Category: free sample of Jesus
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what’s the point of shouting?
As I sit in my office at the church building where I serve I can hear a man shouting very loudly in the street outside. I can’t hear what he is bellowing but his tone is very aggressive and I can hear a female voice being drowned out by his shouts. It is distressing to…
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is equality possible?
I thought I would offer a controversial heading to this bloggage by way of click-bait – getting you wondering what I might possibly be thinking… We have human rights legislation that enshrines principles of equality in law. I think that there is a general assumption that equality is ‘a good thing’. But is it possible,…
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When a welcome is not enough
Many years ago, Sally and I visited a church for a morning service. I won’t embarrass it here by naming it as I would hope that things have changed in the past 30+ years! We were looking for a new church to call our spiritual home, but had to leave soon after the service ended,…
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welcoming questions and doubts
I used to think that having questions and doubts was a bad thing: they showed that I lacked faith or was ‘backsliding’. I have come to realise that I was 100% wrong. Questions are good, doubts are good. Yes, really. Questions show that something matters to you. If it didn’t matter, you wouldn’t worry about…
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new blog post this is
Ever since I was a ten-year-old who went with his Dad to the cinema to see a new film called ‘Star Wars (a new hope)’ I have been a fan of that film franchise. There’s something about the galactic struggle between the forces of good and evil (or the light and dark side of ‘the…
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splashes of grace
On Easter Monday my wife, Sally, and I went for a walk at a local reservoir. It was a mild day and we decided to walk all the way around the reservoir. After a while we stopped and I took this photograph, and then we saw a bench so sat on it to have a…
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Who is Easter for?
I have been an ordained Baptist Minister for over 30 years. I have learnt a few things over those years (I would be worried if I hadn’t). I am a different minister today from the rookie who emerged blinking into the daylight of local church life from the low-light environment of a theological training college.…
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A Danish folktale (sort of)
With apologies to Hans Christian Andersen There was once a land ruled by a vain Emperor. He loved saying how great he was: “The best Emperor ever, people are all saying that.” The Emperor loved it even more when people said nice things about him and he would give jobs to the people who would…
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the certainty of uncertainty
Some things are certain. Scientific laws are an example, such as gravity: you can’t stop it, it’s always true. I remember as a child finding it amusing to read: “Gravity is a myth, the earth sucks!” But the reality is that gravity is always gravity. The strength of it may change (for example it’s different…
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Everyone has a book in them… but it may not want to come out
A very long time ago I had an idea for a novel. I even had what I thought was a clever title. So, I started writing. It’s set in a specific time period and, as I wrote, I was delighted to see how actual events happened around that time which I could incorporate into the…
nukelearfishing 