It is not the domain of Ministers alone. Our everyday efforts to figure out what it means to be a Christian amidst the complexities of this world, is also theological endeavour. Do we not ask, ‘Where is God in all of this?’ ‘What would he have me do?’ That makes us theologians
St Benedict proposed the need for: “A rule of life” – regular daily practices that, like a trellis, give structure to our ongoing Sanctification. Usually made up of Spiritual Disciplines, but Wesley preferred to call them ‘Means of Grace’: things we do, to make us more open to what God is already doing. He spoke of ‘Works of Piety’ (inward disciplines) and ‘Works of Mercy” (outward disciplines).
UMC September SERIES FOUNDATIONS FIT FOR 100 YEARS
God has made a decision about you. He hasn’t waited to find out how sincere you are, how devout or religious you might be, or how well you understand the Bible. He hasn’t even waited to find out if you are interested or willing to take this decision seriously. He has simply decided.
There are two areas in my life where I often find myself trying to avoid having a difficult conversation about something, in the workplace and in my household. What do we do when a co-worker says something inappropriate and no-one else is reprimanding them?
Be silent. Be still. Alone. Empty before your God. Say nothing. Ask nothing. Be silent. Be still. Let your God look upon you.
The first two weeks of any term are an incredibly busy time. This term has not been any different. No matter how much I seem to prepare in the holidays, the return to school always feels like the equivalent of trying to drink out of a fire hydrant
One of the great gifts of Christianity is that it invites us to enter holy in-between places, places of life-giving ambiguity and paradox. We want simple, black-and-white clarity in our lives, and we try to pummel Christianity into giving it to us. But God will not be pummeled. He gifts us with rich contradiction:
We are in the sixth and final week of a journey through the Apostles Creed, a declaration of our faith, and are looking at what it is that we believe when we say the lines:
We are in the fifth week of a journey through the Apostles Creed, a declaration of our faith, and are looking at what it is that we believe when we say the lines: