During the Reformation in the 16^th century an emphasis was put on the whole of the church congregation being involved in worship. Psalms were put to music and hymns were written in order to help with this process and so worship became associated with community hymn singing. At the time this was a novelty as the Catholic Church had reduced worship to be almost exclusively the action of the priests alone.

Over the weekend I ...

If I were to suggest to my fellow Welshmen and women that the resentment some of them have in their hearts towards the English is not a helpful thing but that it is actually a sin, what would that make me? Would it make me an enemy of my nation? If I were to point out that actually, far from helping our cause, such resentment detracts from it, would that make me anti-Welsh?

Or let me give you another scenario –...

A little more on the angry god today.

One of my favourite biblical passages is Romans 5:6-11. Here Paul tells us how Jesus died for us while we were still in our sin and thereby proving his love for us. Clearly God’s love for us was the motivation for the cross and not the other way around. The death of Jesus did not open the way for him to love us, he already did so.

But it is verse 10 that is possibly the most amazing...

On a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 is very angry), how angry is God with you today? In answering this question don’t respond in the way you think you should, rather try giving it your gut reaction. Your answer will reflect a number of things – not least your own upbringing at home, where your understanding of God’s fatherhood will have been heavily influenced by your parents. But the answer will also be influenced by your ...

It’s ‘Back to Church Sunday’ on 26 September – an initiative that aims to get those of us who are regulars in Sunday services to invite a friend who has not been to ‘church’ for a while to return to the fold. On the face of it, it’s an excellent idea.

I was present at a congregation yesterday where one of the resources prepared for the initiative was handed out to the regulars and there is no doubting the genui...

It’s nearly over. Autumn is cautiously creeping in and another mixed summer slips away. And with it goes Big Brother – that infuriatingly fascinating Channel 4 phenomenon. I think it would have been the second series that I watched all the way through but as the contestants became ever more weird I had given it a wide berth. Until this year that is when big Dave Vaughn, pseudo monk and rattler of religious cages, got installed ...

The proposal to build an Islamic cultural centre including a mosque within a short distance of Ground Zero is causing Americans a lot of heartache – and while I can understand the pain it must cause for many in the US, I cannot undertsand how some are connecting all Muslims with the murders of 9/11. It’s a bit like the people of Warrington being upset at the Catholics building a new church within a few blocks of where t...

I’ve just finished Via and Gagnon’s Homosexuality and the Bible: Two views. With only 117 pages it’s only a short book – but the subject it discusses has become a massive issue for the church today. The Anglican Church is pretty much split down the middle on it and the level of anger that it stirs up within the conservative churches is significant. It seems to be the issue that defines where you stand in your theolo...

In the last post I explained how believers have no need for a special priesthood to stand between them and God and how all believers are priests through being united with Jesus. If this is our belief then it must have practical implications in the worshipping and teaching life of the church (you may want to add ‘and sacramental life’).

All believers are, therefore, able to share in the functions of a worshi...

So far in this series I have been looking at how Jesus applied the term ‘apostle’ to his disciples. It is not a term he is reported to have used widely and yet there is enough detail in the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to say something about how he saw things.

The four key things drawn from the previous posts have been i) they are appointed by Jesus; ii) they are to preach the Kingdom; iii) they have ...

Wales – the land of male voice choirs, coal mines, and of course the land of revivals. This is the picture that comes to mind for most people who live outside the nation when Wales is mentioned – that’s if they’ve ever heard of the place at all. Well hold on right there – they shut down the mines in the 1980s, the choirs prefer to sing pop songs to traditional hymns, and we haven’t had a revival for over a hundr...

In this post I want to look at the biblical mandate for believing that all followers of Jesus are priests. The idea of a priesthood is, of course, older than the NT church. Priests had an essential role in OT times when they acted as intermediaries between God and the people of Israel. Their key role was in offering various sacrifices to God on behalf of the people in the Temple.

But in Jesus this priestly role ...

Not being into vampires I hadn’t heard of Anne Rice until I read about all the fuss she kicked up over her quitting Christianity. She has apparently announced on Facebook that she can’t be doing with all the intolerant nonsense preached in Christ’s name and that she is un-following the religion. She isn’t turning away from Jesus, however, since she finds nothing wrong with him. It’s just most of his followers that...

In a shock finding it seems that only 13% of the British population believe that politicians tell the truth. Well I never – I’m surprised the figure is so high! The poll was taken last October after the publishing of MP’s accounts by the Telegraph newspaper. More surprising, maybe, is that even in 1983 the figure only stood at 18% - though it had been as high as 23% in 1999.

71% find the clergy truthful – though this...

Priest: a person ordained to act as a mediator between God and man in administering the sacraments, preaching etc. (Collins Concise Dictionary.)

Is there such a thing as a ‘priest’ in the church today? The answer, of course, is yes and no. As Martin Luther said, we are all each other’s priest – so there’s the ‘yes’; but as Jesus has done away with the Old Testament priestly role through being our great high-priest, ...

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is a 43 year old woman from Iran who was found guilty of adultery in 2006. Her punishment is to be stoned to death. The latest news is positive for her, however, since Brazil – a key ally of Iran – is to offer her asylum. While some Islamic scholars apparently deny that stoning is recommended as a punishment in the Koran, some Muslim traditions still insist that it is an option and ...