Waiting and Working for Peace by James Petticrew
My wife and I currently live in Switzerland, very close to the French border, so we regularly travel between the…
My wife and I currently live in Switzerland, very close to the French border, so we regularly travel between the…
“Prominence does not equal significance in the Kingdom of God.” I am not sure who said that first, but whenever…
Do you ever think about where your leadership is leading? Winston Churchill once commented that, “we shape our buildings; thereafter…
Perhaps this is the real significance of Christ the King Sunday. It is an opportunity to look at what has been ruling over us in every aspect of our lives. It is an opportunity to dethrone the Caesars of today, allowing Christ the King to reign in their stead.
God’s compassion needs to be experienced and expressed: experienced by us as his people and expressed to the people around us.
The neighbours said they rarely saw the lady but when they did, she was always happy and well-presented. She kept the small garden at the front of the house neat and tidy. But it was clear from inside that it had been years since she had thrown anything out.
“When Christ is squeezed from the Body of Christ by our own priorities and agenda as a congregation or through our busyness as leaders or disciples, what is left is little more than a corpse masquerading as a church.”
“More than just building a tower, the people of Babel wanted to build a reputation for themselves. They wanted others to recognize their intelligence and skill and to admire them. Abraham, on the other hand, didn’t seem that interested in making a name for himself. He was happy to follow God, to obey God’s calling, and to entrust his reputation to God. God took care of Abraham’s reputation and made his name great.”
I have often thought when hearing of another nose-dive from ministry, “not him?” but underlying that has been a naive attitude that has assumed that it won’t ever be me.
Yesterday was the third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete Sunday; “gaudete” is Latin for “rejoice.” Even a cursory reading of the Bible reveals that joy and rejoicing are an inevitable overflow in the lives of people who have understood and experienced God at work in their lives.