Matthew 12:49 Pointing to his disciples, Jesus said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” I am a great fan of families. However, reading Ed Shaw’s book “The plausibility problem” (Get it now and read it!) has challenged me about the way that I am in danger of idolising the nuclear family over my Christian family. The church is a wonderfully broken family. It’s made up of people who willingly admit that they are so messed up and rebellious against God that...
March 31, 2015November 12, 2018
A New Song for Easter
As we move towards our Easter Services at All Saints, our music group are learning a new song for [email protected]. The first line of the chorus is, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by death.” At Easter we can marvel at the breathtaking wisdom of our God, that He destroyed our great enemy death, through death – even the death of His only Son. The next line of the song is, “Come awake, Come awake, Come and rise up from the grave.” This is from Ephesians 5:14, where Christians are challenged by Paul to live lives of...
March 16, 2015November 12, 2018
I want to make Hell on earth…
Ezekiel 34:2 `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? Of course I disguise it as wanting Heaven on earth. I come across as really quite caring sometimes; wanting the best for people. Wanting the struggles and suffering to end. Wanting them to be wholehearted, happy followers of the Lord Jesus. Wanting them to have meaningful, fulfilling, loving relationships that always work. I’m generally pretty good as disguising my motives. But deep down a lot of what I do is about...
January 15, 2015November 12, 2018
The illogical celebration of sacrifice.
John 15:13 Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. I was engaging in some serious theological reflection this morning on “X Men: Days of Future Past”. And it suddenly struck me that the film makes no sense! This is not simply because I can’t work out why Charles Xavier is alive when I remember him disintegrating in X Men 3! But rather because, once again, it is an action hero film that celebrates the strong making sacrifices for the weak. For those who don’t know the gospel according to X Men. Evolution has produced...
January 9, 2015November 12, 2018
God came to be insulted.
“Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him…” Mark 15:32 “We have avenged the prophet Muhammad.” That’s what the two brothers who carried out the terrorist atrocity in Paris this week shouted, having murdered 10 people at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. They felt the magazine’s cartoonists had insulted Islam. Whatever you believe the Koran teaches, they believed their god required them to avenge the name of his prophet. The God of the Bible is very different. He doesn’t need defending from insults. He came in the person of His Son, Jesus, to be insulted. To be humiliated....
November 27, 2014November 12, 2018
The dregs of my love…
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… I give my wife the dregs of my love. And like the bottom of the beer barrel, the dregs taste bitter. At the end of the long day at work I come into the kitchen and collapse with little or no emotional energy left to spend on her. So I make a few helpful comments about the tidiness of the house from the position of my chair, before slumping into the tea (supper for you southerners!) that she sets before me. I think...
November 16, 2014November 12, 2018
My 3rd Letter to Brian Cox
Background: Inspired by David Robertson’s “The Dawkins Letters”, I’m writing a series of short letters to Brian Cox in light of his new series, The Human Universe. Read 1st letter here, and 2nd letter here. Dear Brian Cox, I do hope you’re still with me. I’m writing several letters to try and keep things brief – addressing just a couple of points at a time. Seeking to persuade people is a funny old thing. I read with interest your recent admission that, when you went on Newsnight, you used a special underhand trick your friend had told you about –...
November 14, 2014November 12, 2018
My 2nd Letter to Brian Cox
My 2nd Letter to Brian Cox Background: Inspired by David Robertson’s “The Dawkins Letters”, I’m writing a series of short letters to Brian Cox in light of his new series, The Human Universe. Read the 1st letter here. Dear Brian Cox, You’ve certainly seen the world, during your series. It’s hard not to be envious of the stamps on your passport. You’re in the Rift Valley, then you’re watching that Soyz capsule land safely in Kazakhstan, then you’re at a shrine in Kyoto, then visiting Hindu boys at training school in Pushkar. I find myself imagining conversations between you and...
November 9, 2014November 12, 2018
My 1st Letter to Brian Cox
My 1st Letter to Brian Cox Background: Inspired by David Robertson’s “The Dawkins Letters”, I’m writing a series of short letters to Brian Cox in light of his new series, The Human Universe. Dear Brian Cox, Congratulations on your TV series, “The Human Universe”. It has been extremely well thought out, and marvellously well produced. For years I’ve enjoyed BBC documentaries that make science accessible, and in many respects your programme has achieved that aim. You’ve come a long way since you were playing the keyboard for D:REAM. Then again, as you sang yourselves, things could only get better. But...
October 31, 2014November 12, 2018
Reflecting on U2’s new album
What causes us trouble? I’ve been listening to U2’s new album, Songs of Innocence. Do you have it? The chances are, you might have it without even realizing. It was given for free to over 500 million people by being placed unordered into our iTunes accounts. I did find it interesting that this caused so much outrage. People have complained that getting the album for free without asking was an invasion of their privacy. It does seem as though we’re not very good at accepting gifts! And when we don’t accept a gift, it does show what we think of...