SIMON PHIPPS

When Christmas Spills Into Advent For a long time, I thought that advent was kind of pointless. Like hanging on to VHS tapes long after the rise of Netflix. Christ has already come, 2,000 years ago, so why do we pretend like he isn’t here? Then I learnt about the three comings of Christ . Christ has come, Christ is here, Christ is coming again. In our highly consumerist culture, Christmas has tumbled into advent ; consuming this contemplative time with Christmas music, tons of food and gingerbread latte’s. We forget that advent is one of the two great fasting times of the Christian calendar. It is a time of great anticipation. A time of great promise. I grew up in a highly evangelical culture, where every day is Easter . There was no space for doubt, no space for waiting, no space for weakness.  We lived in the resurrection. More than conquerors in Christ. Then life kicked in and we had no words for the dark night of the soul. No language for doubt. ...

Blessed are the peacemakers , for they will be called children of God - Jesus If we are called to be peacemakers, to cultivate peace in our lives, then this must extend to every area of our life - including where our money goes and the things that we consume. This forces us to ask the difficult questions that we try to avoid. Anyone who has seen the film Blood Diamond will know that where our diamonds come from can cause much bloodshed and violence - fuelling destructive wars for selfish gain. This is also true for so many other things that we buy. Our electronics and jewellery most likely contain conflict minerals that are used to fuel civil wars and cause pain for so many people, wreaking havoc on whole societies. This happens because we care more about keeping up with the latest trends and technology than about being peacemakers. Many of the banks that we use make harmful investments with our money that fuel the fires of war. Investments in controv...

We recently passed the 100 year mark since the beginning of World War 1. The media was filled with stories of lives lost and destroyed through this tragic event. In the book of revelation, the final book of the bible we see two riders riding white horses. Each of these riders are identified as conquerers. I believe that we are meant to see these riders as juxtapositions. To notice the similarities, but more so to notice the differences. The first rider is followed by three others, war, injustice, and death. I believe that this first rider stands for Rome (or any other empires / civilisations). It set about to conquer, to win, and usher in the pax romana (the peace of rome). But each of its conquests brought with it war, injustice, and death. The second rider on a white horse is given a distinctive description that marks him out as none other than Christ. He is not accompanied by other riders, he stands alone and victorious. Christ’s methodology for conquering comes in direct con...