Pastoral Message (Page 80)

By Not Known The prayer that God’s will be done on earth extends the previous petition: Your kingdom come. God’s kingdom comes as his rule is extended. The final form of that is linked to the return of Jesus and the banishment of all evil. In the meantime, God’s people desire to see God’s will done on earth as part of our prayer that God’s…

By Not Known The kingdom of God is a common phrase of Jesus and his teaching. What is this kingdom and what does it mean to pray for its coming? The kingdom of God has been defined as God’s rule over God’s people in God’s place. This theme can be traced from one end of the Bible to the other and used to ‘unpack’ the key movements in the…

By Not Known We talk about a person’s ‘name’ as something that matters. Our name is our reputation. A good name is highly treasured (Prv 22:1). In the ancient world names were seen as representing the person. Parents chose names with great care as to their meaning. In some circles, to know a person’s name was to gain some power over them. We see a…

By Not Known The terms in which we address our, emails and conversations are all-important for setting the tone for the message that follows. Too informal a tone may mean that we are not taken seriously. Too formal a tone may produce a frosty reception and stilted response. The opening words of the Lord ‘s Prayer set the pace for our messages to the Lord.…

By Not Known Prayer is one of the most important aspects of the Christian life. It is a great act of private, family and public worship to admire God, apologise to him, beg his pardon, thank him and to depend on him to meet our needs and the needs of others and of his work. Prayer is also one of the most delightful aspects of the Christian life.When we have had a good…

By Not Known People have long wondered whether there are things that are real, true and right for everyone, everywhere at all times. Some doubt this. They hold that nothing is real, right and true in itself. Consider these phrases: ‘this is right for me‘, or ‘this is true for you‘ or again ‘that’s your reality‘. This view is…

By Not Known 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy. Many will think about how we wee the universe beyond our planet. From AD150 to 1543 most people followed Ptolemy and thought that the sun revolved around the earth. That changed when Nicolaus Copernicus published his book: On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.His views prevailed and thus we now believe that…

By Not Known Things were once made to last – furniture, electrical appliances, shoes, etc. But nowadays, we can almost apply the following local saying to almost everything, “”Buy and throw away“ The rapid improvement of technologies coupled with a new aesthetic appreciation has brought about a new system of values to material things. “The…

By Not Known To many of us, the New Year means making new resolutions. As we take stock of the year that has passed us by, we would resolve to begin the New Year by initiating fresh inroads into the improvement of various areas of our lives. Often we make resolutions that would centre on enhancing our own happiness. I am afraid we may be in danger of barking up the wrong…

By Not Known 2O08 has not been much of a year for humanity. Governments and key international bodies again largely failed to restrain evil and seemed to have missed their chance on climate change. Greed and fear gripped the financial markets and spilled over into major economic difficulties. Violence remained in the usual trouble spots and had a final splurge in the…