We are… Children of God
Romans 8:12-25 So after all his talk of grace taking the place of law in control of our destinies, of this amazing free gift of righteousness received by the act of faith that is receiving, after all the talk of freedom from addiction to sin, and of the struggles that we still experience in taking […]
We are… not condemned
Romans 8:1-11 There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It’s fairly common to see the book of Romans as divided into two main halves, with the first eight chapters being dedicated to Paul’s proclamation of salvation as a gift of grace, received by faith. So as we move into […]
We are… Still Struggling
Romans 7:15-25 So over the opening chapters of the book of Romans, Paul has been steadily building up his case for the amazing central truth of the gospel – that it is through Jesus Christ, through the gift of grace, that we have standing before God.
We are… Set Free
Romans 6:12-23 In the opening chapters of his letter to the Church in Rome, Paul is walking a tightrope – or perhaps better, he’s trying to thread a needle. At the heart of his whole argument, at the heart of what he is trying to teach – indeed, at the heart of the Gospel that […]
We are… Justified by Faith
Paul is trying to describe the indescribable, to explain the incomprehensible, to make known the mystery. And so he uses incredible, inspired and inspiring pictures of salvation, each of which is truth, but none of which is The Truth.
Trinity
The Sunday after Pentecost Sunday is probably one of the least observed festivals of the Christian year. So you are fully excused if you didn’t know that today is Trinity Sunday. To be honest, I don’t think I’d have realised either, if it hadn’t been for an argument on the subject breaking out amongst some […]
Sending you
What do you say after the resurrection? The gospel writers each spend a large chunk of their work on the days leading up to the death of Jesus, to the crucifixion itself, and to the events of Easter Sunday, the miracle when death ran backwards and Jesus was alive and with them again. By contrast, […]
Glorified
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you” Glory It’s one of those words, isn’t it. We all have a pretty clear sense of what it means, the vibe of the thing, but it’s hard […]
The Gate
If you look today’s reading, John 10:1-10, up in most Bibles you’ll find it under the subheading “Jesus the Good Shepherd”. And no wonder – that’s the bit of the passage that we know, that’s the famous bit, the bit which is found in a thousand works of art, countless religious images. Jesus the Good […]
Encounters with Jesus… The Woman at the Well
As we travel through the weeks of Lent, we’re taking the time to look at a series of encounters between Jesus and different people who came across his path. Last week we had the story of Jesus and Nicodemus; today, the Samaritan woman at the well. Two stories that are placed almost next to one […]
Encounters with Jesus… Nicodemus
Genesis 12:1-4 | John 3:1-17 A couple of favourite passages come together, today. Our New testament reading from John, containing as it does the most cited verse in the Bible – John 3:16 – a favourite, especially, it seems, of people who hold up banners at American sporting events.
Encounters with Jesus… The devil
Matthew 4:1-11 Encounters with Jesus. For the next six weeks, as we journey through this time of Lent, the traditional forty days that lead up to Holy Week, to the death and resurrection of Jesus, we’re going to make that journey through a series of encounters with Jesus.
But I say to you
Matthew 5:21-37 Last week we explored the way that Jesus, in his teaching on the sermon on the mount, declared that he was not abolishing, but fulfilling the law and the prophets. And there’s a very important idea hidden in that phrase; that Jesus did not say “I have not come to abolish the law […]
Salt and Light
Isaiah 58:1-8 | Matthew 5:13-20 It’s a sad truth – but the Bible doesn’t always say what we want it to say, what we think it ought to say, what it would say if we wrote it. And that is certainly the case when it comes to Jesus’ words about the Old Testament law in […]