28th April 2026
Paul’s discussion of the body metaphor in 1 Corinthians 12 emerges from a church struggling with division, spiritual elitism, and social stratification. Corinth was a diverse urban centre marked by...
24th April 2026
Whose side would I have been on – the outlaw David or Saul, the man who represented the existing, legitimate government? It’s an uncomfortable question. Fear might have driven me to support Saul...
21st April 2026
Although the explicit term ‘church’ (Greek: ekklesia) appears in the New Testament, the idea of God forming a covenant family originates in the Old Testament. Israel is repeatedly described as...
17th April 2026
In his continuing flight, David could have sought refuge in a neighbouring country. But apart from an ill-advised foray into Gath and a journey to Moab, where he left his family, he stayed in the...
14th April 2026
The concept of the Church being a mother emerges from the continuity between Old Testament prophetic imagery and New Testament apostolic interpretation. Isaiah 54 portrays Zion (God’s covenant...
9th April 2026
The disciples had seen the resurrected Jesus (John 20), and yet several of them returned to what they knew best – fishing. All night they toiled on the Sea of Tiberias, and yet despite being...
3rd April 2026
When we read the story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, we usually focus on the big moments: the nails in his hands, the darkness over the land, or his last words and final cry. But scripture also...
31st March 2026
Chapter 21 of the first book of Samuel tells the somewhat bizarre story of David electing to flee from Saul into the hands of his enemies – people who had not forgiven him for the recent killing of...
24th March 2026
David’s situation in 1 Samuel 25 was that he had been anointed but had not been enthroned as king, and he was on the run, leading weary men through the wilderness. He and his men had been protecting...
17th March 2026
In 1 Kings 19 we meet the prophet Elijah at one of the lowest points in his life. After experiencing a mighty victory on Mount Carmel, he suddenly found himself fleeing in fear from Queen Jezebel....
10th March 2026
Hagar was a marginalised person in her society. She was a foreigner, a servant woman, and a single mother in crisis. Because of tension in Abraham’s household, Hagar had been sent away with her son...
5th March 2026
Jesus used parables as one of the primary means of teaching about his kingdom. “Parables became one of the primary ways Jesus disrupted the default way of thinking in his culture. The word parable...
3rd March 2026
Shortly after Israel’s miraculous deliverance from Egypt they began to grumble about food (Exodus 16:2). The Israelites nostalgically reinterpreted Egypt as a place of abundance, minimising the...
27th February 2026
History is full of power hungry rulers, prepared to sacrifice millions of lives to cling onto that power or to expand empires. Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Hitler – all conquests built on the deaths of...
24th February 2026
Most of us experience wilderness seasons: times when prayers seem unanswered, resources feel thin, temptation feels strong, direction seems unclear, and God appears silent. The wilderness can be...
18th February 2026
Psalm 23 is one of the best known and most quoted passages in the Old Testament. While it begins with the pastoral image of the Shepherd (vv.1- 4), this gives way in verse 5 to a banquet scene...
17th February 2026
The image of the church being the bride of Christ is one of the most intimate and relational descriptions of the people of God. The imagery of marriage as a symbol of God’s relationship with his...
10th February 2026
The concept of the church being the temple of God is rooted in Old Testament temple theology, and when reinterpreted through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it reshapes the...
6th February 2026
In his first letter to Timothy, Paul thanks the person he acknowledges as his Lord for the fact that his sins have not separated him from the promise of eternal life. Jesus had already placed...
5th February 2026
In Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus tells the parable of the vineyard workers. It challenges conventional notions of fairness and reveals truths about the kingdom of God. The parable describes a landowner...
3rd February 2026
Our header scripture tells us something quite astonishing: not that you will come to the city of the living God, but you have come. The Church, right now, is God’s city on earth. It is his dwelling...
27th January 2026
The vine metaphor has deep roots in the Old Testament, where it frequently symbolises Israel as God’s chosen people. Psalm 80:8–9 portrays Israel as a vine transplanted from Egypt and planted by...
23rd January 2026
Why does 1 Samuel 20:18-42 record David hiding, at dawn, in a remote field, waiting for a clandestine signal from his close friend, Jonathan? It was a last-ditch attempt on David’s part to rescue...
20th January 2026
The metaphor of the Church being a flock is one of the most enduring and theologically rich images in Scripture. Rooted in the pastoral realities of the ancient Near East, this metaphor conveys themes...
16th January 2026
Psalms 52-60 are often referred to as the ‘Fugitive Psalms’, written when David was fleeing from Saul’s unremitting efforts to kill him. No wonder so many of them include desperate pleas for...
13th January 2026
What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘church’? Many people may think of the building at the end of the road or a cathedral in the centre of the city. It might be an institution: ‘the...
23rd December 2025
On the night Jesus was born, before there were carols, before there was worship, before there was celebration, there was fear. Luke tells us that when the angel appeared to the shepherds, ‘they were...
16th December 2025
Joseph was expecting to marry Mary, take her home as his wife, settle down together and maybe in time start a family, but the knowledge of Mary’s pregnancy must have shattered those dreams. No doubt...
9th December 2025
Mary was fearful as she faced something she certainly did not ask for: a pregnancy which was impossible to explain and she had the grave responsibility of carrying the longed for Messiah, the pinnacle...
6th December 2025
The world is often noisy, filled with breaking headlines, buzzing phones, endless responsibilities, and restless hearts. It can feel like standing in the middle of a storm with winds pulling us in...
4th December 2025
Advent is a season of waiting and reflection. However, the waiting is certainly not passive. It’s a time filled with anticipation, hope, and deep contemplation of what it means that God first loved...
2nd December 2025
It is always a tragedy for a couple who want to have children but are unable to do so. In Jewish culture, at the time Zechariah ministered at the Temple in Jerusalem, it also carried a great social...
27th November 2025
David had been secretly anointed king over Israel; Goliath was dead, David was a popular hero. Saul was still on the throne, consumed with anger and jealousy. This was the background that led to David...
25th November 2025
So many people today are living in fear. There is the fear of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, where you could find yourself being mugged at knifepoint, or even worse, you could be caught...
18th November 2025
The Nicene Creed ends in the way the Bible ends (see header scripture) with the word ‘Amen’. It is a word that is said by Christians so frequently and with which we are so familiar that it might...
14th November 2025
David faced many adversaries throughout his life: the ‘lion’ and the ‘bear’ (1 Samuel 17:34-36), his brothers (v.28), his own son (2 Samuel 15), and the then anointed king Saul. Then...
11th November 2025
As the Creed draws to a close it asks us to not simply believe in the life of the world to come but to look for it. We don’t have to look very far to see that the world in which we live now is...
4th November 2025
The resurrection of the dead is central to Christian belief. Paul goes as far as telling us that ‘…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith’ (1...
30th October 2025
Recently, I heard about someone who bought a house near the area where I live in Bogotá. These houses are large and very old. The owner began to remodel it and when lifting the wooden floor — what...
28th October 2025
Behind this confession in the Creed is Paul’s statement in our header scripture, and it brings a change in the Creed’s terminology from belief to acknowledgement. We don’t believe in baptism...