Since I’m not currently in England, I played Bert’s sermon on mp3. It’s surprisingly difficult to take 50 minutes out of life to sit down and listen. In the end I finished the sermon in several segments while cleaning house, waiting in the car, and shopping. It seems slightly ironic that while hearing about how to balance life, I was busy running around filling different roles. Getting everything done– and still keeping the priorities straight– is something we all struggle with.
Read more on Outer Life: Balancing Responsibilities…

When I think of kingdoms I imagine scenes of epic battles in far off lands ruled by kings and queens in stone castles. It’s not too dissimilar to how I see the kingdom of heaven in some ways, a far of place that is disconnected to the realities of our lives here on earth. Until the day we die, the reality of heaven has hardly any relevance or importance to our day-to-day work, relationships and worries. But when Jesus prays in Matthew 6:10, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, does it mean that we can somehow see or experience heaven now, here on earth?

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Reflecting on Rob’s sermon, I realised that in our lives there are often two sides to the coin– an inner and an outer life. If we are spiritual in our inner lives but aren’t able to relate this to the community around us, how will people see Christ in us? Let us look at Jesus. His outer life truly reflected his inner life. People saw his love, sincerity, compassion, healing and forgiveness. While it is good to have prayer, Scripture reading, worship and fasting, if we don’t apply this externally then we will struggle in our walk with God.
Read more on Inner Life : Developing Spiritual Disciplines…

It is so easy to focus on the external. And we (or should I say I), tend to focus on it more than I realise.

Recently I was considering a friend’s dire predicament. If only she could get a job, or lived in a nicer house, or had more money then maybe her life would begin to look more hopeful. She told me that those things didn’t matter to her. It was her heart that needed healing. It was the inside of her that needed to be restored. (I’m glad that she got her priorities right!) I thought I was thinking practically, but in reality the job, money, house is all superficial. My friend was hurting and all I could do was think about ways to “solve” her problems. It is so easy to address the external matters and forget about the person inside.
Read more on And Now For Something A Little Different, Part II…

This Sunday, i switched the sermon topic a little bit. Why? Because i feel that our church is missing something. There’s something that’s just a little out of sync at the BCEC. Though we’re growing, people are maturing, and things are moving forward — there’s this part of me that still feels that we’re losing sight of what’s real — of the reality of Christ.

Read more on And now for something a little different……