This is so like God. Before a season of blessing comes a season of waiting. It has been so ever since creation. In the first three days God separated light from darkness, separated the sky from the sea and made the dry land appear. In the second set of three God populated the light and …
Continue reading The beginning of the end – Matthew in Advent day 15
Some years ago I heard a talk by a Christian which turned out to be an hour long advert for a scheme he was involved in which comprised finding Jewish people living in Russia and paying them to emigrate to Israel. Which seemed like a very strange thing for a Christian based in the UK …
Creeds. Those statements of belief that traditional churches use in the service as a "these are the beliefs of the church" statements. The Church of England says the Apostles' Creed at daily office (morning and evening prayer), and the Nicene Creed at communion, they are the Church's mission statement, written in response to heresies that …
Continue reading That’s Gnostics for you – Matthew in Advent day 13
The destruction of the Jerusalem temple happened very quickly. Herod's Temple was in fact Zerubabbel's temple, built somewhere between 538 and 520 BC. Far from being the country taken into captivity, Judah was by that time a small province, stretching no more than 25 km, 15 miles from Jerusalem. A small province had a small …
Continue reading Abomination of desecration – Matthew in Advent day 12
I became a Christian in 1974 whilst at university. Only a few weeks later a fellow member of the Christian Union, a technician in the computer department, suggested I read a book called The Clock Strikes, which set about saying how the return of Christ would be very soon. Christ would take the Christians on …
There's an angel standing in the sunAnd he's crying with a loud voice"This is the supper of the mighty one"Lord of Lords, King of KingsHas returned to lead his children homeTo take them to the new JerusalemSongwriters: Mike Rutherford / Peter Gabriel / Phil Collins / Steve Hackett / Tony BanksSupper's Ready by Genesis lyrics …
Continue reading All these things – Matthew in Advent day 10
Jerusalem was several things. It was the seat of power, where the civic power ruled from. It was the capital city from the time of David and in Jesus' time where King Herod had his palace. Jerusalem was a cultural centre, it had a place in the hearts of the people as it represented through …
It has been building up to this. Jesus has been slowly getting stronger in his condemnation of the teachers and Pharisees. When Jesus called them white washed tombs full of dead men's bones they would have understood it to mean that Jesus was saying that they were not only ritually unclean but the source of …
Continue reading Persecutors, snakes and murderers – Matthew in Advent day 8
A woe is a curse. In the context of Matthew 23. These woes match with the beatitudes, those short sayings at the beginning of the sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 5. The Greek is οὐαί, meaning not only woe, but also alas, not words we use a lot these days. Jesus is not …
Continue reading How not to win friends – Matthew in Advent day 7
In the 1990s British sitcom Keeping up Appearances, Hyacinth Bucket, who insists on her surname being pronounced Bouquet, is a snob despite her family being the kind of person she looks down on. The comedy comes from Mrs Bucket getting into embarrassing predicaments in each episode. Patricia Routledge and Clive Swift as Hyacinth and Richard …
Continue reading Keeping up Appearances – Matthew in Advent day 6
Making an ass of myself 