Posts from 2017
How to talk to strangers
“It’s Sunday morning. The church service has just ended and you’re standing around, helping yourself to some morning tea. You see a new person and think, I should go over and talk to them. I’m supposed to be welcoming. But the whole thing is rather terrifying: Even if you did go over, what do you do? What do you say? What if your natural tendency towards social awkwardness turns them off and they end up leaving because of you?” Read more…
Five Great Reasons to Skip Reading Your Bible This Summer
“Summer is here! And we’ve got five great reasons to skip reading your Bible this summer: You’re on holiday You’re out of routine The kids are under your feet all day No one will notice It’s too hot But imagine if this summer were different…” Read more…
Observed by Grief
“I have been reading CS Lewis’s little tome, A Grief Observed, and it is simultaneously wounding and healing. There is too much of the book to like. So much I cannot quote any of it here. If you don’t have a copy, buy one. Read it as soon as possible. Read it in your grief. But read it in your joyous non-grief to prepare you for your grief to come.” Read more…
Prayers to Prayer for Unbelievers
“A friend asked the question: How do I pray for unbelievers? How do I pray effectively? I trust that every Christian regularly prays for family or friends or colleagues or neighbours who do not yet know the Lord. And while we can and must pray for matters related to their lives and circumstances, the emphasis of our prayers must always be for their salvation. Here are some ways the Bible can guide our prayers.” Read more…
Resumes Set Afire
“It is hard to imagine, but try slowly dismantling your resume. What personal achievements have some importance in your life? Include health, education, weight, fitness, general attractiveness and unique abilities. If you were to boast, what might you boast about? Now, toss these out one at a time. Do some hurt more than others? What is left when the achievements are gone?” Read more…
No Longer Talking
“We dehumanise as we distance ourselves from each other, depriving them and us of voice. Is it any wonder people are lonelier than ever? As Christians we must be different. We must be people who honour those made in the image of God, by speaking, listening and giving full attention just as our God does to us. If even having the phone on the table gives the wrong signal, let’s leave them aside. If having it buzz leaves us itching…
Praying for a Train Wreck
“Evangelism requires all kinds of boldness, but maybe part of what we need is the boldness to realise that, when we pray for someone’s conversion, what we’re really praying is that their life will become a train wreck—maybe before they’re converted, maybe after, or maybe both. A relationship may have to end. A job may have to be lost. An illness may have to be confronted. An idol may have to be shattered.” Read more…
The Beauty of Normal Boring Liturgy
“The sheer ordinary routine of gospel liturgy is a thing of beauty and strength in an increasingly ugly and weakened Western culture. Let’s never be the church of which someone might say when they visit another church when it opens the Bible to proclaim the excellencies of Jesus; “We don’t normally do that.” Read more…
Lady Jane Grey in 200 words
A profile of a significant woman Reformer: “Lady Jane Grey’s legacy is seen in the fact that after Bloody Mary’s death, England would never again be a Catholic nation. English history was forever changed by the gospel-fuelled martyrdom of a teenage queen.” Read more…
Teflon Slogans Versus Velcro Stories
“Stories are Velcro. They grip and hang on tight, refusing our desire to shake them off; paying no attention to our 21st century affectedness, our urban sophistication in which we assume we are above unconscious desire, and are instead well-researched, highly aware choosers and consumers of our own destinies. Faced with a reality in which the self-conscious self is a product that we now sell back to companies and organisations, with all of our social media sloganeering behind us, the…