“Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for […]
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Prayers answered. Julian is home! Read More »
“O ye of little faith”, Jesus says to His disciples when they shake with fear. We normally think of doubt as the opposite of faith, but Jesus’ words suggest that for Him the opposite of faith was fear, and that if you genuinely have faith, you won’t be afraid of anything. Is it really possible to live without fear and, if it is possible, do we really want to live that way? Doesn’t fear play a positive role in keeping us safe? Think this through with me.
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Live without Fear! Read More »
We do the work. We plant the seeds. We water. We tend. We do whatever we need to do, and we wait. “But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:29)
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Jesus’ most Boring Parable Read More »
Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
The Unforgiveable Sin! Read More »
Jesus has no credentials, and he was not a member of any of their parties or organisations. Jesus was not a Pharisee or a Sadducee or a Herodian or … anything. He was just Jesus, and yet he was making all the official representatives of God and the State look stupid. No wonder they wanted to kill him!
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
It’s a Spiritual War! Read More »
Saint Athanasius did complicate things. I believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, and I believe it was an important step forward in helping us understand how we can authentically speak about God. Even so, I don’t believe embracing the faith is as difficult as the Athanasian Creed suggests.
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
Whosoever believes! Read More »
Change will always generate friction. What Jesus warns us in this week’s Gospel reading is that we can expect this opposition to begin from within our own ranks. That has certainly been my experience. I’ve never had any problems with ‘ioudaios’ (which was John’s tribe). Those who have done me damage have almost all been white Anglican Christians (my tribe). That’s how it works
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
The Violence begins at Home Read More »
one thing I’ve found that all of us who struggle have in common is that none of us have a lot of confidence in ourselves, nor a lot of hope for the future. I can see Saint John here taking each of us by the hand and saying, “Hey, if you have the Son of God, you have eternal life! That’s enough. You’ve made it! The Son is all you need.”
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (Acts 10:47) Greetings, Fighter, You’ll have to forgive me if our opening verse today looks a lot like last week’s. Our stories from the Acts of the Apostles are following the explosive growth of the early Christian community and
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
My Enemy is my Guest Read More »
“If they move, baptise them. If they don’t, bury them.” That’s been my policy for the last 35 years when it comes to admitting people into our spiritual community. What? Shouldn’t we have some standards? If we allow the riff-raff in, what will become of us? Perhaps that’s where the church went wrong? Perhaps I need to be more discriminating?
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
If they move, Baptise them! Read More »
