andy moore

Here is the (belatedly) updated table following the race in Spain. Monaco results to follow… dependent on the results of Mr Schumacher’s appeal against the time penalty for his final-lap overtaking manoeuvre.

This week’s award for the biggest mover goes to Simon Rodden! Well done.

Notes from a sermon preached at Magdalen Road Church, Oxford.

Sunday 25 April 2010 – Peter Comont – Unstoppable Reversals (Matthew 8:1-16)

Today, society is a hostile place for Christianity. And yet, it was into this kind of society that Christianity was born. Hostility is a place where true Christianity flourishes.

Matthew 8-9 contains accounts of three miracles about Jesus’ authority, each followed by a section on discipleship.

8:1-4: unstoppable cleansing.
It’s hard to comprehend the contempt with which the leper would have been regarded. Which makes the following choice of language all the more striking: “And behold, a leper came and knelt before Jesus, saying ‘Lord…’”.

The leper comes with an irreversible condition.

Nobody would touch a leper for fear of being contaminated; uncleanness spreads. And yet when people come to Jesus, they catch his cleanness. Imagine a dirty, oily hand being cleaned by the touch of a clean hand; this just doesn’t happen.

8:5-13: unstoppable inclusion.
The centurion is an insider in society, but a religious outsider. Centurions typically looked down on Jews. “You are a centurion, and you want this itinerant Jewish peasant to come and heal your servant?!”

This proud centurion, perhaps the equivalent of a disciple of Richard Dawkins, a Muslim Imam, a parliamentary candidate… “I want to know about this Jesus.”

Leper: “I need your touch…” – the physical touch of Jesus is important.
Centurion: “Just say the word…!” – the faith we must exercise in this age.

8:14-17: unstoppable forgiveness.
These miracles are pictures of the fundamental thing that Jesus is doing, taking the punishment of our sins on his shoulders, bringing us freedom.

We belong to an unstoppable Jesus. He is still doing this today. It feels like the Christians are powerless, and yet in every generation, even now, Jesus is at work and will work powerfully.

Will you come and express the centurion’s faith?

“The brain stops at the skull, but the mind doesn’t. Scientists are appreciating that the brain is a hub in a bigger system of information exchange, with loops extending spatially beyond the body, and temporally into the past and future. Neuroscience is not enough: we need a better understanding of the person.”

Nicholas Humphrey
Emeritus Professor, London School of Economics

Here’s the latest update from the FF1 league, and the final part of the asia-pacific leg. It sounds as though most teams have made it all (or at least some part) of the way home after the ash-cloud problems, so hopefully the exciting racing will continue in Europe!

So, the rain never came on race day, and I wonder what difference it would have made to our leaderboard.

The three non-movers after Malaysia are Chris Illingworth, Scott Boyes and Andy Showell-Rogers – with Chris and Scott possibly happier with that news than Andy. The ‘prize’ for the biggest improvement goes to Simon Rodden, moving up 8 places to 9th.

Despite the poor calls of some of the major teams on Saturday (Ferrari and McLaren with both cars effectively out in Q1), how did you find the race on Sunday? Better than Bahrain, but as awesome as Australia? And what are your race predictions for China?

Well, after a much more exciting race it looks as though the new scoring system should maintain a much closer (and more interesting) season for our FF1 league. After Australia, only John Rhodes and Lynne Rodden hold the same position they did going into the race weekend, with Gaynor Bingham making up an amazing 13 places; that’s got to be a new record, and one I’m sure Peter Jones wouldn’t mind breaking this weekend.

I wonder what Malaysia has in store for us this weekend!

Have a great Easter weekend one and all!

Following the first race of the 2010 Formula One season, here are the standings in our very own Fantasy Formula 1 league. I can see the potential for some rivalries developing between family and friends this season!

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the new rules too; after last year’s excitement, is there anything the teams and/or FIA can do to make the racing more exciting, and to encourage more overtaking? What would you change?

Entries are open for this season’s Fantasy Formula 1 league.

For more information, see: http://blog.andy-moore.co.uk/fantasy-formula-1/

Registration closes at 8pm on Thursday 11 March 2010.

Please join us in praying for Niger.

Military junta seizes power in Niger coup: the junta, called the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, has captured the president and his ministers. – The Guardian

Pray for our brothers and sisters, the members of GBEEN, the IFES movement there. Pray that they would be assured of God’s sovereignty in the midst of this situation and that “nothing shall separate them from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES)

And here is another update from The Guardian. This further highlights the need to pray for Godly leaders, for Christians who will live out their faith in all areas of society; this is a goal towards which IFES is working.

I’ve been trying to encourage my friend, Tom, to start podcasting. On Monday night I managed to persuade him to record a short, devotional piece considering the idea of ‘quiet times’, and upload it. I think Tom’s style of delivery fits the content perfectly.

Why not have a listen and let me know what you think? Would you like to hear more?