BenThorp.org

occasional theological musings

Romans 8:31-39

This sermon was written for a preaching workshop, and aimed for a Remembrance Sunday. See notes below

Our reading this morning begins with a question. “If God is for us, then who can be against us?” It’s a question that leads us to consider other questions - is God for me? Am I fo...

Judges 10:6 - 11:11

The Book of Judges is a bit of a wild ride. It’s a book full of surprisingly bloodthirsty stories of the history of Israel. When people talk about this book, they often talk about it being cyclical - going round and round in circles. The people of Israel fall away from followi...

I don’t know what Sunday mornings are like for you, but from the way many of my friends have talked about it in the past I get the feeling that Sunday mornings are a source of stress and tension for many, if not all, of us. Indeed, for those of you with small children, I congratulate you on making i...

We sat in a circle that evening in a church in Edinburgh, and my friend Alan began the evening teaching with a joke: “Two Christians are at a bus stop and one of them sneezes. Is that a new church?” For once in my life I had the wherewithal to produce an entertaining answer: “Well that depends - did...

Since the beginning of the church, both within the mainline denominations and on the fringes, there has always been discussion about how we fund and pay our leaders. Even Paul talks about it a few times in his letters to the churches.

Paul himself is often lauded amongst church planters, with his...

Newness and freshness are not the arbiters of truth.