Category: God with us
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teddy bear theology
A couple of Sundays back we held a wedding blessing in our morning service. It may be old hat to some of you to do things that way, but it’s not something I have ever done before. The wonderful couple [they read my bloggages so I have to say that ;-)] had been married 10…
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the sequel
I had an interesting and helpful conversation with someone this morning following yesterday’s bloggage. They helped me realise that I needed to expand a bit more on what I had written, so consider this the sequel. I finished yesterday by saying that Jesus offers us life in all its fullness as the Creator’s intended answer…
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all by myself?
My wife and daughter have abandoned me. Temporarily. They are staying with her Mum for a few days during the half term holiday. I know it’s silly and irrational but the house feels very different when they are away. Even during the daytime, when Sally and Hannah are at work and school respectively and I’m,…
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if the wind changes your face will stay like that
What is the origin of that old wives’ tale? Presumably an old wife told the story of how someone pulled a silly face and the wind changed just at the moment that person suffered a facial muscle spasm and couldn’t change their face. I did some online research and have not found a conclusive answer,…
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in the beginning
For some reason this morning my thoughts turned to the opening words of Genesis (and John’s gospel too): “In the beginning…” They are quite momentous words, it’s a phrase of epic proportions. Regardless of what you think about what comes afterwards, “In the beginning…” sets us up with considerable expectations. I imagine the words have…
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Christmas presence
As Christmas day gallops gleefully towards us I thought it may be time for a more serious reflection than some of the fluffy frivolity of recent days. So here goes… The ten best things of this Christmas so far (in no particular order): Hosting carol services and nativity plays for a local school on our…
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beware the thoughts that sneak up on you…
Tonight at our church we are holding our monthly prayer meeting. If you are a regular bloggite here you will know that we have been exploring different aspects of prayer in our morning services at the moment. I have been trying to encourage people to pray together (see last Sunday morning’s sermon – or rather…
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I can’t hear you…
In our new morning sermon series on prayer we are looking to be honest and (I hope) practical. So next Sunday morning we are looking at praying ‘when God is silent’. My evangelical hackles instinctively go up when I come across a statement like that. Of course he is not silent. God is always communicating…
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unwelcome epiphanies
Last night I had an unwelcome epiphany. I woke up at about 4am with my brain processing all of the sermon preparation I had been doing yesterday. I am exploring 1 Corinthians 2 in our evening service and have been struggling to find an overarching narrative that makes sense of the passage. I had delved…
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God hurts
I am hesitant to put fingers to keyboard today. Last week contained so much tragedy on personal, national and international levels that I do not want to come out with anything trite, patronising or disrespectful. I am fully capable of all three! I hope I am none of these things today. What does God make of…
nukelearfishing 