Weekly Bible Reflection

FAINTHEARTED? When the going gets tough in life it’s so easy to become fainthearted. We lose our energy and drive. Indeed the reality is that many situations in life challenge us to be tough-minded, and not fainthearted. As I considered this two...

LUCK AND FATALISM ‘You’re just lucky,’ a young woman said to a friend who had announced her engagement to a young, macho, Wall Street success. How many people think that so much in our lives is due to luck? The English historian, A.J.P. Taylor in his Politics in...

s what you believe about God important? Are you confident that God is infinitely wise as Article I of the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles says? ‘…There is but one living and true God, everlasting,…; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness;…’ It’s...

s we move into this New Year, many of God’s people are feeling like his people at the time of the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom Israel (721BC). In the words of Psalm 83 they feel encircled, even besieged by opposing forces – especially...

THE HEART OF GOD s we come to the end of one year and prepare for the next, the news media is alive with commentary from the past twelve months and predictions for the New Year. Indeed as one year closes and another opens there is an underlying...

hy the Shepherds? Why did the angel announce Jesus’ birth to shepherds? Given the resources of heaven they could have pulled off one very spectacular announcement in Bethlehem or, come to think of it, in Jerusalem. We need to go back to the story...

ne of the encouraging things I love about the Bible is that it allows us to express our feelings. What is more, God understands us and works with us and through us for his greater purposes. Matthew 1:20 records Joseph’s reaction to the news that...

PROBABILITY few of us were recently discussing the probability of the universe coming together by chance. Musing on this I asked, ‘I wonder what proportion of eminent scientists who say we exist by chance purchase lottery tickets?’ William Lane...

ife can be so messy. Why doesn’t God step in now and bring to justice the perpetrators of wars, injustice and evil? These are real questions for us and for people we know. SEASON OF ADVENT The season of Advent is a good time to reflect on Jesus’...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING hroughout this week, ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ will echo across the land from New York to San Francisco. The principle of ‘Thanksgiving’ has its origins in a non-sectarian expression of ‘thanks’ to a loving, merciful and generous God....

FORGIVENESS he Lord’s Prayer is a prayer so many of us have known since childhood. Because it is so familiar to us, do we see what a big, exciting prayer it actually is? A prayer for the honour of God’s name and the triumph of his cause; looking to...

ANGER ISSUES n Albert Camus’ play, Caligula, the Emperor Caligula said: “This world has no importance and whoever recognizes that wins his freedom. And that's just it—I hate you because you are bound. I alone am free. Rejoice, for you finally have...

IN A WORLD OF NO ACCOUNTABILITY e live in a culture where attitudes and behavior are increasingly shaped by political correctness. If we don’t conform we are marginalized. It is an outcome of society's rejection of  God. The Greek philosopher...

POLITICAL OUTSIDER n a thought provoking op-ed article in The New York Times (October 27, 2015), David Brooks asks what ‘A Sensible Version of Donald Trump’ might ‘sound like’. He asks the question because Donald Trump, like Dr. Ben Carson, has not...

SHINE n an op-ed article in yesterday’s New York Times, David Brooks wrote of the way that ‘great powers’ have allowed ‘the global order to fray’ because of the loss of conviction and meaning. He concludes by asserting the primary problem is mental...

LIGHT OF GOD'S TRUTH p until the 1970s there was an agreed morality in the West, grounded in the Judaeo-Christian ethic. As I indicated last week, this was the foundation for what developed, from the time of Alfred the Great, as the ‘Common Law’ of...

CULTURE SAYS 'WHATEVER WORKS'? he title of Woody Allen’s 2009 movie, ‘Whatever Works’ captures the mood of post-modern ethics. Starting with the presupposition that great thinkers like Jesus or Karl Marx were great teachers, the movie contends that...

PERSECUTED lessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be...