Author: Jim Naughton

A church of stone

In the year of our Lord 565, when Justin, the younger, the successor of Justinian, had the government of the Roman empire, there came into Britain a famous priest and abbot, a monk by habit and life, whose name was Columba, to preach the word of God to the provinces of the northern Picts, who are separated from the southern parts by steep and rugged mountains;

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Dream of the rood

Listen, I’ll tell the loveliest of dreams,

what I dreamt in the dark of night

after reason-bearers lay at rest.

It seemed I saw a wondrous tree

led aloft, wound in light,

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Soccer dad

While most of us enjoy watching our children engage in athletic endeavors, it’s amazing how many parents feel imprisoned by weekend youth sports. The constant shuttling around to practices and games, the precious moments of free time being slowly sucked away by 10-minute quarters. No one’s forcing you at gunpoint to sign your kid up, but guilt and suburban peer pressure are powerful things.

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The cross and the kingdom

If there is one fact about which New Testament scholars are agreed, it is that ‘the good news of the Kingdom of God’ was the heart of Jesus’ preaching. Take away the references to the Kingdom in the gospels, and there is no gospel at all. Yet it is common to hear what passes for Christianity preached without reference to the Kingdom of God.

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Lift up your health

By Luiz Coelho Celebrant: The Lord be with you. People: And also with you. Celebrant: Lift up your hearts. People: We lift them up to

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Competing authorities

In the mid-third century, the church led by Cyprian was defined by its opposition to a new kind of “demonically deceptive imitation” that was identified by its relative leniency toward penitent sinners and the authority granted to martyred saints and confessors.

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What size are God’s shoes?

The fact is we don’t know what God looks like. We haven’t a clue. Scripture certainly gives us lots of images of God. But I can’t really tell the boys that God is a rock or a whirlwind or fire. We’re told that we’re made in the image of God but that doesn’t really help us too much. Is that literal or metaphorical? And getting into an existential debate with a four-year old is a road to nowhere. Believe me, I’ve tried.

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Zeal awakened

Let a regard for the honour of the Church, and for the glory of God who delights in order in his worship, awaken the zeal of every member of the Church. Let him preserve silence in the parts of the service performed by the minister, joining in them not with his voice, but with sincerity of mind and heart.

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