Just in

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Jeremiah 33.3

Apologies for unannounced absence!

During my delayed post-Easter break I did a lot of travelling around the south of England, which meant plenty of time for reading. One of the books I enjoyed was Alister McGrath's helpful What's the point of theology? which includes the remark that theology is not just what academics called theologians do for a living but it is what all Christians do when we think about our faith. Therefore we are all theologians - potentially. I add "potentially" because, when we do not consider ourselves to be "theologians", the danger is that we avoid thinking about our faith in the mistaken assumption that we are either not qualified or because it is somebody else's job (and, usually, for both reasons).

That is blind faith and the trouble with blind faith is that it remains only skin deep and renders us open to all sorts of heretical ideas which, if we only thought about them, we would never allow ourselves to swallow. More positively, thinking - and talking - about our faith brings the whole business of believing alive. Faith deepens and permeates our whole lives, rather than being confined to a box that we keep at arms length. It provides a bridge into the experience of other believers, with whom we now engage as fellow pilgrims sharing, as we do, a precious treasure, which enables us to relate at a profound level despite our differences - and with minimal introduction.

This was another highlight of our break: gate-crashing a home-group that was happening in one of the places where we were staying. We had never met two of the other couples involved yet that did not matter because we already shared the most important gift: eternal life through faith in Jesus. We were family. What a pleasure it was to get to know these new sisters and brothers as we explored that faith we share, together.