Pastoral Message (Page 99)

By Not Known One of the favourite childhood games before the game-boy era is perhaps hide and seek. In this game, only the craftier ones who could conceal themselves from their seeker until the play-out time win. Many of us have outlived the age of playing this game, but the business of hiding remains very much alive in the craftiest part of our nature. We are quick to…

By Not Known The Church at Thessalonica had been an eye-witness to Paul’s sufferings. He and Silas had arrived at the city from Philippi where they had been mobbed by the crowds, stripped naked, flogged in public, thrown into prison and their feet fasten in the stocks. The Philippians magistrates had not even bother to put them on trial nor check whether they were…

By Not Known The government’s decision to allow two mega-resorts incorporating casinos raise serious issues for Christian people. All Singaporeans will be affected by the economic opportunism, social impacts of a ‘get-rich-quick’ mentality and the moral sleaze that accompanies casinos worldwide. It is a pity to see these invited into Singapore At first…

By Not Known Car divers tend to have a street directory in the car glove box. It is often a battered and well-thumbed book, with post-it notes and other pieces of paper tucked in and pages scribbled on. That’s how it should be, for a street directory is a working book, It’s there to guide our lives and change our behaviour. We laugh at the idea of a leather…

By Not Known Last Sunday the Roman Catholic community lost one of its most important leaders for many years. As well, Pope John Paul II reminded the wider world of the spiritual and moral realities at a time when materialism and pragmatism seemed to rule. In these respects, he was a force for good. What should Protestant Christians make of this? We should offer our…

By Not Known What makes a person worthwhile? An increasingly common approach is to add up what value a person contributes and then deduct from it the costs they impose. These value and costs might be social, economic and such like, but they represent a strictly utilitarian view of human worth. People have worth only so long as they make a net positive contribution on…

By Not Known The Gospels make it clear that the last thing the disciples expected was the resurrection. The women went to Jesus’ grave on Sunday morning expecting to complete burial rites. When the women told the apostles about the risen Jesus, they dismissed it as silly tales of silly women. However, the Gospels make it equally clear that these people came to…

By Not Known The Easter message can be very simply stated. We have a status of being rebels against God (Rom 3:23) This arises from our sinfulness and guilt (Rom 1:18-3:18) We cannot help ourselves (Rom 3:20) God sent Jesus to die in our place and to be raised (Rom 3:21-25) When we confess our sin and turn from it with trust in Jesus, God forgives us and enables a new…

By Not Known What are you doing to prepare for Easter? Easter is a great opportunity to remember the basics of the Christian message. By remembering these, we re-focus on what is important and prepare ourselves to tell this message to others. God’s message to the world is tied up with Easter. Paul puts it this way: Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I…

By Not Known Our Botanic Gardens recently had an amazing sight. The talipot palm flowered. This palm grows for several decades without flowering. It flowers once in its life. Then it dies. But, as the tree dies, it sows the seeds of new life. It is as though the whole tree was created for this one purpose of one flowering, one dying and one gift of life. It was the same…