spirituality
Maths, maps and spelling were my favourite subjects as a little boy. A chief contributor to this favouritism was that each subject involved competitive classroom games. ‘Around the world’ was great fun. One competitor would stand next to the other, seated at their desk. A math’s question? A capital city? Spelling a word? Bring it…
READ MORE
For a millennium, the Hagia Sophia was the largest cathedral in the world. It reaches all the way back to the worlds of Chrysostom and Constantine. When Istanbul was conquered by the Ottomans, it was turned into a mosque – and now it is a museum. The history is amazing – and so also is…
READ MOREIt is always great to be back in Delhi. On this visit I decided to make a different pilgrimage. When we first moved here in 1970, Delhi Bible Fellowship (later to be pastored by my future father-in-law, Charles Warren) was just getting started. There were different congregations around the city and then a combined service…
READ MOREA billboard caught my eye last week. The driver kindly stopped so that I could take a photo – although I could tell that he wondered what I was doing. He was insistent on stopping in front of the neighbouring billboard – but, no, this is the one I wanted: It is the conflictual relationship…
READ MOREGazing out the window thinking about God. That is what I’ve been doing this week. Situated at Siloam, on the fringe of Barapani (literally, ‘big water’) near Shillong in Northeast India, Barby and I have had a room that looks out across the lake to some rolling hills. As the light and the weather changes,…
READ MOREThis hymn nourished me as a child. It still challenges me as an adult. The first two lines go like this: Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Then the lyrics go on a tour, covering my moments/days, my hands, feet, voice, lips, silver/gold, intellect, will, heart and love. Each time…
READ MOREI used to play a little football – or, soccer, as my American friends refer to it. Here the word ‘little’ refers both to time and talent. I didn’t play for long and I didn’t play very well. One of the challenges for me was that as I approached a position where I could shoot…
READ MORESome people have lived such important lives. In a recent wander through a cemetery in Pembrokeshire (SW Wales) one memorial is designed to attract attention more than any other. And it does. High above all else. The erect, stone figure can be seen from some distance. A military man of some kind, I suspect. Maybe…
READ MOREDavid Brooks’ The Road to Character (Allen Lane, 2015) is a book of two halves – that is, if we are able to be flexible and allow one of the halves to be only one-sixth of the book. The Introduction (ix-xv) and The Shift (3-15) will make their way into the required reading list for…
READ MOREWhen things get tough I try to look in two directions. One is horizontal. Maybe chronological is a better word. I bring to mind the way God works with a 24 hour day and how dawn follows midnight. Always. Without Fail. Then in many countries, far from the equator, He works with a 4 season…
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 — 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.