Why does the second half of Isaiah 30 have to be so offensive? It starts with God marching out to war against Israel’s enemies, his face furious with anger, his sleeves rolled up for battle, his breath a stream of sulfurous fire. This is challenging enough in a primitive-wrathful-deity-of-the-Old-Testament kind of way. You’ve heard these objections. You might even have made them in your own heart.
But Isaiah then adds a detail that is even more objectionable.
One of the advantages of living in Mexico is that you are in the same time zone as much of the USA. For NBA and NFL fans, this is good news. Last week, I discovered another advantage: the Gospel Coalition was holding its annual conference in Chicago, and was streaming the sessions live. Throughout the day and evening, I could listen to the likes of John Piper, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll and Ajith Fernando in real time. Apparently, about 3,500 people attended; who knows how many watched like I did!
But as good as it was (the technical production was brilliant, and I could see and hear everything—maybe better than some of those attending), it wasn’t the same as being there. This got me wondering about the concept of cyber-church, e-church, virtual church or whatever you want to call it. Will it ever work? Should we try and make it work? Are there essentials of meeting together that the internet just can’t provide?
Isn’t it delicious to share stories with a friend, a spouse, a brother or a sister: “Remember the time when …”? Whether it’s funny stories, tragic stories, joyful moments or painful recollections, it’s the stories that bring us close—that breed familiarity, friendship and love. Shared stories are the glue of relationship.
Try this mental experiment. Imagine that a swine flu pandemic swept through your part of the world, and that all public assemblies of more than three people were banned. And let’s say that, due to some catastrophic combination of local circumstances, this ban had to remain in place for 12 months.
How would your congregation of 120 members continue to function—with no regular church gatherings of any kind, and no small home groups (except for groups the size of three)?
If you were the pastor what would you do?
You read what you see.
You knock on the door of the dingy inner city terrace. You probably did see a whole lot of Harley Davidsons outside on the footpath, but obviously you weren’t thinking. The door opens, and now you see a room full of leather-clad, patch-emblazoned, hairy types of the bike riding persuasion. You were supposed to invite the happy householder to a gospel thingy at the local church. If you go along with that plan, you suddenly see a different future stretching out before you—and it doesn’t seem to stretch that far any more.
Pornography, sexual temptation and sexual failure are one of the great issues for God’s people as we learn to live in the always-connected age. It’s a problem that’s not about to go away any time soon. In the face of such a massive challenge to Christian living, it is important for us to learn how to talk honestly with each other about our struggle to live pure lives. Our churches need to provide places for Christians to support each other in this struggle. That’s the essence of what James Warren’s excellent article is about. But instead of running it as the first feature in this issue, we decided to start with Gordon’s piece on lessons learned from Corinth. The final and ultimate solution to dealing with our sexual sins is not community (although that is vital), but the death and resurrection of Jesus. As you spend some time thinking about these problems, don’t jump straight to the second article; we need to hear everything both articles have to say—over and over again. (more…)
Pornography is an extremely important and complex issue, but it isn’t easy to talk about, even though it’s now a part of mainstream culture. In this insightful article, James Warren opens up the topic and asks “What is porn?”, “Why is it a problem?” and “What can we do about it?” (more…)
There are those who say that singleness is better, but unfortunately that is not the experience of many who have been single long-term. Tim Adeney looks at why, and what we can do to love and serve the single people in our churches. (more…)
Every now and then in the life of a church, its facilities may need to undergo significant renovations to accommodate its expanding membership and changing activities. Luke Tattersall shares some of his wisdom and experience on how to stay focused on the important things. (more…)
Walking with Gay Friends
Alex Tylee
Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, 2007, 160pp.
Suggesting that homosexuality is a sin is unpopular. Going further and suggesting that change and healing from homosexual sin is possible is always going to be a tough sell. Nevertheless, this is exactly what Alex Tylee manages to achieve in Walking with Gay Friends. (more…)
I’m sitting outside a cafe at a wobbly iron table, my pen moving lazily and messily across my notebook as I dream and write, dream and write. I sip from my mug-sized chai latte. A European wasp hovers hungrily above the frothed milk. (more…)
We’ve been reading the Sermon on the Mount around the dinner table, and it’s made for great discussion and interesting questions. (“Dad, why would someone want my tooth?”) Recently, we were talking about the issues Jesus raises concerning loving your neighbours and praying for those who persecute you. The discussion went something like this:
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Simon Roberts helps us think about how to protect ourselves from sexual immorality online. (more…)
I believe in stranger evangelism.
Over the course of 2009, my own denomination in this part of the world is mounting a concerted campaign to make meaningful, relational connections with everyone in our area, thus helping them to come into a relationship with God through his word. (more…)