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The Kingdom of God at my Dinner Table

The other night I invited six people to a dinner party that I was hosting for my birthday. I picked six because I have a table that seats that many and I didn’t want it to be so big that people would break off into groups to talk. I desired ideally, good conversation among all of us. We hardly ever do that any more it seems to me. I also told them that I didn’t want any gifts for my birthday but I said that if they wanted to they could bring a ‘gift’ to perform or present which celebrated life. I’m not sure why I did that but intuitively I felt that by doing this we might, God willing, experience something deep as we listened to one another, deeper than talking about the weather, the habits of our children, the struggles at work or what was new at the shops that week. I thought to myself it could go badly and get a little tacky, perhaps feel a little staged or it could be special. Continue reading The Kingdom of God at my Dinner Table

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Why Men Need to Engage in the ‘Gender Debate’.

A few weeks ago I preached at my church on the ‘Theme of Women in the Gospel of Luke’. It was in the context of a series on Luke but I was still quite anxious. I was worried that I would be seen as getting on my hobby horse and I feared isolating people in my congregation. However I realised that considering that this would be my first time preaching on the topic in a church where I have ministered for ten years, it should be ok! And it was ok. More than that there was a good response and a general feeling that as Christians we have a prophetic declaration to make that the kingdom has come and that this means we are to bring reconciliation to our world so that those living broken lives are inspired by the good news of Jesus.   Continue reading Why Men Need to Engage in the ‘Gender Debate’.