Wesley has a Huge problem with his Testicles

Jan 4 1774: Three or four years ago, a stumbling horse threw me forward on the pommel of the saddle. I felt a good deal of pain; but it soon went off, and I thought of it no more. Some months after I observed, testiculum alterum altero duplo majorem esse. I consulted a Physician: He told me

The Christmas Season: Stars to Steer By

This is the next in my series of blogs in which I am reviewing Joan Chittister's The Liturgical Year.

[Order it here and read my earlier reviews of her book here.]

Thus far we have looked at Advent; now we move to the Christmas season, which includes Christmas Day and the season of Epiphany.

This Child Cannot Be Ignored: Stop Ignoring Him

The birth of this child would not be remembered if it were not for His life ... and His life would not be remembered if it were not for His death ... and His death would not be remembered if it were not for His resurrection ... and His resurrection should not be remembered without the memory of His promise to return.

Because this child was born 2000 years ago ... and for absolutely NO other reason than His birth, the streets of my suburb, city and nation look like this:

Carol Service: There were Two Trees in the Centre of the Garden

There we have a beautiful Christmas tree in the garden, and I’m reminded of another garden, long, long ago. It was called the Garden of Eden, a garden God planted right back at the beginning of all gardens, and the Bible tells us that in the middle of it was a tree and it was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Original "Hark the Herald Angels" from the Wesley Brothers

Hark, how all the welkin rings,

"Glory to the King of kings;

peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!"

Advent 2: Let God Distract You

Matthew 1:18-25

The Advent season sounds the alarm, once a year, with a wake up call to prepare ourselves for the return of Christ. Many of us press the snooze button the rest of the year, but if we let Advent do its work ... No more hitting the snooze button! The message of Advent insists that the first step in getting ready for our Savior is to wake up and stay awake.

Advent is here: Happy New Year

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Sourced here)

Pastoral Message from Cedric for my worldwide JohnWesleyProject.com community

‘And He who sits upon the throne said ‘Behold I make things new” Rev 21:5

Happy New Year !!!!!?????

Advent marks the beginning of a new year in the Christian calendar. The liturgical year starts with the first Sunday in Advent, which in 2017 is 3rd December, and then

Prayer for World AIDS Day 2017

10 years of my ministry (1996-2006) were spent at the worldwide epicentre of the HIV/AIDS pandemic ... rural KwaZulu Natal in South Africa ... which had the highest per capita rates of new infections and number of deaths worldwide. That many of those deaths were completely preventable is the well documented story of denialism and quackery that were the institutionalized order and government policy of the day in South Africa. Praise God that His will was eventually done in terms of justice and mercy. I have journeyed professionally and compassionately through the path of this scourge. In my 3rd year as a dental student (1980) our lecture in Virology (which we did together with the medical students) on the subject was a simple 4 or 5 lines of notes on this new disease !!! The rest, of course, is (ongoing) history.

Please pray the prayer below, which I republish from last year, as often as you can:

Gracious God and Father of all comfort, Creator of all life and Purveyor of all creation, Almighty God of the Universe to You belongs all life. Today, on World AIDS Day, we give you thanks and praise for Your mercy, grace, compassion and love which are beyond measure. In You is our Salvation and in You

What James is all About

Please watch this video as an introduction to our series on James

Hypocrites, Church decline and Disobedience

Why do we have communion as often as we do? Plain and simply, because Jesus told us to. And if Jesus said: “Do it!” ... we believe we ... must ... do ... it. And if we are going to be people who, with integrity, are going to back up our arguments with: “The Bible says ...; or, Jesus says ... ” ... well, then we have to be very, very, careful. Because we can’t pick and choose which commands we will obey and expect others to obey ... and which we will ignore and tell others they can ignore as well. Jesus had a name for people like that .... hypocrites ... and hypocrites and church growth don't go together.

Why? Making Sense of God's Will: When Prayers Go Unanswered.

Psalm 22:2, John 15:7, Luke 22:42

Last week we began a new series Why? Making Sense of God's Will and we looked at God and Suffering. This week we look at an experience almost as common as undeserved suffering, namely the fact that sometimes our prayers go unanswered.

Veterans'/Remembrance Day

As a child I used to love the build up to 11 November and the making of paper poppies. Below is one of my favourite poems regarding the remembrance of fallen soldiers and a prayer.
We Will Remember Them

Why? Making Sense of God's Will: God and Suffering

John 11:32-37

Why does God allow deep furrows of pain, of suffering to dig into the otherwise clean fields (there are no weeds in this furrow) of our lives?

Are there any seeds we can bring to sow into the deep furrows of our own  suffering .. into the suffering of others ... into the suffering, on occasion, of God’s church .. into the suffering of the world... ?

Gospel in Disney: Pocahontas

Jeremiah 6:16, Matthew 5: 43-44, Matthew 26: 37-40

Children's Address

The story of Pocahontas is different to The Lion King and Aladdin, because Pocahontas was a real historical figure. She was born in 1595 and was 12 years old when she met John Smith. She didn't marry John Smith, she married a tobacco farmer named John Rolfe. She died when she was 22 and is buried in Kent, in England.

Reformation Sunday: Re-Formation of the Soul

Last week, when we celebrated 500 Years of Reformation (read Reformation 500 years: A Fish Rots from the Head) I ended with the words: "I call the church of Jesus Christ and every Christian, to ongoing re-formation" and then said: "More on that next Sunday."

‘I didn’t tell my wife I’d had Botox’

 I have had more grooming treatments than pretty much any other man I know. Certainly more than any British man my age (39) I know. I’ve lived in New York since 2014 where it is not uncommon for men to pop out for “lunchtime procedures”, so my efforts to look better don’t seem so extreme over here. I write for a men’s magazine, so I’ve road-tested many new procedures for writing material.

Reformation 500 years: A Fish Rots from the Head

As a fellow sinner with the rest of humankind, but a saved sinner because of my Lord Jesus Christ, I look today at the 500 year celebration of Luther and the Protestant Reformation, wondering if the church of Jesus Christ in 2017, and our church here at MWC, needs reformation. And I suggest we answer that with a simple Yes, or a simple No!

Noah:The First Drunk

Gen 9:20-25 & Prov 23:29-35

We continue our series on "The Old, Old, Stories" which we began with Adam and Eve's descent into disobedience, followed by Cain's murder of his brother Abel, last week we found ourselves at Noah and the ark and this week we are with Noah sometime after the flood. You might remember that I said last week that in some way each of these stories is a story of the cycle of violence, mankind's violence towards God (our sin) which always leads to violence (sin) against others. Today's story takes us to that most dreadful of violences, family violence ... but I'm getting ahead of myself!

Noah: How to find favour in God's eyes

Genesis 6:5-8 & 13-14a

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

We continue our series on "The Old, Old, Stories" which we began with Adam and Eve's descent into disobedience, followed by Cain's murder of his brother Abel and today we find ourselves at Noah, which really is a story of the cycle of violence, mankind's violence towards God (our sin) which always leads to violence (sin) against others. 

Gospel in Disney: Diamond in the Rough

Children's Address

The story of Aladdin is from 1001 Arabian Nights and it's about a young man who was orphaned very young and ended up raising himself and who survives by stealing food in the market. In an early scene we see him stealing some bread and immediately we're tempted to think: "Hmmf ... a thief!" but we need to be careful. Let's watch the first clip