I gather there is a new relationships guide with the straightforward title, Why You’re Not Married… Yet (I haven’t read it myself… yet). It suggests the reasons why a single woman doesn’t yet have a wedding ring on her finger. Interestingly, the author Tracey McMillan has been married three times herself, so she may not
Read moreDualism is the idea that there are equal forces of good and evil at work in the universe – God and the devil. And it is very easy to slip into that way of thinking. After all, God is good and the devil is evil, utterly opposed to God and everything God wants or values.
Read moreA great friend of mine, Richard Coekin, has written an excellent article called Making disciples by planting (read it if you can in The Briefing, Issue 401, Sept-Oct 2012), in which he looks afresh at Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:18-20 to “make disciples of all nations” and its implications for church-planting today. You may be
Read moreSeveral recent conversations, and now the case currently before the European Court of Human Rights, have reminded me how incomprehensible and offensive it seems to most people to say that homosexual practice is wrong. Words such as intolerant, narrow-minded, bigoted, old-fashioned and homophobic come quickly to mind. So, how can we...
Read moreAccording to one writer, the aim of the opening ceremony of the Paralympics was “to celebrate the human spirit, the possibilities that lie within us all.” And who could deny that it did that superbly? And when one reads the stories of the athletes and the terrible injuries they have overcome, and then to see
Read moreI hope you will permit me one more reflection on the Olympics. After all, I won’t be writing about it again for a while (probably!). One of the delights has been to see sports we didn’t know existed. Surely another has been to welcome nations we’d hardly heard of – and which we would struggle
Read moreDear Friends, Hasn’t the Olympics been fantastic? We have been spoilt day after day, feasting our eyes on the huge variety of skills we have seen spread before us: the speed of the sprinters, the endurance of the long-distance swimmers, the strength of the weightlifters, the courage of the divers, the accuracy of the shooters,
Read moreDear Friends, How do you feel about putting those two words together: “suffering” and “church”? It seems to me that it feels unnatural and abnormal. The suffering church is other Christians in other places and at other times. It isn’t us here now, so it cannot be normal! Yet, the New Testament would have us
Read moreDear Friends, What does it take for you to feel refreshed? A walk in the country? A good sleep? An engrossing read? A tough run? A heart-to-heart with a close friend? We are all made differently, so it is not surprising that we find our refreshment in different things. Sadly, though, perhaps some of us
Read moreDear Friends, Are you looking forward to the Olympics? There will be much to enjoy and to marvel at. The goodness of God’s creation will be on display as human beings, creatures made in God’s image, achieve the most extraordinary things. Sadly, there will also be much to be shocked and ashamed over, because the
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