Weekly Bible Reflection

veryone has regrets. We regret the words we let fly and never live down; the opportunities we messed up or ones we never took up; relationships we let slip and ones we should never have begun. There are all those past actions for which ‘redemption’...

arch heralds the coming of spring in the northern hemisphere. In the northern latitudes, long winter nights give way to the light of extended days and budding new life. In the traditional Christian calendar, today is Ash Wednesday and the start of...

hy do appalling things happen? The reality of pain and suffering is probably one of the key reasons many people insist that God doesn’t exist. Their line of thinking follows this simple syllogism: ‘A God who is all-powerful and all-loving would use...

riting in The Wall Street Journal last week (02/09/17), Peggy Noonan wrote: Let’s step back from the daily chaos and look at a big, pressing question. Last fall at a defense forum a significant military figure was asked: If you could wave a magic...

ast Saturday (02/04/2017), The Spectator (UK) carried an article by Douglas Murray who asked, ‘Who Will Protect Nigeria’s Northern Christians?’ Murray pointed out that the Fulani (militia) are watching everything closely from the surrounding...

‘Can I trust God to give me good things I ask for?’ In an important section on prayer in Luke’s Gospel Jesus responded to his disciples’ question to teach them to pray with what we call The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:2-4). He then anticipated two questions we have:...

t Christmas, we were reminded of the words the angels sang the night Jesus Christ was born: “Peace and goodwill…” It is something we long for in a world that is torn by self-interest, injustice, terrorism, and war. ‘Is the angels’ message really...

n April 27 last year I remarked on the significant decisions that would be made at the polls in the second half of the year. In the United Kingdom: to exit or to remain in the European Union. In the USA: the election of a new president and...

n one occasion I heard a preacher ask, ‘Do you think there will be prayer in heaven?’ It is a good question that took my thoughts to the Garden scene of Genesis 3. Immediately following Adam and Eve’s fatal decision to rebel against God’s command...

nother day, another year! As last year we could hear the annual catch-cry, ‘I don’t know where the year has gone’.  The Latin words, ‘tempus fugit’ (time flies), says it all. Ecclesiastes 3 paints a word picture of the times and seasons of...

eace is something we all long for but, tragically, is something humanity finds impossible to obtain. Following the election (USA) the question of finding ‘peace’ around the Thanksgiving table was discussed on a PBS program (11/23/16). David Brooks,...

hat is Christmas all about?’ asks Charlie Brown, in Charles Schultz’s Charlie Brown’s Christmas. When Charlie Brown’s Christmas was first released (December 1965), the overwhelming positive response took the television network executives by...

FAMILIARITY ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’. There are celebrations like Christmas that initially fill us with awe.  But as time goes on we become indifferent and sometimes even cynical about them. Whenever familiarity produces contempt we are potentially in danger. We...

FAITH IN THE MARKETPLACE 'Christians should not fear speaking about their faith at work and in public places,’ Theresa May said last week (Telegraph, UK, 11/30/16). In his article Steven Swinford reported that the (British) Prime Minister ‘said people should be able...

riting in The Spectator (UK) last weekend (11/26/16), Ysenda Maxtone Graham drew attention to the season of Advent. She spoke of Advent as ‘a season of death, judgment, heaven and hell’. Last Sunday, November 27, was Advent Sunday, the first Sunday...

he joys, the bustle, the fun, and yes, sometimes the bitter-sweetness of Thanksgiving are once more upon us. Yet when we pause to reflect, it is truly a wonderful season. I find that as a general rule thankful people tend to be happy people. If we...

eflecting on the American Presidential election last Tuesday my mind turned to Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal article (11/05/16) that I quoted last week. In particular, note again: But he (God) is an actor in history also. He chastises and...

riting in The Wall Street Journal last week (Nov 5, 2016), Peggy Noonan concluded an article on the election with: A closing thought: God is in charge of history. He asks us to work, to try, to pour ourselves out to make things better. But he is an...