Tag: theology
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failure is not terminal
Biblical Text: Luke 41v13 I imagine we’ve all come into a room, or a gathering, maybe a few minutes later than everyone else, only to realise we have no idea what’s going on. There’s already an in-joke, and you are completely lost. Speaking of being lost, I had that experience while watching an episode of…
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turn away from sin
Biblical Texts: Psalm 51, John 8v1-11 ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.Turn away from sin, and be faithful to Christ.’ For years the church has set aside today, Ash Wednesday, as the beginning of the Lenten season. We receive the sign of the cross, a sign of both death and…
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Spiritual but not religious?
Biblical Text: James 1v19-27 Not too long ago, it wasn’t uncommon to hear the phrase, “I’m spiritual, but not religious.” If you asked someone what they thought about church, that was often the answer you got. There were plenty of reasons for this answer. Sometimes people would say it because they had lost faith in…
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a diverse faith
Biblical Text: Luke 2v22-40 What was the last thing you truly looked forward to? That you waited for expectantly? Christmas has just been and gone. Perhaps there was a particular present you were hoping to get, or to give. Or perhaps you’ve had the experience of waiting for a baby, whether yours or someone else’s.…
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a Christocentric ethic?
(A slightly different post. This is a very small portion of my thesis, in which I begin to argue that Christian ethics should be Christocentric, or it shouldn’t call itself ‘Christian.’ It’s a first draft, but if you’re interested I would love to hear your thoughts on this, as well as any areas you think…
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while we wait…
Biblical Texts: Malachi 3v1-4, Luke 3v1-6 Advent. A time of waiting. It is a time of the church year when we eagerly await the coming of Christ. The word comes from the Latin, meaning arrival, or coming. I love the church calendar, the liturgical year, because it takes us through the arc of God’s salvation…
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all the feelings
I don’t know where you stand politically, but I know for myself there are a whole mixture of emotions today. Anxiety, frustration, maybe a little foreboding. Having relatives and friends in the U.S., it’s hard to watch what is going on there and not be concerned. And what happens in the U.S. often has effects…
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a Christian hope
When we use the word “hope” today, most of the time we’re wishing something will or won’t happen. I hope I didn’t leave the oven on, I hope I feel better tomorrow, I hope it doesn’t rain this weekend. Or perhaps more seriously, I hope my kids are healthy, I hope I get that job,…
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a foundational prayer
Biblical Texts: Psalm 117, Luke 11v1-4 Today’s passage in Luke is so familiar it can easily go by unnoticed. For those of us in church regularly, we say this prayer so often it can become automatic. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s good to know things by heart, but sometimes it pays to slow…
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a harvest offering
Biblical Texts: 1 Timothy 6v6-10, Matthew 6v25-34 YouTube Link Our verses this morning might seem odd choices for a Harvest festival. First, there’s nothing from the Old Testament, where we can find plenty about harvest in general and food in particular. Second, there’s a lot about money. That’s not traditionally been a fun subject to…