Here is the meditation we did in Life Group last week on the passage in Colossians 1. As is usual for our group, we only touched on many of the themes within the verses. In preparing I felt that the tendency is to bring our rational and intellectual minds to a passage -which of course […]
In this post we look in a little detail at what it means to be dead – no not like that. How did Christ make us alive according to Paul? We also see that a cabbage has much to teach us of the Divine Realm. But we begin with The Essenes. The Essenes, authors of […]
Ever found yourself floundering as you read Paul’s letters? Do you wonder if you’re missing something? Do you start reading a chapter full of determination, and then find yourself at verse 5 thinking about if you’ve fed the dog with little idea of what you have just read? If you are someone who finds Paul […]
Previously in the first two verses we marveled (!) at how Wesley and Whitfield were able to paint such a cornucopia of theological goodness in so few words. We considered the barrage of triggers that were thrown at the singer by phrases such as ‘joyful all ye nations rise’ and ‘pleased as man with man […]
In the first part of this mini- series on Hark The Herald Angels Sing I got excited about verse 1, where the writers of this awesome carol describe the manifestation into our physical realm of the angelic realm and God’s presence. Celebrating the day of Jesus’ birth leads to the final restoration of the nations […]
Hark The Herald Angels sing is a fantastic romp through some truly inspiring theology. It is too good to be only sung at Christmas – its going to feature at my funeral. The more mystically minded Christians speak about the participation with God as being like swimming in the sea. You can paddle in the […]
First published this post in October 2011…. having re-read it I figured it deserved another shot. Just had an interesting moment! Running “Spotify” on my phone, plugged into the Hi Fi, listening to “What does anything mean, basically” by The Chameleons – and its been a number of years since I heard it. Nearly every song evokes a strong, significant […]
In “human identity – divinity” we cemented the connection between image (tselem) in Genesis 1 and cult statues or idols. To the people of the aNE (ancient near east) an idol was the living embodiment of their god, and not just a physical thing like a statue in the local park. To them it was […]
In the first post “human identity – representation” we looked at the Hebrew words used for image and likeness. In “human identity – crowned” we looked into the royal meaning behind some of the words the Hebrew bible uses to describe Adam and Eve’s role and status. Given that the same ‘image’ language is used […]
One time in home group we worked through Mark’s gospel reading a good chunk (like 3 chapters) and then considering it in the light of, well, whatever cropped up really. Without wanting to overstate it, this a great series – so much came out of our attempt to have a ‘first-time’ reading of it. The […]
Recently I was looking for something to read. When we cleared out my parents’ house one of the hardest things to deal with was the books. Did they have some boring looking books – and my mum had become something of a regular visitor to charity shops towards the end! But as someone who loves […]
When we go on our family holiday we always have what the girls refer to as ‘boring parent days‘. And I am pleased to say that in Spain we managed to get not one, or two but three ‘boring parent days’. On one of these I had one of those little experiences of God that […]
This was a stonker of an essay, which was both a joy and a pain to write. Both of these theologians wrote masses of material. Augustine is in some sense known as the Father of the Western Church, and much of what we believe in the West goes back to him. Interestingly, I recently heard […]
The Book of Lamentations I am sure I had read Lamentations before I opted for this essay – but I couldn’t really remember anything much about it. I knew it was a ‘depressing’ book, perhaps written by “weeping Jeremiah”, and that it was hard work. How WRONG I WAS. The more I studied it, the […]
This was a ‘relatively’ easy essay in that the sources were quite straight forward. What really stuck me was just how much I have been a dualist – you know, its either ‘right’ or its ‘wrong’. So, I’d thought Paul must have either totally gone along with the Roman Empire, or totally not! The more […]
On Sunday 2nd of January 2011 I went on a retreat. This meant going to a nature reserve in the Chiltern Hills, where usually I can wander around for a whole day and not see anyone. Recently the question “What is the last thing that God said to you?” has been in the air. I’ve […]
A few years back, when my little ones where really little this song was all the rage. How we enjoyed doing the rain coming down and washing away the foolish man’s house on the sand. Around that time I was reading Dallas Willards “The Divine Conspiracy”, perhaps one of my all time favourite books. One […]
When I teach I often joke, saying that I have yet to have an original thought.
