I often wonder what the Apostles would make of modern ‘Christianity’. If you could resurrect Paul for a week and get him to visit a selection of churches – or worse still, hand him an iPhone and let him scroll through Christian Twitter – what would delight him, and what would baffle him? What innovations…
The Gift and Call of Unity (John 17:20-26)
On Sunday I had the privilege of teaching at Oasis Church Birmingham, which marked both my first visit to Birmingham, and my first attempt at preaching whilst sitting down! We looked at Jesus’ prayer in John 17.20-26, in which Jesus prayed for his church to be one, and we considered the gift of unity and the…
What’s wrong? A conversation starter from David Foster Wallace
I was recently reminded of this paragraph from David Foster Wallace’s novel The Pale King: ‘The next suitable person you’re in light conversation with, you stop suddenly in the middle of the conversation and look at the person closely and say, “What’s wrong?” You say it in a concerned way. He’ll say, “What do you…
Day of Prayer for Ukraine: Three reasons to fast in a time of crisis
This Wednesday, 2nd March, the Pope has called for a day of fasting in response to the war in Ukraine. Many churches and Christians around the world will join in this initiative, devoting themselves to prayer and asking God to intervene and bring peace. For lots of Christians, fasting is a practice that rarely features…
Another, or A New? A prayer for your Monday.
Monday. The beginning of a new week. I don’t know how that makes you feel? I’m sure some of us start our Mondays thinking “Yes! A new week!” while others think, “Ugh, another week!” Even those of us who temperamentally lean towards the former response have weeks that push us towards the latter! I think…
Complexity, Coherence, and Comic Book Movies
Martin Scorsese famously said that Marvel films are closer to theme parks than movies, lacking revelation or depth of characterisation. Whilst they’re hardly high culture I’d argue that there’s a remarkable complexity to them. Perhaps not so much as standalone films, but when held together as a whole. Yesterday I wrote a piece for the…
Don’t Look at Yourself: Polarisation and the ‘Problem’ with Parables
I left social media for Christmas and returned to find everybody talking about a film about why nobody is talking about the climate crisis. Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up is a piece of satirical sci-fi about two astronomers (played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) who attempt to warn humanity about a comet that’s set…
Gunpowder and Golden Ladders: Cai Guo-Qiang and the wonder of the incarnation
On Sunday I preached on Christmas as a story of hope; light breaking into the darkness. You can check out the talk here. I used an example to illustrate the power of the incarnation. It’s from the Netflix documentary Sky Ladder, about the work of the contemporary Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang who makes incredible artwork…
Light in the Darkness
On Sunday I had the privilege of speaking at a Carol Service at our new church, Oxford Community Church. I spoke on the subject of light in the darkness. It was a great fun morning, singing carols and celebrating hope! If you fancy checking it out you can do so here. The talk starts around…
Advent Reflection: The assumptions of Mary
‘“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne…
Liam Thatcher 