Silent in the Background

Last week I started from a verse in Galatians 4 reflecting on our relationship with God. On Sunday I made a link with what Paul wrote later in Galatians 5 about our relationships with each other. There, Paul quotes from the Old Testament: “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’” So, here’s a question: How many times is this Old Testament verse quoted in the New Testament? Perhaps most memorably, it prompts the question which leads to one of Jesus’ most famous parables. In Luke 10 , Jesus approves a lawyer’s summary of God’s law which includes loving your neighbour. The lawyer, ‘wanting to justify himself’, asks, “And who is my neighbour?” In response Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, challenging his hearers (and readers) to broaden their understanding of who are our neighbours. Jesus speaks of loving your neighbour when discussing the law with the rich young man in Matthew 19 and when tested by the...

Returning to preach at CCC after my sabbatical (study leave) I pulled my thoughts together around six questions, under the title “You’re Only Human”, borrowed from Kelly Kapic's book . Where have I been? I’ve been reading, thinking and writing about the very human relationship between Joseph and Jesus, and questions like: Who was Joseph, the man? What did it mean for the human boy Jesus to experience having two fathers? How does this relate to the experience of contemporary foster fathers and children in their care? The set word count for my MA dissertation is 18,000 words and I've written about that number, although I've not been working at the strict 200 words per day suggested by someone in my card as I started the sabbatical ("not too hard" they said!) I’ve got more to write, and it needs putting together as a whole, but I’ve done the main work, which was my main aim, and I’m confident that I will finish it in the time allowed. …but what about CCC?! Who are yo...

Do you pray? Have you thought about the way you pray, and how you address God when you pray? Have you listened to the ways other people pray? One Bible passage that I’ve been reflecting on during my recent sabbatical prompts these questions: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. ( Galatians 4:4-7 ) This is one of Paul’s summaries of the gospel – the good news – of what Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection achieved. There is a lot packed into this short passage, but we can note Paul’s emphasis that (because of our adoption as children , and as siblings of Jesus) we relate to God as our Father . One way that we experience and demonstr...

A couple of weeks ago the Sunday morning theme at church was 'Why Study the Bible?'  As I'm currently on sabbatical from church to enable me to study the Bible, I was asked to record a video contribution to the discussion.  Here are the questions I was asked, and my answers, probably a little more polished than in the video... Why did you decide to study theology at an academic level? * I've always been interested in what the Bible says, right from Sunday School!  I've always enjoyed learning more about the story and stories of the Bible, and how they point to God. In 2011 there was space in my life for study, and it seemed a useful thing to do, so I very tentatively - very part-time - started a BA course at Spurgeon's College which I completed in 2017.  In 2018 I started a part-time MA in Contemporary Missiology at Redcliffe College, which I am due to complete this summer. What did you gain from the course? I remember the first course I did - it was called Read...

Freedom... for what? "Let my people go" is the well-known refrain of the opening chapters of Exodus, which BiOY has reached early in February. In Exodus 3:16-18 God tells Moses to assemble the elders of Israel, tell them about the promise of deliverance to a "land flowing with milk and honey", and to go to Pharaoh to ask permission to go on a three journey to offer sacrifices to the Lord.  These words seem to carry the implication that the Israelites will then return, and so are a bit misleading, but that's what God said to do. In  Exodus 5:1 Moses and Aaron make their first request to Pharaoh: "Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness." This is a two faceted request.  "Let my people go" - a call for a release from the oppression they are experiencing, from the demands of the slave drivers, and from the restriction to live only where the Egyptians permit. But also: "...that they may hold a festival to me...

By happy coincidence my Bible in One Year plan has been taking me through Job at the same time as I have been reading Tim Davy's The Book of Job and The Mission of God ,  a Missional Reading of Job. I have read Job previously, and have usually found it hard-going.  The long poetic speeches have tended to drag (why don't they just get on and say what they want to say?) and I've not really understood how Job, the man, is seen as blameless and upright when he spends so much time questioning God. This time, however, the text came to life.  At a surface level I particularly enjoyed some of the insults that Job uses in response to his supposed-comforters' speeches. In chapter 13 Job bursts out, "if only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom."   Aren't there a few people we think need to hear that?! Chapter 21 sees Job demand that his friends "Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on" and ask "So how can...

Today I start a three month sabbatical from CCC.  My main purpose during this time is to research and write the dissertation for my MA course in Contemporary Missiology, with a focus on Vulnerable Children. As I begin my studies today I start by taking time to read the Bible in One Year passages for today. In Proverbs 3:1-10, verses 5-6 stand out: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. In Matthew 16:21-17:13, verse 23b says: you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. In many ways, reading, research and writing will be based on my own thinking and understanding.  What, however, does it mean not to 'lean on' my own understanding? In the midst of my reading around issues in contemporary foster care it will be easy to get into 'merely human concerns'.  My hope is that, as I study the person of St. Joseph, I will also keep in mind the con...