by James Webb
Posts from the Author, James Webb
For many people, God is a silent God. As far as they’re concerned, He says nothing. But when I read the Bible I can’t help but be left with the strong impression that actually this is a God who just won’t shut up. Take Abram for example. He’s sitting in the desert, counting his livestock and minding his own business, and then God comes along – “Psssst…Abram.” Read more
I had an idea for a blog post, but just as I was about to start writing I got distracted by browsing through some old stuff that I’d written. I found this thing from 2007 which, while needing a bit of work, is probably better than what I was going to write… Read more
Ho hum, I think it’s fair to say that lockdown has not been particularly good for my mental health. At first I was quite optimistic – I have been practising social distancing since I was a teenager, and I do quite enjoy the school holidays when wife and children are home with me. Read more
Recently, I’ve been slowly making my way through Galatians. It’s been a helpful way of following Paul’s train of thought and seeing the context and bigger argument in a book which is full of ubiquitous Christian soundbites.
If you’ve been following this blog from the very beginning (nearly five years now!) then you might have read one of my first posts about the potential virtues of cynicism. I’m a lot less cynical than I used to be in my twenties, but every now and then I do like to indulge myself.
I once went to a church for the first time. It was a big church, well-attended, with a minister who was a fantastic, internationally-renowned preacher and author. This church had what I call ‘welcome cards’; a printed leaflet that was given to visitors for them to write down their name and address and so on. It’s a common practice in churches that I’ve attended. I filled in a welcome card.
High in the mountains was a gem mine, owned collectively by several villages in the region. The mine was worked by a single man who, twice a year, would travel from village to village, distributing the precious stones that he had worked from the earth.
Here’s a quote that I came across last year, and I’ve really appreciated it. It’s from a guy called Andy Peck.
“As my old pastor used to say, it’s not how often we go through the Bible that counts, but whether the Bible goes through us.”
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.
Mark 4:35-36
Words have power. Words do things. When a marriage takes place, there are certain words that need to be said. “I now pronounce you man and wife” is just words, but these words change people. They bring about an actual change.
