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Officially cool
A few years back my brother won a competition with a plan to set up a business where coolness can be bought for £5.99 with a certificate and badge to prove it in case anyone is in any doubt! The concept behind this is really taking the mick out of how people buy approval in the form of Converse shoes, an iPhone, or by subscribing to the newest social networking site. People are so desperate to be considered ‘cool’ that they will chase the latest label in order to prove it to those around them.
Tags: Identity, Life, Relationship
I’m not the hook
It was a few years ago that I realized that I have a need, an urge really to control people. Only in that I want people to be fair and be treated fairly. I don't actually want to control all things all people do. That's insane and if you know me you would know I am not a controlling person. I just grew up with people who would lovingly tell me when I was doing something I shouldn't and I was made to own my stuff (thanks Mom!) so I in turn want people to own up to the lame or hurtful things they do, especially if it's done against me.
Tags: Life
The everything
Why do we have such hang-ups about talking money? One thing is certain – Jesus didn’t! Jesus talks about money more times than anything else – except the Kingdom of God. There are more references to money in Jesus’ teaching than there is to Heaven and hell combined. Over half the parables Jesus tells are actually about money and stewardship. There are 2350 verses on money in the Scriptures: 1 in every 6 verses in the Gospels has to do with stewardship.
The phenomenon of wow
phenomenon • noun (pl. phenomena) 1 a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose cause is in question. 2 Philosophy the object of a person’s perception. 3 a remarkable person or thing. ORIGIN Greek phainomenon ‘thing appearing to view’. wow informal • exclamation (also wowee) expressing astonishment or admiration. • noun a sensational success. • verb impress and excite greatly. Jesus spoke incendiary truths and did explosive things. He identified the elements of his culture that were contrary to the scandalous message of grace. He would then take them down, not with complex arguments and weighty discourse but with simple acts, mind bending stories, displays of deity and outrageously phenomenal statements. His audiences were told to love the people they hated the most, lay down their stones and leave the adulterous woman alone and touch those who would make them ‘unclean’. They were amazed by a man who would destroy the temple, the very thing that gave them identity as a people. They were perplexed by this Jesus who claimed to be the sibling of Yahweh and then told them He was also The I AM.
Tags: Christianity, Glory, Life
Goodness precedes greatness
I thought I would link up this article simply because I enjoyed it. It was written by Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) for the Huffington Post, an online American publication. Although it doesn't explicitly mention faith it implies it throughout. There is a crazy idea that we are living for more than ourselves, that there is more meaning to this life than most people give it.
Tags: Life, Made me think
Privacy and community
One of the biggest subtle challenges to the gospel in western society is the cult of privacy.
Tags: Community, Life, Relationship
Grace in dangerous places
On Monday night I went out for a drink with some friends, one of whom happens to be gay. Brought up in the church and a follower of Christ, albeit in ‘another’ place on his journey at the moment we had some fascinating and revealing discussions about how the church (not just our church) can converse with those in the gay community.
Tags: Christianity, Church, Faith, Hope, Identity, Life, Made me think
A touch from God
Last summer life seemed to be like living in two differents worlds at the same time. We were experiencing such an outbreak of God’s Kingdom, heaven touching earth every day, seeing healings and people set free, lives transformed and people coming to search for and then know God. It was a truly wonderful time walking in anticipation of what God was going to do next and then being even more surprised as He far exceeded our expectations. At the same time we were having difficulty in a few relationships with friends, two of our parents were ill and then in one day we lost a much wanted baby and my brother was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack.
Put your hands in the air stand up sit down sing a song say hello turn around
Some time ago I was invited to go and watch the Belfast Giants play ice hockey. For an ice hockey virgin stepping into the home of the Giants, the Odyssey arena, was to say the least, otherworldly. I only have two ice rink sports based memories the first is of Torville and Dean in theatrical dress dancing and throwing each other around and getting all upset. The other is of the Slovak professional ice hockey player Miroslav Satan at the 1994 Winter Olympic Games. As young geeky evangelical pastors kids we had endless minutes of fun with this (a geek of course being a word derived from 18th century circus performers who bit heads off chickens, but that's another story) the thought of Satan playing ice hockey in hell was soon put to bed by the obvious temperature disadvantage that exists there. Although, as I was fast learning, watching the game, for some, may of course be used as a very successful form of eternal punishment.
The dependency of a child
Recently some friends of mine gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and it is so amazing to see how close he is to his parents. He cries and he is tended to, he is hungry and is fed. Even when he lies still in his slumber, his family looks on adoringly, waiting until he stirs and they can step back in to the roles they were given. In contrast, when we look to the ‘animal kingdom’ we see that most mammals after being born are up onto shaky legs and searching for their food. Insects, reptiles and the like, are almost fully self sufficient as soon as they are born. Looking back nostalgically to primary school and learning about the food chain and which animals eat which, to gain position. We learnt that human beings are at the top and every animal is below us. Thus making mankind the dominant species on Earth.
Tags: Christianity, Faith, Life
Rollercoaster ride
2009 has so far been a bit of a rollercoaster for my family and I. As I sit and think about some of the circumstances we have experienced I feel quite overwhelmed with emotion. I can’t deny that a lot of what we have faced has been tough going but what brings tears to my eyes is how our friends at Redeemer have supported us.
Adventures of living with a church planter
Again I'm in a privileged position of being able to support a family and a church plant and witness first-hand how much work is involved, although I know I don't get to see or hear everything that goes on. I may be living with David and Trish but there are still boundaries regarding the church plant – which is quite right and a good thing too – I don't want the responsibility or burden of knowing all that happens. There are pastoral issues and lots of other things I don't know about. Yes, I knew David and Trish before joining the church plant team but that doesn't give me a right (or a need) to know everything. After all I'm a church plant team member like the rest of the church plant and I fully acknowledge and understand there are issues and decisions we don't need to know about and I trust decisions made on our behalf. I feel privileged to have witnessed first-hand in Serbia what a church plant team have to deal with. That was a great training ground and made me really appreciate the eldership of churches (and the role some wives play) – from outside looking in you cannot see how much goes on unless you are able to spend time with them. I was able to do that and am able to do that here in Belfast too.
Tags: Church planting, Leadership, Life, Relationship