An attitude of respectful silence is an essential part of a deep, intimate relationship with God.
Seeking and Sharing the Fullness of Life
Seeking and Sharing the Fullness of Life
Sermons on Spiritual Disciplines
Jesus preached a vision of the Kingdom of God that re-orders our lives and communities, and finds an honoured place for those often excluded for not conforming to the pervasive norms of marriage and family.
The Bible can be used to justify anything, but when it is approached humbly as a place of prayerful encounter with the risen Christ, it is alive with the breath of God and leads us to life.
Answers to prayer are not a controllable formula, but we are called to pray as part of our participation in God’s quest to bring healing, wholeness and life to a world of chaos.
Jesus has freed us to be all we were created to be and to live life to the full, not to indulge the impulses that will lead us straight back into captivity.
The only measure of our progress in Christian faith is our love for those are least inclined to love.
Jesus has sown the seeds. It is up to us to respond and even though we may get excited and the interest dissipates, or we get distracted and let the other priorities take a hold of us, or we actually feel nothing, the challenge for us is to continue our walk with God.
Staying true to the disciplines of ordinary faithfulness is part of our calling as we follow the way of Jesus Christ; and engaging in them eases our burdens considerably.
Stunning moments of spiritual clarity can be life-changing, but the real measure of our faithfulness is in how we live for the rest of the time.
The Lord’s Prayer is given to us, the Church, as a model to shape all our praying.
The reading of scripture is one of the most important places where God has promised to become present and known to us.
When God closes one chapter before opening another, the time in between is a time for prayer and entering into the life of God.
The glory that has been seen in Jesus can shine forth in us, but there will be obstructions to be purged and commitments to be made first.
The Christian life is often lived against overwhelming odds, but the presence of Christ and some basic godly resources make it a good bet.
Our struggles against evil, temptation and suffering are all framed by the security of God’s unshakable love and resolve to bring us safely to fullness of life.
When we detach from things, God comes to fill or possess us by God’s Spirit, and suddenly the world is full of life once more.
Christian ascetic discipline is not about earning God’s acceptance, but about banishing the demons so that we can live life more fully in the here and now.
A fortified inner self not only enables a person to offer love properly but to receive love properly, even from God, to give without strings, to receive without suspicion.
In the elusive quest to know Christ, spiritual disciplines are a valuable means, but can also easily degenerate into idols.
The wound of abandonment which haunts every human being will find its healing in Christ who is everywhere present as the authority and power of God.