The Incongruent Believer

Reading James the other day I was quite surprised to find the word “religious”. There in the midst of my favourite book of the Bible was a word that frequent readers of my blog will know often raises some comment from myself, if not my hackles, especially in a 21 st  century context. So, when I saw it there, having never noticed it before for some reason, I had to do some digging (vernacular for research) on why this word was used. A quick search revealed that “religious”, or “religion” is not a common word in the Bible, in fact it is only used 6 times, twice in James in quick session, three times in Acts, once in Colossians. Referring to one of the heavy tombs available to me in the form of Strong's Concordance - in fact although I do possess a copy I cheated and enquired of it online - I discovered that in Greek religious was θρησκὸς (thrēskos) and that it “refers probably to a careful observance of religious restrictions” and in a limited sense, it may mean devout. Further enqui...

Next to my house is an old hedgerow, in that hedgerow at this time of year one can find apples laden with fruit, and an abundance of blackberries and rosehips. A short walk down the path and you there are cobnuts, wild garlic, and depending on the season elderflowers or elderberries. There are also numerous birds in the sky, fish in the river, rabbits, deer and other wild animals live close by. Walking past this hedgerow today I reflected on the bounty of the natural world that God created and created us to live in, I found it amazing that in parallel to our lives where we live in a complex and exacting network of relationships and activities that ensure that we have a roof over our heads and food on our tables, that there exists a simpler world, a natural world, where one can still find the abundance that God promises in spite of hundreds of years of destruction wrought upon it by humanity. Throughout scripture  God's promises to bless his people - " your carts overflow with ...

As I have done myself of numerous occasions along with multitudes of preachers in a church context, I delivered sermons that were just telling people what they know already, telling them how it was. Yes this often involved clarifying points of scripture and encouraging people in their faith, but the messages whilst not falling on deaf ears was generally just going over somewhat familiar ground but in a new way. What we might call 'Preaching to the Converted'. However, in some cases a preacher will actually challenge the converted, assaulting the listeners ears and their faith, and getting them to ask themselves where they actually stand with God. Today I had the pleasure of one such sermon preached by a dear friend of mine at a local Baptist Church.  Speaking on Ezekiel 37 - the Valley of the Dry Bones - the preacher challenged us to reflect on our own situation, our own faith, our own Christianity by asking if we were in fact Dry Bones; did we come to church faithfully every S...

Reading a book of the Bible having understood its context is invaluable even if i t's only gained from one of the synoptic introductions that one sometimes gets at the beginning of a book in some Bibles. It helps one understand the mood or maybe even the state of mind of the author. Reading 2 Timothy with an understanding that this is possibly Pauls last letter and that he is soon to go to his untimely death by execution,  phrases such as that describing him being ,” poured out like a drink offering ” take  on more significance , it may even bring a tear to one's eye.  I think it also helps if one meditates with the authors situation in mind, trying to put oneself into their head or their setting; for me I can see Paul, an elderly gentlemen  perhaps in chains and not simply being under house arrest having faced some sort of trial - ”At my first defence no one came to stand beside me” - and sad at bei ng abandoned - “but all deserted me.” Yet still holding out ...