One of our church members just shared with me that world-renown scholar and author N.T. Wright will be speaking at Peachtree Presbyterian Church the evening of Sunday, November 17, at 7:00 p.m. Many of you may recognize his name from how often I refer to him. I think N.T. Wright is the most influential Christian thinker of our generation - as was C.S. Lewis in his time. Wright is often quoted in magazines when a Biblical or historical perspective is needed. He is an Anglican priest who has served in England as the Bishop of Durham, in addition to his teaching duties. We will plan to get a group from the church to go hear him, so keep your eyes open for more details as the date gets closer.

One of my favorite podcasts is called "Ask N.T. Wright Anything." I wholeheartedly encourage you to check it out. Listeners send in many of the more challenging questions those of us who are pastors often hear. Tom Wright always gives what I think are helpful, accessible, and even practical answers to every question.

So, I want to try to take a different approach with my "Reflections" blog each week. I want to make it an opportunity to "Ask Gray Anything." I will try to answer questions you give me if they are appropriate for this column, and if I can do that in about 350 words - which is our limit for this blog. I want to invite you to think of those question you want me to try to answer and I will do my best. If I don't get a question each week, I will try to answer one of the many I have been asked before. Now I do not mean to suggest that my answers will be the final word on anything. More than likely, they will be merely my first word of an ongoing discussion which we may get to continue later in another setting. My email is grayn@jcpcusa.org and my phone is 770-813-9009, ext. 224.

Prayer for Today

I want to close today with a prayer from William Barclay:

O God, help me all through today to do nothing to worry those who love me, to do nothing to let down those who trust me, to do nothing to fail those who employ me, to do nothing to fail those who are close to me. Help me all through this day to do nothing which would be a cause of temptation to someone else or which would make it easier for someone else to go wrong; not to discourage anyone who is doing his or her best; not to dampen anyone's enthusiasm or to increase anyone's doubts. Let me all through this day be a comfort to the sad, be a friend to the lonely, be an encouragement to the dispirited, be a help to those who are up against it. So grant that others may see in me something of the reflection of the Master whose I am and whom I seek to serve. Amen.