Sabbath as restoring or restorying?
Perhaps the title of this post is a little too clever, but it started as a throw away question in a podcast I was half listening to while going through my paces at the gym. My location is important, as it meant I was trying to follow a thoughtful discussion whilst gasping for breath and wondering if I would still be alive in ten minutes. In other words, I might well have missed the subtlety of the argument, but it did set me thinking. So what was the speaker getting at when asking if the Sabbath is primarily about restoring or restorying? I think the implication was that when most people...
Read MoreNot such a silent night…
Back in the 1990’s I was part of a tour which started in Egypt and finished in Israel. Naturally a visit to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was part of the agenda. I had high hopes for the time, and imagined myself bowing the knee at the Grotto Cave where it is thought Jesus was born. Like the Wise Men of old, my pilgrimage was to worship the One whose coming reshaped all of human history, and all of my own history. The start of the visit was unpromising. Our tourist busload was one of far too many. I am sure the size of the crowd broke every OHS regulation and indeed, so many...
Read MoreOrlando and Singing: Insights from other blogs…
You have heard enough of my voice in recent posts, so I thought I would do a cut and paste from two other blogs to vary the diet. The first is a brief response to the Orlando tragedy, the second asks why people aren’t singing in church anymore (and do you agree with that sentiment? Are people singing at your church?) Hope you find them helpful. On the Orlando Massacre (Jesus Creed) From Archbishop Justin Welby: In the wake of the appalling attack in Orlando, I’ve released this joint statement with the Archbishop of York John Sentamu: “After Sunday’s attack in Orlando, as Christians we must...
Read MoreA time to speak: 10 Reasons to speak up…
The last post looked at 10 reasons why silence is golden. But there is a flipside. The writer of Ecclesiastes 3 is right. There is a time for everything under heaven… and that includes both a time for silence and a time to speak up. Here are 10 signs that it is the time to speak… 1) While we should be still and know that God is God, when that truth dawns on us, we should not be slow to sing out His praise. Just as there is a place for quiet contemplative worship, there is also a place for joyous, rowdy, exuberant praise. The Psalmist writes, ‘Sing out my soul the glory of...
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