Set Apart In Christ

"All of life is worship" I've heard it so many times I couldn't count it. It is true that every moment of our lives is to be spent glorifying and honouring God, but when I hear this I want to ask a follow up question. "Why, then, should Christians gather for worship?" I can sing worship songs on my own, read and interpret the Bible on my own, pray on my own and do much of what occurs in the communal gathering  on my own . So why should I gather with other Christians for communal worship? 

I'm finding the word “grace” an interesting one at the moment. In conversations with other Christians, in sermons, books, articles and blogs, this word frequently makes an appearance. Think about this… We’re saved by grace (Eph 2:8), amazed by grace, moved by grace, participate in the means of grace, and before we eat we “say” grace. Then if move into the realm of sacramental theology grace can be treated as a “thing” administered with the bread, wine or water (or other sacramental actions);  the “inward, invisible grace” that is represented by these “outward and visible signs”. We go even further when we narrow grace down into sub-categories. There’s prevenient grace, justifying grace, sanctifying grace and glorifying grace. Why do we do that? As one of my supervisors succinctly remarked – “grace is grace”.

You may be well aware already that I am preparing to run my first Half-marathon in just over 2 weeks time - the Blackmores Sydney Half-Marathon. Since I only started running in January this year this is an exciting venture for me. My preparations have been going well. I can now confidently cover the distance of 21.1km, have a relatively good understanding of how to balance my energy intake and Blood Sugar Levels (BSL) and have in recent weeks begun to grasp what I need to do to pace myself well through the distance.

Today marks 100 years since William Booth was "Promoted to Glory" as we say in The Salvation Army. Here is some footage from his funeral in London. It remained the largest attended funeral in that city until that of Princess Diana in 1997. I think that speaks volumes regarding the influence of the man upon that city and indeed the world.

As you may be aware I'm currently in training for my first half marathon. I only started running seriously in January this year until I realised that all the excuses I had were only preventing me from getting the most out of life. I'm using this run as an opportunity to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation . Last night this report was aired on Australian television about some exciting new research into a vaccine that, it is hoped, will prevent Type 1 Diabetes. What I appreciated in this story was the fact that it recognised that Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes may "look" very similar in their symptoms but are, in fact, different diseased. The first an autoimmune disease, then second brought on by a combination of lifestyle factors and genetics. Type 1 is incurable meaning anyone with this disease (under current medical treatments) will never stop requiring daily insulin injections or insulin pump therapy. Those with Type 2 have the hope of reducing or...

It’s no secret that I think the Doctrines of The Salvation Army should be updated. I’ve written on that topic before and I’m definitely not one who thinks of them as somehow beyond the need of revision. Whilst they are historically significant, and the “Truth” that they point to is definitely something (or should I say “someone”) that my faith is built upon, the actual wording itself is cultural formed and so this in itself demands frequent updating over time to ensure that they are doing their job in the best way they can. Having said that, I also take my Officer’s covenant seriously and it includes the following line. “…to maintain the doctrines and principles of The Salvation Army…” How do I reconcile a belief that the doctrines will always require ongoing revisioning with a covenantal promise to “maintain” those very doctrines?

Recently I was asked to lead a workshop on at a Youth Councils on hearing God’s voice through the Bible. I approached this task as someone who’s tried a few different methods of reading the Bible in a personal private time and so I hoped to give some advice for those also on this journey we call Christianity. I thought some of this might be helpful for a wider audience. Before asking how to read the Bible the first question you need to ask is why we read the Bible at all . What’s the purpose of setting aside a regular time for this task? The short answer is that this is about relationship, not reading . The Bible has been one of the main ways God has communicated with his people and I’m convinced that he hasn’t decided to abandon it today. The primary purpose, then, is not to say that we’ve read the Bible cover to cover, or for sermon preparation, or for academic research, as important as all of those things can be. Rather the purpose is to commune with God. In this sense, then,...