by 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 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.
I didn’t go to church on Sunday. The elders asked me to stay away.
I wish it was because my preaching is just too radical, but it was because I have been coming off the tail-end of a probably-not-Covid-19 cold and had been left with a cough. Read more
Sometimes the Holy Spirit says, “James is distracted and hasn’t got his guard up – let’s plant a bomb in his head.”
I was just on my way to the school to collect the children, and my phone pinged. It was a message from someone who works with me, Read more
I’ve heard it said that there’s no such thing as bad press. I’m not sure Prince Andrew would agree, but there you go.
In a way, Paul certainly thought so. I’m reading through Philippians at the moment and right at the beginning Paul claims that some are preaching Christ to make trouble for him, but he doesn’t care as long as Jesus is being preached. Read more
Now that’s a tricky question.
The thing is, I’m not sure that I do. Sometimes, over the years, people have asked me if I enjoy preaching. ‘Enjoy’ is not the word I would use. Read more
I preached a sermon this week; the main thrust of which was the message that God does not demand perfection of us. Afterwards, I sat down, feeling flat and disappointed because I felt like the sermon hadn’t gone perfectly.
I must be growing, because it only took me a few moments to realise the irony of the situation. Read more
Remember being at school, when popularity was such a big part of life? That was the top of the food chain back then – being popular; being one of the ‘cool kids’. Then we left school and marched off into adult life, but it seems that the playground followed us. Read more
I’m making a conscious effort in 2019 to develop my skill at writing poetry. I’m trying to learn and understand the rules, with marginal success, though you may notice an increase in the amount of poetry that appears on the blog as I experiment. You are nothing more than guinea pigs to me. Read more
