Jesus in the Wilderness

Jesus began his ministry following his encounter with John the Baptist. The four Gospels are unanimous about that, and it’s an easy story to understand. But the next story, whilst familiar, is much harder to comprehend. We are presented with a picture of God incarnate in a head-to-head debate with the Devil. What’s happening here?

Jesus exhausted

Jesus stilled the storm. It’s a well-known story that's usually told to show how powerful Jesus was. But the story starts from a quite different perspective. As he boards the boat, there’s a little phrase in the story that we can easily miss. It says that the disciples took Jesus “as he was”.

Aberfan Day

The Aberfan tragedy was a result of corporate negligence. But it’s not enough to blame that corporation and ignore our own failings. We each have freedom of choice – freedom to drop a bottle on the ground and leave it there to cause a deadly wildfire – freedom to discard a plastic bag that will end up as a sea-borne hazard to wildlife – freedom to live just for ourselves and overlook the needs of others.

The preacher who couldn’t dissimulate

I knew a man called Maurice Smith.  Thousands of people knew Maurice, because he was a prominent leader in the charismatic/House Church movement in the second half of the twentieth-century.  He travelled widely in the UK and the USA, addressed meetings in locations as varied as London's Albert Hall, and private house front rooms, and … Continue reading The preacher who couldn’t dissimulate