In a world filled with people who are looking to "change their lives" - what is the Christian response?
Of course change is exactly what Jesus does to those he calls to belong to him. Among other things he changes:
But here's the big difference between the change that Jesus brings and the "life change" that many others seem to be pursuing. Consider this:... continue reading
You hear the phrase all the time on TV talent shows. People with a dream. People with a talent looking to break through. People who have lived in obscurity and nursed an ambition; then suddenly found fame, fortune, adoration. Their lives have been changed.
Type those words into YouTube and you find a whole host of videos - many with passionate looking people who promise to share their story of Life change. They promote a massive variety of things that have done that for them: a book, a spiritual experience, a new way of looking at your life, a new way of investing, surgery, confidence therapy, a life coach, a money-making scheme or taking psychotropic drugs in the Peruvian rainforest.... continue reading
"I'm not going to waste my time listening to little old ladies ramble on or allow myself to get distracted by members of the congregation crying into their tissues. I'm here to preach the gospel". So said a lovely, gospel-hearted minister recently.
I wept. Though clearly not in front of him!
His comments were extreme. And certainly not in line with the view of many ministers I know who see their role as pastor to include both preaching and pastoral care. But he is not alone. Somewhere along the line the two great strands of pastoral ministry - proclaiming the word and helping individuals live out the word in the mess and complexity of their lives - seem to have become slightly parted. That is something worth weeping about.
But what exactly is the link between preaching and pastoral care? While they are clearly different in terms of method of delivery, do they really need to be at odds with one another?... continue reading
"So, Helen, what are your plans for retirement?"
The question stung. Partly because I don't like to admit that I am now half way through my working life. It's sobering to realise that I am (just) closer to retirement age than the moment I graduated and got my first "proper" job providing therapeutic support to adults with severe brain injuries. But partly because as soon as the honest answer to that question entered my mind, I knew it wasn't particularly godly!... continue reading
The first look took me completely by surprise.
Everything else we had spent the last six months researching, planning, working towards. The cot was installed. The room freshly painted yellow - we decided to be surprised by the sex, rather than find out from the scan so we could paint blue or pink. I had read up abut the technicalities of baby care, and how to be a supportive husband for a new mother. The visit from my mum had been planned. The plane ticket for her mum had been booked. Time off work scheduled. The technology researched and in place.
Everything was ready except me.... continue reading
It wasn't the easiest conversation I've had this week. An elderly friend is coming to terms with an unpleasant realisation: she is getting old.
She doesn't feel it. Well, she feels it in her arthritis-riddled bones. But she doesn't feel it in her heart and in her mind. She still thinks of herself as the motorbike-riding, hill-walking, party-loving woman that she has always been. So it seems wrong, so wrong to be considering going into a care home. "They're for old people" she exclaimed. I probably could have been more subtle in the way I pointed out that 88 years and several strokes on, she is no spring chicken any more.... continue reading
"I hate the summer - God goes on holiday every year".
The comment caught me surprise. As someone who has a relatively busy lifestyle - and no children - I quite look forward to the summer months. Fewer meetings, more BBQs - an outside chance that the weather might just be warm enough to get a small tan. The weeks when school is out bring a welcome change to the pace to life - a chance to spend more time enjoying my relationship with God without the hamster wheel of responsibilities that crowd most other months. But not everyone feels that way.
There are those who are elderly and frail - those who only leave their home to go to church events or a medical appointment. As summer approaches, they don't see "holiday" they see a 6-week gaping hole in their diary that increases isolation and intensifies their pain.... continue reading
The headlines this week have been stomach-churning. Women beaten in Syria having been forced into sham marriages with much older men. Disgusting images on Facebook like the one showing a lady pushed down some stairs bearing the caption, "next time, don't get pregnant". In the 21st century, violence against women is still far from rare.
So, today on The Good Book Blog we talk with one UK Christian who knows just what it's like to be at the sharp end of a man's fist.... continue reading
‘Sacrifice’ isn’t a popular word today. We live in a “me” culture of iPods and iPhones that tells us “we’re worth it too.” It’s easy to fall for when everyone around you is looking out for Number One, but giving up that prerogative is one more way we, as Christians, stand out.
Charlie T. Studd is chiefly remembered as England’s cricketing champion. For four years running he won his Cambridge blue; captained the team; and even defeated the Australians with his great century in 1882. His time on the pitch, however, was relatively short. After just three years of fame, Studd exchanged the cricket field for the global mission field and joined Hudson Taylor in China, (later serving in India and Africa). Friends, family and nation alike were shocked by his decision. What could possibly have induced him to give up his prestigious position for a life of poverty and hardship in a foreign land?... continue reading
After becoming a Christian in my second term at uni, the first question I asked myself was “What am I doing here then?” I’d given my life to Christ. Should I then leave university and go on the mission field?
Lady Huntingdon was a highborn woman with significant means at her disposal. At the time of her life and death, in the early eighteenth-century, religion was utterly despised by the privileged upper classes. It was a thing for the small-minded ‘little people,’ as it’s often thought of still today. Lady Huntington was an exception. She became a Christian upon hearing George Whitefield speak in 1739 and threw herself wholeheartedly into supporting his preaching campaigns.... continue reading
