Weekly Bible Reflection
PEACEMAKERS
PEACE wo millennia ago angels sang “peace and goodwill to all” at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:14). But the world hasn’t got any better. Indeed, while peace is something we all long for, it is one thing the world does not have. The reality is that...
PURE IN HEART
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Some years ago, to promote Christ Church New York City, we advertised our service times and locations and our website with words drawn from Psalm 24 on small bottles of hand sanitizer: ‘Clean hands… Pure heart’....
SHOWING MERCY
n Sunday, July 25, 1993, a year before Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, a man with an AK-47 and another with grenades embedded with nails, entered evening worship at St James’ Anglican Church, Cape Town. Eleven people were...
GOD’S MERCY
GOD'S MERCY he 2011 movie, The Eagle of the Ninth portrays the way the Romans glorified justice, courage, discipline, and power. Where mercy was shown, it was mocked. In the mind of the Romans, mercy was a sign of weakness. Roman leaders...
FILLED
good meal is always very satisfying. It is particularly delightful when we are able to enjoy the food we like, presented in a way that tantalizes our senses. And, most of all, we are truly satisfied when we are replete without being overfull....
RIGHTEOUSNESS
ighteousness, like holiness, doesn’t easily resonate with even the best of us. When discussing spiritual matters we tend to talk about growing spiritually or about spiritual experiences. We avoid speaking of righteousness per se. Yet into our lives...
MEEKNESS IN THE BIBLE
ontinuing with Jesus’ Beatitudes we read: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). We may be offended when we first read this. To say someone is meek implies they are weak or wishy-washy, timid or indecisive. Does...
COMFORT
ast week’s news in Sydney, Australia, carried the story of a 17-year-old being investigated for promoting Islamic extremism amongst other students at his school. An editorial in The Weekend Australian newspaper (July 25-26) notes that this...
THOSE WHO MOURN
THOSE WHO MOURN he world loves to laugh. Comedians will always have an audience. People don’t like kill-joys who ruin the party. Yet Jesus says, “” (Matt 5:4). He doesn’t mean that his people are always to be gloomy or morose. Still less is he...
POOR IN SPIRIT
ave you ever noticed on television documentaries about the past, the sighs of interest, even pleasure, that people express? It might be a program about a long-forgotten people or an ancient city. It might be the revelation of the value of a work of...
JESUS’ BEATITUDES
e don’t remember great leaders simply for who they were or what they did, but also for the things they said. George Washington’s Inaugural speech as president and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, come to mind. So does Winston Churchill’s...
CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
CHRISTIAN RESPONSE ow should we respond to the cultural changes in Western society exemplified, for example, by the decision this week regarding marriage handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States? While delighting many, it is a decision...
PENTECOST: LOVE
n his recent book, The Road to Character, David Brooks observes, For many people, religious and nonreligious, love provides a glimpse of some realm beyond the edge of what we know. It also in a more practical sense enlarges the heart. The act of...
PENTECOST: JOY
here are times in our relatively comfortable world when we are surprised by an unexpected turn of events – it may be a sudden fall in the stock market, loss of a job, a divorce, a heart attack, or the death of a loved one. And then there are...
PENTECOST: FEARLESS
n an interview in October 2011 (Guardian) the musician, Jarvis Crocker said, “I think basically becoming famous has taken the place of going to heaven in modern society, hasn’t it? That’s the place where your dreams will come true. It’s an act of...
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD
ast Thursday (May 28) The Wall Street Journal reviewed The Soul of the Marionette by John Gray, an emeritus professor at the London School of Economics. The reviewer, Thomas Meaney, comments that Mr. Gray ‘has been at odds with the easy assumptions...
GOD IS PASSIONATE
he author, Roald Dahl in, My Uncle Oswald, once wrote, I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with...
EASTER: PENTECOST
s there anything that can really make us different – that can shake us out of our apathy and anxiety, that can inject enthusiasm and joy into our lives? The poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Every great and commanding movement in the annals of...