That’s alright then!

We can kill unborn babies, consider new ways of breaking up families, idolise wealth and status, and educate our children that life began by chance but at least we can still pray at council meetings.

I did wonder though, assuming that most councils are not majority Christian led, why praying was even on their agenda. Who do they pray to? Do they believe? Doubtless some do, but are there very many?

Perhaps there are more who would like the traditions of our Christian heritage preserved, but without the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ. They would like the church to take its place along with all the other institutions that make up our rich cultural history. Visible but not intrusive.

But even more importantly, it made me reflect on what effect a ban on praying would really have on me as a Christian. Suppose there was a ban that said we could only pray in a church building.

Would I be all that worried?

Would it free up much of my time?

To listen to Mark Ventham preaching from Nahum 3 at Christ Church on Sunday evening 19th February 2012 use the links below.

(Using Flash Audio Player)
Or click here to listen in your own player or save a copy

To listen to Graham Nicholls from John 18:1-14 at Christ Church on Sunday morning 19th February 2012 use the links below.

(Using Flash Audio Player)
Or click here to listen in your own player or save a copy

Two young ladies in a café, one asks the other:

Are you in a relationship?

I didn’t hear the answer. I wondered the context. Why the enquiry? Was it her friend? If she’s a friend, why doesn’t she know that already? If not, why did she ask?


Our society recognises the value of friendship and family but seems to have lost the commitment to protect family and friends by shaping love in the way God wants us to.

On the other side of the café a professional looking woman is talking with a man who she seems to know quite well. I think she is not “in a relationship” with him. She relates how a client was

“disappointed when I told her I don’t chant.”

I am wondering… was it choir practice? I think not. Yoga, or something new age, more likely.

We tolerate all kinds of spirituality except the real kind.

In the most unlikely place for this this conversation, a wool shop, we hear about a wayward daughter. The pretty blonde lady says to her friend:

“Her Father’s in Spain. She just ran out of the house. Came back later and slammed the door and went to her bedroom without a word. I told her that she needed to realise that anything could have happened. She could have been bundled into a car and abducted or raped. She needs to learn.”

Was it her daughter or perhaps a step-daughter? Why did she run away? Is this a major incident or a brief family row? You get all kinds of people in a wool shop, not just Women’s Own readers. There are all kinds of sadness in people’s lives. They are trying to cope with it. They are trying to be wise about bringing up their children but there are few good role models and they don’t ask God’s advice.

Finally, in Waterstones: A cheerful lady climbing to the top floor of this extensive book shop says:

“I can’t read anything depressing.”

I guess in the context it was about her choice of books and she was just stating a general preference but I mused on whether this was a medical condition, like lactose intolerance. Or perhaps it was a rule for life. I speculated on how long you could last without reading anything depressing. A week? What about the news, a bill, or a letter from a relative with sad news? Can you avoid the most obvious realities? I think we all try.

At the till a man about my age served me, looking very serious. Unhelpfully, I said

“cheer up, home time soon”

to which he just answered with an rueful “yes” and looked even sadder. He was obviously not avoiding life’s realities, whatever they were for him.

And so we could go on making observations and speculations from these fragments.

Thank God it’s not like that with him. We don’t have to piece together the God story from a few overheard conversation fragments and try and make up the rest. God has spoken to us clearly and comprehensively.

The question is, are you listening to him?

Her death prompted a phone-in debate on BBC Radio 5 Live entitled “Can an addict be cured?” There were harrowing stories of families torn apart by a family member becoming addicted and the consequent sadness, hurt, deception, stealing and illnesss.

In amongst the debate about whether addiction is inherited or learnt, there was a fascinating story about three siblings known to one of the callers. One of them became dependant on drugs, one a religious fundamentalist (whatever that meant) and one a workaholic. Who was the addict?

There are important differences in the morality and the consequences of various addictions, whether to hard drugs or alcohol, work, religion, coffee or TV, but there is also a common thread.

We all have things that we think we could not do without and we will make a lot of effort to obtain and keep them. Any addictions are just a special case of that yearning for satisfaction, security, meaning, fulfilment and love. As a young lady put it “taking heroin is like someone giving me a great big hug.”

That longing is something that the Bible describes as God putting eternity in our hearts. We long to really know eternal significance. We dread not being alive. So we fill our lives with psycho-substitutes. The tragic thing is that they end up ruling us, squeezing the life from us, and worse still obscuring the God who is the only one who can satisfy. The Bible has a word for this: idolatry.

The tragedy with idols is that they take your money and give nothing back. Whitney Houston served the gods of fame and pleasure and it didn’t satisfy. She served the gods of chemical hugs. They didn’t satisfy either and worse still they drained the life out of her. Idols always do that.

The great thing about the true God is that he gives away for free the eternal life we were always looking for.

To listen to Nick McQuaker preaching from Nahum 2 at Christ Church on Sunday evening 12th February 2012 use the links below.

(Using Flash Audio Player)
Or click here to listen in your own player or save a copy

Will he be your teacher?

To listen to Graham Nicholls speaking at our All-Age Service from Mark 1:22 at Christ Church on Sunday morning 12th February 2012 use the links below.

(Using Flash Audio Player)
Or click here to listen in your own player or save a copy

Over time we will migrate these pages over to the new format, but for now please read more and use the links below

If you need any help with the audio downloads or would like us to burn a CD for you, please let us know

Old Testament
Genesis
Abraham
Exodus
Judges
Job
Psalms
Song of Songs
Isaiah
Daniel
Nahum
Zechariah
Malachi

New Testament
John
Acts
Romans
Ephesians
The Great Journey From Glory to Glory
1 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John

Topical or Visiting Preachers
Special meetings, one-off sermons and visiting preachers
“The Church”
L is for Lifestyle
The Unseen World – Know Your Enemy
Evangelical Essentials
All Age Services