Faith, hope and love

Three beautiful words. Words that I am tempted to say sum up the gospel. Sum up the bible.

We are famous for judgement. As christians we have painted a picture that God is about no sex before marriage, about hell and condemnation, about sadness, solitude and boredom. When in fact Paul simply says that 'these three remain'.

Faith in our Jesus Christ, in his death on the cross and his resurrection to life, 2000 years ago for Jesus and today for me.

Hope that through Jesus and through his spirit God is transforming our very lives, day in day out, to be more like him so one day we can rest in his presence forever.

Love for our God for the things he hath done, and love for others despite the things they hath done.

So I thought to myself; 'The bible doesn't judge. It is a love story written from God to me'

I believe that is the truth, and what does the truth do?

(Answers on a postcard to 39 Geoffrey Avenue, Durham, DH1 4PF. Thankyou..)

Pressies... YAAAAAY

I lead youth group for years 7 - 9 at church today, on the subject of spiritual gifts (they are going through a series on living with the spirit, its sweet), they seemed attentive for a change...

In preparing it though I couldn't but think about God's gifts, his good gifts.

People can be healed, we can see supernatural wonders, we can speak in heavenly languages, and then the greatest gift of all, the salvation of our lives For eternity we are saved, delivered, covered.

What greater gift?!

Dancing in the light

I had a quality evening.

After a lovely gig by Phatfish, worshipping the Lord, a load of us decided to go to the pub to catch up with Ali Scott and chill out in fellowship together. The swan and 3 cygnets was full. So, we went to Boathouse, a cocktail bar by the river in Durham.

The music was loud and I wasn't sure how it was going to work, how could we catch up like this?

Me and Ali had a great chat, about where he is, what is going on, about Durham, what is going on here, was sweet. And the girls started dancing!

I was well up for dancing.

Dave Milledge said something about going out and worshipping the Lord in clubs. This is what we did, we danced together in fellowship with each other, but also remembering why we can dance... Jesus!

Even some of the lyrics to the dance music pointed towards him - "I believe, I believe, I belieevvvvveeeeee in love", "the sun (son) is shining".

It was quality. Lets go again, let us pray, dance and worship as a big group in a nightclub. Show the devil that he isn't welcome there either...!

Truth

Roald Dahl the poet - The Twits

Reflecting glory

My walk home from lectures is now very very lovely. A walk through Mary's college, then up a grassy bank to a high point above Durham city. It is beautiful. The cathedral standing out above a see of green and speckles of houses. Lovely.

Tonight was just as beautiful. The stars were out, the cathedral prominent and a full moon topping off the glorious view.

I couldn't help but think of Jesus. (Surprise surprise!)

2 Corinthians 3:18 "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory..."

How obvious was this tonight? The moon shining bright, bright light over the whole of the city, reflecting the glory of the sun. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory.

That is an amazing testament! We reflect the glory of Jesus, and how bright is that?! How glorious is he?! When we are transformed, when we are made more like him we reflect him more and more, we go from a lunar eclipse, through the crescent moon and half moon, to reflecting all of Jesus in all his glory.

I cannot wait!!!

I sang out and praised God for the beauty of his creation. It was wonderful. It was speaking to me about my king, it was glorifying him!

I also thought of the verse about shining like stars in the darkness (Phil 2:15), and that is life as a christian; reflecting Jesus, pointing out his beauty, shining a light to show the way, becoming beautiful ourselves, loving the whole universe.

I am both amazed and excited by his glory. And I simply say... MORE LORD.

I can't wait to see it again tomorrow morning.