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Welcome to my newer, shinier, more relevant-to-me blog! My older, clunkier blog, mostly about theology and church politics is here.

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Monday Morning Mail, 23rd June 2014

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​ Yesterday morning, we started a new series in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus begins the sermon with a dramatic statement of what the "good life" looks like. Who is living well? Who has got life sorted? Here's what Jesus said from some less-familiar translations: Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! Congratulations to those who are mourning; they shall be consoled. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are to be envied, because they will be filled. Congratulations to the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Happy are the pure in heart – because they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom. Congratulations to you when they reproach you and...
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Monday Morning Mail, 7th April 2014

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Good Morning! Yesterday morning, we looked at John 12:1-11, which is the story of Mary anointing Jesus' feet with perfume that cost a year's wages. We saw that Mary's grateful, responsive, loving, extravagant, disgraceful love was exactly the right response to Jesus, even though it left her with no money, no provision for the future and her reputation in tatters. In contrast, Judas was shown to be hiding his real sin behind trying to look pious. One of the ways we applied it was by thinking about whether we hold back from worshipping God for fear of what other people think, whether that's when singing at church or when speaking to our friends at work or at the pub, or even whether we're sometimes, like Judas, people who sit on the sidelines and snipe at those who are putting their hearts into worshipping God. We also saw how Mary's action predicts what Jesus is about to do – that she becomes the servant who wash...
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Monday Morning Mail, 14th April 2014

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Good Morning All! For the Monday Mail this week, I'd like to send a link to Glen Scrivener's new Easter Poem (animation on Youtube). Here's the poem in full: The Israelites in thirsty lands, trod burning sands with desperate craving, no longer slaving for Egyptian masters, now by grace they're free to face this fresh disaster -- starving in a barren place. Until the Bread of Heaven fell like morning dew each day anew, and to these folks complaining, every day the Bread sustaining, to lead them all their journey through. Fast forward 1500 years: a Man appears, stands tall among His peers, And feeds the desert crowds without ado, A supernatural déjà vu. And having won the mob's attention then He makes His bold contention: He IS the Bread of old, the One foretold to feed us and through our wilderness to lead us. Could His claim be true? It's Thursday Night, an upper room, a supper strewn with broken bread, Then Jesus stands, a loaf in hand and says: THIS...
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