Before Jesus died, he told his disciples they would not be left alone, but he would send the Holy Spirit to help them and be with them forever (John 14:16-19). In I Corinthians 12, we learn much more...

I highly appreciate those with musical talent, those who can play with nimble fingers, who compose from the love growing in their heart, and who sing with great passion. Animals also appreciate music....

Have you ever had an attack of the ‘What-ifs’? You know the kind of thing: what if I can’t pay the mortgage this month? What if my plane is delayed and I miss my ongoing connection? What if I...

Have you ever had a hard time believing something the Bible says about Jesus Christ? The virgin birth. Healing the blind. Walking on water. Raising the dead. There are many things about Jesus’ story...

The above words taken from a hymn that we occasionally sing at church, reminded me recently of an event that occurred just prior to Christmas. Together with a friend, I went to visit a 90 year old...

In 1945 after 10 years out of office, Clement Atlee’s Labour Party achieved a landslide victory in the first General Election after the Second World War. One of the statements made by a member of...

We all make excuses. We start when we’re children and some of us never seem to outgrow the tendency. We all do it from time to time. The Bible records the story of one of the biggest excuse makers...

I am tackling those cupboards during these dark dreary winter days. Giving them a clean, getting rid of clutter that speaks for want of a new life, just not here. I have a cupboard of perfectly usable...

Have you heard the expression ‘the devil is in the details’? It is a fairly common idiom that means small details can cause big problems, if they are overlooked. It can be a helpful reminder to...

Do you ever have a commercial jingle or a theme song from a TV show that you can remember perfectly years later? Decades might pass, you will have forgotten libraries of information, but you can still...

Paul’s epistle to the church at Ephesus is a letter to a local church which we can also think of as a letter to local churches everywhere. In the opening section of chapter one, Paul directs our...

When I was a manager in a local Benefit Agency office, claimants would call into the office to discuss their case with the counter clerk. If they were unhappy with the information given, they would...

Are you saved? To a lot of Christians, this seems to be their primary concern and the biggest, most important question to ask friends or strangers. If the answer is yes, they breathe a sigh of relief...

As the name Emmanuel teaches us that God is with us, so the name Messiah teaches us that this God, who is with us, will be our deliverer; our deliverer from sin and death, from our broken state we put...

1 Corinthians 13 is a very famous passage that has been called the ‘Love Chapter’ and is one that is often read at weddings. On hearing it the usual response is one of: ‘Isn’t that lovely’,...

Have you ever uttered the words, ‘That hit just a little too close to home?’ It’s a familiar phrase we use when something is said that makes us feel uncomfortable or embarrassed because it...

I was laid low with a bug recently, so I took myself to bed and watched an old Western, A Fistful of Dollars starring Clint Eastwood. In the opening scene of that movie, Eastwood’s character: the...

Children are full of questions like, ‘Are we there yet?’ ‘Why do I have to go to bed now?’ or ‘Why did my pet hamster die?’ Usually, children are asking a question because they want to...

We have names for everything. They are how we identify each other and all of the many things in this world. Our names keep us from calling each other ‘hey you’ or from having to describe what...

Considering God’s missional nature can be tough if it conjures ideas about missionaries who lived this out in radical ways. We respect these examples, but they feel unattainable. Is this what it...

It is noted in the Bible that John 7:53-8:11 is not included in the earliest manuscripts, nevertheless, there are lessons we can learn from the passage. The sin of a woman is usually pointed out...

‘All for one and one for all!’ was of course the rallying cry of Athos, Porthos and Aramis, the three musketeers made famous in the swashbuckling adventure novel of the same name, written by the...

In the summer of 1642, a young disabled veteran named Nicolas Herman took vows to join a religious community in Paris. He described himself as a ‘great awkward fellow who broke everything,’ and...

Whenever I think of light I think of illumination. Light is the opposite of darkness. If there is no light, I can’t see, and I would trip over anything that’s in my way. As John says in his...

When we start to see autumn foggy days, I am reminded of my childhood in our home town of Ely. From our dining room we could see the great mass of the cathedral’s West Tower, which at 218 feet rises...

Yogi Berra, an American baseball player and manager, said a lot of funny things. One that is apropos to this time of year is ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get...

Epiphany means ‘manifestation,’ and this passage reminds us that all of Jesus’ life was manifesting or revealing who God is. In the darkness of the night, a fierce windstorm suddenly came up...

We have just celebrated the birth of Jesus, our Messiah where gifts are given to each other. As our family grew and grew, it became harder and harder to keep up with all the events and the gifts...

I must admit, I don’t often go to live orchestral events but when I do I love it. To hear so many instruments playing together sounds incredible, and I am often stuck by the skill of the players as...

Comparison is a trap that is so easy to fall into. It’s a cheap and easy ego boost to notice when we are bigger, better, faster, stronger than someone else we know. It can also be brutal, when we...

Forty years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Holy Land, better known today as the State of Israel. Among the various biblical sites visited, the one I found especially impressive was...

One of the most precious occasions in life is a wedding. It speaks of a new beginning and new life. On this special day in Cana 2000 years ago, Jesus, his mother Mary, and a number of his disciples...

For several years, I’ve been practising the use of a word for the year to help me focus on a single concept of spiritual growth. The name of this practice is ‘My One Word’ and you can find...

Emmanuel, God with us, Messiah, our deliverer, Saviour, my knight in shining armour who has delivered me from my darkness and sin. In my darkest moment, I did not believe in a God who loved me....

As Jacob came towards the end of his life he gathered his family around him to tell them of their future. He told his eighth son, Asher, that his land would produce rich food, fit for a king (Genesis...

Following the baptism of Jesus, the Bible makes it clear that God the Father both loves and takes pleasure in the Son. And during what has been called the transfiguration we are told, “While [Jesus]...

Think of the stars on a dark, cloudless night – small, distant lights scattered across the vast sky, yet enough to bring comfort and direction. Jesus is the brightest of these stars, a light that...