World events that unsettle, unnerve us, often find Christians resorting to various readings of the Revelation of St John (or more precisely, the Revelation of Jesus Christ). The vast, terrifying, apocalyptic landscape of Revelation is read as a prophetic calendar of future events -  which in some ways, and consistent with multiple fulfilments of this literary and prophetic genre, is valid. There is something about the grand spiritual themes and battles in Revelation that will last the entire age, in that every era has the possibilities of seeing dragons, false prophets and persecution of the saints…

In this forth foray into the reading of scripture we will look at the New Testament with the Old Testament in view, as it relates to Jesus in John’s gospel. How does Jesus employ the Hebrew Scriptures?…

Discipleship – everyone is talking about it, which is cause for rejoicing. After all, it was foremost in Jesus’ mind when he spoke to the disciples prior to his ascension (Matt 28). Little else ranks as important to the church’s mission as the making of disciples; the history of God’s church rises or falls on how well we make disciples of Jesus.

John 6.1-21 is a remarkable vignette in the gospels that is easily lost to a metaphorical/spiritual principle reading. We are so used to reading and preaching beyond (almost despite) the historical context/event, we fail to be captured by the enormity of the events themselves…

I mentioned the value and the necessity of reading scripture in its context. In other words, an individual verse primarily belongs to the unifying and explanatory context it is found in, as is the case with all writing. Whilst this seems obvious, the way we read scripture regularly makes it anything but. We lift verses out of context in large measure due to a promissory interpretative view of God’s word – scripture is seen as a treasury of personal promises instead of the salvation narrative/record - past, present, and future - that it is. It is the story of God.

During the reign of Emperor Tiberius, crucifixion was a common form of capital punishment. It was a particularly brutal form, meted out to the enemies of Rome, and there were plenty of those in Palestine as the Jews, in the main, hated the Romans.

Having happily lived in the Pentecostal/Charismatic tradition for the entirety of my Christian experience, I am used to people saying God said to them. I don’t doubt most people’s sincerity, and they rarely say anything heretical, but I must admit it does seem like the Almighty chats a lot, and that I am clearly a dullard because it isn’t my experience that God is talking to me as much as these people say he does to them.

If anyone had the gift of prescience it was C.S.Lewis; nowhere better seen than in the third instalment of his science fiction trilogy - That Hideous Strength. He mythically, graphically, with foresight shows the results of the amoral search for knowledge at all costs, along with its hideous consequences…

“It is not right that we should neglect the word of God … we will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” Acts 6.2,4 NRSV

In the first recorded dispute among the believers in Jerusalem, the apostles provided a solution, appointing deacons, and in so doing resolving among themselves to not neglect their prime duty to prayer and scripture.

The right to abortion is part of a wider agenda of self-determination for women.  Women want to be able to self-determine in regards, amongst other things, their education and careers, their domestic circumstances, their sexuality, and their reproductive rights. And it is an unwise or naïve person who would deny them the basic right of self-determination; that battle is long over, even if not fully realised for all women.

In world history Moses stands a herculean figure; he has few rivals, less eclipse him. His impact still reverberates in the Western world: in our jurisprudence, our literature, and in our moral code. Even if the moral law is being questioned and jettisoned those that do so still hope that people have a moral code, and a just legal system is still to be found. We repudiate Moses, but we still hope his influence underscores human behaviour and responsibility.

The reading of scripture, therefore the understanding of scripture, changes as one ages, or as one matures in the faith; hopefully the two are synonymous.

When a new reader approaches scripture it is often with a focus on individual texts.

AI is not a species, a sentient being, a self-conscious entity; humans are, computer programs aren’t. AI is artificial intelligence – it is not a living intelligence, that is the domain of people. Any ‘so-called’ intelligence that is accrued by AI is due to the intelligence of people. And yet we talk as though AI were a person, a being. How?  By referring to ourselves as human as though we were somehow a separate species, alongside AI.

It is not hard to argue that at the core of all ministries is the heartbeat of the shepherd, the pastor.  These were the words, sage words, of my first pastor – who was himself primarily an evangelist, as well as being a good pastor.

To tell you the truth I don’t know, and nor does anyone else. It is equally likely that there is no other sentient being/life form (comparable to ours) in the vast tracts of the universe as there is. We just don’t know. Anything else is speculation, or hope, or … but it isn’t science. The chances are as unlikely as some say they are likely. 

“And let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.” NRSV 

The notion, even the mere mention, of good works causes a nervous theological tic in many Protestants. They are instantly suspicious works are being imported into a grace only theology of salvation. 

Contrary to the proverb, crime does pay - otherwise it wouldn’t be so lucrative or prevalent.  Some people make enormous sums of money from crime; they are often hidden behind walls of impunity, rarely prosecuted.  They may not sleep well but they do tend to live well. Their consciences may be troubled but not, it seems, enough. Their children rarely know what it is dad does, and what they don’t know isn’t hurting them.   For their wives/partners ignorance is bliss as well a life of ease and luxury. 

Who is the greatest asked the disciples, with themselves in view no doubt!? I say this because the young are driven by the toxic combo of comparison and competition. Their metrics are fame, numbers, and finances. The disciples are indicative of any group of young men, particularly if they are in some position of privilege/advantage. For instance, in the case of sports, music, fresh out of university, corporate ladders – anywhere younger people jostle for prominence; the need to be noticed and do better than the competition. It’s very human, and in some circles, it is encouraged. All very Darwinian, except that we are not animals, despite our behaviour.  

Matthew paints a picture for us in Matt 21 that points to the inevitable confrontation Jesus had with the chief priests and elders. If he had been hesitant, or felt the time to have been previously unpropitious, that time was over; he now speaks and acts unequivocally.

The theme of this book had been percolating with me for some time: it is the growing disquiet in regards to the models of leadership the Western church sees as normative, even preferred, that appears to run contrary to what makes a good leader from a biblical perspective.