We often used to sing ‘Jesus be the centre’, a lovely song with sincere lyrics: ‘Jesus, be the centre, be my source, be my light, Jesus.’ The problem is though, that the words may reflect our perception but they do not reflect reality. Jesus cannot be the centre because we wish Him to be – He IS the centre…more
Many years ago I read a book called ‘Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions’ written in 1884 by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. Although it was intended as a satirical comment on Victorian society, I found in it a powerful description of the interaction between different dimensions. Abbott’s Flatland is a world of only two dimensions, width and length but no height…more
I once asked a biblical scholar what he was looking forward to most in heaven. He replied, “I can’t wait to read the scriptures with full understanding.” Seems like a noble desire yet it appears to me to be a very strange ambition. In heaven we will have full access to the Lord Jesus Christ, the author of scripture, so why would we read an ethereal version of the Bible when we can talk to its author? …more
During the worship last Sunday a man turned around to the woman standing behind him and told her to be quiet. Apparently she was singing exuberantly or shaking the back of his chair with her passionate response to the presence of God. Perhaps he was joking, although even then his action must have been triggered by a judgement he made – “This woman is offending my hyper conservative sensibilities and I have the right to tell her to stop it!” Oh really? Do we have the right to judge others like this, let alone express our judgement in this way?…more
