asadmin The well-known evangelist J. John is fond of saying: ‘Always remember that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.’ It’s good advice: whilst we long to grow in wisdom, such that we might have the mind of Christ to apply our faith to the whole of life and of society, … Read more
Our culture has a strange relationship with the supernatural. On the one hand, there is plenty of scepticism about the existence of the spiritual world; on the other, there has also been a significant resurgence of interest recently – there’s never been so many TV programmes about angels or demons or ghosts. This ambiguity is … Read more
I wonder what you think about your home town (or village or city)? On one level, we never really get away from it: if you have a passport, it’ll be recorded as your place of birth for your whole life. And often our place of birth shapes us in ways we don’t always expect, and … Read more
To really understand a thing, you have to go back to its roots. This is good rule of thumb for life, and it’s also true for plumbing the depths of scripture. ‘The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is by the New revealed’ – that’s one way of understanding the relationship between the … Read more
Today’s passage is one of the most famous in the bible. If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you will probably have heard lots of talks on it, and may feel that there isn’t much left to say! However, I’m not going to give you a general guide to this passage, or … Read more
Ancestry is big business nowadays. Millions of us now regularly use ancestry websites to track down our family trees, and overall the genealogy market is now worth over £3 billion worldwide. Indeed, its popularity has even recently led to a change in the law. In 2021, the way marriages are registered in the UK was … Read more
In a coronation service, always the most special part of the ceremony is the anointing. Even in our supposedly secular age, at King Charles’ coronation last year, the Act of Consecration was deemed so sacred, that it was the only part of the ceremony which was kept hidden from public view and the ubiquitous TV … Read more
One thing that was striking about the recent accession of King Charles to the throne is the role of heralds in royal pageantry. It’s not something we see much of in day-to-day life: but the fanfares which accompanied the proclamation of Charles as king – both in September 2022, or at his coronation in May … Read more
At its heart, Psalm 51 is about choosing humility in order to see life and renewal again – and as such, it also encapsulates the journey of Lent. We choose to humble ourselves not to just be miserable for 40 days but in order that we may experience God’s presence again, his goodness, his mercy, … Read more
When he was a young preacher the great Christian leader and writer Dallas Willard would get very worried about delivering a sermon – would people like it? Would it bear fruit? While preparing one day, he received a word of encouragement from the Lord which dramatically changed his perspective and his future ministry: ‘Don’t worry … Read more