I remember reading a story a few years back about a time when the great West Indian cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers (perhaps the second greatest cricketer of all time) gave a one-off coaching session to a junior cricket team in Sydney. Afterwards, a journalist asked one of the lucky young boys what he had learned from the great Mr Sobers.
On the 25th October the general assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Rome concluded what was popularly known as the Synod on the Family. The two big issues were, crudely, “Can divorced couples be allowed to receive Holy Communion?”, and “How should the Catholic Church deal with homosexual couples?” The second issue was not really addressed.
There’s a classic story about a parent separating two fighting children. Trying to get to the bottom of things, they ask: “So what’s the problem?” Utterly incensed, one child blurts out, “It all started when Jimmy hit me back!”
According to the logic of the gospel, forgiveness makes perfect sense. It’s an impeccably rational response to sin; if I’ve been forgiven by God, it is only right that I forgive my brother from the heart (Matt 18:21-35).
In Luke 4:16, Jesus comes to Nazareth, to the synagogue in the town where he’d been brought up. He stands up to read, someone gives him a scroll, he unrolls it and finds a particular verse, gives the scroll back to the attendant, and sits back down.
So I had long service leave for the first time this year. “How did that happen?” I asked myself, before hurtling back to reality as I remembered first my years of single ministry, rapidly followed by a church plant, getting married, becoming a rector, welcoming two small people into our world, leading a growing church, and dealing with the reality of struggling marriages and bodies ravaged by cancer.
Studies covering Book Three of the Psalms, which expresses lament for the setbacks and sufferings God's people are experiencing. (7 studies)
In the ancient world, when a great king made a covenant with his people, the document included an account of history (scholars call it the historical prologue). The king underlined what he had done for his subjects, how he protected them, and so reminded them why they owed him loyalty.
Des Smith guides you through 1 Samuel, showing how the earliest days of kingship in Israel prepared the way for Jesus, God’s true king. (9 studies)
I don’t get the privilege of preaching very often, so when I do it tends to be memorable—probably not for the congregation, but definitely for me. Earlier this year I was preaching on Habakkuk 3, and in my introduction I shared a personal experience of having my world shaken 24 years ago by something unexpected and distressing.