worship
A little more from my “New Zealand is the most secular English-speaking country of all, even if I receive disbelieving looks from American, Canadian, British and Australian friends whenever I say so” file. This week I was in Sydney and a friend of mine expressed how he has regular opportunities in local civic contexts to…
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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 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 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 MORETo be known as a good listener is a great aspiration to have. It is certainly one of mine. But inevitably, in my work (as with many of you, I’m sure), I do a lot of talking. Looking back through my google calendar over recent weeks, I find things like this: teaching a module on…
READ MOREBarby and I have enjoyed five weeks with Micah and Amaliya, our little grandchildren, filling our Bangalorean lives with joy. The fact that our Lovely Lys and her hubbie, Tim, came with the package deal only makes the visit that much sweeter. Tonight I say good-bye to all of them as I head to London…
READ MOREI know CS Lewis is ‘the man’. One day when I have nothing to do, I am going to go through Mere Christianity and list all the times he finds the spiritually significant in the utterly ordinary and everyday. That is the simple secret of compelling illustration and nobody does it better. But there is one…
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At our age, an overnight flight leads to an afternoon nap. Once that was over, Barby and I wandered out onto the streets of Yangon. No map to follow. Nowhere to go, in particular. From across the road we stumbled across this building. Just another church in all its faded glory? With more pigeons outside…
READ MORELast year my daughter Bethany asked me if she could cross-stitch some words that were precious to me. It took a few seconds to make up my mind. And so it came to pass, over Christmas, that some wise words arrived from the east (well, more the south, I guess), simply framed and starkly beautiful.…
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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.