Falling With Style

'One anothering' is one of those church phrases that the rest of the world rarely registers. However, the fifty nine one another references in the New Testament are all so active and powerful that it's time we gave them a bit of profile and started living them out. As I make some space to study and think about the kind of culture we want to live in, these verses could form the very heart of our lives together. Eat, sleep, read, repeat as the song goes (almost!) In our lives, churches, homes, workplaces, we seem to be in perpetual transition. In such a climate, our key relationships with one another are what matter most, what demonstrate most readily who we are as disciples, and yet they are the arena where we come under most pressure. So here is our prescription -  Copy and print. Stick them around the house, meditate on them in the mornings.  We will mature as we align with this truth, as we let them become the default setting, the climate control for this season...

I've just returned from a wonderful two week holiday in a far flung place, but if you write to the locals next week they would not remember me. There is no trace of me having been amongst them, no legacy from my impact, any tracks left in the sand long since washed away. John Livingstone Nevius spent only two weeks in Korea in 1890, yet the simple advice he gave to missionary leaders on that visit continues to shape the ongoing growth of the Korean church to this day! Travelling into Korea from his base in China, Nevius was at odds with the normal, colonial missionary approach. He understood that both the gospel and church plants failed to penetrate national culture when they remained in the hands of western missionary leadership. Nevius believed that local leaders could and should be trained. Leaders who could establish their own churches and reach their own people far more effectively. Thankfully the Korean missionary group who heard Nevius in 1890 were open to his remarks. ...

As a young boy growing up in the Salvation Army, it seemed as though every home I would go to had a dark and terrifying print of William Booth, usually on the stairs. It was worse at night, the beaked nose, the stern face, the full white beard - all left a young Junior Soldier like me in awe of The Founder! As an adult, I'm no longer scared of William Booth, but I remain in awe of his life, the ferocious pace, the crystal clear vision which first impacted the East End of London, then quickly spread around the world. 150 years ago today, Booth began preaching in the filthy poor streets of the East End, true Dickensian England at it's worst. His motto from the start, 'Go for souls and go for the worst!'  Night after night in those early days he would return home after midnight, bruised, bleeding, his clothes sometimes torn after being assaulted. It was only after the conversion of former prize fighter Peter Monk that Booth had a bodyguard to stand with him in the ...

I’ve recently read a great little book called, ‘Running with the Kenyans’, By Adharanand Finn.  At a time when my training has suddenly got a little more serious, his personal story of transformation through running has made all the effort seem inspirational, almost spiritual. There are some great quotes from his book here which runners everywhere will find themselves identifying with.  Enjoy, then get your trainers out! ‘Every day in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running.’  Abe Gubegna, Ethiopian author. ‘No race begins at the start line.’  Haile Gebreselassie ‘If you want to win something, run 100m. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.’  Emil Zatopek ‘When the missionaries arrived...

Warm steps Dead end street Writing on the wall Pavement perspective Pink fountain Mono crossing Warm archways Sunny side of the street Closing in Shopfront jazz Pavement market, crumbling plaster Spaghetti cocoon Bright palms Port light Evening masts Metro wall High and dry

Warm beer, cricket, stoolball, morris dancing, conkers, maypoles, poll tax, queueing, Brighton rock, Stonehenge, stony beaches,the Rolling Stones, the rolling south downs, Ugborough Beacon, Hadrians Wall, 'all in all we're just another brick in the wall', northern bluntness, Cheddar Cheese, Kendal Mint cake, Eccles Cake, Victoria Sponge, Queen Victoria . Tea with the Vicar, Harrods, the corner shop, red telephone boxes, 007, Harry Potter, Del Boy Trotter, Whit Friday bands, the Beatles, Benny Hill, the Old Bill, the Robin Reliant, the Mini, the mini skirt, Notting Hill, Robin Hood, Yorkshire Dales, the Daily Mail, Diana Queen of our hearts. Ed, Dave, Nick, Nigel, UKIP, you what, you want fries with that? Nicola Sturgeon? We've got Charles Spurgeon. First past the post, in off the post, lost in the post. Sunday roast, marmite on toast, open fires, Spitfires, 1066, 1666, 1966, Pooh Sticks, Albert Hall, the dome of St Paul. 'We'll fight them on the beache...

If you are somewhere in the world which follows the Western church calendar, then today is Maundy Thursday! Maundy : The day before the much more celebrated Good Friday, the last day of the working week, the day we can't wait to get through in order to finally reach the holiday weekend! Traditionally, Maundy celebrated the last Supper that Jesus enjoyed with his disciples. In some circles it carries other names, my favourite, 'Thursday of Mysteries. 'It sounds like a day spent watching back to back Scooby Doo cartoons! The word Maundy, an evolved Anglicisation of the old French 'mande' - command. 'A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you' John 13.34 Saying these words, Jesus, the leader and champion, took a towel and began to wash the feet of his friends and his betrayer. What a shocking and uncomfortable way to demonstrate your love as service. Bending, humbling, assuming the position and role of a servant. A lowl...