rozandmarkarnold

Advent happens in the midst of life

Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV) “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.And being found in appearance asContinue reading “Advent happens in the midst of life”

Slightly crooked already

So yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent. Maybe though the weather, power cuts, coughs and colds which have kept sleep at arms length mean Advent had a bumpy start. Maybe leading others through Advent when it feels the furthest thing from your own heart right now is a weight you don’t know how toContinue reading “Slightly crooked already”

Advent: Behold! Look!

Almost a year ago now I tried to start a series on Lamentations, that has been fairly sporadic. But there is now a post on all of the first four chapters. This post concludes that series and starts an Advent series. In the last chapter of Lamentations the Lamenting poet reaches the end of hisContinue reading “Advent: Behold! Look!”

The longer road

For many of us in leadership we have a desire to help others, encourage others, to see them grow. The problems comes when they don’t grow the way we envisioned, in other words jumping in our boat and signing on as ‘yes’ folk to our plans. The problems come when the stories are more complexContinue reading “The longer road”

Readying our own hearts

Advent and Christmas are fast approaching. We have just had Christ the King Sunday. All too quickly though we forget Christ as King, not just of us but of all peoples and all that was made, as we jump into Advent services, nativity services and encouraging folk to remember the reason for the season. ChristContinue reading “Readying our own hearts”

Lamentations 4:12-22

The second half of chapter 4 is if anything more overwhelmingly dark than the first half. But once again it is worth moving ourselves mentally to the wreckage of Jerusalem so that we can see the world through the eyes of the Lamenter. He begins with the impossibility of God’s people coming to such aContinue reading “Lamentations 4:12-22”

Is the gospel enough?

There has been plenty of dialogue of varying levels going around on the internet and in-person conversations about leadership, about the dangers of power those in leadership have, the battles those in leaders are up against from the congregations. Having been on the receiving end of misused leadership, having been in leadership and got thingsContinue reading “Is the gospel enough?”

De-humanisation: Lamentations 4

With chapter 4 of Lamentations we move into a new stage of the poetry – there are still 22 stanzas, but each stanza has only four lines. The poem is shrinking – and as it shrinks the Lamenter reflects on the loss of glory for Jerusalem: 4 [a]How the gold has lost its luster, the fine goldContinue reading “De-humanisation: Lamentations 4”

Remembering

Today I had the sad news that Don Lewis, one of my professors at Regent College, where both Roz and I did our Masters, had died. I only had him as my teacher for one course, but it was a wonderful course – the Christian Pastor in Historical Perspective or some similar title. This wasn’tContinue reading “Remembering”

Cursing and Vengeance

As we come to the end of chapter 3 the tone of the verses changes. There is initially a sense of relief – the chapter begins to read like some of the Psalms where the poet is praising God for rescuing them. Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird.53 They tried toContinue reading “Cursing and Vengeance”