Tag: Jesus
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doubt that is bigger than ants
A while back I remember reading a little phrase that stuck with me because it needed to be mulled and pondered and reflected on: “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.” Apparently it was Frederick Buechner who wrote that in Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC. I found it amusing, and…
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blind to the truth?
Recently I acquired a study. The garage in our house has been converted into a study. It’s a lovely space in which to work, study and meet people and makes my life a lot easier. It’s also downstairs, which helps (not too many upstairs garages though, so I guess you realised that). And it’s much…
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Maunding
(This is another ‘Thought for the week’ that is being shared with EBA Ministers today) You may have heard or read Tony Campolo talking about how he was preached off the platform by an old Minister whose theme was “It’s Friday…. but Sunday’s coming!” Tomorrow that theme comes to life (and death). But today it’s Maundy…
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spam, spam, spam, spam
The first time I got one of those emails it was quite exciting. I was being offered the opportunity to make a life-changing amount of money simply by helping a poor war widow from Africa to gain access to her late husband’s estate. All they needed was to use my bank account for a few…
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The parable of the okay Samaritan
(This is the most recent parable we are sharing with our churches. It is based on The Message paraphrase of the Bible). Just then a religious scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?” He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you…
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stone-faced
I was just innocently browsing my news feed on Facebook (other social media sites are available, apparently) and was struck by something someone had posted: they said that they were no longer welcome in a particular church. Now, I do not know the person in question. I do not know any of the context. So…
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eh?
As I was driving home after spending an inspirational morning with one of our Chaplains I was listening to some music and realised for the first time that I had misheard some of the lyrics, and had kept that misheard interpretation in my mind for many years. Coincidentally I also saw a post on Facebook…
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praying
This morning I spent some time at a prayer space at South Woodham Evangelical Church and found it very helpful. During the time several different thoughts occurred to me and a couple of them stuck. One is that I personally find it a lot easier to spend time in prayer if I have activities to engage…
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face-planting in the highest
If you are a dog owner you will probably know how dogs like to find the smelliest, muddiest, sludgiest places in which to wallow and roll. And they then come back to you wagging their tails, feeling very proud of themselves. I have a feeling that they think that they are doing something nice for…
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confession is good for the soul
Among the presents I received for Christmas was this: You might be wondering why someone would give a 48 year-old man a Beano Annual (although if you know me you probably won’t be at all surprised). It was from my sister. And it was a gift in response to something I did many years ago,…
