My Talks
gives you a selection of my public teaching |
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THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE |
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THE MEASURE OF AUTHORITY |
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True authority is found in the integration of what people say they believe with how they live. This highlights the modern crisis of authority and sets us a compelling challenge.
Among the many vertiginous changes to our shared life in the last two decades, the growing crisis in authority is one of the most pernicious and worrying. |
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A PAST ARTICLE |
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SMUG PARENTS |
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The new battle lines between parents and the child-free are divisive and can only undermine our generation’s legacy.
It was the author Helen Fielding who put the phrase ‘smug marrieds’ into the mouth of the luckless thirty-something single woman Bridget Jones to describe people who find each other romantically, |
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QUESTION TIME |
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It isn’t that politics and religion are separate spheres. They are two sides of the same coin. And the whole coin belongs to God.
Most political interviews today are very boring to listen to. This is because politicians are well trained in getting round awkward questions. There are three tried and tested ways of doing this. |
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SMUG PARENTS |
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The new battle lines between parents and the child-free are divisive and can only undermine our generation’s legacy.
It was the author Helen Fielding who put the phrase ‘smug marrieds’ into the mouth of the luckless thirty-something single woman Bridget Jones to describe people who find each other romantically, |
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THE STORY OF THE BLUES |
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Hidden in the middle of the Bible is a composition which speaks timelessly
to the needs and aspirations of humanity.
We seem to have woken up to the dangers of a poor diet in Britain. Once people are able to kick the addiction to a fast food diet, they often wonder what they saw in it in the first place, ...... |
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HOW TO BE A CHURCH VOLUNTEER AND A CHRISTIAN AT THE SAME TIME |
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Giving our spare time to the Church can be as much a challenge as it is a blessing. Careful attention to certain priorities can smooth the path.
Behaving like a Christian is a surprisingly easy thing provided there is no-one around us. Unfortunately the world is complicated by the presence of other people with an annoying tendency to sin. |
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THE PROPHETIC ROLE |
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The boomerang of prophecy aimed at society may knock out the idol we have in our sights, but it doesn’t complete its flight path until it hits the thrower as well.
What exactly is a prophet? Ask someone on the street and they will say it’s what a company makes when business is going well. When you tell thema .... |
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PHOBIC NATION |
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Fear is deeply ingrained in our culture.
It is into this unpromising terrain that God speaks his word of peace.
Franklin D. Roosevelt once famously said ‘there is nothing to fear except fear itself’. I saw a placard recently which read: ‘there is nothing to fear except fear itself – and spiders’. It’s a useful joke ...... |
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NO WORRIES |
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Social analysts suggest we are living in the age of anxiety. Few eras have seen as much change
as ours. So how does the teaching of Jesus speak into this ferment?
Some cliches are guaranteed to wind people up. Jilted lovers being told that ....... |
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IT’S MISSION, STUPID! |
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To understand how the world is changing is the first step towards shaping a mission which is faithful to the innovative power of an enduring Gospel.
Former US President Bill Clinton was one of the most formidable political campaigners of the modern era. |
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NICODEMUS BY NIGHT |
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The early communists talked of creating a new Soviet man, but Christianity got there long
beforehand as those who trust in Christ become a new people in his resurrection life.
Confidentiality is a wonderful thing. To be able to share your .... |
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ON BEING A FATHER |
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Many fathers feel role strain in the new shape their world is taking.
What encouragement is on hand for them?
Fathers’ Day does not get a mention in the Church’s calendar. This contrasts sharply with Mothering Sunday, which has become for ...... |
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THE TYRANNY OF TIME |
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Who are we to judge what constitutes a waste of time? God has a different vision.
Speed is an essential component of life today and a quote of Woody Allen from one of his earlier films establishes this nicely:
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THE PROPAGANDA OF THE DEED |
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The assault on death in Bethany burned itself on the imaginations of those who witnessed it
and announced the revolution to come.
Mary and Martha were especially close to Jesus, so when Lazarus fell ill, their first thoughts were for Jesus. |
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PAST ARTICLES |
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RSVP
Why do people reject the invitation to the best party in town? |
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THE STRANGER AMONG YOU
What God is looking for in principle in our treatment of
refugees is not hard to discern. |
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PAUL IN ATHENS
Modern culture is littered with clues that point to God.
