You Say
No Explore tomorrow
Tomorrow is a fourth Sunday of the month, so no Explore but an Allsorts Service at 10.30am. It does give you an extra seven days to catch up on the readings from the first three weeks of The Essential Question series. Ottery St Mary Parish Church, 10.30am.
Joe Hardy: Hold Me Still
Here’s a good song based on the story of the Prodigal Son from Yeovil worship leader and singer songwriter Joe Hardy. Recorded live at St James’ Church, Yeovil.
The words are:
Home is far behind me
But my doubt
Keeps calling me away
My heart is getting heavy
With the hurt
I’ve picked up on my way
With you I am fulfilled
In the storm you hold me still
From the furthest point away
You see me coming
With arms stretched out wide
You call me to your side
With everything within I start running
Wm. Paul Young: Go through atheism.
Author and speaker Brian McLaren once stated: “Every authentic move toward God has to go through atheism.” I think he means that as we move forward in our journey and relationship with God, we will discover that God is not who we thought. We may have to deny the faulty and flawed perceptions we once treasured in order to open ourselves up to the God we are growing to know.
Wm. Paul Young, Lies we believe about God.
Until You Do
Colossians 1 v. 20: Everything brought back to him
Colossians 1:15-20, The Passion Translation
15 He is the divine portrait, the true likeness of the invisible God, and the first-born heir of all creation. 16 For through the Son everything was created, both in the heavenly realm and on the earth, all that is seen and all that is unseen. Every seat of power, realm of government, principality, and authority—it was all created through him and for his purpose! 17 He existed before anything was made, and now everything finds completion in him.
18 He is the Head of his body, which is the church. And since he is the beginning and the firstborn heir in resurrection, he is the most exalted One, holding first place in everything. 19 For God is satisfied to have all his fullness dwelling in Christ. 20 And by the blood of his cross, everything in heaven and earth is brought back to himself—back to its original intent, restored to innocence again!
Tomorrow at Explore: More Mission Trips (Acts Chapters 16 to 20)
Annette introduces the next daily readings More Mission Trips (Acts Chapters 16 to 20), becoming fruitful in times of difficulty. Rev Mac Dick leads us in Communion, you are welcome to join us for a Bring and Share Lunch afterwards. Ottery St Mary Parish Church, 11.15am.
The readings for the coming week are:
- 31 Jailhouse Rock, Acts 16, page 72
- 32 Flexible Ministry, Acts 17, page 73
- 33 The Mission Team Experience, Acts 18, page 74
- 34 The Real Problem, Acts 19, page 76
- 35 Ministry Snapshots, Acts 20, page 77
Titus 2 v. 11: Salvation for everyone
Titus 2:11, The Passion Translation
God’s marvellous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone.
Tom Wright: The Word of the Cross
I’m reading Tom Wright‘s book, The Day The Revolution Began, and it’s giving me great insight into Jesus’ death on the Cross. Here is a fairly long section I found very helpful:
Few readers of this book are likely to have seen, except on screen, the kind of violence that was common in the first century. Even those who watch Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ might either screen out the gratuitous horror of it all or be so overwhelmed by the physical brutality as to miss the point that such a death was designed to degrade as well as kill. Crucifixion was one of the central ways in which authorities in the ancient world set out quite deliberately to show subject peoples who was in charge and to break the spirit of any resistance.
The point is often made but bears repetition: we in the modern West, who wear jewelled crosses around our necks, stamp them on Bibles and prayer books, and carry them in cheerful processions, need regularly to be reminded that the very word “cross” was a word you would most likely not utter in polite society. The thought of it would not only put you off your dinner; it could give you sleepless nights. And if you had actually seen a crucifixion or two, as many in the Roman world would have, your sleep itself would have been invaded by nightmares as the memories came flooding back unbidden, memories of humans half alive and half dead, lingering on perhaps for days on end, covered in blood and flies, nibbled by rats, pecked at by crows, with weeping but helpless relatives still keeping watch, and with hostile or mocking crowds adding their insults to the terrible injuries.
The horrible personal and physical aspects of crucifixion were matched by the social, communal, and political meaning. Continue reading “Tom Wright: The Word of the Cross”
Way Maker
Way maker, Miracle worker, Promise keeper, Light in the darkness
From the song Way Maker by Nigerian singer Sinach.
My God, That is who you are .
Image by UCB.
