Here’s the outline notes of a sermon I preached yesterday. Introduction As a church we want to be a grace filled community – a radical alternative to the world and culture around us. This means that every aspect of what we do and how we live is saturated in this thing called grace. We need… Continue reading Grace (Ephesians 2:1-10)
Tag: Gospel
What the Archbishop didn’t say
Last weekend, before we got back to things like parties in Downing Street and whether the Prime Minister tells the truth, the media and social media were full of reports and debate about what the Archbishop of Canterbury had said in his Easter Day sermon. Reports focused on some statements critical of the UK’s Rwanda… Continue reading What the Archbishop didn’t say
An intentional detour of grace
In John 4:3-6 we read: 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was… Continue reading An intentional detour of grace
Discriminating home sellers
You may have picked up on the story of the home-owners who refused to sell their house to a same-sex couple. The story is I guess of personal interest to me because we are in the process of attempting to move home. Fascinatingly, something has come up repeatedly in conversations with estate agents, both when… Continue reading Discriminating home sellers
How to spot legalism
The other night, we were looking at Paul’s passionate plea and rebuke to the Galatian church, the one where he talks about wishing that the Judaizers would go all the way and just castrate themselves. The question came up about how we spot legalism at work. In the conversation, we talked about how legalism might… Continue reading How to spot legalism
Skin Deep? (Matthew 5:17-48)
“It doesn’t apply to me though.” That seems to be the general attitude of British people to laws we don’t like. If you need to pop up to Durham for a few days and the lockdown rules say no, then you can probably find an exception. Rules about unnecessary journeys don’t apply to me if… Continue reading Skin Deep? (Matthew 5:17-48)
Being Salty – We hide our light when …
“Witness … and where necessary use words.” It was one of the most over used, cliched and patently false little sayings doing the rounds when I was at uni. I think people also tried, without factual evidence to attribute it to St Francis of Assisi. The point is that you always, always need to use… Continue reading Being Salty – We hide our light when …
Did the Church miss an opportunity during lockdown?
It’s locked in my memory, my first ever Bradford City game. The year is 1986 and our next-door neighbour agreed I could go with him to see City play Huddersfield Town. We are stood in the crowd behind the goal, the ball is played into our centre forward, he is a couple of feet out… Continue reading Did the Church miss an opportunity during lockdown?
Should we sympathise with Dominic Cummings?
On Saturday May 23rd news broke that Dominic Cummings (Boris Johnson’s chief of staff) had allegedly broke the lockdown rules to visit his parents in Durham. Over the day, the story changed several times. The explanation was given that he went because he and his wife were beginning o show symptoms of COVID-19 and that… Continue reading Should we sympathise with Dominic Cummings?
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