Posts

How (not) to let extremists win

Here is how it plays out if we are not careful.  A statue of a slave owning city father is taken down in Bristol. People then begin to talk about the unsavoury aspects of other people’s lives who have had statues put up to them, their ownership of slaves, their reference to other people in… Continue reading How (not) to let extremists win

The Lord of the Church

As we continue to live through Coronavirus, here are two questions to ask ourselves How are we going to get through the year ahead? How do we face A Troubled World – not just with reference to the virus, but the ongoing fear of terrorism, the challenge of Climate Change, a potential economic crisis, tensions… Continue reading The Lord of the Church

Pride, Prejudice and Privilege in The Church

Yesterday, we talked about pride, prejudice and privilege in society. Today, I want to think more about it in the context of the church.  One church that particularly struggled with division, rivalry and pride was the church at Corinth. Right at the start of 1 Corinthians, Paul has to rebuke the church because of this. … Continue reading Pride, Prejudice and Privilege in The Church

Protest

Here’s our #AfternoonTea discussion on protests. Key points include There is a long tradition of marching and demonstrating as a means of making our voices heard. There are democratic freedoms allowing us to do this and benefits include that it gives a sense of action and participation beyond simply marking a cross at the ballot… Continue reading Protest

Return of the King – How to read and teach Revelation

So we’ve learnt lots about the book of Revelation in terms of its genre, authorship, date and all the different approaches to interpreting it. This is all well and good but could leave us with just an interesting intellectual exercise. “16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true… Continue reading Return of the King – How to read and teach Revelation

We need to talk about privilege, pride and prejudice

I want to reflect a little further on the issues of prejudice, racism and classism and why these matter to the church. In so doing, I want to interact with an article that Garry Williams wrote on the matter for the Pastors Academy. I want to highlight four things he raised The problem of racism… Continue reading We need to talk about privilege, pride and prejudice

Hardening my heart to my own testimony

The theme of Hebrews 3 is that Jesus is greater than Moses. The argument building up through Hebrews is that Jesus fulfils and therefore is greater than all of the Old Testament. He is greater than the prophets, greater than angels, greater than Moses and the Law. In Hebrews 3, we see that Jesus is… Continue reading Hardening my heart to my own testimony

On tearing down statues

On the 9th April 2003, Iraqis gathered in Firdos Square following the Coalition invasion and tore down a statue of Saddam Hussein.  The world watched on and cheered as this event symbolised the freedom of the Iraqi people from slavery and tyranny. This week we have seen further attempts to tear down statues, some successful,… Continue reading On tearing down statues

Return of The King – Interpreting Revelation

Revelation has proved one of the most controversial books in the New Testament. One reason for this is that different people have taken different approaches to interpreting i Different Approaches Kistemaker helpfully lists the following different approaches. Preterist “that which has gone past”[1] to do with the time it was written -focusing on the events… Continue reading Return of The King – Interpreting Revelation