One of the frequent complaints during and after the COVID19 pandemic was that the decision to bring in a lockdown, including and particularly the closure of churches was disproportionate and outrageous. The belief is that Governments used the pandemic as a pretext. To bring in draconian rules to restrict our civil liberties. It has been… Continue reading Were COVID measures outrageous and unprecedented?
Posts
What does saving faith look like?
“How are you?” It’s a standard greeting but not one we expect a response to. We ask it, expecting the other person to say “I’m fine.” So, what do we do when the other person misses the social cues and gives an honest and reasonable answer to the question? Do we say “Bless you” and… Continue reading What does saving faith look like?
Have the National Trust got rid of Christmas and Easter?
It’s that time of year, we’ve had first sight of the big department stores’ adverts, Cliff Richard has released an album and the annual market stalls, lights (unless you live in Medway) and Ferris Wheels are going up. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. So, bang on time, along with complaints about the… Continue reading Have the National Trust got rid of Christmas and Easter?
Marching rights
At the weekend, I wrote about why I didn’t think that the Palestinian protest marches should go ahead on Armistice Day. Some people have argued that the protestors were right to go ahead with the demonstrations because there is an important right and freedom to assemble and protest. It’s important therefore to be clear about… Continue reading Marching rights
More reflections on calls for a ceasefire in Gaza
Today, several backbench MPs as well as the major opposition parties in the UK Parliament are putting down amendments to the Kings Speech calling for either a significant humanitarian pause in the war or full and a formal ceasefire. These motions have little chance of passing and even if they did would change very little… Continue reading More reflections on calls for a ceasefire in Gaza
The perfect law
James’ emphasis on practical faith could be mistaken for legalism. How does this fit with the Gospel? Well James now helps us to think about what it means to obey the Law of God, specifically as it relates to favouritism. A look at the text (Read James 2:8-13) The Law is “the royal law” of… Continue reading The perfect law
Faith, suffering and healing
One of the most common questions we tend to ask is to do with faith, suffering and healing. That’s probably because our health can be so often where we face suffering and where faith is tested. Even if we don’t face persecution, we are likely to face ill health at some point and will know people… Continue reading Faith, suffering and healing
Partiality
One of the crucial concerns that the New Testament letter writers shared was that church gatherings would be characterised by unity. For Paul, a significant aspect of this was the wiping out of ethnic divisions between Jew and Gentile, for James, the focus was on divisions based on class and wealth. A look at the… Continue reading Partiality
Grieving Together
We have experienced a significant amount of bereavement as a church family recently. A few of us have said goodbye to precious family members. In some cases it was something we were preparing for but in others it came as a total shock. Last week, we were hit with the news that someone who has… Continue reading Grieving Together
Common Grace without special grace?
I want to flesh out my thinking a little bit more on something I touched on in my comments on the M&S advert. There I engaged with the question “what were you expecting from an advert?” Was it crass, self-centred commercialism? Well yes of course. The question is whether we should have expected better. Others… Continue reading Common Grace without special grace?
Faithroots 