Teapot Theology

Single-minded and unhappy? Duke discusses…

Bible Fresh; 6XT’s and the 30th March at the LICC

Ipod fast, not chocolate this Lent?

Tim Kellers Church-planting London lectures all in pdf format

Reasons we’re slack in our bible reading: An EA resource

Consumerism gets us all, but with these testamints you get a whole other league of option!!

A perennial question:- Do pets go to hell!?

Is Twitter, really, a leadership tool?

….. and this genius summary from Dallas Willard:- ” The hope of the world is for Christian people to become disciples of Jesus!”

I was trying to make sense of difference and similarity….

This struck me…..

A young (and very gifted) sporting son gets £50k a week & comes home with a broken leg. A willing and able son who serves in Afghanistan for £18k a year, could come home in a body-bag!

“Church is the textured context in which we grow up in Christ to maturity.” Genius!! What a compelling (and complicated) invitation!!

“So, why church? The short answer is because the Holy Spirit formed it to be a colony of heaven in the country of death” (p11-12).

The church, Peterson says, is those people who practice the resurrection of Christ in the country of death.

Sure, he admits, the church isn’t all it seems it should be but he makes this observation: “Maybe God knows what he is doing, giving us church, this church” (14). Peterson thinks Ephesians gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what church is.

“Sometimes we hear our friends talk in moony, romantic terms of the early church. ‘We need to get back to being just like the early church.’ Heaven help us. These churches were a mess, and Paul wrote his letters to them to try to clean up the mess” (p16).

“And what comes clear,” in this letter to the Ephesians, “is that church is not what we do; it is what God does, although we participate in it” (p17).

But “we don’t read Ephesians as a picture of a ‘perfect church’ to which we compare our congregations and try to copy what we see. Rather, we read Ephesians as the revelation of all the operations of the Triune God that are foundational beneath what is visible among us and at work throughout each congregation. This is what makes us what we are, however imperfectly or neurotically we happen to be living it out” (p17-18).

from Petersons, Practice the Resurrection

“And the winner for the grayest, grimmest, most violent post-apocalyptic thriller of 2010 involving the Bible goes to…..The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington.” This dark movie is not for the light-hearted or weak-stomached. It paints a very dark picture of humanity in all it’s unfettered barbarism, celebrating the survival of the fittest in all it’s glory and gory.

In a post-apocalyptic world, Eli walks west, carrying with him a book that can save the world. The evil Carnegie also wants to get his hands on Eli’s book, though not at all for the same purposes. Both men know the power of the words contained in the book, but one intends it to heal the nations, while the other wants to twist them to serve is own desires. While this movie is certainly not for everybody, it is a must for those who like examining the themes of the human depravity, sin and evil, the power of faith and particularly the influence the Bible over human history and civilizations.

In this we find poignantly played out truths such as:-

The Bible is truly a “two-edged sword”!

We owe infinite gratitude to God and his human agents who, like Eli laboured to preserve, protect and pass down Scriptures faithfully, fearlessly and accurately throughout the centuries. The main storyline reminded me of Thomas Cahill’s bestselling book How The Irish Saved Civilization.

This movie paints a painful and ugly picture of the potential of human beings for ill.

Eli is a shining example of bold, faithful obedience to God’s unique calling and assignment for his life. He trusts God’s promises to protect and carry him through all forms of opposition that comes his way. I love the admission;- “In all these years I’ve been carrying it and reading it every day, I got so caught up in keeping it safe that I forgot to live by what I learned from it.”

Eli remains faithful to the end as does the One who called Him to this task. Here’s Washingtons’ inspiring closing prayer:- ” Dear Lord, Thank you for giving me the strength and the conviction to complete the task you entrusted to me. Thank you for guiding me straight and true through the many obstacles in my path. And for keeping me resolute when all around seemed lost. Thank you for your protection and your many signs along the way. Thank you for any good that I may have done, I’m so sorry about the bad. Thank you for the friend I made. Please watch over her as you watched over me. Thank you for finally allowing me to rest. I’m so very tired, but I go now to my rest at peace. I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith.” Stunning and challenging viewing.

