Tag: theology
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forks in the road…
Biblical Text: Luke 9.57-end There’s a theme throughout the book of Luke, and indeed the gospels as a whole. It’s the invitation to follow Jesus. I say, invitation, but that’s not quite right. Sometimes Jesus invites others to follow, and sometimes others seemingly make the first move. Our reading today has both. Two people say…
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take nothing…
Biblical Text: Luke 9.1-6 Sometimes it can be hard to know what to make of a gospel passage. What does this brief story in the life of Jesus say to us in the 21st century? Jesus’ sending out of the twelve in Luke comes just after he has healed a woman from her bleeding and…
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for those that are lost…
Biblical Text: Luke 15.1-10 The verses that we heard this morning, are perhaps not quite as well known as the story, the parable that comes directly afterward. That, of course, is the parable of the prodigal son. But the parables Jesus tells of the lost sheep and the losy coin, and then of the prodigal…
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not hearers only…
Biblical Text: Matthew 13v1-9, 18-23 A couple of years ago, while we were still living in Durham, I joined a thousand or so others, and ran a 5k through the city. If you’d been near the finish, you might have caught a glimpse of me, trying to stay upright as I careened down the hill…
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the visible image…
Biblical Texts: Colossians 1v15-20; Luke 10v38-end Some documents are foundational to who we are, so important that if we were lose them we’d really be in trouble. Recently my wife was applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK, and we spent a lot of time making copies of our birth certificates, marriage certificate,…
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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…