Our first response to God’s goodness and greatness is worship. In fact, Calvin says that our first priority in life is to seek to be worshippers: “We should consider it the great end of our existence to be found numbered among the worshippers of God.”[1] We exist in a Christian culture where worship is often… Continue reading God’s goodness and greatness: Implications for worship
Tag: church
Life Together
Reading James will also remind us of the corporate dimension to our faith. This is not a letter to be read and applied individually in the privacy of your own home. I should apply what it says to my own life but I should also, all the more, see it as something written for whole… Continue reading Life Together
The danger of desperately seeking relevance
What put the focus on what churches were doing regarding the Women’s World Cup final was probably an article reporting the comments of the Bishop of Derby. It was in this article where she said that church life could in effect wnork around an event like a football final. However, people’s attention was caught and… Continue reading The danger of desperately seeking relevance
A discerning Church ( 1 Corinthians 4 )
Discernment is about making judgements about people and plans. How we do it? Well, contemporary society tells us that “the consumer is king.” It’s for us as customers to decide what is best for us, what we are worth, whether that’s about objects (cars, houses, TVs. Tablets etc), relationships or entertainment. Saturday night TV invites… Continue reading A discerning Church ( 1 Corinthians 4 )
Idols (Isaiah 6)
You can listen in to the sermon I preached on Isaiah 6, part of a whistlestop tour of the book on Sundays, here Idols (Isaiah 6)
Do we gather to worship?
Robert Strivens has reviewed William Taylor’s book “Revolutionary Worship” here. Taylor, following Vaughan Roberts and David Peterson argues that for the believer, worship language in Scripture is primarily about our everyday lives. Taylor’s primary aim seems to be to encourage people to think of their day to day activities in the home, workplace, school or… Continue reading Do we gather to worship?
He’s the good good shepherd
I love Psalm 23 and it was really helpful to hear a speaker talking about this at a recent church leaders’ retreat. On Sunday I shared my own attempt at a paraphrase of the Psalm. It’s been particularly on my mind over the past few days as it seems to link with a few particular… Continue reading He’s the good good shepherd
Why stripping back Sundays is helping me to think about Sabbath
I’ve recently commented that having been in a position for most of my life where I’ve attended church at least twice on Sunday, sometimes more, that now being in a place where we are only attending once, it feels in some ways that for the first time, the Christian Sabbath is doing its job. Now,… Continue reading Why stripping back Sundays is helping me to think about Sabbath
On singing when I don’t enjoy it
This week, Steve Kneale answered the question “If I don’t enjoy the songs at church, is it okay not to sing?” I broadly agree with much of what he has to say in his article. We live in an individualistic age where we believe that our desires and preferences come first. If we see church… Continue reading On singing when I don’t enjoy it
Sticking with church through tough times
It’s one thing to stick with a local church when everything is going well. If the church is growing, there’s a great music group, you relate well to the pastor and there are so many encouragements. What happens when the church is struggling though? What happens when there’s been falling out, the praise isn’t great… Continue reading Sticking with church through tough times
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