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 […]
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 […]
From Pete Greig Thinking today about faith and the many set-backs we’ve faced along the way. How the simple act of not giving up has somehow made us stronger and maybe a bit wiser too. How the very things you’d expect to make us question everything have actually, ultimately deepened our faith. I guess if […]
Jarrod Cooper writes… A lot of songs might be confession, intercession or prayer, but they are not worship. Worship is when our focus is completely fixed on Him! The closer you get to the throne, in the bible, the more God-focussed the songs become. In the end it’s just Holy, holy, holy! In our gathered […]
(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 […]
We watched a film one evening last week. It came with a warning. “Viewers will find some dialogue in this film “racist”.” The remark reminded me that the Jews weren’t fond of foreigners. They would regard me as a “Gentile” (which I am) and would have nothing to do with me. “Gentile” in the New […]