So how can we be more
like Inspector Morse and less ...
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PAST ARTICLES |
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JONAH'S STORY
Amid the panoramic sweep of Jonah’s story, we are still
drawn to the alluring details of this flawed man |
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THE WOMAN AT THE WELL
We all set up careful boundaries over when and where we are willing to tell others about our faith.
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THE MID-LIFE CRISIS
The mid-life crisis is no myth,
yet subtle attention to
spontaneity and hope can calm the storm and plot a course. |
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PUSHY PARENTS
The social phenomenon of the pushy parent has received
a lot of attention recently.
Can ambition be sanctified and .... |
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MANAGING ANGER |
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With anger fast becoming the emotion of choice today, learning to handle the new volatility
has become a priority for Christians.
The acronym WWJD, though rather clumsy, has quickly become the best known of all . ...... |
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YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD |
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One of the most romantic components of our faith is that we influence others for good even without realising it. Our capacity to do the reverse is probably why we do not dwell on this much.
Those of us who believe Jesus to be the light .... |
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THE ALTERNATIVE SPENDING REVIEW |
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Many of us allow nagging guilt to hinder the wider use of our wealth.
Greater attention to some simple values can help us deal with this.
The parable of the unjust steward is perhaps the hardest of the stories of Jesus to understand. ...... |
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DEAD MAN WALKING |
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One man went to a cruel and unusual death for us. How we respond to this is the measure of our life.
Some time ago I came across a Texan website (it had to be Texan) which features the menus of the final meals people eat before they are executed. |
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THE WAKE UP CALL |
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A light has entered this world that will never be extinguished. Adjusting to its power takes time,
but its inescapability must rouse us from our sleep.
We rather take it for granted that Jesus made this claim for himself without really ...... |
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WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
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What God achieves through ordinary people shows there are no limits to spiritual mobility
other than those we place on ourselves.
Among several indicators of a retreat from Christian memory in this country is the reality that ...... |
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THE WEDDING AT CANA |
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For some wonderful and inexpressible cause, the God who upholds the universe cares about our private worries.
A long time ago, God made us in his image; ever since it seems we have been trying to re-fashion him in ,..... |
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THE PATH TO HUMAN HAPPINESS |
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It is a natural human aspiration to be happy, but this path should take us through the cross, not around it
One tired observation about Jesus that still has currency is that if he had been around in our generation ......
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The Christian journey is less like the measured pace of a ramble and more like
the dreaded Heathrow experience.
Among the virtues which are said to define Britishness – like fair play and hearing people out – is the willingness ...... |
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THREE DIMENTIONAL FORGIVENESS |
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There is rich texture to the aftermath of Easter which exposure to the lazy storytelling
rituals of today causes us to miss.
You may agree with me that films have become formulaic and predictable today. In the same way that people...... |
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WOMAN, MISUNDERSTOOD |
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The story of Mary Magdalene echoes in the heart of many women who have been labelled
superficially without any attempt to understand them.
One of the most important aspects of modern life is the control of . ...... |
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BARNABAS PEOPLE |
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No follower of Jesus is perfect, but some set a compelling high standard. What distinguishes those who are most alive with the faith?
I don’t know which genre of literature you dislike the most, ...... |
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INTOXICATING LOVE |
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How much do we really value romance when such little attention is given to the infrastructure
on which all good relationships are founded?
Children have a priceless way of making telling mistakes. :..... |
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RESURRECTION DAY |
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Easter means so much more than booking a ticket to heaven.
Sometimes you watch a breaking news story on the television and although you can see it’s important, you struggle to make full sense of it ...... |
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THE TORN CURTAIN |
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When the access to God that we have been gifted is taken for granted,
it makes us careless towards one another too.
The Jewish roots of the Christian faith are vital to our self-understanding. Over the centuries the Church’s awareness of these roots has ...... ..... |
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PAST ARTICLES |
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HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
Genocide is almost unbearably hard to think about,
but it gives us a reality check on
the fatal weakness ......
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JESUS AND THE STUPID CLUB
Some think of Jesus as just a good and talented man
who was unlucky and died young,
like a wasted rock star.
