Robert and Maureen McQuillan share:It’s Pentecost Sunday this weekend!
This used to be a yearly highlight in most denominations, let alone Pentecostal ones – a celebration of when the Holy Spirit fell on the first Christians as described in Acts 2. That was when Christians were filled with the Spirit and joyfully worshipped God in ‘new tongues’ – untaught languages or glossolalia (V8-11). (more…)
Passing the buck is the act of attributing to another person or group one’s own responsibility.
Etymologically the expression is said to have originated from the card game poker, in which a marker or counter called ‘the buck’ was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the buck to the next player. (more…)
Jesus covered a lot of territory when he encouraged his troubled disciples, ‘Do not be worried and upset. Believe in God and believe also in me’ (John 14:1GNB). The Message Bible puts it even more directly: ‘Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me’ (Emphasis ours).
We can think of ‘this’ as ‘everything.’ After all, let’s face it…in life there are many things that throw us…things that could throw us if we were to let them and things that do throw us because we foolishly let them. (more…)
Recently we’ve been challenging churches to be relational not religious. We’ve caught listeners’ attention by saying, ‘Image the letter T, then invert it – 
– but ensure the bottom bar extends widely both right and left. (more…)
Underbelly – the 17th century word has been highlighted recently through the TV series on Australian crime bosses.
Dictionaries explain it as ‘a vulnerable or unprotected part.’ Winston Churchill, concerned about ‘the gathering storm’ in Europe prior to World War 2, later used ‘underbelly’ in a figurative sense of ‘the most vulnerable part’ in a 1942 speech.
Church underbellies (more…)
‘Flipping the switch’ – like a lot of other phrases – can either be rightly understood or, sadly, wrongly construed sexually.
Then there’s the link with longboarding – courageously using wider and longer skateboards. Check James Kelly’s escapade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bC2DnG4yqA
Okay, okay…it’s not new, those urgings to ‘Get out of your comfort zone; Think outside the box; Get a life; Remember Jeremiah 29:11…’ and similar challenges to move ahead into new spheres with God’s help.
Yet we keep coming across Christians who still haven’t made the positive move and got on with living life to the full in God-given freedom! (more…)
In other words, something nasty wrongly picked up, misunderstood, quickly accepted and passed on.
These is one of the hazards of unpoliced internet…people ‘find’ a lot of material but neither check the source nor its authenticity and unthinkingly forward it on to many other web surfers. And so, ‘stuff’ – especially untruths – is readily accepted and regarded as ‘gospel truth.’
Robert and Maureen McQuillan share:Every day the news – whether TV, radio, emails or newspaper – hits hard with the latest bad reports from around the world, especially regarding the Middle East and Iraq in particular.
When current atrocities in Mosul were first announced a few weeks back we were extremely disappointed with the church we happened to be at that Sunday. Not one concerned prayer for Christians facing death by the sword unless they converted to Islam!
Yet the following week when we were ministering in an Assyrian church, prayer for the homeland was sincerely cried, God deeply worshipped and an offering taken up for Christians back in Iraq!
Aware that things were terrible back in the homeland and the future very uncertain for Christians, Jews and even some Muslims alike, we praised them for their prayers, especially for protection for Christians and ministers back there. (See The Buzz re ‘Bishop of Baghdad’ Canon Andrew White‘s refusal to leave despite personal danger and ISIS atrocities).
Thousands of Christians were forced to flee their homes leaving only an estimated 200 in the city. Even some Muslims are terrified – ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) is known for its harsh interpretation of Wahhabi Islam and its brutal violence directed at Shia Muslims and Christians in particular. (more…)
Maureen McQuillan challenge:‘Please, sir, I want some more’ from Charles Dickens’ second novel Oliver Twist are words so famous that virtually everyone remembers them. The workhouse supervisor Mr. Bumble’s outraged response is well known too.
The musical Oliver portrays Bumble’s enraged reaction as ‘More? You want more?!!’ In other words, what you have already received is enough, more than enough!
Twenty years ago ‘More. I want more’ became the catchcry in church circles. Today as we minister around various denominations and pastoral care/mentoring, we still hear a cry for more from not just a mere few Christians. Unsettled hearts and lack of contentment in current circumstances results in Dickensian type expressions. (more…)
Connecting with You! 