This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:12 NIVUK) There you go! Christmas all wrapped up. Sadly, today most are content to leave the Christ child all wrapped up. When all wrapped up in cloths the baby Jesus is no threat to them. They can bring Him out each Christmas for a few days, go to the carol service or the school nativity play, they do […]
I read the following in Encounter with God, reflecting on Matthew 5.13-16. The writer said: Jesus does not envisage his community as a withdrawn, sectarian group, making occasional attempts to preach to outsiders and expecting them to come to Christian gatherings to be converted. Salt must have contact with whatever it is intended to preserve, or it loses its purpose; light only fulfils its function when it exists in the darkness. How many models of the church and its mission […]
As she jostled her way through the milling, gossipy throng in the Outer Court of the Temple, she felt her slender hand clench on all she had left. So tight her nails dug into her skin. Her knees felt unsteady. How would she get food if she did this? Hesitating, she leaned against the nearest column. Everyone was too busy to notice. The Temple stonework glinted red, yellow, and a stark white in the afternoon sun. As she looked at […]
Further lockdown finds me longing to travel. It began as a vague restlessness, a need to explore further than the garden and the local park. Thoughts of Portaferry were uppermost, but at this point, my odd feeling of discomfort took shape – the shape of a car ferry or an airplane! But travelling like that is impossible right now, and however much I crave the fun and fellowship of Portaferry, I require a substitute. One of the blessings brought by […]
My name is Esau. Six successive generations of my family served in the High Priest’s Guard. But I can’t imagine anyone of them had a Passover experience like mine. Miriam, our third child, was due, so when old Caiaphas wanted volunteers to guard the grave, I grabbed the overtime. To be frank, it was a chance to escape from the bedlam in the city for a bit. Truth be told, it was a dark, uneasy watch. Not what I expected. […]
The mess to clean up after a party because it means I am surrounded by friends. The taxes I pay because it means I am employed. The clothes that fit a little snug because it means I have food to eat. A lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home. All the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech. The space […]
“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes” (Matthew 6:25, The Message) When it comes to food, we’re all different, we have different tastes and different food philosophies – all part of life’s rich tapestry. Regardless of our food preferences, at the end of the day it’s the nutrition we obtain from the food that counts. So, whenever we ask Jesus into our lives and […]
Did you know it’s only 9 weeks until Christmas? When I heard this on the radio the other day I was surprised, but then this year has been so strange that maybe I should have been more surprised if Christmas had already gone! We can guess that Christmas 2020 will be very different. There was a radio story that farmers were putting turkeys on diets as they expected smaller birds would be needed with the reduced numbers at family gatherings. […]
‘What was the most important thing I’d done?’ Tricky question that. I was still pondering David’s query as I drove away from the New Quays after lunch. Somehow our conversation had meandered onto our, now redundant, Linkedin profiles and the plethora of notifications about professional, busy people viewing them. Then, David posed that question. But it didn’t seem right. I struggled to answer. ‘Important,’ in what context? What is ‘important’ anyway? As I turned left at the primary school and […]
When Margaret Thatcher died in April 2013 there were calls for her to be given a state funeral. Although she was undoubtedly one of the key politicians of the 20th century, she was also a divisive figure and it was decided that she should have a ceremonial funeral rather than a full state funeral. For some this was still controversial and in his Guardian newspaper comment on the funeral, Giles Fraser quoted Canon Mark Oakly. Canon Oakley used this example […]