A fourth post in the 300th anniversary year of Daniel Defoe's novel, Robinson Crusoe (paid link), following on from one on the subject of contentment, a second on bondage of the will, and a third on providence.
Last Sunday, at our all-age service, we looked at the visit of the Magi, as recorded in Matthew 2:1-11.
(I know, 6 weeks early. There's a reason, but never mind).
Yesterday evening, I attended a General Election hustings organised by Churches Together in Sevenoaks and District. All 6 candidates for the Sevenoaks Constituency attended, and did a good job at tackling a range of questions fairly efficiently. The event was full, with most seats in the large nave of St Nicholas Sevenoaks taken. The tone was positive and engaging.
Coming away, I had a few thoughts, that I share here in no particular order.
Start with a couple concerning how Christians engage with politics.
2 Corinthians 2:15-17 says this:
For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.
Some regular readers may know I'm a fan of a free market.
That's to say: When someone buys something, and someone else correspondingly sells, it should be a free exchange. Both parties are convinced that they would rather buy / sell than remain as they are. Which means the price is whatever price is fair and agreeable to both parties.
I think it is harmful if the state interferes and tries to control prices on things.
The other day I was asked, certainly not for the first time, whether Christians may invest in the stock market.
Part of my job is to help Christians think through how biblical teaching applies in the nuts and bolts of daily life, so this is a very good question indeed. I've never written down my thoughts on this, and as the question recurs from time to time I thought it would be a help to jot things down.
So often, when you read a commentary on part of the Bible you're studying, you have pages and pages of material but the commentator doesn't seem to be puzzling over the same details of the passage as you are.
How refreshing when the commentator asks exactly the questions you were asking, and has some very sensible things to say.
A third post in the 300th anniversary year of Daniel Defoe's novel, Robinson Crusoe (paid link), following on from one on the subject of contentment and a second on bondage of the will.
The other day, I quoted from Daniel Defoe's novel, Robinson Crusoe (paid link), in this its 300th anniversary year.
Last weekend was the busiest of the year for Eurotunnel, as holidaymakers from France and across Europe head back to Britain for the start of the school year.
As a result, some delays are to be expected.
The staff at Eurotunnel did a very good job at communicating with their passengers. They sent text messages both 2 days beforehand and throughout the day, and responded rapidly on Twitter.
However my tweet went unanswered, and that prompted me to dig a little deeper. Maybe they were just busy, or maybe the question was close to the mark.
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