Here’s the words and wisdom of Henri Nouwen in a prayer:-
“The Lenten season begins. It is a time to be with you, Lord, in a special way, a time to pray, to fast, and thus to follow you on your way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.

I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.

I know that Lent is going to be a very hard time for me. The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life. I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions. There are not times or places without choices. And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.

Please, Lord, be with me at every moment and in every place. Give me the strength and the courage to live this season faithfully, so that, when Easter comes, I will be able to taste with joy the new life that you have prepared for me. Amen.

We can so downplay certain days in the calender….. we pass them by, we believe that we’re too liberated to be bound or connected and yet in them is meaning, richness and purpose….

One of things I love about NOT giving up things this Lent is using the forty-ish days till Easter as a journey. A time of increased personal examination.

During this Lenten Season, I’m asking myself……

1. Where is there forgiveness and grace needed? (like extra dollups!!)
2. Where is a (soul) blockage that would keep the Holy Spirit from moving freely?
3. Where are the places where there isn’t resurrection life right now? (stale, stuck or stagnating places!!)

All of it (even already) has sharpened my hunger and desire for greater intimacy with Jesus! The preparation for Easter could and should be a time to improve and renew your relationship with the Risen Christ! So let Easter result in daily resurrection (now!!)

“… So that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” 1 Corinthians 2:5

The season of preparation has begun.

How an iPhone app made a life-saving intervention in Haiti!

Wisdom from an older and wiser voice…..

If you could have real virtual church; is this what you’d want it to be?

Death within churches from the top down; Marcus’ great article and challenging questions,….. worth your time.

Incandescence: and God’s call in our lives!

How about sermon length…? What about it!

What church leaders might learn from the Apple genius: Steve Jobs?!

The Happiness Machine, c/o Coca Cola!

and what would pastoral care be like if Jack Baeur was your pastor!!

Boy meets girl. They talk. They laugh. They fall in love. Little do they know what’s going inside their brains. Dr. Earl Henslin explains some of the latest findings in brain research and how brain imbalances can have a bad affect on your love life in his newest book, This Is Your Brain In Love. With stories from his clients as well as scientific research, Henslin pinpoints five common types of lovers and offers tips and solutions. This book seek to unravel the secrets of proactive passion and it’s helped me realise (already!) where I get it wrong and am unclear with Julie. It calls each to bring their healthiest, most balanced and joyful self to the relationship.
Dr. Henslin speaks to the vital connection between spirituality and sexuality. He identifies the five types of lovers. Filled with relatable stories and humour, this is not your boring brain book! Engaging and practical, Dr. Henslin provides an amazingly accurate, scientifically-based brain test to help spot typical brain imbalances. (And yes, most everyone has at least one!) There is a lot of sage advice within these pages with a potent conclusion majoring in kindness, patience and forgiveness.

As Goethe said, Love does not dominate: it cultivates!

Sorrow, anger and the helplessness that Haiti evokes…. More here…

God bless this…. laptop!? a dose of curious prayers for all occasions?!

A wonderful six-track acoustic worship-central album for free download….

What do you make of Stephen Baldwin in CBB? Devoted bible stuff anyhow!!

Am enjoying a significant dose of Brothers and Sisters, catch-up dvd viewing with my beloved….Engaging, warm, poignant, complex, brilliant!

Pastoral profiling and all that….? This blog is an interesting write: linking the truth that ‘churches put their pastors on a pedestal and this truth is only worsened when their pastors want to be there!’,…. it’s like a challenge between excellence and grace that I’ve been talking over with some new friends.

Bring on some boredom! Over-stimulation is the enemy of imagination – we should give our children the gift of boredom…. go on smash your Wii’s and those DS games!

Here’s an expresso for your soul!

And….. the weekend always includes Jesus, but this weekend, we get to have Jack back too!! For Day 8 of our lives! Arnt’ we allowed to praise God for Jack Baeur?!