In our church we started the year with a week of prayer. It’s a good pattern, which fits in with one of our sayings “Pray First!”. But prayer is, of course, ongoing and daily. So I thought it would be good to take a closer look at what we call The Lord’s Prayer over the next few blogs. The prayer is recorded twice in the Gospels. In Matthew (Matt 6:9-13) it forms part of the Sermon on the Mount, while…
We were out walking the dog on Boxing Day, when we met some friends who said how much they enjoyed Boxing Day as it was not particularly planned, and they could just ‘chill’. Then they said how someone was playing carols on the radio, which they didn’t like as ‘Christmas is over now’. I thought that was a pity. It’s as though Christmas is symbolised by our decorations – we get them out of a box until it’s all over…
A few weeks ago, I was asked to preach a sermon which is not something I’ve done for quite a while. I don’t think it was one of my most memorable, but what is interesting is how the topic has stuck with me. I was speaking on Matthew 13:1-23, the Parable of the Sower. It’s the first of a series of parables, and one where Jesus not only gives the story to the crowd, but also answers his disciples’ question…
In the year King Uzziah died Isaiah 6:1 King Uzziah had been king for 52 years which was one of the longest reigns of the period. He began his reign when he was only 16 and ‘did what was right in the eyes of the Lord’. At the start of his reign he ‘set himself to seek God’ and was instructed ‘in the fear of God’ by the prophet Zechariah. Because of all this, God made him prosperous. He brought…
The story so far: the people of Israel have been set free from slavery in Egypt. It was done miraculously – ten plagues, parting of the Red Sea, destruction of Egyptian army, provision of food and water in the wilderness, defeat of an enemy. Along the way the people managed to drive Moses to distraction with grumbling and complaining – talk about how soon we forget! Eventually they get to a place where God has said he will meet with…
It was our son Paul’s 40th birthday last week, so naturally we had a ‘bash’! Paul is our eldest child and is adopted – he also has Down’s Syndrome. At this landmark point in his life I thought it would be good to share our story. There were four events than happened one after the other over a period of twelve months or so. Event 1 – The Book It started the day before we moved from Leicester to Macclesfield….
Many years ago, I was going through a particularly tough time. The details are too involved to go into here, but it was not good, and I was feeling bad. (Don’t you just love British understatement?) A friend told me about Psalm 13. It starts like this: How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart…
I’d started putting this blog together under the title of ‘A Matter of Death and Life’, looking at the importance of Jesus’ Resurrection. That happened to be the title of the sermon on Easter Sunday, together with the same passage (1 Corinthians 15)! So, to avoid the charge of plagiarism, I’ve changed the title! 🙂 ‘Of First Importance’ refers to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, because that is the event on which the whole Christian faith stands or falls. Take…
When Moses first encountered God in the burning bush, God ‘introduced’ himself in terms that would have been familiar to Moses, namely that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This will have reminded Moses of his history, and that of the Jews, how God had called Abraham and his offspring to be his people and promised to give them a land. God reinforced that by saying he had seen how his people were suffering, and that he…
It’s a familiar story. Moses – escapes the infanticide of a deranged king but ends up being raised by that king’s daughter. 40 years as a prince in Egypt until he has to escape the king and spend the next 40 years tending sheep (a Hebrew occupation despised by the Egyptians). An 80 year prelude to one of the most significant days in history. Theologians call it a theophany, a visible manifestation of God. Moses doesn’t release this at first. What…