Context is everything, right? Everything happens within a context and so often it is the context that shapes what happens – rightly or wrongly. This is as true about the church as anything else and Jürgen Moltmann (Church in the Power of the Spirit) encourages us to understand the church within its context – namely God’s dealing with the world. After all, says Moltmann, the church is like the moon in that it has no light of ...

Yesterday the news from Iran was grim if a little confused, especially for one person in particular, namely Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43 year old mother of two who has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery and death by hanging for murdering her husband. She denies both charges and there remains much doubt as to what exactly has happened in the courts but the stoning sentence remains and she faces death. Her ...

Galileo - wiser than your averege man

I was intending to take Physics as one of my ‘O’ level subjects in school and then I got 25% in my end of year three exam. They suggested I did Art instead. So you should be aware of how little knowledge and understanding I have of science as you read this post today. But Stephen Hawking’s latest foray into the world of religion has got me thinking – or rather the Christian response to...

House to Home, Woman & Home, Ideal Home, Livingetc, Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Nuts. Ok, not Nuts. But all the rest are magazines currently on sale in the UK published to help us turn the houses we live in into the perfect home of our dreams. And the homes featured in their pages are perfect in every way. All the colours match – from soft furnishings to wall paper. All the fires are real. All the bed...

Elijah is a hero to many Christians. But should he be? That’s the question that Kevin Beck of the US answers in his blog. It’s a fresh new look at a very old story and well worth stopping by to read. He follows up this post with some other reflections on the story.

But be warned - don't read these if you're a conservative or fundamentalist.

This is the last of a short series this week on the Lordship of Jesus.

I began this series by suggesting how essential it is for followers of Jesus to be open to the Holy Spirit. Not to do so is to risk being led by forces other than God and, as Jurgen Moltmann says, seeing the church waste away. One of those forces is fear and so many of us – maybe even all of us – have been affected by fear in our lives. Fear often m...

This is the third in a short series this week on the Lordship of Jesus.

Could Jesus have knocked this world into better shape if he had come as the son of an emperor rather than a son of a carpenter? After all, that’s where the power lay in those days. The Roman emperor had almost absolute power over the land covered by his rule – which was extensive in Jesus’ day. As a political and military leader very little was o...

This post is the second of a series this week on the Lordship of Jesus.

‘Jesus is Lord of all or not at all.’ It’s a rather twee evangelical phrase, but we all know what it means: either Jesus is Lord over all aspects of my life or he’s not my Lord in any aspect. I think I would dispute its supposed truth since we’re all on a journey of yielding to him – but let’s not start an argument this early! What I propos...

Being open to the leading of the Holy Spirit is essential for us as individual and collective followers of Jesus. When we choose not to be open, suggests Jurgen Moltmann, then the church will waste away as we fail to hear what the Spirit is saying to us at any given time. We will not hear words of hope; we will not receive our instructions in mission; we will not receive the power needed to see the Kingdom grow.

We hear this...

This is the last post in a short series on the Pope’s visit this week.

Lets be honest, having a pop at the Pope has been pretty easy during his visit to Scotland and England this week and plenty of us have taken ample opportunity to do so. With so many open goals to aim at, who can blame us! And yet … Some of the attacks coming from the secularists have had an edge to them that needs to be addressed. I found Church Mou...

This post is the third in a short series this week to mark the Pope’s visit to England and Scotland.

Can a church be renewed or do those who seek renewal ultimately have to accept that the only option is to either leave for another church or set up a brand new church? I ask the question since the Pope is to beatify someone who was part of a renewal movement in the Church of England in the mid 19^th century but ...

This is the second post in a series on the Pope’s visit to the UK this week.

You’re a Catholic and the Pope’s coming for a visit. You’re excited, aren’t you? And you want to note the visit in some way; you want to celebrate. But how to do that? Well fear not, faithful flock, for the Church has set up a special online shop just for you. ‘The Pope Benedict XVI in the United Kingdom Official Online Stor...

I hope he’s wearing his trademark red shoes – how cool are they! He arrives on Thursday and for four days he will visit four cities in Scotland and England encouraging his flock as he goes. I’m referring about Pope Benedict XVI’s visit. Despite the papal visit occurring during very trying times for the Roman Catholic Church, we should surely welcome him to our shores. (I say ‘our shores’ but of course...

Very rarely do I blog about our church but after yesterday’s baptism I can’t help it! Overall it was an awesome day. We’re a very small congregation of which at 44 I am the youngest and though there are some of us who are Welsh speakers, Emmanuel is an English language church. We usually meet in Trearddur Bay village, but we changed venue for our time together yesterday since the person being baptised, Jean...

I spent another day in court yesterday in my new role as a justice of the peace and I have to say that I so enjoy the experience though it can be quite hard at times. Yesterday we dealt with fine defaulters. Across the country the amount of unpaid fines is huge and it seems to me that in many aspects the criminal justice system in general isn’t working. This morning on the radio I heard a report about an innova...

Forgive the tired saying, but responding to the Quran burning event in Florida is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. I often use mild sarcasm in this blog to make my point and I could so easily spread it as thick as butter on toast in addressing this issue. But as many are now warning, this is a serious issue and will almost undoubtedly draw violent reprisals in many parts of the world.

You’re probably aware of the st...

Men and fires are a combination made in heaven. So when Helen said yesterday that she had four bin bags of Post Office rubbish to destroy I could not resist putting down Moltmann and going with her to make a fire. I had only just begun reading The Church in the Power of the Spirit (London, English translation 1977) when she called. But I still have a couple of quotes for you today!

In referring to the crisis that was (and still ...

Luke opens his account of the acts of the apostles by referring back to his first book, his gospel. There, he says, he recorded all that Jesus had ‘begun to do’. What an amazing thought! That all we have in the gospels is the beginning of what Jesus wants to do in this world. He hadn’t finished his work – it had merely begun. And Luke closes the gospel by referring to Jesus’ ascension which brings his e...

There are only around 600,000 of us. We’re squeezed into a small strip of land on the fringes of Western Europe. In the 1960s we faced a real struggle for survival though there has been a modest improvement since then. We generally lack self confidence and often feel we have to prove ourselves better than our nearest neighbour. But the amount of talent we have seems to be astounding. I’m talking about Welsh speakers and...

A few thoughts on resurrection today as I have a funeral to take tomorrow and I’ve been asked to preach. One of the readings chosen is the final section of the 15^th chapter in 1 Corinthians – it’s the chapter on resurrection and includes these powerful words, ‘O death, where is your victory’. I once challenged an atheist to say what hope he could provide a family in bereavement apart from the fact that the deceased had li...