Church News (Page 100)

By Not Known We are doing something strange today. In our two church services, we hope to persuade people who are presently non-Christians to become Christians, or at least to consider seriously the Christian message. This is a remarkable goal. It is remarkable because it is unusual. Most religions in the world are identified with a particular tribe, people, culture or…

By Not Known Being single can be hard. Everyone else seems to be happily married and aunties and uncles keep asking the over 30s when they are getting married. Singles can feel out of place in a church that is mostly programmed around family activities. Against this background it is refreshing to read 1 Cor 7. Paul, like Jesus, was single and he cheerfully prizes the life…

By Not Known No one wants their marriage to be troubled. But, it is a reality that all marriages will have troubles at one time or another. Several factors may combine to trouble a marriage including: financial problems, long working hours, physical separation, ill-health, infertility, difficulties with children and wider family, personal incompatibilities, unrealistic…

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…