Eleven different ways of experiencing Christianity—Part 1 There are many ways of seeing yourself as a Christian. You can add another as your faith grows, you can have more than one at a time and you can move through them over some time. I am going to look at this through Advent this year. None …
Category: church
Holding out in a troubled world part 1 – 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14
Persecution is not something in the past, it is still with us. Open Doors reports that 5,898 Christians are known to have been murdered for their faith in the world last year (2020).
Christianity is based on the church?
"Jewish religion is based on the home, Christianity is based on the church." The Sunday morning programme on BBC Radio Leeds is how I wake up before church. Then it's either get up immediately if I am a playing some instrument or other in the service or have a coffee and a lie in for …
Churches response to disabled people
The picture above shows how to do it right. A shallow ramp with rails that wheelchair users and others can use without assistance, the ramp is also decorative in a style which complements the building and the steps have handrails. Well done Fifth Avenue Presbeterian Church, this picture from 2013 is an example how to …
Jesus and the rich young man, part 5 — Matthew 20:8–16
The Kings Instructions Advent 2021 This is the second part of a parable and also a continuation of Jesus talking about money following a meeting with a rich young man. I'd like to think that this parable, before it was written in Greek, was a poem of Jesus. Grape harvestPicture by Larry Koester on Flickr …
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It’s re-connection time
How to re-connect with regular members who have not come to services over the last 18 months. This is a difficult question with no answer. Over the last 18 months churches have been using different means of going online, but now that we are starting more and more to worship in buildings we have a …
Why do I fall asleep over coffee?
This is a story of those spiky skill sets that autistic people have. I have already written about there being both more people with both dyslexia and hyperlexia with autism than is found in the general neuro-typical population. Here is another one. Today I drank a coffee again and fell asleep. I keep doing this …
Covid-19 and the Church of England
Before I say how I think it will go, and what the churches will do we have to look at what we are contending with. The data I am working with is from the British Government's website https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ as of Thursday 15th July 2021 and John Hopkins University of Medicine from Wednesday 16th July which …
Doing theology is a vulnerable process
I shall start with a quote: Doing theology, daring to speak of God, is always a vulnerable process of self-revealing and becoming, trusting in God’s love and justice. (No wonder those with way too much power and big voices are prone to get a little defensive when new voices dare to speak their truth......!)Revd Dr Ayla …
The Gospel takes away our right to discriminate
“The Gospel takes away our right forever to discriminate between the deserving and undeserving poor.” - Dorothy Day. I love this quote. God's care for the poor is because they are poor nothing else. It cuts across governments whose attitude to immigrants is less than generous, especially those who have signed up to the 1948 …
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Making an ass of myself 