Category: Bible

Bible · faith

The Importance Of The Old

Jonnyfun.E1 Comment

Mar 1:2-2

What Jesus brings is not a new religion.  We have enough of that.  More than enough.  Jesus was rooted in the Old Testament scriptures, in the faith of his ancestors.  What Jesus brought was a fulfilment of the promises made long ago.

These words are addressed TO Jesus ‘See I am sending my messenger ahead of you’ 
The old is often rejected in favour of the new.  The old is often scorned.  It’s boring, irrelevant.  But this new thing that Jesus does is rooted in the ancient revelation of God through the prophets. Christians (especially evangelical and charistmatic ones)  sometimes think that by singing a load of new songs and listening to inspirational preaching, we can get everything we need to feed our spirit.
This is in  danger of being Do it Yourself Christianity.  There are ancient ways of reading, and praying and living that we miss at our peril
Bible · faith

The Beginning Of Good News

Jonnyfun.ELeave a comment

Mark 1:1

The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Opening words are important.  This is Good News.  Whatever else it will be, it is Good News.
The Greek for in the beginning is ‘en arche’ … these two words are at the start of the book of Genesis, and also John’s gospel.  In Genesis, the new beginning is creation.  Everything has a starting point.  ‘En arche’ is about something new.
In Genesis God’s new beginning brings life out nothing.  Mark the evangelist is now talking about another new beginning, God’s new creation, which is all about who Jesus is and what Jesus will do.
Bible · faith

You made it your own

Jonnyfun.ELeave a comment

The nature of my work means that I get to read the Bible a lot. I read these words today, written by St Paul: “I press on to make Christ my own, as he has made me his own”

In the UK we have this (addictive for some) T.V. talent show called ‘The X Factor’. One of the judges has a habit of saying something like … ‘That was great Sean – you made that song your own’. In other words .. the singer had imprinted on the song something of themselves. They had transformed the song in some way so that they have made it distinctively theirs. The singer has taken a song that ‘belonged’ to someone else and made it their own.

I guess this is partly what trying to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is all about. Christ makes us his own. He takes us and transforms our lives so that it is obvious that we belong to God.

I have a prayer that I use most days .. Faithful One, whose word is life; come free our praise, inspire our prayers, and shape our lives for the kingdom of your son, Jesus Christ our Lord.