worship
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth … to sit in a pew stuffed with my kids, giving O Holy Night a real rip together. But it ain’t gonna happen this year. The divas line up to sing this song, don’t they? Go to youtube. They are all there. Mariah. Whitney. Celine.…
READ MOREIt was another disappointing Sunday, as far as the singing goes. In the morning we were treated to lyrics written by Sunday School theologians, mired in mild heresy, sung to awkward tunes which the worship band, so desperate to sing a new song, loved – but which kept the congregation silent. In the evening we…
READ MOREI have loved John 1 for many years. This week I have added Mark 1 to my deeper affections. In John 1 we encounter Jesus in the pile-up of nouns which describe who Jesus is. Word, God (1) life, light (4-5, 8-9) grace, truth (14) Jesus Christ (17) Lord…
READ MOREI’ve been exegeting Sachin’s retirement speech. It provides such insight into an Indian worldview, often so different from those ones associated with ‘the West’. A full text of the speech can be found here. [NB: For those who may be unaware (!), ‘Sachin’ refers to Sachin Tendulkar. His name has the fame that ‘Roger’ has with…
READ MOREThe irony was going to be sufficiently delicious for me. Earlier this morning I was on a flight from London to Dubai on an Arab airlines (Emirates). I decided to listen to Handel’s Messiah, that supreme piece of Christian music, on its entertainment system. But God had other ideas. He wanted me to have an…
READ MOREIt all started in the seventies. The 90s helped teach me how to worship. Worship is more than singing, but it is not less. In the seventies I learned to love to sing. A call to worship here: O come let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For…
READ MOREWhen we had a little book written on my father’s life, we called it Surprised by Obedience. That title seemed to catch the twists and turns of his life and the way God kept calling him away from areas of proven skill and gifting. [NB: I’ve posted some tributes to my Dad here and here and here].…
READ MORE‘Don’t focus on digging the garden of scripture for them. Give them the tools that can keep them digging the garden for themselves for the rest of their lives.’ This would be one of the first pieces of advice I’d give to theological educators today. Partly because it is what I appreciated so much in…
READ MOREAnd so when I come across a you-tube video clip to use in this blog, what do I do? I click on share and then I select embed. The identity of the video clip comes up as a series of letters and numbers. I cut and paste this into my post. I click save, releasing the…
READ MOREBeryl was older than both my parents. I’d known her for more than 40 years – as ‘Auntie Beryl’ in my days as a missionary-kid (MK). Auntie Beryl lingered with us and took an interest in our little MK lives. We loved her. Auntie Beryl died earlier this month. Some years ago she had asked…
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.