Lust, pornography and masturbation. Now that I’ve got your attention let me tell you where I spent last weekend – at a men’s conference organised by Antioch church down in Llanelli. And the themes discussed were … lust, pornography and masturbation. See – I wasn’t just using those words for the sake of drawing you in!

Now I have to be honest I wouldn’t normally be dragged by a Challenger tank and a humvee to ...

Simon Cowell, whoever produces Strictly, and the US government have all one thing in common this week – they face their power being subverted. To be fair to him, Cowell was very honest when he acknowledged on last night’s XFactor that there were people trying to wreck his programme by voting for Wagner – someone who couldn’t carry a tune in an Onya bag. Last night the subversion finally failed, however, and Wagner l...

Johnny Nash - who, for the record, has no connections to Christian fundamentalism

‘There are more questions than answers … And the more I find out, the less I know.’ Remember it? It’s a song that reminds me of that great BBC quiz I used to watch as a child, A Question of Sport, and the ‘guess the sport star’ round. I don’t really do popular culture on th...

This post probably won’t get read by many – usually, the more the theological they are, the less read they are. But I would appreciate your input on this one, so bear with me. I want to return to the issue of idolatry and the state – first touched upon in this blog when I discussed David Cameron’s Happiness Index.

Let me begin by going back in history to the fifth century and a certain theologian called Augustine. ...

Iris was five days old when I held her – a healthy 8lbs plus baby girl. As you can see from the photograph, she’s beautiful. But she is more than beautiful, she is also blessed. Born to a loving couple she will be so well cared for within her immediate home environment. Living as she does in the midst of some of the most amazing countryside in Wales, her young life will be full of fascinating sights...

It's 10.30 on Sunday morning - so what on earth am I doing in front of my computer at home writing this and not 'in church'? Shocking!!! Well before you get too uppity with me, it's only family circumstances that have kept me home today. It's my turn to look after my mum-in-law who's not been well recently and it’s Helen's turn to preach. So here I am - enjoying a lazy Sunday morning.

What have I done so far? Well I've che...

Bliss, ecstasy and joy are supposed to mark our new and renewing life in Jesus. Some call it the joy revolution but because I’m such a miserable so-and-so most of the time, it’s an emphasis I have struggled with it. Coming under the Lordship of Jesus, however, has to mean more than just a ‘new obedience’ as Moltmann refers to it.

The danger Moltmann sees in only emphasising the lordship of Jesus when thinking of the ...

How long would you expect revival fervour to last? Historically revivals in Wales have been short-lived events, but how quickly should we expect the passion stirred up by the Spirit to last? The story of how the Welsh Revival so rapidly ran out of steam within the Welsh chapels has not been fully told, but today here’s a flavour from one part of the country.

‘The meeting was rather lifeless compared to last year,’ sa...

‘If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands – CLAP! CLAP! If you’re happy and you know it’ … and so on until your hands are red raw from clapping so much just to prove to David Cameron that your happiness levels are indeed high despite the slashing of our public services. Yes the prime minister is interested in setting up a happiness index for the UK – a statistical device that will tell us how happy we ...

Few could surely have been unimpressed by the dignified way Aung San Suu Kyi returned to public life following her years of captivity. The lack of bitterness, unforgiveness, and recrimination in her words set Suu Kyi apart from so many in today’s world. How easy it would be for her to call for a violent revolt against the regime that kept her under house arrest. Instead she calls for face to face talks and reconciliation....

I was young – primary school age; it was the 1970s; flares and platform shoes were in fashion. Our village, however, tucked away as it was and still is in the north-east corner of Anglesey, took a long time to receive the modern world into its bosom. It was a shock, therefore, to notice one Sunday morning that the signpost in the village square had been vandalised. Not badly; it was still standing and still pointing towards Neb...

True dominion does not consist of enslaving others but in becoming a servant of others; not in the exercise of power, but in the exercise of love; not in being served but in freely serving; not in sacrificing the subjugated but in self-sacrifice.

So says Jurgen Moltmann in the context of the Lordship of Jesus. His Lordship is very different compared to the lordships displayed in this world and it is this character that the church ...

I’m not a fundamentalist but two fundamentals I (still) believe in is that all human beings have been created in the image of God and that even though that image has been shattered each person has an opportunity for redemption through Jesus. And that really does mean everybody – no matter who they are, where they’re from, what their current beliefs are, what they’ve done to shatter the image, who they hate etc., etc. ...

The issue of some prisoners voting in the UK has caused a lot of controversy over the past week or so. In a European court ruling it has been decided to give prisoners voting rights under article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1988. Some of what has been said about the issue has been total tosh. But below is a quote from a blog I found last week. It is written by Craig Lawrence Roters and though not specifically on prisoners vot...

Empires come and empires go; they rise and then they fall. Unfortunately, their damaging effects are with us long after their disappearance. Two current news stories reflect some of the effects of the British Empire – one very close to home, the second on the other side of the world.

The future of S4C

On Saturday morning a crowd of some 1,500 people gathered in central Cardiff to protest about the British government’s p...

In yesterday’s post I asked whether Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees’ mission methods could be applied to the church of today. Their religion-based mission was as contrary to the Jesus way as their religion-based living. The question that needs asking, of course, is this: is there another way of doing mission or are we stuck in the old ways? In this post I want to share the links of a couple of examples of what is ha...

Mission: we all know its importance but many of us also groan inwardly when we hear the word brought up in church meetings. While there are plenty of new and innovative ideas being used out there for church mission, we somehow still cringe at the images of tracts with curled-up corners and intense conversations on the door-step that the term ‘church mission’ conjures up in our mind. As with every other part of our spiri...

A link to another blog for you today. Over at NewReformation Len Sweet is always challenging in his writing on the issue of reforming the church and especially on leadership issues. In this post he has a parody of the Good Samaritan. Hope you like it. Come back with any comments – I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one.

It seems not all were agreed with my stance on the British Humanist’s call for a change in the 2011 Census where recording people’s religion is concerned. The reason given is that with 70% of people saying they identify themselves as Christian we can then call on the government to legislate with Christian values and morality in mind. It’s a Christian country after all – or so goes the argument.

Well let’s take this...

Who sparked off the Welsh Revival of 1904-05? And where did that spark first see the light of day? Let’s turn our attention today to a period much loved in Welsh history – the Revival of 1904-05. Yesterday – the 31^st October – was the date in 1904 when Evan Roberts gathered a small number of young people together in Moriah Chapel, Loughor, to pray. It was the meeting, we are told, that sparked the Welsh Revival.

B...