Articles, thoughts, essays, and content from Brian as well as students – our budding theologians.
Managing Monday: Quotes as the New Year approaches…
As 2016 enters its final few days, here are a few quotes worth thinking about… There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind – C.S.Lewis What feels like the end is often the beginning – Anon You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine – Jessica Gordon Ryan There comes a day when you realize turning the page is the best feeling in the world, because you realize there is so much more to the book than the page you were...
read moreIf Christmas hadn’t happened…
As Christmas approaches, I have reproduced a piece I wrote for Christmas a few year ago and which appears in my latest book Could this be God? Bumping into God in the Everyday. Hope you enjoy it – and I do hope that Christmas provides a chance for you to connect more closely with the One who assuredly entered our world as a little baby thing… If Christmas hadn’t happened A rather harassed looking student popped into my office a few days back, claiming a mental block whilst doing an assignment. For some, that’s a permanent...
read moreManaging Monday: Some quotes for Christmas…
With Christmas around the corner, I sifted through a hundred or so Christmas quotes on Pinterest, and discovered a few I thought worth pondering… Advent is synonymous with hope, not the vain waiting for a faceless god, but concrete and certain trust in the return of him who has already visited us. – Pope John Paul II Look for Christ and you will find Him. And with Him, everything else. – C.S.Lewis Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else...
read moreWhen family fails…
At Carey we recently finished a preaching series on the life of David – author of so many of the Psalms, and Israel’s most successful king. One of my topics was the family life of David – notable largely for its failure. As a fair few people found my reflections on the topic helpful, I decided to post my sermon notes on the blog. Perhaps the messiness of David’s situation might, in some round about way, be helpful for you… Don’t know if you had any imaginative dreams during your childhood. In my fantasy moments I...
read moreBorrowed Spaces: A Meditation for Advent
Audrey Francis has contributed to this blog on a few occasions. Recently she sent me this meditation for advent ‘Borrowed Spaces’ – allowing me to use it on the blog and also to give you permission to use and reuse it as you see fit, so long as you credit her as the author. Audrey recently completed her studies at Vose Seminary, and has a lifetime of service behind her, including a period as a missionary nurse in Africa. Borrowed Spaces A Meditation for Advent Her time was near, time to give birth to her first- born. She...
read moreWhy the angels sang…
With the Advent season officially upon us, I thought it would be worth turning our thoughts towards Christmas. In an Advent message a few years ago I asked the question if the angels were right to sing a song of joy the night Jesus was born. Would a dirge not have been more appropriate given the shameful response Jesus met with? Here are some of the things I said… When at high school I was the chairman of the school debating team. I quickly learnt that there were two sides to just about any argument, and that it didn’t really matter if...
read moreManaging Monday with C.S.Lewis – Take 4
C.S.Lewis is one of the most oft quoted people. His insights are pithy and effortlessly and clearly get to the heart of each matter he addresses. A few weeks ago I posted on C.S.Lewis as apologist, and so it seemed appropriate to follow up with some of his wisdom in selected quotes for Managing Monday. This is the last of this short series from Lewis (well, for a while…) In our own case we accept excuses too easily; in other people’s, we do not accept them easily enough (from The Weight of Glory) If God forgives us we must forgive...
read moreDebating Dawkins: Confronting the New Atheists…
I recently finished teaching a paper on apologetics at Vose Seminary where I serve as principal. I am currently finishing off marking the assignments that resulted, and while I would be the first to admit that marking is my least favourite part of the job, every now and then a student writes an essay that reverses that, and I am reminded again of why I teach. A few days ago I read Vose student Robert Barthurst’s essay Debating Dawkins. The class had been asked to imagine that they had to debate one of the New Atheists – and could...
read moreManaging Monday with C.S.Lewis – Take 3
Recently this blog explored C.S.Lewis as apologist. You find Lewis sayings everywhere – indeed, he is apparently one of the most oft quoted people on Twitter. Here are some of his memorable insights from a selection of his works… Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see (from God in the Dock) What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are (from The...
read moreManaging Monday with C.S.Lewis – Take 2
Recently this blog explored C.S.Lewis as apologist. You find Lewis sayings everywhere – indeed, he is one of the most oft quoted people on Twitter. Here are some of his memorable insights from a selection of his works… Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different (from Prince Caspian) It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to (from The Problem of Pain) Forgiveness does not mean excusing (from Fern Seed and Elephants) All...
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