church

Just thinking…We have a grapevine on our property which every year bursts into boisterous growth, sending out shoots and branches, leaves, and occasionally some grapes. Now, I am no vintner (I even had to look up a dictionary to see if I used the right word there for wine-grower … I did!), and my general…

Just thinking…We normally don’t think much about the way we view time. It just is. But there are huge differences in the way that different cultures appreciate and understand time. For most ancient cultures and, I have been told, by Buddhist, Hindu and other worldviews which spring from an Indian understanding of reality, time is…

Just thinking…When I was younger, I used to always question why people would dress up nicely for church if God was always with us anyway. Why would he care about what we wore to church and not care about what we wore every day? I think that sometimes when church culture focuses on dressing up,…

Just thinking…Where did Jesus place significance? It’s worth stopping to think through. The obvious question is, ‘How do we tell?’ Well, you can firstly tell by looking at the topics he loved to speak about – the kingdom of God figures highly here, and perhaps because of his emphasis on God’s kingdom, our attitude to wealth in…

Just thinking…From the Otago Daily Times comes the true story of a young man who was required to write a response to the following question in order to gain admission to New York University: Are there any significant experiences you have had, or accomplishments you have realised that have helped to define you as a person?…

Just thinking…‘Enthusiasm’ – perhaps another name for ‘passion’! Oh, how we need it! Arthur Gordon writes, ‘Enthusiasm – from the beginning a remarkable word. The ancient Greeks used it to describe an inspired person: en meaning in, and theos meaning god. The enthusiastic person, they thought, was one who reflected the presence of an indwelling…

Just thinking…Have you ever been asked to bring witness about something? Maybe you’ve seen a crime or a car-crash, and been required to give your testimony in court. The role of the witness is to give evidence; it is not up to the witness to move from the witness seat and onto the judge’s bench….

Just thinking…“It’s not the Church of God that has a mission in the world but the God of mission that has a church in the world.” This is a quote attributed to Rowan Williams, a former Archbishop of Canterbury. If you dig into this thought a little, you will find that it has a perspective-changing…

Just thinking…When did you last experience wonder? One definition of wonder comes from 18th-century Scottish moral philosopher Adam Smith. He wrote that wonder arises ‘when something quite new and singular is presented… [and] memory cannot, from all its stores, cast up any image that nearly resembles this strange appearance’. Smith proposed that wonder is crucial for…

Just thinking…We often pray the prayer … “Give us this day our daily bread.” Gene Edward Veith, in his book, ‘God at Work’ writes: He does give us our daily bread. He does it by means of the farmer who planted and harvested the grain, the baker who made the flour into bread, the person…