John | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

When we Walk in Love, There is Nothing to Make us Stumble

Anita Mathias — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:23:33 +0000

Image Credit Late last year, I was struggling with hostility, anger, and judgmentalism towards a fellow Christian who was getting on my nerves, and walked at night listening to 1 John and James again and again on my iPod, until my grumpy heart was converted, and I could look at the person who was annoying […]

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What Do You Really Want? (John 1:37)

Anita Mathias — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:07:00 +0000

Image Credit What do you want? John 1:37 And no-nonsense, getting down to business, the first thing you ask us, in this most beautiful of books. is a question. What do you want? I am today ashamed of the smallness of my desire. But I must be honest about it. Here it is. I […]

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The Questions Jesus Asked

Anita Mathias — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:29:00 +0000

Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God Some very penetrating and hard-hitting questions from the Gospel of John 1 Do you want to get well, John 5:6 2 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from […]

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The Disciples’ PR advice: No one who wants to be a public figure acts in secret

Anita Mathias — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:40:00 +0000

I just read the blog of a minister who mentioned dating again after a divorce. “I didn’t know the Anglican Church permitted divorced ministers,” I say to Roy. (Evidently, what I don’t know about the Anglican Church can fill a blog. I learn more every day, even in the arcana of my own church. I […]

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On Eating Jesus

Anita Mathias — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:59:00 +0000

I am the bread of life. Unless you eat my flesh, you have no life in you. John 6:35 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” “This bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world.” “Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man, and […]

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Things can happen very quickly once we take Jesus into our boats

Anita Mathias — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:50:00 +0000

“The disciples got into a boat, and set out across the lake for Capernaum. By now, it was dark, and a strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water, and they were terrified. But he said to them, […]

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In which light is stronger than darkness

Anita Mathias — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:56:00 +0000

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. John 1:15 Light is brighter than darkness, Goodness stronger than evil. All the darkness in this world cannot extinguish a candle but a candle brightens the most majestic hall. All the darkness of the wild woods cannot quench a candle, but that […]

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I am the gate; whoever enters through me will come in and go out, and find pasture. John 10:9

Anita Mathias — Wed, 12 May 2010 08:29:00 +0000

I AM THE GATE. I love that image. Jesus as a wide open door, through whom we step into abundant life. We are never in prison, never entirely the victim of our circumstances. We can always open the door of Jesus, follow the leading of Jesus, into the life we crave. And when human doors […]

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“I will give you my joy, and no one will take it from you”

Anita Mathias — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:08:00 +0000

Jesus’s lovely promise in John. It is totally spectacular. On a grey, gloomy day as it is today in Oxford, England, we can remember that Jesus gives us his joy, and that nothing and no one–no circumstances can take it from us. By learning to forgive too, we can avail ourselves of some of this […]

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“Why are you weeping?” “Be not faithless, but believing”

Anita Mathias — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:05:00 +0000

Though generally the hearts of both adults and children sink at the words “Family Service,” we had good ones this Easter. Jesus after his resurrection was as pithy, trenchant and incisive as ever, and his questions cut, once again, to the heart of the matter. His first words, practically, “Why are you weeping?” And then, […]

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