Thursday 19 November 2009

What is salvation?

Found this video and thought I'd share it with you. An Orthodox response to the question 'Are you saved?' I particularly like the way the answer intertwines with the way life is lead. Enjoy.



Found this via The Country Parson and Mad Priest, so all thanks to them for passing it on.

Monday 16 November 2009

Budget Pilgrimage

In his WordLive article on Psalm 84, Alistair Campbell, explains that the context for the Psalmist's words is someone seeking God. (The full article is here) This seeking of God turns into a full blown pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Temple. He ends the article suggesting that our pilgrimages, or ways of seeking God, are often through commitment to Bible reading and prayer, amongst others.

I also read the article, although slightly edited, in Encounter With God.

So there I was on Sunday, having first read the words online and then in print, in the comfort of my own centrally-heated house. Using my own leather covered Bible, a translation of my choice, with the other translations lined up on a shelf. And, I think I may also have been sipping a cup of nice hot tea.

The Encounter version ended with a couple of questions that made me think, gulp and begin to reassess one or two things. What do you think?

Do we sufficiently value the means God has provided for us to know him?
Have we become too comfortable in our discipleship?

Darren

Monday 9 November 2009

Monday, Monday, so good to me

Monday mornin', it was all I hoped it would be'

Okay, the Mammas and the Papas were singing about lurve, but what do we hope Monday will bring? Or more importantly, as I was getting ready for the week ahead, what is our / my focus for the week?

I was looking at more than a dozen emails in the inbox, a to do list that despite my best efforts seemed to have some items slipping into the red overdue colour and a calendar with several meetings I need to prepare for.

As I sat looking at the above I realised that all these things are secondary, my focus and starting point is God. Working for a Christian organisation makes that quite obvious, but it is still easy to slip into task mode, when sometimes vision and goal mode is where we need to begin.

Why is Monday morning so good to me? Because God is with me.

How is Monday going for you?

Darren