Food, culture, and the challenge of the gospel

There is a small number of television programmes that I love to watch regularly when they are on. Monday nights are quiz nights, with Only Connect and University Challenge; Fridays from the Spring means  Gardener’s World; but there are two less regular mid-week programmes that I love. One is Michael Mosley’s ‘Trust me, I’m a … Continue Reading

How often should we be fasting?

As we being the season of Lent, traditionally a period of discipline and denial, the subject of fasting naturally comes up. But before we think about fasting for ourselves, we need to ask: How often did Jesus and the first generation of his followers fast? Was it an occasional thing, focused on specific events or … Continue Reading

What is our theology of food?

I was fascinated to watch Gregg Wallace (of Masterchef fame) explore how our food reaches us through supermarkets in his Supermarket Secrets episode looking behind Christmas. I hadn’t realised that this episode was in fact three years old, and even though reviews were previously rather mixed, I found it as fascinating as Greg evidently had. … Continue Reading

Food, culture and the gospel

There is a small number of television programmes that I love to watch when they are on. The week is regularly bracketed by University Challenge on Mondays and Gardener’s World on Fridays, but there are two less regular mid-week programmes that I love. One is Michael Mosley’s ‘Trust me, I’m a Doctor’ which conduct pioneering … Continue Reading

How often did Jesus and his followers fast?

How often did Jesus and the first generation of his followers fast? Was it an occasional thing, focused on specific events or causes? Or was it something more habitual and regular, an integral part of their devotional life? As most studies of the subject point out, fasting in the Old Testament was associated either with … Continue Reading

Living Below the Line

Today’s is a guest post from Beth Rowland, a student at the University of Nottingham who attends St Nic’s. The concept of Live Below the Line, spending just one pound a day on food, was something I’d heard of before May 2015, but not something I had ever considered doing myself. The idea terrified me – … Continue Reading

How often did Jesus’ followers fast?

How often did the first Jesus-followers fast? Was it an occasional thing, focused on specific events or causes? Or was it something more habitual and regular, an integral part of their devotional life? As most studies of the subject point out, fasting in the Old Testament was associated either with particular festivals (such as the … Continue Reading

Nine reasons why you should fast

1. Jesus said so Jesus didn’t command fasting as a spiritual discipline as such, but he appears to assume that that is what his followers will do. In the so-called ‘Sermon on the Mount’ in Matt 5–7, he says ‘When you give…’ (Matt 6.2), ‘When you pray…’ (Matt 6.5) and ‘When you fast…’ (Matt 6.17). … Continue Reading

The World on a Plate

What is it that is before you each time you sit down to eat? For what are you giving thanks?

Every Saturday morning I take Ben to his guitar lesson at Crossways Music in Beeston (above the Christian bookshop). In the half hour the lesson lasts, I head to the Flying Goose a few doors down, and enjoy what I think is the world’s best Welsh Rabbit.

But this morning, as I gave thanks, I stopped to reflect on what I was thanking God for.

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