading Christian character on a Sunday evening. You can hear the talk on John Bunyan here. I tried to tell Bunyan’s story using his own words. That meant there were lots of quotes! So, if you want to follow the talk, it is probably […]
Earlier this year I was asked to speak on the subject of homosexuality on a pastoral care course down at WEST. I decided that I probably ought to increase my range of reading on the subject so worked my way through Matthew Vines’ book God and the Gay Christian. Vines speaks movingly about discovering his […]
Ukraine. Gaza. Iraq. The last few weeks have brought chilling news on a regular basis: pictures of grieving families with children being massacred. The persecution of Christians and other minorities in the Islamic State has mostly happened away from cameras but the reports of beheadings and crucifixions are hard to read and comprehend. A number […]
This evening was biography night at the church. I think it is good for us to remember the Lord’s work down through history and so each year I try to include a biography as part of an evening service. Tonight we looked at John Newton. You can hear the talk here. I tried to use […]
Apologies for the drawn out nature of this potted biography. In my last post on Hudson Taylor, I completed the story of his life. In the two remaining posts that I am planning I want to pick up some of the main emphases of his life. A Passion for Souls I think this is the […]
Last Sunday evening we held a Guest Event looking at the perennial question- “Why does a loving God allow suffering?” You can listen to my talk plus a helpful interview with Helen here. I was conscious that the talk didn’t include much Bible- and rather a lot of CS Lewis! In preparation I had worked […]
Somewhat belatedly here is the last post considering Romans 8:18-27. So far we have seen that the Christian should expect suffering but that this is achieving a glory- one second of which will extinguish a lifetime of suffering. So, for the moment, everybody is groaning. Why? Because glory will be so good. Paul says that […]
So why be a Christian when to be one brings a guarantee of suffering? Here is how Paul goes on: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. It is easy to read a verse like that and assume Paul is playing down our […]