This is a short message to wish you all a Happy Christmas. What a wonderful way to celebrate the special day by being able to celebrate it on the Lord’s Day. I hope that you are celebrating with great joy and that this includes giving and receiving some fantastic gifts. All of the little presents… Continue reading The wondrous gift
Author: faithrootsdw
Is it against the law to pray silently in my head?
There’s been much controversy created around an incident in the Kings Norton area of Birmingham where a woman has allegedly been arrested for the crime of praying silently in her head. As is often the case, the details suggest a situation that is a little more complex. You can watch the actual arrest here. You… Continue reading Is it against the law to pray silently in my head?
Happy Christmas or mere escapism?
I’d like to wish all of my readers a Happy Christmas but does this mean that I’m deluding myself. To get caught up in a celebration about peace and joy may feel like a little trip into escapism. We talk about hope but there doesn’t appear to be much of that around. This year started… Continue reading Happy Christmas or mere escapism?
The whole Christmas story
A few weeks back, Glen Scrivener commented on twitter to the effect that the Gospel was the best story, it was complete, incomparable, unbeatable. There was general agreement with this although some asked whether he would concede that the prequel found in the Old Testament came pretty close and was essential to the strength of… Continue reading The whole Christmas story
Should we cancel church on Christmas Day?
There’s been some debate, some of it heated about whether or not churches should be gathering this Sunday. Particularly in the United States, there are a lot of churches that seem to have decided to hold services because Sunday clashes with Christmas Day. The argument has been that churches are in effect prioritising the holiday… Continue reading Should we cancel church on Christmas Day?
Organ Donation?
I sometimes am asked my opinion about organ donation. There seem to be two issues at stake. The first is that some people are worried about whether Christians may donate organs such as their heart, kidneys, corneas etc to help others with serious illness or disease. The other issue that comes up is that some… Continue reading Organ Donation?
You didn’t respond the way we wanted
Just a further follow up on the Stephen Sizer case. In my original article on this, I commented that: First, there is a lot of upset and grievance generally within the conservative evangelical constituency. The result is that at times it seemed that some prominent leaders could do no right. Lots of niggles and complaints… Continue reading You didn’t respond the way we wanted
The true star of Christmas
The star of Bethlehem dominates some carols and many nativity plays. I remember the nativities I was involved in at school often involving the three kings (let’s not get into that one) following a moving star all the way from the Orient (again, something for another day) to Jerusalem and then on to Bethlehem. Have… Continue reading The true star of Christmas
The inconvenient God
A friend of ours, Anna, is training for Church of England ordination and recently was asked to take an RE lesson in school. She asked the children to suggest words and phrases that they associate with God. What is God like? One child responded: God is inconvenient” What an incredible and honest statement, there’s the… Continue reading The inconvenient God
The missing verse of Christmas
I wonder what the preacher will preach on today at the Christmas Day service. There’s a good likelihood that he will pick up on the account in Luke 2. If they do, I suspect that the reading will focus on v1-20. We’ll hear about the census, the journey to Bethlehem. We may well hear quite… Continue reading The missing verse of Christmas
Faithroots 