Phils focus

I have realised that I have a small issue with a commonly and popularly held way of looking at the life and ministry of Jesus.  I think it was John Wimber in the late eighties who coined a popular phrase; 'the words, the works, and the wonders of Jesus'. This was a neat little alliteration that summed up the three areas which most people saw as the life of Jesus; his amazing teaching (words), his remarkable acts of kindness (works) and his supernatural miracles (wonders). This remains a valuable lens. However, it is possible in some peoples minds that there is a distinction between Jesus' 'acts of kindness' and his supernatural acts. I am referring to the fact that some people will point to Jesus' feeding of the 5000, or his healing of the sick, as examples of a kingdom value of kindness and justice, but in so doing miss the fact that most of his 'acts of kindness' were simultaneously miraculous! He fed the hungry supernaturally! He healed ...

There are times when no amount of slow breathing or relaxation excercise will achieve the goal of inner rest and calm. Our agitation at the demands and duties of life can accumulate to where we cannot resource our own peace. This morning a thousand thoughts and anxieties rushed at me and took my wind before I was even fully awake. They were each insistent that they were the priority of the day, each threatening that if I didn't give them my full attention I would pay the price. I felt literally overwhelmed.  My frequent response is to seek a caffeine or sugar rush to enable me to kick start my day and gain the upper hand in some measure. 'I NEED coffee!' my body screams.   Our conditioned response to pressure is so often to seek an adrenalin 'kick start' that makes us feel alive enough to face the challenges of the day. These can come in various forms, and as we know, practices become habits which become lifestyles that affect our health and lead to other is...

What are we talking about when we talk about money? In our series of teaching on fasting, praying, and giving, this month we are exploring giving. What does it means to build a culture of generosity and to grow in the art of giving? It has opened a reservoir of memories and reflections on the times and seasons where I have made the most generous choices and felt the most freedom. Let me tell you a love story. A long time ago (..in a far away galaxy..) I met the vision of grace and beauty I am privileged to call my wife. I was 19 years old. She was a teacher, and I was only a year older than her ‘A level’ students. One of the first things I did, after working up the bottle to invite her on a first date, was to start bringing her gifts; A large clay pot, a mirror, a steak. The latter gift of raw meat I brought to her flat one evening as I had observed that as an exhausted secondary school teacher she appeared in need of energy, so my best solution was...

Fasting, praying, giving  To his disciples living in a world full of danger Jesus makes this remarkable statement; “ So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ” (Matthew 6) Of course, he has just introduced us to a brilliant short teach on the assumed habits and disciplines of a disciple, and he caps it all with this summary statement, saying in effect; ‘if you practice these things in this way, then you will be better equipped to live the life of faith’. Each of us is most prone to anxiety in one of three areas; appetite, affirmation, or ambition. We may know them by other names; (provision, position, and possibilities), but they are the three areas in which Jesus was personally tempted at the start of his ministry, and which we encounter on a regular basis; Will we have enough? Will we be recognised and attributed worth? And will good things happen to us? One or more of t...

What do you picture when you hear the term ‘apostle’ or ‘prophet’? Do you imagine some wild eyed, locust eating mystic? Or perhaps one of the disciples of Jesus in later life? Maybe you think of one of the charismatic leaders of the new churches of more recent years. Apparently if you google the word ‘apostles’ the first images you get are of 12 rocky pillars on the Australian coast! I think St Paul was onto something incredibly helpful in Ephesians 2:20 when he says; ‘So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. The church is here likened to a living building with a single foundation, constructed by both apostles and prophet...

God is a humble artist. I remember when I was very young that my dad had a big star gazing telescope set up on a concrete stand in the back garden through which we could examine the craters of the moon. This photo was taken last month through an old tripod telescope with an iphone 4. It amazed me then, and it amazes me now that we can see the clear contours and craters of a satellite that orbits our own planet, a moon that we know is around 240 thousand miles away. I loved Dr Cox's TV series 'Wonders of the Universe' and I frequently read books that can explain quantum physics for dummies, and recently read through the popular book '20 Things That Don't Make Sense' - which poses such questions as 'Where is 98% of the Universe?' (the question of dark matter; the invisible material that we assume must be out there in order for the universe to be behaving the way it does). Good questions are the life blood of good science and by all accounts there are a g...

NOVEMBER 4, 2011 There is today and frequently has been through church history, heated debate on the merits of ‘attractional’ vs ‘missional’ models of church. Missional advocates might point out that ‘attractional’ models are more often about ‘in-grab’ rather than ‘outreach’. They are commenting on the fact that ‘attractional’ churches seek to run excellent programs that often foster a ‘consumer’ mindset. This in turn leads to centralized building costs and a growing Christian ‘subculture’ that is severely limited in its missional capacity. This is not something easily reproduced, is less flexible for mission and requires higher maintenance. Missional advocates will declare that smaller flexible models of church are more wieldy and informal and more able to do mission, being embedded in their target communities. They are low maintenance and more easy to reproduce. ‘Attractional’ advocates will argue that without large gatherings people often become too easily isolated or discouraged. T...