One place it happens to me is in a shopping centre. When another woman around the same age as me passes by, I give them a quick up-and-down scan. It’s just a two-second appraisal. And as I look at them, I see that they’re doing the same thing with me—a quick sideways glance.
What are we doing? We’re comparing ourselves with each other. How does my figure match up with hers? Does she look more or less stylish/cool/effortless than me? Do I look as good as her without having spent the money she clearly has? On all these measuring scales, do I win, compared to her? Or lose?... continue reading
The word "catechism" may conjure up for you images of a world gone by, with musty prayer books and children repeating answers to questions couched in ancient language.
Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and The Gospel Coalition have just released a modern catechism on iPad that could change the way we think about this.
New City Catechism aims to help adults and children memorise a 52-point exposition of the Gospel. One for each week of the year. The app encourages adults to learn a full version of the answers, and there is a shorter question and answer that is suitable for children to learn, which uses a subset of the words in the adult version. This makes it easier for children to "upgrade" to the adult version at the appropriate moment.
The catechism was written by Tim Keller and Sam Shammas at Redeemer, but contains a wealth of supporting material to the basic question and answer, including: a Bible verse; a prayer; an extended quotation on the theme of the question from one of the great theologians of the past; and video comment from a contemporary pastor, including Don Carson, Mark Dever and John Piper. You can download a PDF of the full catechism here.
This is a superbly thought out app, with a wealth of riches to be enjoyed as an adult, and a very worthwhile exercise to build into family life. If you've got an iPad, download it for free at the Apple app store. If you haven't got an iPad - this may be a worthwhile reason for buying one!
Two extracts from Scene Seven: Simeon—"A sword will pierce your own soul"
There’s only one old man who gets a mention at Christmas. He wears red… brings the presents… and, bizarrely, often pops up at random points in nativity plays. Santa Claus may not be real (sorry if that’s news to you) but he’s pretty popular. Of course, Santa was nowhere to be seen at the first Christmas. But there was an old man at the heart of the real events. Not Santa, but Simeon. And Simeon didn’t do presents.
But he did do predictions…... continue reading
An extract from Scene Two: the angel—"Christ the Lord"…
Christ: not just a surname
What job had this royal baby come to do?
“Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”
God had given his Son Jesus two jobs. He was (still is, in fact) Christ.
For years, I thought “Christ” was Jesus’ surname. I assumed that Joseph and Mary were Mr and Mrs Christ, and so Jesus’ full name was Jesus Christ.
But actually, “Christ” is a title, not a name.... continue reading
It may feel a bit early to start thinking about Christmas (though of course the decorations are starting to appear in the shops, and most children under the age of 10 are starting to compile their wish-lists…), but this week on the blog we've got some posts about TGBC's just-launched Christmas evangelistic title, Christmas Uncut. It's worth thinking about now, so that come December you know whether you're going to give it away, and who to.
Here's author Carl Laferton talking about why he wrote Christmas Uncut, what's in the book, and what he's hoping for this December…
All this week, you can buy Christmas Uncut for just $1.99. Simply enter the code "uncutdeal" as you check out. Why not read it in October, pray about giving it away during November and buy in some more copies, and then give it to non-Christian friends and family in December?
Tomorrow on the blog we'll feature an extract from the book.
It may feel a bit early to start thinking about Christmas (though of course the decorations are starting to appear in the shops, and most children under the age of 10 are starting to compile their wish-lists…), but this week on the blog we've got some posts about TGBC's just-launched Christmas evangelistic title, Christmas Uncut. It's worth thinking about now, so that come December you know whether you're going to give it away, and who to.
Here's author Carl Laferton talking about why he wrote Christmas Uncut, what's in the book, and what he's hoping for this December…
All this week, you can buy Christmas Uncut for just £1. Simply enter the code "uncutdeal" as you check out. Why not read it in October, pray about giving it away during November and buy in some more copies, and then give it to non-Christian friends and family in December?
Tomorrow on the blog we'll feature an extract from the book.
The new atheists may be grabbing the headlines, and materialism making the running in everyday life. But people will still turn out for carols by candlelight and an opportunity to hear the old old story!
That means that Christmas is still the greatest opportunity we have for bringing the good news of the gospel before family, friends and neighbours. But we have some serious work to do to rescue the real message of Christmas from the fairy-tale version that most people think is the real thing. Salvation has a habit of being pushed out by Santa.
Given the size of the gospel opportunity, it's not too soon to start thinking about it - no matter how much we hate the start of the Christmas music in shops and on the radio. On the blog in the next few weeks we'll be offering you some intriguing insight to the Christmas story, and some extremely practical ideas on ways you can get ready to use the Christmas season for godly gospelling. We'll be encouraging you to:... continue reading
Ed Drew, the children’s worker at Dundonald Church in south-west London, has written the following very helpful piece about how we can respond to Halloween.
Halloween is on the way, on 31st October. In all likelihood, all of us will either have children coming to our doors or have our own children invited to Halloween parties.
Firstly, let’s not overreact.
I would guess that very, very few of those we know think it’s much more than a bit of harmless fun. We can appreciate that most of those who dress up, go to parties or go knocking on doors, are children who don’t know better. We can be gentle in how we approach those who are celebrating Halloween.... continue reading
This is an extract from the end of Vaughan Roberts' book Battles Christians Face. In it, Vaughan very helpfully outlines the challenge we face to change as churches to support those who struggle with same-sex attraction.
1. Renounce prejudice
Christians are right to object when anyone who argues that homosexual sex is wrong is dismissed as "homophobic". Many of those who believe the Bible forbids homosexual practice are warmly affirming and supportive of those who have homosexual feelings. Nonetheless, we should recognise that sinful homophobic attitudes do exist in our churches. Our conversation and the tone of our public comments sometimes reveals a dislike, not just of homosexual sin, but of homosexual people.
