Let the water and the blood... Words from Rock of ages, written by the wonderfully named Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady. The song takes it's imagery from a gorge in Southern England, where Toplady sheltered from a storm, from the rock that was struck in the desert and from which water flowed during the Israelites' Exodus from …
Tag: forgiveness
Forgive
Being a Christian is not easy. It is never easy even in a western Christianised society, and I would not be like the Apostle Paul and suggest you imitate me as I imitate Christ, because I am not a good role model. The following Jesus thing is something I fail at from time to time, …
More about forgiveness
Forgiveness This is the blog I promised on Sunday last. Forgiveness is easy in practice but very difficult to do practically. So how do we start? In the last post I pointed out that in the parable of the unforgiving servant that the forgiving the servant did not do was of a much, much smaller order …
Forgiveness again
In the last blog, finished early on Sunday morning, I said I would expand on what I said about God's forgiveness and our response. That was before the morning service at Holy Trinity, Huddersfield, when we had this reading: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with …
Importance
Which is the most important part of the Lord's Prayer? A bit of a non question, it is all important. ... Isn't it? So why did Jesus only comment on one verse? And why was he so harsh? Here's the verse and its comment: and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our …
Resurrection and transformation
Easter in the real world Happy Easter. Hallelujah, Christ is risen! God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Acts 2:24 God raised him on the third day Acts 10:40 Jesus was raised from the dead. Only a couple of days earlier …
Forgiveness
Forgiveness 40 blogs of Lent, day 32 7 last words from the cross: Father forgive them And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they …
As we forgive those…
...who trespass against us. We tend to think of the word trespass as something to do with being on private property without permission. There are a number of No Trespassing signs, which include the one above, and one which adds "Violators will be shot, survivors will be shot again." It is offered for sale, so …
How God became king – a sprint through the Bible
OK. Let's get this straight, God does not change. But the way God has reveaed himself over time has changed. This is a quick run through, starting with the earliest book of the Bible, Job. Not Genesis. Genesis belongs with the books of Moses, it deals with things before the Exodus, but it is a …
Continue reading How God became king – a sprint through the Bible
Charleston and forgiveness
I weep for the people of Charleston, South Carolina, and I weep with the people of Charleston, South Carolina. The news this last week was shocking. On Wednesday a young white man attended the Bible study at iconic black church, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, after being there for an hour he pulled out a gun …
Making an ass of myself 