Hitchhikers guide to God

The Beatitudes - Fortunate are the Blessed  The Beatitudes not only help us to get to heaven but the help us avoid hell on earth. This talk is therefore in two halves – and driven by exegesis. What is exegesis. Exegesis is simply the analysis of text and every often of translation In many ways I prefer the Fortunate instead of Blessed  Fortunate are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Fortunate are the peacemakers, - who build bridges Let us start with avoiding hell on earth. We all know people who simply live in a firestorm. Where ever they go they object or complain or rub people up the wrong way. They simply are not blessed or are not fortunate enough to make theirs and other people’s lives anything but joyless Once upon a time in 1998 in there was a proud and successful landlord and an awkward belligerent customer who drank a whole bottle of wine and then discovered that it was not the one that she had ordered – so refused to pay for it! She was not merciful -...

Lazarus and the Rich Man with reference to Queen Elizabeth II        So why did Lazarus do so well and the rich man do so badly in our Lords parable? Life is surely a sacred opportunity for spiritual development. If we ignore its spiritual opportunities and just indulge in sinful pleasures, we waste it and must face the consequences. We have to discover that is we live our lives driven by the seven deadly sins there will be consequences. ‘Riches’ give us that opportunity to make these mistakes However, the poor man Lazarus would have had little opportunity: to be proud – because he had nothing or to be greedy - because he had little food or to be lustful - because there would have no opportunity or to be angry - because he had no one to tirade over So the poor man had few wicked choices – and went to Heaven The rich man however would have every opportunity to be proud, to be greedy, to be lustful, to be wrathful at his many employees, and be as lazy as liked. He had ...

Catching the Wave - watching, waiting and building faith - Luke 12:32-40 x   Our focus today is all about watching, waiting and building faith – and then crucially catching the wave of faith as  we build our spiritual treasure of faith.  The art of surfing is waiting and watching for the big wave and then launching to catch the power of the wave. Momentarily we have to travel as fast as the wave if we are to share in the power of the wave. We are made in the image of God (Genisis 1:27)  To share in Jesus we have to do what He would do.  We have to have His love, His compassion and His Faith - then we can ride with Him. We cannot see faith any more than we can see electricity . However, we can observe its effects – just as we can observe the effects to of electricity.   For instance, we know that if we pass electrical current  though a copper wire and wrap it around a ferrous material, we can create a magnet - which in turn can be used to create an elec...

  Holy Week – Discipleship, Bartimaeus, St Peter and Us!    Last year we walked up to Jerusalem with Bartimaeus – the blind man who Jesus cured outside the ancient city of Jericho. He immediately joined the disciples and followed Jesus. We speculated what part he might have play in the events of Holy Week   Palm Sunday - He would undoubtedly have been with them on Palm Sunday – been a part of the great procession into Jerusalem – perhaps he was laid palms in front of our Lord Himself Monday  – He would have been with them when Jesus demonstrated the power of faith by cursing the fig tree – witnesses Him cleansing the temple   Tuesday -  Apostles witness the fig tree withered – Prophecies the temple's destruction 70 AD - teaches on faith in the temple and the great tribulation and second coming - Olivet Discourse which included the    Ten Virgins (Mt 25:1-13), The    Talents (Mt 25:14-30),  The   Sheep & Goats (Mt 25:31...

Could non-violence be the solution to modern war? My father served in the British Army, my grandfather was a general in the British Army my great great great grandfather was Admiral Rodney. For our family fighting for our country was considered honourable and necessary – and certainly not unbiblical. For many years I read the New Testament selectively. Most of us do. Most of it is immediately understandable and directly applicable to our lives. However, Passages like Matthew 5:38-40 – surely did not apply to us!   “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well”. (Really tough teaching!) Equally ‘Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.’ Matt 26:52 As we know Jerusalem suffered terribly by ignoring these teachings and Our Lord Prophesy. The Jews t...

Can we really prove that God exists - rationally? Initially I thought this would be a ‘Paygrade’ issue. Proving a reality beyond our own reality sounds way too much. Personally, I don’t do the shock and awe thing - that God must exist because the universe is so mind numbingly enormous. More at my level is the fact that God has been both seen and experienced by saints for millennia. Surely, we need their evidence for the case for God to become convincing. Let us apply Wesley’s Quadrilateral – Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience! Scripture records numerous miraculous events like a virgin birth, a resurrection etc – in short, an existence outside our existence. In fact, to be a prophet within the Judaic traditions they had to demonstrate ‘signs’ of operating beyond our physical reality. For instance, all four Gospels record that our Lord could heal the sick, raise the dead, feed thousands of people - twice! These events were of course witnessed by thousands of people.  Tradit...

Questions Christians hate! Sooner or later every Christian is approached by someone who asks questions they cannot really answer. This can be embarrassing and can undermine both their own faith and the faith of the questioner – if they have one! In this series I throw up questions and suggest answers designed to appeal to people of faith and no faith at all.     ·          Do you have to hate our family to become disciples of Jesus? (See below) ·          Can you prove the existence of God - rationally? ·          What was the point of the Desert Fathers and contemplative monastic traditions? ·           Do you believe in Angels?  Where is the evidence? ·           Did Jesus’s miracles really happen? How did they work? Why were they necessary? · ...