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Silly images

Daniel 3:1 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.  Thought for the day – Images of folly London is famous for it’s football clubs, and for those in America that’s soccer. Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Quens Park Rangers, Millwall, Chelsea and Fulham. All of them have statues out front of famous players or owners but in 2011, Fulham FC made the headlines because it’s owner Mohammed Al-Fayed unveiled a 7.5-foot-high statue of Michael Jackson who had died 2 years previously. It was meant to be a tribute to Michael Jackson but was universally lampooned. It only stood for 2 years. Before it was moved to the Football museum in Manchester. And it got me thinking about the idols we build and how we fight tooth and nail to keep them up. In our chapter today, Nebuchanezzar builds himself a 27.5m high statue of gold and commands everyone to bow down to it. The passage doe...
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It's not the muppet show

Daniel 2:14 Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.  Thought for the day – Rational faith One of my favourite kid’s programs is the Muppets. I’m a huge Kermit fan. And one of the things I love about the program is the chaos. I think it’s avery good reflection of my own life at times. Chaotic but amazing. But I digress. The reason I mention it is because as I was reading today’s chapter about Nebuchadnezzar’s completely irrational request to his advisors and how God intervened with Daniel, I had an image in my head of all the royal advisors and sorcerers running around panicking, just like an episode of the muppets. And yet in the midst of the chaos and panic Daniel is calm and measured. We read that he replies with prudence and discretion. Cool as a cucumber under pressure. How many of us can claim the same? Granted we’re not all given the gift of interpretation of dreams, but it ...
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Good food?

Daniel 1:8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.   Thought for the day – Where God is Many years ago I was invited to join some Muslim friends for Iftar, the breaking of the fast during Ramadan. I was honoured to be asked, but found myself wondering about whether or not the food that I would be eating would be clean. I’m not Jewish, but it was the only way I could think about it. In the back of my head was the challenge the Corinthian Church faced in 1 Corinthians about food offered to idols. In the end I went for the meal and had a great time. The reason I felt okay joining my Muslim friends for Iftar was because I was well aware of what I was doing. I was also reminded of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:27 : ‘ If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions ...
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God is there

Ezekiel 48:35 The city will measure about 31,500 feet all the way around. From then on the city’s name will be: The Lord Is There.   Thought for the day – Where God is Today we finish the book of Ezekiel. And I can’t help but think what a wonderful ending Ezekiel presents us with. The land is reallocated to the tribes and in the centre of it all, not in Jerusalem, is the city of God. The holiest place that is separate from the worldly power of the Prince of Israel. The city of God called ‘The Lord is there’.   I don’t know about you but that’s a place I would want to be in. A place that in Revelation is described as having no tears, or sickness, or death. A place of complete peace and love, because God is love and where God is will be a place so beyond our wildest imaginations, we’ll spend the rest of eternity simply in awe and wonder of where we find ourselves.   I’m not going to apologise if I come across all gushing and silly. And I’m not going to apolo...
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Healing Waters

Ezekiel 47:8 Then the man said to me, “This water flows through the land to the east, down into the Jordan Valley, and into the Dead Sea. When the water flows into the Dead Sea, it will replace the salt water there with fresh water.   Thought for the day – Healing waters Remember how I said when we started Ezekiel, that one of the best commentaries on the book of Revelation is the Old Testament and specifically Ezekiel. Today’s chapter is another example of John using Ezekiel as a source to describe his visions. You see the readers of the Revelation would have known about Ezekiel’s visions and they would have understood the meaning in the light of the OT readings. And while the readings are similar there are significant differences and they are as loaded as the similarities and there are 3:   Firstly, the source: Ezekiel's river comes from under the temple threshold — water seeping out from the presence of God still housed in a building. In Revelation there's no temple at all...
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Raspberry Beret

  Ezekiel 46:2 The prince must enter from the outside through the entrance hall of the gateway. He must stand by the doorposts of the gateway.   Thought for the day – Raspberry beret One of the musicians I enjoy listening to is Symbol, or the artist formally known as Prince. It’s a tenuous link to today’s reading but hey I’ve had more tenuous links. And the reason I mentioned Symbol because for the last few days I’ve been wondering who the prince of the New Temple is or represents. And it seems that many Biblical scholars think that the prince in Ezekiel is a symbol of how the role of leader is even more distinct from the role of priest than it was before.   The prince mediates worship but never leads it. The prince functions less as a prediction of one particular ruler and more as a foil: an authority who mediates worship but is still barred from the inner sanctuary, pointing beyond himself to a greater priest-king who would not need to offer for his own sin ...
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Unknown sin

Ezekiel 45:20 You must do the same on the seventh day of the month for everyone who unintentionally does something wrong and is unaware of it. So you must make peace with the Lord for the temple.    Thought for the day – Unknown sin There’s an idea forming in my head. What are the things we do that may or may not unintentionally be sinful? Intentional sin is easy. It’s the conscious things we do that bring us into rebellion against God. Having said that, even that’s not clear cut because so much of what we deem to be right is driven by the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. So, what about the unintentional sins we commit? Unintentional sin is defined as acts that are objectively wrong or harmful in effect, but where the actor lacked the guilty knowledge or deliberate will. Things we do because we don’t know they’re wrong or we didn’t consciously choose to commit them. And before someone says it’s unfair for God to hold us accountable for things we do not know what we’re doing,...
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