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Crisis at Christmas

If Jesus remains at the centre of all we say and do and our priority continues to be saving people from sin and death, then it is high time we abandoned divisions over secondary issues.

Presenting the Gospel in our Age

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ left us with a final command before He took His leave of our planet earth and returned to His heavenly home. He told His disciples, “Go out into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” (St. Mark 16, v.15). It is therefore a command we must clearly obey and gladly perform, never mind how hard it is for us to gain a hearing in today’s obstinate, ignorant and rebellious society.

Then Elijah said to the people of Israel, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God follow Him, but if Baal follow him.” 1 Kings 18, v.21

Much has already been written about the so-called philosophies that underlie much of the recent upsurge in gender confusion and victim culture and the problems which they have spawned. So much of what we see becoming standard thinking is not only irrational, anti-social and profoundly undemocratic, but at heart it is simply about replacing God by myself and my own desires and ambitions. Of course, the consequences are going to be catastrophic. One of the ancients observed, “Whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad.”

Praise to Thine eternal merit, Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Veni Creator Spiritus

Trinity Sunday is woefully neglected these days, which may be partially explained by the fact that different sections of the Church seem to have become hung up on one particular aspect of the Trinity – the Evangelicals on the Son, the Catholics on the Father and the Charismatics on the Holy Spirit.

Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins: if they do, the old skins will burst, the new wine will go to waste and the old wine skins will be ruined. – St. Matthew 9: v.17

GAFCON Kigali 2023 and the promised engagement of the Global South primates are at last giving real hope to those who ardently wish to see non-Christians come to Jesus and new Christians receive regular encouragement in a set-up which listens to local concerns and is absorbed in evangelism and outreach rather than in managerial reshuffles and raising enough money to keep the show on the road.

Graciously behold this Your family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed and given up into the hands of wicked men and to suffer death upon the cross – Good Friday Collect

With Easter on the way, now must be the time to give priority to examining and believing what Jesus achieved for us in the short period between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Morning, and what those massive achievements mean for us here and now.

O Sapientia – O for Divine wisdom!

This month of March may now be some distance away from the O Sapientia day sandwiched between the December Ember Days, but never has there been a time when orthodox Anglicans are in such need of the wisdom of God.  The dividing line between the arguments for leaving the Church of England and staying put are wafer thin.

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from His glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father ...” Colossians 1 v.11.

What we cannot do is allow ourselves to criticise those who take an opposite decision to our own. We are all one in Christ and, like good rugby players, we must bind together and push to make sure a good and effective scrum keeps possession of the Gospel ball and takes the play forward into the unbelieving world. As the Lord Himself said, the harvest truly is great, but the labourers will always be few.

How then can they call on someone they have not believed in? And how can they believe in someone they have not heard? And how can they hear without a preacher? Romans 10:14.

The latest statistics on religious affiliation in the UK do not make easy reading. The number of people who identify as Christians has fallen below 50 % of the population for the very first time, representing a 15% drop since 2011. More disturbingly, those claiming no religion at all have jumped to 37%, which amounts to no less than 22 million people.