Yesterday, I was preaching at Newtonbreda Baptist Church in Belfast (you will be able to download the sermons here eventually). It seemed to go well, I was prepared, the people were attentive and the reception was good. In the morning service, I included a section on the Trinity, which was well received.
Today; on my way home from Heathrow, my taxi driver was a very pleasent Muslim gent who wanted to talk about our respective faiths. ‘How come Jesus is the son of God?’, ‘that can’t be right’, ‘no, you can’t believe that’ and so it went on. The persuasive pulpit rhetoric had no place and would have had no resonance in a car on the M40. It was a superb reminder that our convictions only really face a challenge when we interact face to face with people who don’t agree with us. On Sunday, I was literally preaching to the converted and it was no where near as difficult or stretching as sharing a taxi ride with someone who does not share my beliefs and who was prepared really engage in dialogue.