Cross-carrying or rest? The Matthew 10:38 and 11:28 paradox.
In a church I served as pastor, several leaders from the church would meet for prayer before each service. Though sincere, the prayers were predictably repetitious and I’d often be able to pick what someone would pray before they said it. One favourite was the request that God would “comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” It’s kinda clever, though now I’ve heard it in so many places I realise it didn’t have the originality I initially ascribed to it. It points to an interesting little paradox. Are churches about comforting disturbed people, or...
Read MoreLeaders as weight carriers…
I’ve been thinking about leadership lately – perhaps not too surprising as on the 14 June I have a book coming out on the topic, Stirrers and Saints lest you are interested, but much more about that in future blogs. There are so many possible answers to the question, “What do leaders do?” but the one I have been pondering is “leaders carry weight on behalf of others.” Let me elaborate. A few months back I was chatting to a school principal who was a little ruffled because a staff member had exploded at him for making a one off change to the school program. It...
Read MoreGuarding God’s Reputation: Is God a Moral Monster?
Like many who went to school in the sixties and seventies, my day started with an assembly at which the Lord’s prayer was said. We’d rush through it, and I can confidently affirm that it is possible to say it in well under 8 seconds. Not that I’d advise it. After all, the sentiments are so rich, you don’t want to miss them. Do you remember how Matt 6:9 starts? “This then is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.'” In my sub 8 second scramble I never paused to reflect on what it meant. If you had asked me I suspect I would...
Read MoreDelays: A spirituality for flying…
I’m writing this blog at the airport. It’s my fourth flight in two weeks and each has been delayed. Apparently I will now be boarding in 6 hours time. None of the delays has been weather related, so my temptation is to go on a rant against everyone’s favourite airline – but I won’t do that. Instead I thought: “Let me put what I so often say to the test. Instead of raging against what I can’t control, let me see if my advice to spot God in the unexpected means anything when my plans don’t go as I’d hoped.” So what am I saying to...
Read MoreBecause You are Called…
Through some slightly unusual circumstances I’ve been asked to preach on the same topic (at different churches) for a few weeks in a row. The topic? “Called”. Or “Because you are called”. Perhaps you could say I’ve been called to preach on being called – but perhaps that’s trying to be too smart. I love the idea behind “called”. It presupposes two really important things. One – that there is a caller, and two, that this caller notices us – notices us enough to call us. Both make a radical difference to the way we are...
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