the waiting country

Americans are not particularly good at sensing the real elements of another people's culture. It helps them to approach foreigners with ...

Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don't simply learn ...

In Numbers 12 we're told that Moses "was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth" (v.3). The...

5 points from Tom Wright, mediated by Peter Leithart.

Hallowed be your name - the adoration that springs from the appreciation of God as our Father in heaven. The question I had was this: who d...

Although we live on a cursed earth, we also live on a covenanted earth. This is God's earth, and God is covenantally committed to its ...

In commenting on Genesis 3, John Goldingay ( Old Testament Theology p.139) notices that "God actively blesses; God does not actively c...

I believe this to be one of the finest paragraphs ever written. It makes you want to continue reading, its use of english is faultless and i...

for what it's worth, my sermon notes on john 13-17, preached in swinton a couple of years ago, are available here (and also via the ser...

As GoogleEarth pans out, it sets your house, town and country into its global context. The prayer of Jesus draws to a close in these verses ...

Having prayed for his disciples, Jesus turns in these verses to pray for those who would believe in him through their message. Before we loo...

To have John 17 is a great blessing and a deep privilege because here we get to the very heart of the relationship between the Father and hi...

1. Why Jesus prays for these men (vv.6-10) We can readily understand why Jesus prays for himself but why would he pray for these men also? W...

Having concluded his extended discussion with the disciples in which he has tried to prepare them for his departure, Jesus now turns to pray...

This passage brings to an end Jesus’ discussions with his disciples in the upper room; what follows in ch.17 is his prayer. And so in v.16 h...

1. What’s so good about grief? Jesus again reiterates his imminent departure to the Father in v.5 and implicitly criticises the disciples fo...

I want to say 4 things from this passage. 1. Jesus anticipates persecution Firstly, Jesus anticipates the persecution of his disciples and,...

Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches. We derive our whole life from him; we are who and what we are because we are in him. Without him ...

1. Relationship: the Vine and the Branches As he begins this next section of his discussion with the disciples, Jesus makes a statement that...

Once more, Jesus reminds his disciples that he is going away and then coming back to them. In this context, the coming back seems to be refe...