Mark has a very vivid way of describing things. Nowhere, more so, than in his account of Jesus visiting the Gadarenes (Mark 5:1) where he sets a man free who is possessed by demons. I’ve only ever seen demon-possession once – in Dick Lucas’s study at St Helen’s Bishopsgate in London – 50 years ago […]
Sadly, gone are the days when people sought to defend Christianity. Nobody seems to bother to do that today. The general consensus of opinion in the world seems to be it really isn’t worth bothering about. I thought of that because I have been reading about Gilbert West and Lord Lyttleton undertaking to organise a […]
Somebody asked me what “they” can do to make a difference in our country at the moment. My mind always goes to that verse in Ephesians, “We are God’s workmanship” (Eph 2:10). The Greek word for “workmanship” is “poema”(POEM) – through what we do as Christian people, God is writing to the world. And we […]
From Ian Barclay I remember reading “The Life of Abraham Lincoln” and being struck by the profound spiritual experience he had in the last days of his life. As a blind man longs for light, so Lincoln groped for a fuller, deeper, more satisfying experience of God. He tried the many ways that the saints […]
I was thinking today of my friend Robyn and her dyslexia and it occurred to me we all have our problems and deficiencies. I thought of that very famous violinist Itzhak Perlman who went to play in Israel. There was much hype and great expectation for the concert. At last he stood on the stage […]
While the Great Plague and the Great Fire were ravaging London, Nicholas Herman of Loraine was admitted to the convent of the barefooted Carmelites in Paris. He was a heavy, awkward, clumsy looking man, who in his time had been a soldier and then a footman. At the age of 40 he had found God […]
(Continuing from the previous blog…) And going on to look at Paul in Corinth and Ephesus adds more fascinating detail on his preaching. He preached in both sacred (synagogues) and secular buildings (the lecture hall of Tyrannus). He argued (dialegomai) and persuaded (peitho). Both these verbs are used several times. Of course, argument and persuasion […]
In my daily times of prayer recently I’ve been going through the Acts of the Apostles and of course came to Paul in Athens: Paul the “simple”(?) disciple of Christ in that city of giant philosophers and intellectuals. He was “greatly provoked” by their idolatry (that is the same word that is used in Greek […]
I love that place at the beginning of the letter to the Hebrews where the writer says, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times (3,808 times it says “thus says the Lord”) and in various ways (literally “bits and pieces” – polumeros & polutropos), but in these last […]
I was reading John Eddison the other day and he could remember the knots he had learned a a Boy Scout. That brought memories for me of over 65 years ago of learning my knots with the Scouts too. He then introduced us to 4 Biblical knots: (i) FORGET NOT – Psalm 103:2. (ii) FEAR […]
