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We CAN still connect

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Anyone fed up with masks? As gospel people we should recognise the dangers of masks of both the physical and the psychological types. We hark back to the innocence of Eden, when all could be uncovered without shame (Genesis 2:25). We long for the restored innocence of the new creation, when everything will be laid bare as it already is in the sight of God (Hebrews 4:13; 2 Peter 3:10). In the middle, we look to the man who revealed the fullness of God to us in bodily form (Colossians 1:19) and who was exposed to all who passed by on the cross for our sins. It is right that we want to be without masks. In the unhindered gaze on a person’s face or the unhurried listen to a person’s heart we find intimacy and we can become instruments of healing in God’s hands. Think how often the Lord Jesus paused to look someone in the face and how tenderly He engaged with broken people at the level of their hearts’ longings. We who follow Him should long for the same. His way is the path of all minis
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Limping along together

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Sometimes (not always) a week has a theme.  This week did for me. Not as some weeks do because you spend them doing mostly one thing, but because a common factor emerged in numerous conversations with Christian leaders of different ages, theological persuasions and ministry spheres.  The theme was how our evangelical systems often promote the wrong kind of people into positions of leadership and influence. That might sound like sour grapes from jealous people, but these were all, in my estimation, godly servants of Christ with significant gifts to offer to the Church and God’s mission.   And we have had enough exposés of high-profile leadership abuses in recent years to substantiate their concerns. Each of these people, in one way or another, had experienced mistreatment or injustice within evangelical organisations. I wish I could say these were the few unusual cases, but they aren’t. Many evangelical organisations, and much of the subculture that surrounds them, are rife with un
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Worship in Words and Works (Psalm 111)

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One of the unusual things about preaching in various different churches is that I find myself having to preach under a title and on a passage I didn’t choose. Sometimes when I begin my preparation, I get a wobble of thinking there won’t be anything helpful for me to draw out of this obscure story or lesser-known psalm. I really must stop that, though, as invariably when I get started in earnest I find more in there than I can fit into a single sermon. That’s certainly the case with Psalm 111, which is my assigned passage for this coming Sunday in Belfast Chinese Christian Church. I still have the challenge of working out how to preach by translation into Mandarin (morning) and Cantonese (afternoon) but I’m not short of material and I’m feeling challenged by the passage myself, which is always the best place to preach from. Psalm 111 is an acrostic poem, meaning that each line begins with a sequential letter of the Hebrew alphabet (already a challenge to explain in a non-alphabetic la
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The Pen is Mightier than the Keyboard

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  Pondering what to write for an article in this week's bulletin of the congregation I'm a member of, I stumbled upon something I never knew.  Today is a special date.  It is … [drumroll] … National Handwriting Day [fanfare].  Who knew that 23 rd January is the day to celebrate the diversity and beauty of hand-written script? In my original profession, there wasn’t much to celebrate (apologies to fellow medics!) and things have not improved since I left it behind. Barring occasional signatures, I write with a keyboard, not a pen. The resulting letters are legible (even if not always rightly ordered!) and uniform (how boring!) There’s something sad about this loss of individuality. I’m sure you’ll agree that hand-written letters connect with the heart in a special way. A person’s personality and passions are conveyed in their handwriting. The apostle Paul knew this. He made a habit of adding a handwritten greeting to his letters, the bulk of which were written down by scrib
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The Bible the Jesus Way

At New Horizon in Coleraine next week I'll be working with Valerie Murphy (formerly of Precept Ministries NI) to deliver three seminars under the title 'The Bible the Jesus Way'.  Our aim is to learn from Jesus how to trust, hear and obey God's word in the Scriptures.  If you're free to come to Coleraine why not join us in these seminars from Tuesday to Thursday?  Each day I'll be speaking about Jesus' teaching on and use of Scripture then Valerie will lead a guided study of a related passage.  There'll be plenty of time for questions and feedback. Over the next few weeks I'll be blogging on this same theme of The Bible the Jesus Way.  As I do that I'll come back to this post and add links to each post.  I'm convinced that there is no greater need for Christians today than to have confidence in the Scriptures.  Confidence that they are the Word of God, living and powerful.  Confidence that they can be understood and are relevant to lives
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Brexit and the Sovereignty of God

One week on from the momentous vote and a single word captures the mood of the nation: ‘uncertainty’.  Uncertainty about future relationships with Europe, our economic stability and the internal cohesion of the United Kingdom.  How are Christians supposed to respond?  One theologically-loaded word that resonated around the debates before the referendum is ‘sovereignty’.  The brexiteers’ slogan was “Take back control” and some have hailed the result as a demonstration of democracy in action – the people have spoken!  Apart from obvious questions about when we will exit and on what terms, the phrase “the people have spoken” is tricky.  Which people?  What about parts of the UK where clear majorities voted to stay?   What about all those who voted ‘remain’ (including 46.6% in England)?  What about those who didn’t vote at all?  How do we cope with the facts that older people were more likely to vote ‘leave’ while a majority of younger voters were in the ‘remain’ camp, or that working c
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New life (Romans 6:4)

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. The gospel of God’s grace, when grasped fully, poses a serious question about sin.  If God has forgiven our sins on the basis of Christ’s death in our place, why shouldn’t we keep on sinning?  Why should we live differently?  Indeed, why not sin more so that God’s grace can increase?  Paul anticipates these questions in Romans 6.  Faced with this challenge he does not retreat at all from his confidence in our standing in God’s grace through Christ.  Rather, he points his readers back to their baptism and reminds them that it was a re-enactment of the gospel, a tangible parable of death and resurrection.  We died with Christ and now we live a new life with Him. Paul’s teaching is sometimes misunderstood.  How can he say that our old self is dead?  If that’s true, why do we struggle with sin at all?  Does
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