This Christmas our theme for all of our Christmas outreach events has been Home For Christmas. Unsurprisingly our theme tune has been Chris Rea’s driving home for Christmas. Today we heard the sad news that the singer had died aged 74 after a short illness. One of my earlier articles connected the home theme to… Continue reading Driving home for Christmas … Make sure you know the way
Tag: heaven
Are there different levels of reward in “heaven”?
We tend to emphasise that we are saved by grace alone so that we cannot boast in our works and this has tended to result in a dismissal or downplay of the suggestion that good lives here can affect our experience of eternal life and the extent to which we will be rewarded in heaven. … Continue reading Are there different levels of reward in “heaven”?
What happens when we die?
It’s funny, the things we get finicky about and the things we relax about when someone dies isn’t it? I was intrigued by one conversation I observed on social media following the death of the late pope. It was in response to Stephen Kneale’s excellent article about how we should respond to the news. As… Continue reading What happens when we die?
Reckoning
Luke 16 brings together two parables, one is the story of a shrewd manager who is identified at first as dishonest but ends up commended. The second story tells us the fate of a rich man and the beggar who lived at his gate. Both parables are unique to Luke. Sandwiched between them is some… Continue reading Reckoning
Imagine: The Paris Olympics and how a song and a ceremony offered the only message they could
The idea of an opening ceremony for something like the Olympics seems fairly straight forward. You welcome the contestants, spectators and referees/umpires, you declare the event to have begun and then you let everyone sit back and enjoy the spectacle to come. The thing about sport is that it is an incredible visual spectacle and… Continue reading Imagine: The Paris Olympics and how a song and a ceremony offered the only message they could
The chorus of Creation
This week’s Faithroots Podcast on Revelation 4
Going Home: death, grieving and life in between
It’s something we all have to face at some point. This last year we were hit with the double whammy of seeing my father in law and then my mum die within a few weeks if each other. But we do not grieve as those without hope. Here is some teaching on John 14 from… Continue reading Going Home: death, grieving and life in between
A party in heaven?
On what would have been my mum’s birthday, I made this comment on twitter. Some guy saw this as his opportunity to attempt to provoke a reaction, telling me how terrible, immature and unbiblical my theology of heaven was. I’m not quite sure why he saw fit to wade into the grief of someone he… Continue reading A party in heaven?
Do you know where you are going? Does everyone else know where you are going?
Back when mum and dad were living in Shenzhen, I went out to visit them a few times. On one occasion we went up to Beijing. We got a taxi from the airport to our hotel. After a little while we began to think that the journey was taking far longer than it should. Then… Continue reading Do you know where you are going? Does everyone else know where you are going?
He is going ahead of you
When the women are looking for Jesus at the empty tomb, the angels reassure them that Jesus is not in the tomb, not because the body has been stolen but because Christ is risen and he has gone ahead of them. In that immediate context, it meant that Jesus had gone ahead back to Galilee… Continue reading He is going ahead of you
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