The Death of a Pope
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…
The Worth of a Person
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…
Believing in the Resurrection
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…
Easter in our Everyday
Preparing for Easter
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…
God’s Crowning Glory
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…
Being One
By Not Known We sometimes have a problem of balance between the unity of the group and the diversity of its parts. For example, to what extent do a married couple think and act as one unit and to what extent are husband and wife distinct from one another? The same issues arise between parents and children, as well as in other close relationships. Today’s Bible…
Prayers of Confession
By Not Known A healthy prayer life has prayers of adoration (or admiration), confession (Saying ‘sorry‘); thanksgiving (saying ‘thank you‘) and supplication (asking for help). They can be remembered by the word ‘ACTS‘. What is the mix of these different types in your prayer life? Let's think about confession. Our first prayer in…
The God We Pray To
By Not Known Prayer arises from our relationship with God. When we believe in God’s Son Jesus, we become God’s adopted children (Jn 1: 12). Amongst other things, this gives us the privilege of prayer. As God’s children, Christian believers are entitled to call God ‘Father‘ and to talk with him as a child to a parent. But, what kind of a…
God’s Gym
By Not Known Many of us go to the gym regularly or engage in some other form of physical exercise. This helps us stay healthy and builds fitness. But what about exercise for the soul? What do we do to develop godliness within ourselves? The Bible motivates us to spiritual exercise by holding out the promise of great gains: For physical training is of some value, but…