Tag: grace
-
Here be dragons
It may help you to read yesterday’s bloggage at this point and then come back, in order to set a context. Done that? Good. On ancient maps, so we are told, where the map maker had run out of knowledge at the edge of the map they would write ‘Here be Dragons’ or similar warnings…
-
Communion calamities
Warning: if Eucharist / Lord’s Supper / Mass / Communion is something you hold very special and sacred you may want to ignore this bloggage as it contains innocent yet childish irreverence on that theme. As far back as I can remember I have attended Baptist Churches. First of all because my parents took me, and…
-
Much wailing and gnashing of teeth?
Yesterday we arrived back home after a lovely holiday in Lanzarote. Not too much sunburn and lots of relaxing. I highly recommend these holydays. This morning I woke up in my post-holyday bliss and happily tucked into some toast and a cup of coffee. Today I was due to have a tooth extracted under sedation.…
-
the parable of the good…
If Jesus was telling the parable of the Good Samaritan to a church today (recognising that he had a religious audience) who would be the characters in order to have the same shocking impact as the Jewish victim and the Samaritan hero? It’s worth noting that even though the Samaritan was the hero of his…
-
golf grace
I recently took part in a golf tournament. Well, ‘tournament’ might be a bit of an exaggeration. There were seven ‘threes’ and as well as playing for individual glory there was also a team competition between the ‘threes’. I was delighted that our team came second! This is not, I hasten to add, because I…
-
have you found what you are looking for?
I have loved U2 for ages, ever since the Joshua Tree album blew me away with its amazing sound and gospel-esque harmonies (check out ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’, for example). I have been fascinated by the Christian influence in their music and in their passion for justice at all levels of…
-
a frame of thrones
It is Neolithic Britain. The tribe was proud of the new king because he had overseen the building of Stonehenge. They decided to build him a special house. They put up wooden pillars and then wove together the strong marsh grass into panels which formed the walls and roof. The king was very proud of…
-
So close…
A wealthy young insurance broker came to Jesus and asked him how he could secure his eternal future. He had lived a good life and, to the best of his knowledge, he had not broken the Ten Commandments in any major way. Surely that was enough. Jesus’ response is filled with pathos as says, “You…
-
Forgiveness
Following yesterday’s bloggage about ‘sorry’ I want to offer some reflections this morning about forgiveness: the other side of the coin. Yesterday I suggested that Elton John was wrong when he sang that “Sorry is the hardest word” because I think it can be harder to forgive than to ask for forgiveness. Often I am…
-
Was Elton John wrong?
After a couple of days’ respite, the incessant flow of bloggerel resumes. Sorry about that. I am sorry if you missed me during my days off. Or I am sorry if you are disappointed that I have started again. Either way, I am sorry. Elton John sang in 1976, “Sorry seems to be the hardest…
nukelearfishing 