You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2007.
Just wanted to show you a picture of our garden fence…
I can’t take any credit for it being small since I did not put it in, but it really is a blessing to have fences that are so small – it makes contact with our neighbours so easy. I’m often out in the back garden reading, with our sun worshipper neighbour out in his garden (you can plot what time of day it is by where he is in the garden… cue musical number ‘I’ll follow the sun’ sung by the Beatles). Then our neighbour from a couple of doors down will come out – there is a great community feel to ‘South View Road’…
If we had the choice between having a bigger house, with bigger living room to fit people into, but a house that meant we’d never really meet our neighbours, or staying at our present house, with our low fences I’d definately opt for being able to get to know my neighbours.
Edward T. Welch “Depression – A Stubborn Darkness”
Often we address issues by asking ‘how to’ questions, but Welch in this book is more concerned with starting with the question ‘why?’ Depression is a complex issue, there are many factors to the equation including physical issues that contribute, however we need to look at the root problem if we’re going to find any answers.
Welch describes the feeling of depression with a myriad of words; hell, nothingness, complete absence, mental pain, meaninglessness, inability to make decisions, no certainty except the misery, guilt, shame, worthlessness, flat, grey, cold, lack of interest, numb. He identifies two main definitions of depression; 1. Dysthymic disorder/situational depression which is akin to discontent and 2. Major disorder/clinical depression which is hopelessness.
There is a danger that we reduce depression purely to physical causes, which is our tendency today in the west. The problem with this approach is that it leaves no room to deal with our relationship with God, no room to learn from suffering. However, there is also a danger that we reduce the cause merely to sin. Read the rest of this entry »
I found this blog from Paul Tripp very helpful – check out more of his posts at http://paultrippministries.blogspot.com/
Psalm 51: Violent Grace
Our relationship with the Lord is never anything other than a relationship of grace. It is grace that brought us into His family. It is grace that keeps us in it and it is grace that will continue us in it forever. But the grace that we have been given is not always comfortable grace. Here is why.
As sinners we all become way too comfortable with our sin. The thought that once bothered becomes an action that no longer plagues our conscience. The word that troubled us the first time it was uttered, now is accompanied by others that are worse. The marriage that was once a picture of biblical love has now become a relationship of cold-war detente. Commitment to work degenerates into doing as little as I can for as much pay as I can negotiate. A commitment to a devotional life now become perfunctory and empty duty, more like getting my ticket punched for heaven than enjoying communion with my Lord. Minor, unexpressed irritation, which once troubled my heart, is now fully expressed anger that is easily rationalized away. Sin is like the unnoticed drips of water that silently destroy the Read the rest of this entry »
At the weekend my wife and I and my parents and brother went up to visit the Derbyshire village of Eyam. Eyam is famous for quarantining itself when the inhabitants were infected with the plague in 1665-1666. They set up two boundary markers beyond which they would not go, and no one would enter. People left food for them at these markers so that they could survive.
As I stood just beyond the marker (see above) and looked out over the valley I was struck again by how great God’s creation is. But then I was also struck with how great God’s wisdom is as well as I realised it wasn’t to be found ultimately in what I saw in front of me… Read the rest of this entry »
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing garden fence of hostility”
Will house-hold church work in the suburbs?
Some suggest not, because the culture in the suburbs does not fit in with it.
House-hold church encourages people to be in and out of each others houses, eating together and so on. It’s about community that is built around relationships.
But suburbs don’t seem to work that way.
People are involved in ‘communities’, but they tend not to be our local community. Instead people have a community centered around the gym, another around a pub, another around a sports team and so on. These are communities built on general interest, rather than location. Our ‘local’ communities in the ‘burbs tends to be anything but a community. We build fences around our gardens and houses so that others can’t see in, but not too high so there’s still enough light for the plants.
But does this not reflect the insipid individualism of the West? And is the individualism of the West not merely our desire for self-rule left to run riot?
In the culture of Paul’s day a Jew would never have gone to dinner with a Gentile. But Paul says the gospel turns that on it’s head. Jesus hasn’t just come to save you as an individual. He has come to rescue people to become his people, a nation, a household even (Ephesians 2). This means that it doesn’t matter what your national identity is, it doesn’t matter what the cultural norms are for your people group, you are now part of the people of God. This gospel challenges cultural norms Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s an interesting blog on songs… http://www.challies.com/archives/002470.php
Worth having a look at – let me know what you think!
