Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. (1 John 4:7)
Today, the Church of England's General Synod meets for 3 days; on the agenda for tomorrow is a debate and then a vote on "final approval" of the measure that could see women become Bishops in the Church of England. … Read more about Beloved, let us love one another
A friend recently e-mailed me to ask for advice as he looks for a church to join in a new town that he'd moved to with his young family.
Part of what I wrote back may be of help to others, so I thought I'd paste it here. … Read more about Finding a church
Fulcrum have recently issued a statement articulating their view on the vote before General Synod, this November, on whether to proceed with women as bishops. … Read more about Women bishops: Let your yes be yes, and your no no.
Many Anglican Churches across the country still use the 1662 Book of Common Prayer for some of their services. That is a good thing. It's theology is not without fault, but it attained a high standard of theology that has not been reproduced in any liturgies written since. A high proportion of all of its services are taken straight from Scripture, with the effect that a great number of Scriptures are read during any BCP service. The BCP takes the Bible, and turns it into a prayer book. … Read more about BCP Lectionary
Next Sunday (24th June), at our 10.30 service, we will sing the hymn Immortal Invisible. It's well known.
And, it turns out, mis-known.
I simply copied the words from the recent hymn book, Praise!, to insert on our service sheet. The version they include is copyright to Jubilate Hymns, but what struck me was that there were more changes here than just modernised words. The last two verses contained (between them) some of the thoughts of the last verse most of us sing, but were clearly two entirely different verses. … Read more about Immortal, Invisible, God only wise
I love this quotation from Abraham Kuyper, quoted by Pastor Doug Wilson. … Read more about Application at the Heart of Preaching
A year ago, my friend James Cary wrote a short piece entitled "What's so good about Good Friday?"
Reading that would be two minutes of your time well-spent. … Read more about What's so good about Good Friday
What's going on when someone preaches?
How does God's word preached relate to God's word written?
How does the sermon relate to the other parts of a church service?
How does preaching relate to / differ from the other contexts and events in which we hear God's word?
How do the words of the preacher relate to the words of God?
Where does the Spirit fit into preaching?
The Adam Smith Institute have published an article (provocatively) called The Church of England is barking up the wrong tree.
It is well worth reading, inviting us to think a little more carefully what a Christian engagement in the realms of politics and economics should look like. … Read more about The church's engagement in politics and economics
I'm delighted to commend to readers of this blog an upcoming day conference in North London. It is organised by Emmanuel Church in North London, where my friend Steve Jeffery is the minister. One of the things I have always appreciated about Emmanuel is the way they enjoy putting events on that will serve the wider church.
Here's some of the blurb from their website.
