My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. James 1:19 How often do we take the time to just stop and listen to the world around us? I don’t mean stopping and listening for something specific or expected, I mean…
“What does love look like? Not like this”
Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them. Dalai Lama There are times when words just don’t seem like enough. The more I write, the more anger, frustration, hopelessness, and helplessness pours out onto the page – this is a blog post…
If we knew the gift of God we would ask him and he would give us living water.
The following sermon was to be preached in Jerusalem today (Sunday 15th March), however due to Coronavirus restrictions this was not possible. Exodus 17:1-17 | Romans 5:1-11 | John 4:5-42 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our rock and our redeemer. In our world…
Exploring the Road to Emmaus
The following piece is a short exploration of the narrative around the Road to Emmaus written for a Symposium on Scriptural Reasoning which took place in late January 2020 in Jerusalem. Luke 24 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the…
“Compassion is the chief law of human existence.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“Man’s inhumanity to man,” the words from Robert Burns’ poem Man was made to mourn: A Dirge (1784) are heard often when we speak of injustices carried out by people to other people.
Kings and Shepherds
This sermon was given on November 24th 2019 (Christ the King Sunday) in Jerusalem. Readings: Jeremiah 23:1-6 & St Luke 23:33:43 Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen How do we know who…
The ache for home lives in all of us
“The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” Maya Angelou, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes “My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” Isaiah 32:18 Can you imagine being told that your home and…
Stop, look, and listen.
Praxis can be as simple as listening and looking. Don’t just walk past people who want to speak to you, listen to them…they have stories to tell. Here, many have difficult stories, but they need people to hear them.
GRACE AND PRAXIS
Luther asserted that “grace is the continuous and perpetual operation or action through which we are grasped and moved by the Spirit of God so that we do not disbelieve His promises and that we think and do whatever is favourable and pleasing to God.” If this is so then grace calls on us to use praxis alongside exegesis to work towards a better life for all God’s people on Earth. This is nowhere more vital than within Palestinian liberation theology.
“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
This week I’ve had two poems going around in my head, both by the same poet, the late Maya Angelou. These aren’t poems I’ve read recently, but ones which seem to give me a nudge every now and then when I see, hear, or experience something happening here in Israel and Palestine. They cause…
ThinkingAllowed 