At the beginning of June we left the people of Israel at the edge of the land that God had promised to give them. Moses, the man chosen by God to lead them out of Egypt and the one who had faithfully led them for 40 years, was dead and the people were on the […]
Having just completed reading through Job we are now (starting tomorrow – 22nd July) turning our attention to two books in the Bible which tell the story of Jesus and the early church – both written by Luke (a doctor and sometime companion of Paul) to provide an accurate account of what happened while Jesus […]
This is a quick update for those following – or interested in – the #BCaD project. For those not familiar with it, it is the challenge of reading a chapter from the Bible each day (Bible Chapter a Day) and posting about it on social media – a summary, a thought it sparked, a key […]
As part of a project to write a daily comment on each chapter in the Bible (#BCaD) I said this about Matthew 20: Mt 20: The kingdom of God – not about what we can earn or gaining high position, but about mercy and service and self-sacrifice. A friend of mine responded to this and […]
Last year, in our church, we had a preaching series on the book of Revelation – an opportunity to share together something of the greatness of God and His Lamb (Jesus), to hear the words of Jesus to His church, to gain insight into what is going on in the world and how God’s people […]
In his book, A Social Reading of the Old Testament: Prophetic Approaches to Israel’s Communal Life, Walter Brueggemann explores three different stages in the life of Israel and asks questions about how they can inform different models of the church – arguing that it is important that the church continually needs to re-examine the models it bases […]
Yesterday one of our church members drew my attention to some articles in the press about what Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, was reported to have said in an interview on Songs of Praise on Sunday evening. And from the perspective of someone with a deep faith in God the reported comments were concerning: The […]
I am writing this blog on Easter Sunday having just celebrated the amazing truth that Jesus, who was crucified, died and was buried, has risen and is alive today. As Paul puts it: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the […]
As some of you know I use Logos Bible Software extensively for personal devotions, sermon preparation, academic work and so on and for the last few weeks I have been working with the latest update to that software. It has a wide range of new and very useful features – if you would like an overview […]
I, with three others, have just got back from a trip to a place called Talne in Ukraine. Our church has a link to another church there and this was an opportunity to meet up with people, to share together, to engage in various ministry activities and to get to know something of the country. […]