blog

  • Just a Thought... 22 August

    This time of year is, for many people, a time for travelling: For some there will be a trip to the seaside. For others it will involve visiting relatives elsewhere in the country. Still others will enjoy camping or a holiday cottage or even a hotel for exploring. For a few people it will mean using a passport to enter another country where they will be, for a time at least, aliens & strangers who are just passing through. Last Sunday morning as we considered the call to God’s people to be set-apart as Holy, we heard the...

  • Just a Thought... 15 August

    “Here and now is not all that there is. Discuss!”. What would you say if presented with that exam question? Would you talk about the past, reminiscing over a bygone era in which the summers were sunny and only the good bits are remembered? Alternatively, would your thinking wander to the future and talk about your fears for what might be or maybe your hopes for the time when you’re gone? Or perhaps your reaction is to ‘duck’ the question and change the subject, willing only to talk about the reality of the present because actually...

  • Just a Thought... 25 July

    So much of the modern world likes to present an image of everything neat, sorted and capable. At this time of year the added factor of sunny summer holidays (at least on the adverts) adds to the impression that it’s possible to live care-free. Of course, a quick glance at the news will quickly spoil the image, yet the chaos in our lives can make us yearn for simple, beautiful solutions that leave the pain behind. Sadly, the behaviour of Jesus’ followers can fail to point to the true answer everyone so desperately needs: Last Sunday evening we...

  • Just a Thought... 18 July

    People come from all kinds of different backgrounds and life experience. Yet what unites all of us is that we are sinful and lost and desperately need a Saviour! The great news is that God who made us has come in the person of His Son the Lord Jesus to do just that by dying in our place on a cross and proving it worked and giving us living hope by rising again from the dead. Jesus is alive! That same risen Lord Jesus is building His church – and as we saw last Sunday morning from Acts chapter 13...

  • Just a Thought... 11 July

    “Just too much hassle!” that’s how we often feel isn’t it? Confronted by yet more information that confirms the world around us is broken by sin, we just don’t have the energy or inclination to deal with it. There always seems to be so much to deal with! As we saw last Sunday morning from the Lord Jesus’ letters to His churches in chapters 2 & 3 of the New Testament book of Revelation: On the one hand we may be praised for insisting on truth, only to find that we have become unloving.The...

  • Just a Thought... 4 July

    For our friends across the Atlantic, today marks the day when, in 1776, the United States of America declared their independence and separation from Great Britain. It was the start of a whole new nation which they still look back on with gratitude and excitement as they continue to strive for the same goals of the nation’s founding fathers to fulfil the ‘American dream’. Of course, the world and indeed America has changed a great deal since that independence day. The American dream has not fulfilled the heady ambitions that so many spoke of. As with everything ...

  • Just a Thought... 27 June

    Slavery is dreadful: Someone with few if any rights, constantly compelled to do what others want, no freedom to choose or move or change. It’s an awful existence and one which quite rightly Christians like William Wilberforce were at the forefront of banning across the British Empire almost 200 years ago. Yet the Bible is clear that all of us, every human being is a slave… to sin. Jesus said “…everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34) What every slave needs is freedom! Yet freedom is costly and the slaves must have...

  • Just a Thought... 20 June

    The topic of ‘identity’ is alive in our culture: “Who am I ?”; “What am I ?” are questions that we’re being encouraged to ask. Some of the uncertainty seems to be new, but actually the Bible dealt with these questions from the beginning, removing any ambiguity in the first three chapters of Genesis. From that starting point we are left with the clear need for a Saviour who came in the person of the Lord Jesus who died on a cross to take the punishment for our rebellion against our creator and to bring us...

  • Just a Thought... 13 June

    Tested faith We all enjoy seeing someone win, and the harder the test, the greater the victory! Think of a sports competition, a new world record, or a graduation after many tough exams. All these might be hard to pass or win, but they encourage perseverance and effort, and reward it with honour and satisfaction. So it is for our faith, as we heard on Sunday from Matthew 15:21-28. Jesus tested the great faith of the Canaanite woman and she is commended for it! Her great faith was answered, and her daughter healed. It’s so important that...

  • Just a Thought... 6 June

    Great forgiveness, great love “We love, because he first loved us,” wrote John (1 John 4:19). This summarizes so well what we heard on Sunday morning from Luke 7:36-50. Jerry preached to us about the amazing, extravagant, love that this ‘sinful woman’ showed to Jesus in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Contrary to the expectations of their culture, Jesus did not reject her but praised her for her faith and display of love. The contrast with Simon is stark: he failed to show even basic hospitality to Jesus! The short parable which Jesus...