Follow that star tonight
Helpful words from R T France on the visit of the Magi. The star's role changes as they leave Jerusalem for the final leg of their journey to Bethlehem:
Helpful words from R T France on the visit of the Magi. The star's role changes as they leave Jerusalem for the final leg of their journey to Bethlehem:
The Adam Smith Institute have published an article (provocatively) called The Church of England is barking up the wrong tree.
It is well worth reading, inviting us to think a little more carefully what a Christian engagement in the realms of politics and economics should look like.
God willing (* see James 4:15) I will be speaking on an "Unlocking the Bible" weekend at Otford Manor, the fine home of the fine Oak Hall Expeditions, next weekend (November 18-20).
Don't worry, I won't really return it.
But I don't think she lives here, do you?
It's now over three years since I first started using the services of Mollom to keep spam off the comments and e-mails from this site.
I posted about it at the time, but at that moment Mollom was yet to block a single item of real spam on the site. As I said, the jury was still out as to how effective it is.
That is one of the most fruitful questions I've asked of this familiar Psalm.
As I explained about a year ago, the book of Psalms is not 150 prayers and hymns in random order. It's sometimes hard to know exactly what conclusions we should draw from the order the Psalms are in, but that they have been carefully arranged is beyond doubt.
I'm delighted to commend to readers of this blog an upcoming day conference in North London. It is organised by Emmanuel Church in North London, where my friend Steve Jeffery is the minister. One of the things I have always appreciated about Emmanuel is the way they enjoy putting events on that will serve the wider church.
Here's some of the blurb from their website.
Technical support can be infuriating. When it gets inverted commas around the "support".
By the way, I hope all readers of this blog keep regular backups of their computers. "How regularly should I backup" is a question I'm asked from time to time. The answer is: As regularly as you don't mind losing. So have a guess when your most recent backup was done. I assume you wouldn't mind if your computer only had those files on it? Good. (If not good, it's time to back up more often).
Next Sunday falls as part of a week off for us, so we won't be at Kemsing or Woodlands churches.
The week after is 30th October. For a couple of years now, we've taken the opportunity that comes around four times a year (the fifth Sunday of the month) to have one joint service for both churches. In the main they've been happy celebrations, and the aim is always to worship the one Lord Jesus Christ, and to remind ourselves that the gospel which unites us is far stronger than any cultural, geographical, or ecclesiastical-taste differences we might have.
It's a perennial tension: How do we create church meetings where the church family are cared for, able to worship, fed and equipped to serve Christ in their week-round lives? And how do we simultaneously create meetings where newcomers and visitors are welcome and where things are accessible?
There's a good deal of wisdom and further asking of the right questions over at The Good Book Blog at a post entitled Meetings: For family and their friends.