James's Weblog

Think Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.

Think Isaiah 40-46.

Then read the story that appeared on the BBC News website today, entitled Hindu gods [sic.] get summons from court.

I hope every parent of young children has discovered the delights of Wibbly Pig and Percy the Park Keeper:...

Yes – but it’s no big deal!

Partly, I can’t quite decide what I like.

Partly, Edible Words is nearly ready to launch, and the colour scheme I chose for myself was converging a little too close to the scheme for that site. My scheme was chosen on a whim. The scheme for Edible Words was chosen quite deliberately (if you’ve been there you’ll know why Burgundy Red and Ripe-Grain Gold were the two colours I went for). So mine was the one to budge.

But I still can’t quite decide what I like, so this may not be the end of it…

Baffled by Leviticus? Struggle to see how it is a part of the Christian Scriptures?

David Field has posted a blogpost entitled Leviticus – an eight para intro which introduces, summarises and gives to us the book of Leviticus in just 8 paragraphs.

The last paragraph of David’s 8 shows us how the book points us to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and ends in praise to that God.

Enjoy David’s summary. So enjoy the book of Leviticus. So enjoy the God of whom it speaks.

“If we love them, our objective will not be to impress them with our learning but to help them with theirs.”

A brief and very helpful reminder from Doug Wilson (quoting and summarising Stott) about the vital necessity of preaching with simplicity and clarity. [Edit: Wilson’s blog post is a paragraph long. The post is, indeed, brief – but not as brief as the sentence I’ve quoted above. Just to make clear!]

This is really a post for any folk from St James who happen to be here.

The sermon from yesterday on Luke 21:5-38 is now available online. The text is available on this site and the audio is available on sermons page of the St James Audley website.

I’m hugely enjoying reading R T France’s commentary on Mark 13.

“Avoid divisions!”, say the closing three chapters of Romans. And I don’t know one Christian who doesn’t agree with that. We all hate division in church life. It is ugly. It distracts from evangelism. It causes personal pain and grief.

The important thing to notice is that Romans 14-16 offers us two very different ways in which division might arise, and therefore two very different ways of avoiding it.

Version 1

That depends on which God you are talking about.

People who embrace a set of views known as “open theism” like to say that God does not know the future (either his own, or that of his world, or both – there are different versions).

I’m reading Isaiah 41-44 again, and am freshly struck by what is here. God sets out one test or characteristic that will distinguish him, the true God, from an idol or false God.

God can tell you what is going to happen; an idol cannot

Here is the test, for example, in 44:7

“Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.

In Luke 20:1-21:4 we have a section characterised by

• Geographical location of Jerusalem

• Conflict stories between Jesus and the religious hierarchy.

The section is framed by:

• Jesus arrival in Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday (19:28-48). The crowds’ cheering has not even died down before he weeps in public over what will happen to the city. The explanation given here for Jerusalem’s fate is her failure to recognise that God has come to visit. He then prophetically enacts this by driving out those who are misusing the temple.