“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.””
John 4:24 (©NIV)
Jesus4u.co.uk provides a large selection of contemporary Christian resources, written from a liberal perspective, including sermons, courses, hymns, liturgy, and much more besides. Find out more...
Added Thursday 19th January 2012
The first two books in The Third Testament for the Third Millennium series, Perpetua and Spirit, written by Kevin Carey, are available to buy from the publisher, Sacristy Press.
The Third Testament for the Third Millennium is a bold re-telling of the New Testament in a 21st Century context, asking Christians to question what they believe and why.
Incorporating a dazzling array of artistic styles, convention-breaking use of language and sharply drawn characters, the series draws on its author’s experience of journalism, broadcasting and politics, and on his work as a lay minister in the Church of England. It is profound and funny, moving and edgy, setting out how we might better live together with more self-restraint and less regulation.
The third book in the series, Unity, as well as Stir Up, O Lord: A Companion to the Collects, Epistles and Gospels in the Book of Common Prayer, are available to pre-order.
Added Thursday 15th December 2011
Were he born in Summer,
Ripening fruit and hay;
Warmed by glorious sunlight,
Lit by golden ray:
Roaming sheep and cattle,
Camels on the way;
Joyful songs and laughter
On the longest day.
Were he born in Autumn,
Harvest gathered in,
Oil and wine of gladness,
Corn stowed in the bin:
Harvest celebrations,
Music at the inn;
Breezes stir and stiffen
As the sun grows thin.
(but) He was born in Winter,
Damp and mould the wall;
Peasants creased with shiver,
Cattle in the stall:
Rotting hay beneath Him,
Rough the shepherds' call;
Wild his mother's worry,
Snow begins to fall.
And he rose in Springtime
Blossom on the tree,
Hope in every flower
Life where death should be:
All the earth in rapture,
Love and ecstasy;
An unbounded future,
Life's eternity.
From Carols for Advent to Candlemas, part 2, Were he Born in Summer
Added Thursday 3rd November 2011
This year's Advent Firesiders ask us to question our preconceptions of Christ and Christmas. In four parts, Childlike, Protest, Snow and Generous, they are available now to read and digest.
Put all the shouting and posturing to one side and what shines through is that blessed naivite. Jesus wasn't an economist nor a politician; he was Christianity's first and greatest fool, a sucker for every passing beggar, always falling for sob stories, incapable of hanging on to his loose change; throwing his weight behind apparently Utopian causes. He was an improbably unconventional figure; and if he were born today, I would like to think that it would be in a little canvas tent outside the magnificent walls of Saint Paul's.