Weekly Bible Reflection
Noah: The Movie
arren Aronofsky’s long-planned film, NOAH, is invading movie theatres everywhere this week. A high budget movie, it picks up and develops, with a deal of latitude, the biblical epic of the flood (Genesis 6:9-9:17). One of the big questions that...
Unexpected
Health. Browsing the net on the subject of fitness and health I notice that a sedentary lifestyle is a significant cause of death in the US. The evidence indicates we need to watch our weight and keep fit. There were warnings against eating too much hi-carb food,...
Choices
‘You Are What You Eat’ was a popular television program in the United Kingdom from 2004-2007. It was based on the idea that what we eat affects who we are and what we are like. A cyber-search suggests that the phrase originated in the 19th century with Anthelme...
Justice
Justice ‘If God cares and is in control why doesn’t he clean up the mess?’ is a question I was often asked after 9/11. ‘Why doesn’t he intervene and bring to justice the perpetrators of wars, injustice and evil?’ These are valid questions, for our hearts cry out for...
Foolishness
n the movie Up in the Air, George Clooney’s character lives a life committed to getting his ten million air miles. He sees relationships as insignificant compared with the prestige in having the silver card engraved ‘Ryan Bingham #7’. Yet when it...
A Leader To Be Trusted
Leaders. There seems to be something in the human heart that longs for a leader – a leader whose integrity is transparent and who is worthy of our trust. In fact, tough times make us realise how grateful we are when we have leaders who use their position and power to...
Life
Life… The death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman of a heroin overdose in New York’s West Village last Sunday is a tragedy. He had a long-standing partner with whom he had three children; he enjoyed career success with many accolades including an Oscar for his role in...
The Heart of God’s Good News
arefully planned terrorist bombings of the church in Peshawar, Pakistan and in the Mall in Nairobi, Kenya this last week are another reminder of human alienation. Despite extraordinary advances in science and technology, we are still incapable of...
A God Worth Knowing
n recent weeks the media has been filled news of the ability of government security agencies to reach into so many aspects of our personal affairs – phone calls, email and social media. Many are concerned. Psalm 139 tells us of another powerful...
Guilt Outlasts Lust
Guilt Outlasts Lust It was a glorious spring afternoon when he saw her. He was relaxing on the roof of the palace. He’d had a tough but successful road to become the leader of the nation, and now he was taking some time out. Probably in his early 50s, King David was...
The Downcast
ippocrates, the 5th century Greek physician, identified four kinds of temperament: the sociable extroverts – the sanguine; the driven leaders – the choleric; the analytical and reflective – the melancholic; and the relaxed and inward looking – the...
Where is the joy?
C. S. Lewis once observed, ‘I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to "rejoice" as much as by anything else.’ Was he right? Is there real joy in our lives? I am not talking about a manufactured, false kind of joy – putting on a brave face...
BREAD FROM HEAVEN
riting in The Spectator magazine last Saturday, Dr Jonathan Sachs, Chief Rabbi in the UK, said, "I love the remark made by one Oxford don about another: ‘On the surface, he’s profound, but deep down, he’s superficial.’ That sentence has more than...
SUFFERING
SUFFERING f God is great and good why is there so much suffering?’ is a question we often hear, especially when the topic of Christianity comes up. Certainly this is one of life’s tough questions that we all want answered. The reality of pain and...
IS ANYONE OUT THERE?
HG Wells, author of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, wrote: I am an historian. I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most...
GOOD NEWS TRAVELS
y Thursday of each week I endeavor to have my sermon prep well under way. Since many New Yorkers are away over the weekend, especially over the summer, I thought it might be useful if I developed a ‘Thursday Thought’ each week. So here goes… GOOD...