Peace Inspite of Suffering

Romans 5.1-5

It’s interesting that in Romans Paul talks about finding peace and hope and grace, but then goes on to link it so strongly with suffering. We know that he speaks from experience when he says that suffering produces endurance and builds character. I guess that’s what we might expect him to say. Perhaps it’s more surprising to find that he thinks suffering and adversity also produce hope which prevents us from being disappointed when things go wrong. Instead he says that God’s love, poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, makes suffering and danger bearable.

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I don't believe in an interventionist God

Matthew 28.1-10, 1 Corinthians 15.1-11 I like Nick Cave’s song because of its audacious first line: ‘I don’t believe in an interventionist God’. What an unlikely way to begin a love song! He once explained that he wrote the song while sitting at the back of an Anglican church where he had gone with his wife Susie, who presumably does believe in an interventionist God - at least that’s what the song says. Actually Cave has always been very interested in religion. Sometimes he calls himself a Christian, sometimes he doesn’t, depending on how the mood takes him. He once said, ‘I believe in God in spite of religion, not because of it.’ But his lyrics often include religious themes and he has also said that any true love song is a song for God. So maybe it’s no coincidence that he began this song in such an unlikely way, although he says the inspiration came to him during the sermon. The vicar was droning on about something when the first line of the song just popped into his ...

Giotto’s Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds

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Luther and Loyola

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Methodist Bishop

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