Freddie Ingle

Bloodletting in HO well reported, but DBT currently has 1 minister left who was there yesterday.

People responding to this as if "pragmatism" is pejorative, forgetting that Liam is the Athletic's Chelsea reporter. There's no higher praise in our circles.

After our daughter was Penelope, a few people suggested we call our son Odysseus. I vetoed because a) come on, b) bit of a scumbag and c) those two are married.

So we went with Hector. Now 2 we have a Trojan war book with the chapter "Hector runs riot". Apt.

Really helpful Liam, and to be honest slightly distressing in how helpful it is, because a lot of your suggestions should be normal practice!

Thanks to speechwriting as a job, I've had access to loads of L&D, but most preachers I know get no training or coaching at all on this most important task!

Excellent arrows, Liam.

Put an acca on based on your premature adjudications, so you lot owe me a tenner. I will instead accept a signed picture of the SOC crew for a scrapbook I'm making.

Early highlight was you ruminating over remonstrating. You just don't get that on Sky.

We need to talk about BlueCo. In the Summer we were all furious at them hiring an unproven manager, not getting an upgrade on Jackson, getting Sancho and persisting with Cucu. All of which seem to have not only worked, but be key for success this season. Is it possible they know better than we do?

Thanks Jennie. Lovely to hear from you and hope you're doing well!

And not for nothing, a bit later Penelope came up to me and said "I don't like scary things. But you protect me from them" smiled, and hugged me. Maybe that's enough, for today.

This is a new platform for me, and even on the old ones I didn't have many followers, so I doubt anyone will read this, and that's ok. But if you do, if you have, thank you. Any solidarity I can get at this moment is important to me.

I want to fight death, I want to fight the things of this world. If there's any way to do so, I know it's through Jesus, but like I said, my process hasn't got that productive yet.

Hatred of Death, hatred of the state of this world, hatred that there are children Penelope's age and younger across the world who have to face death far more keenly than she does. I'm so angry and upset that this is a reality for us all. I've never felt the need for Jesus to return more.

When I started writing this in my head, I was going to end on something upbeat or conclusive. This makes me glad for the hope that I have, or you must be prepared to share in ways a kid'll understand or something. That's all true, but it's not really what I'm feeling, which is hatred.

I tried to explain the gospel to her, equally clumsily, trying to help a 4 year old understand. She looked at me for a second or two, started saying something else, then just smiled and said "I love you Daddy" and gave me a big hug. She moved on, but the conversation has stuck with me

My answer, to be honest, was clumsy and useless. I said that she wasn't, but our hope was that one day we'd all be reunited together. I said she wasn't coming back, but we'd go to her. Penelope looked in my eyes and softly said "I don't want to die" "I know love, me neither"

About 9 months ago, my wife's sister suddenly passed away because of a preventable illness. This morning, my four year old climbed into bed with me, as she always does, and asked something's she's asked before, but not for months

"When is Auntie Alice coming back?"

I can write a good, persuasive, engaging speech. But I can't write a sermon for anyone. A sermon has to be the result of the preacher communing with God, through the text, being lit on fire for the message and proclaiming it to the congregation.

But it also means that *you are a crucial part of it*. You are giving what you have received, what God has placed on you for that congregation at that time. In your preparation, God is preparing you to bring the congregation into unity with Christ. Using someone else's words misses the point.

If that's your goal, and your understanding of a sermon, I think it changes how you do it. You focus on the text more, and your own thoughts less, because you want to get out of the way. You'll approach the task with humility and prayer because most of what's going on isn't you.

Luther believed that "To preach Christ means to feed the soul, make it righteous, set it free, and save it, provided it believes the preaching." because he believed that Christ was present in the preaching.

Paul says similar "you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth". Something spiritual is happening when we preach. It is *not* just teaching.

Jesus prayed for people that would believe in him "through their word that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be in us". The preached word, then, brings us into unity with Christ. It's not just information, or argument, it's how we receive Christ

I think we've got over the whole "sermon as TED talk" or "Sermon as listicle" "here's just a load of life advice" style of sermon. Mostly. But I still think there's a lack of clarity on what we're actually trying to accomplish when preaching.

Every so often, because of my job, someone will ask me if I can write their sermon for them. Not often, but every now and again. Sometimes these people are joking, sometimes they aren't, but it shows you that there's still a lot of uncertainty about what a sermon actually *is*

"Preach with passion and preach with pathos. There are broken-hearted people sitting in front of you and sometimes you would never know it. Bring them to a tender-hearted Saviour."

- Alun McNabb

In my first 10 years as a christian I was part of three churches where the leader had to resign. Still shocks me when it happens.

I still get shell shocked about this to this day, and I was neither brought up in faith nor in chippy left way. I wonder if coming to faith as an adult that was millenially cynical about institutions made me more hopeful.