A long time ago, a young man finished an evening meal with his friends, spoke to them about various things, then looked up to the sky, and prayed.
I want you to imagine for a moment that it never happened.
I want you to imagine that he did not at this time pray for himself. What would be the point? He had been hated, hounded, and harangued, he had been betrayed into his enemy’s hands, and they were going to kill him the next day.…
Could we be contented with less in order to give away more?
We probably have items – cutlery, crockery, baby equipment, clothing, furniture, toys – that are in good condition but we don’t use or need them. We know that The Besom is able to pass them on to vulnerable people who really do need them.
We could easily identify one area in our everyday lives in which we could practice conservation (water, paper), sharing (books, tools, transport) or recycling (plastic, aluminium).…
‘He restores my soul.’
How pleasant, how delightful, is this psalm! And yet what does it have to do with our lives today? David, the shepherd-king, lived in a world of green pastures and still waters; we live in a pulsating world of silicon chips and space travel. David’s world seems a million miles from ours.
And yet – if ever there was a time when we needed to re-discover the glorious truths contained in this psalm, then that time is now.…
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was a prominent British philosopher. He was an outspoken agnostic, and his essay entitled Why I Am Not A Christian (based on a talk given in 1927) remains one of the most celebrated statements of unbelief.
…That man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labors of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of the universe in ruins.
Here’s a list of ten of my favourite podcasts. The first five in the list are Christian-based, the second five are not:-
‘History teaches us’ claimed the philosopher Hegel, ‘that we never learn anything from history.’ But here, at least, is one person who is determined to learn something from the history of her own son. Let’s ponder with Mary:-
v1f. ‘In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)’…
Baghdad, July 30th 1919.
Dear Walter,
I’ve got some very sad news to tell you, last night when down at the river bathing poor old Eric was drowned. You must forgive me for putting it so blunt, but I feel too full up with it to say much about it. We were bathing as usual and poor old Eric went down. We dived with ropes round us and swam about for half an hour but nothing was seen of him. …
Our fear must save our hope from swelling into presumption, and our hope must save our fear from sinking into despair. (Matthew Henry)
It has been said that man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, and about eight minutes without air – but only one second without hope. (Anon)
The future is as bright as the promises of God. (Adoniram Judson)
Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. …
Where do we start with Romans 8? It’s a sumptuous banquet – but which of its dishes do we sample? It’s a glorious symphony – but which of its themes do we to attune our ears to? It’s a lofty mountain range – but which of its peaks do we try to scale?
As always, it’s good to get our bearings from the context. Chapter 5 – in Christ, we have victory over sin and death. …
1 Jn 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
The wonder of God’s love in adopting us will appear the more if we consider these six things:
Men adopt because they want children, and desire to have some to bear their name; but that God should adopt us when he had a Son of his own, the Lord Jesus, is a wonder of love.…
