justice
20/20 has always been associated with a clarity of vision, one that enables a certainty of purpose and a strength of step. But when 2020 finally arrived among us, it has brought confusion, uncertainty – and sickness. The irony is that those of us who have trumpeted our ‘wisdom, wealth and power’ down the decades,…
READ MOREWhen it comes to TV dramas, nobody does it better than the Brits. Nobody. This is a law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be altered. And so it came to pass, with a nudge from our daughter and a shared Netflix account to help welcome us home, that Barby and I discovered Shetland. It…
READ MOREDalrymple, google maps, and wikipedia have become such a happy triumvirate in my life. Because of it, his books take so long to read, especially this one where he traces the journey of a Byzantine monk through Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt: From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium…
READ MORE‘An explosion of protest, a howl of rage’ was the headline catching my eye this week, especially when in concert with this photo. The Guardian, through word and image, was capturing what is happening in the world today. Hong Kong may well have been the ignition, but the protests have been spreading to Iraq and…
READ MOREWith movies, I like to think my own thoughts… Whether it be the gross takings from the box-office, or those percentages on Rotten Tomatoes – neither one is going to influence me one whit. They are not going to tell me what to think. No way đ. I’ll like what I like for the reasons I choose, thank-you…
READ MOREIn the week before we left New Zealand, an issue grabbed the headlines. Thousands of people occupied land in a place called IhumÄtao, near the Auckland airport. It is land that is precious to our indigenous MÄori people. Sadly, New Zealand has a history of stealing land and dishonouring treaties and so people gathered in…
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The generation that came after me tends to impress me more than the babyboomer one that went before me. Speaking very generally, and yet observing it repeatedly, their hearts seem to be turned towards the world more radically. For me it started when we hosted a young adults’ home group for almost a decade. Their questions. Their…
READ MOREAmos. First Peter. Two of my favourite biblical books through which to preach. Doing so, however, creates tension inside me. Amos is a sustained attack by God, through his prophet, on the presence of injustice among the nations of the world – and especially within His people, Israel. It is unrelenting. It is blistering. God…
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With snow on the ground, I missed it the first time I walked across it. The snow melted – and there it was: a line in the tiles and in the history of Sarajevo, capital city of Bosnia-Herzegovina (B-H) in the Balkans. Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures Although there is a common culture and language (to…
READ MOREMore than 1100 children were killed during the Siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1996. The city remembers the children in a couple of ways. Late one afternoon I trudged through the snow down Marshall Tito St from Pigeon Square for almost 2kms to find this memorial beside the road. It is a typical war…
READ MOREAbout Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand â first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.