Tag: communion

A meal with Jesus

Throughout the Gospels, some of the great encounters with Jesus happen at mealtime.  We are coming to the close of Mark’s Gospel and the last meal in his account is no ordinary supper.  Jesus and his disciples are in Jerusalem for the Passover.  The Passover meal commemorated the night when the people of Israel prepared… Continue reading A meal with Jesus

The pandemic elephant in the room. What happened to our reformed theology?

This is a little bit of a lament.  I come from the Reformed tradition theologically.  We pride ourselves in this tradition on deep theological reflection. This theological reflection is meant to be rooted in detailed exegesis of the text set within two important theological disciplines, Biblical Theology which enables us to see how God’s redemptive… Continue reading The pandemic elephant in the room. What happened to our reformed theology?

The solution to toxic culture? – a meal with Jesus

Has there been anything in history comparable to the horrific things reports of abuse, bullying and toxic culture coming from evangelical churches over the past few years? Well, yes there has. Right back in the first century, the mission of the church could have almost been undone by the antics of the Corinthian church. There… Continue reading The solution to toxic culture? – a meal with Jesus

We need to do better at deep and charitable theological engagement (another lesson from COVID)

You are a church leader and you’ve just been told by the government that due to a pandemic ripping through the population, you will now need to suspend public services as part of a national lockdown. You know that schools, pubs, restaurants, theatres and sports stadia are being closed. You know that people are being… Continue reading We need to do better at deep and charitable theological engagement (another lesson from COVID)

George Floyd, justice and why the optics do matter

I woke yesterday to the news that George Floyd’s killer, Derek Chauvin has been convicted. This is good news because it means justice for Floyd’s family, but it does not deal with the issue of racism.  In fact, it is concerning that some people are still trying to separate out the race issue here and… Continue reading George Floyd, justice and why the optics do matter

Should children take communion?

I’m reposting a couple of articles from a few years back about baptism and communion -especially as it relates to children. I’m doing this partly because these are topics that are always worth revisiting but also because I’m currently preparing some articles following up further on the question of church culture. In some of the… Continue reading Should children take communion?

Is “open or closed communion?” the right question?

One of the graces in COVID is that it has pushed us hard to think about some key aspects of church life such as “What really is gathered worship?” and “What are the priority ministries of a church in the week?” There has also been quite a bit of discussion about when, how and why… Continue reading Is “open or closed communion?” the right question?

Zoom communion revisited

Back when we first went into lockdown, our church decided to use zoom and Facebook to enable us to continue gathering. We recognised that these means were not perfect but we felt that the Scriptural injunction to gather was so important that we should try by every means possible to do so. As a church… Continue reading Zoom communion revisited

Journey out of lockdown – return to the Church building with communion

Yesterday was our first opportunity to meet again physically after the second English lockdown.  After the first lockdown, we kept things simple at the building. We decided not  to recommence communion and we continued to stream a Facebook service from someone’s home which people could then opt to watch at the building. Yesterday we did… Continue reading Journey out of lockdown – return to the Church building with communion