Rev elations

Painting by Amber Merrick-Potter, owned by the Blog author I love words, I have always enjoyed reading and writing. Recently I’ve come across a group of words that are under threat: heron, magpie, otter, acorn, clover, ivy, sycamore, dandelion, buttercup, poppy, radish, willow, bramble, weasel, vicar, psalm, carol, bishop, chapel, pulpit, sin, pew and devil. Nature words and church words. Why are they under threat? In the latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary  these words have been taken out in favour of words such as: blog, broadband, MP3 player, voicemail, attachment, database, export, chatroom, bullet point, cut and paste, allergic, celebrity, childhood, tolerant, vandalism and negotiate. The words we use echo our interests, our concerns, how we spend our time and what is important to us. In short, they show us who we are. We are living through a period of extraordinary technological revolution; the pace of change has been phenomenal. We have jumped head l...

The Book of Amos is only 9 chapters long, but its prophetic announcements are powerful and direct. When Amos was pronouncing his prophecies, the two kingdoms of Judah and Jerusalem were in peace, with little threat from external powers.  Amos however describes a society which has lost its moral compass, and has forgotten what it means to be righteous before God: they have not honoured the covenant relationship into which they entered with Yahweh; they have forgotten how Yahweh saved them from the Egyptians, and subsequently they have rejected his laws.  Amos declares that God’s judgment upon them will be swift and decisive; God will utterly destroy them.  Flight shall perish from the swift, And the strong will not retain their strength, Nor shall the mighty save their lives; Amos 2:13 In what ways does Amos declare that they have failed to follow God’s laws? Amos’ understanding of what it meant to be in covenant relationship ...

‘Let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works and glorify your God which is in heaven’. The relationship between the Law and Faith within Christianity is complicated; Protestant thinking with its emphasis on by faith alone has a particular tendency to make a narrow judgment which in summary, says: faith, good; law, bad. I’ll give you an example, a couple of weeks back I gave a presentation at a meeting about the environment and Eco-Church. Most people were enthusiastic and keen to respond in action. However, one person approached me and expressed doubt about it all - she said ‘we should be saving souls’ and that to her mind excluded thinking about Eco-Church. And here is an example of someone who has over-emphasised the Protestant teaching by faith alone and in so doing reduced and narrowed the Christian understanding of salvation.  Salvation isn’t just about my personal relationship with Jesus and therefore my salvation. Far from it. Jesu...