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PAST ARTICLES |
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AMAZING GRACE
Wilberforce’s legacy is in danger of being swamped
as Christians grow complacent about the state
of the world |
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MAKING HISTORY PERSONAL
The focus on the personal at the expense of the ideological among modern historians
is in tune with the saving work .... |
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THREE'S COMPANY |
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If the idea of the Trinity ties you in knots, there are some simple cultural clues why
- and how it may be approached again.
Consider the following sets of numbers:
2, 4, 6, 8, 10
1, 3, 5, 7, 9
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SLOW FOOD SACRAMENT |
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It’s when we embrace what Jesus went through for the person kneeling next to us
for communion that our own perspective on them is changed irrevocably.
It can’t have escaped your attention that the French have a problem with McDonalds. ...... |
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BLINDED BY THE LIGHT |
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Sudden exposure to the light is a painful but often necessary therapy.
Sometimes it’s possible to read your Bible over and over again and yet miss something staring you straight in the face. This story of the man born blind who is ........... |
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DO NOT FEAR, FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU
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Final words to St. Nicholas Church Chislehurst before leaving them to move to Rochester.
Our lives together are reaching a fork in the road today and it is happening earlier than you expected or I intended. Four years is not a long time ...... |
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Christianity faces new challenges in the UK as its cosy relationship with the status quo
begins to unravel.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ was recently described as:
Arguably the most ....... |
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DO NOT FEAR, FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU
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The firewalls we create to protect one part of our life from another must be extinguished
when it comes to expressing faith.
Some time ago I was talking to a young man who had just come to faith. |
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THE INFAMOUS CHRISTMAS CIRCULAR |
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There is no room for boasting in life because God’s undivided love overwhelms the tendency
to compete with one another.
You may be in the middle of giving and receiving Christmas cards. The etiquette surrounding .... |
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THE FIST SIZED CLOUD |
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A Christian view of climate change is to weigh up perceived threats but not to be paralysed by them. Prayer and activism should be the cutting edges of our concern
Every festival we celebrate in this world has a dark shadow to it which . ...... |
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HANNAH’S PRAYER |
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Out of one young mum’s anguish comes the joyful prediction of a world remade.
There is a critical difference between the Quran - the Muslim holy book - and the Bible. For Muslims, the Quran is the speech of God ...... |
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THE ACCESSION |
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How can we tell if God is at work in the big events of human history?
Christians who recite one of the historic creeds confess to the belief that God isactive in human history: in creation; the calling of Abraham ... |
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THE ELEPHANT IN
THE LIVING ROOM |
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In a cluttered world which almost intelligently deprives us of space,
Advent poses the one question we must stop to answer
The season of Advent has been ruthlessly flattened by the steamroller of commercialisation. |
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CELEBRITY CULTURE |
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Is it wrong to follow the lives of other people?
The enduring power of celebrity culture is a mystery in a world where almost no-one admits to being taken in by it. It is hardly sophisticated to confess to celebrity ...... ..... |
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BIG MOUTH OR BIG EARS |
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What does the balance look like between speaking and listening in our relationships?
The letter of James is not to everyone’s taste. Martin Luther, who made Jeremy Clarkson sound like a suave foreign office diplomat . .... |
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THE GOOD SAMARITAN |
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Who is my neighbour?
This is a pressing question in a world without the old boundaries to separate us from others.
The parable of the Good Samaritan remains perhaps the greatest inspiration for. .... |
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CHRISTMAS DAY: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT |
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Airbrushing the nativity until it looks like a still from a Richard Curtis Rom-com
makes us poorer, not richer.
Christmas TV usually pays homage at some point to what I would call richardcurtisland.
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THE NATIVITY |
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Believers in conspiracy theory and chaos theory both have a case to press in the birth of Jesus.
Forty years ago last July NASA landed men on the moon. Or did they? If conspiracy theorists are to be believed, NASA staged the whole thing to ..... |
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A TIME TO LEAVE |
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Jesus’ leaving of earth could have been a crushing blow to his followers but patient prayer in one place got them ready for a promise.
There are many ways of saying goodbye in life. One of the most popular |
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THE LOGIC OF FORGIVENESS |
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God forgives us, so we should forgive others. Why do we make a hash of such a simple equation?
If our lives were governed entirely by logic - like the Vulcan race supposedly is in Star Trek, we would always forgive other |
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PAST ARTICLES |
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TRIAL BY WATER
How nice a Christian would you be if you hadn’t
drunk water for a day?
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PAST ARTICLES |
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