Minister’s Blog 19 July 2020

“I wish God would do something about the state of the world”. I’ve heard this expressed many times to me and I’ve probably said it a few times myself. We know that things aren’t right. There’s poverty, there’s child abuse, there’s domestic abuse, there’s slavery, there’s hunger, there’s injustice. I could go on and on,…

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Minister’s Blog 12 July 2020

At least once a year, I have a consultation with my doctor where he goes over my most recent results. I’m pleased to report that at my last meeting I got a clean bill of health. In particular, he remarked I had the kidneys of a teenager. I only hope the teenager doesn’t want them…

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Minister’s Blog 5 July 2020

Sometimes, children play a game that mimics what adults do. It’s a harmless diversion that is simply their interpretation of what is going on. We smile when we see them playing “shop”, when we are served “tea” in an empty plastic cup or when we have our arm bandaged from our wrist to our armpit…

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Minister’s Blog 28 June 2020

The recent protests have caused us to re-consider the nature of famous people in our past. The suitability of having a statue of a person who has made a significant contribution to a place when they have made their fortune through slavery is just one example we have to wrestle with. Even in more mundane…

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Minister’s Blog 21 June 2020

One of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had is of being in Paris the day the French football team won the world cup. Without exaggeration, it was like being in the middle of a riot, except that even the police joined in. Those celebrating that day celebrated in a very different way from what…

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Minister’s Blog 14 June 2020

As I looked at the reading for this week, I remembered a story my minister in Scotland told me years ago. It concerned a prostitute who had a terrible drug addiction and her children were being taken into care. She was obviously at a very low ebb and was considering suicide. She was asked if…

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Minister’s Blog 7 June 2020

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday where the church reflects on the uniquely Christian understanding of God existing as a Trinity. The lectionary reading is the part of Matthew’s gospel commonly known as the Great Commission where Jesus leaves the church a threefold instruction. They are to go and make disciples of all nations, to baptise…

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Minister’s Blog 31 May 2020

As it is Pentecost this week, I thought I should probably look at the episode in Acts where God gifts God’s Holy Spirit to the church. Who knows, maybe this Christmas I will talk about the birth of Jesus! Last week at the Ascension, Jesus told the disciples that they would be required to go…

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Minister’s Blog 24 May 2020

I was reading an online article about the church last week and there was a comment from another reader saying that they were fed up hearing about the “real world” in church. As far as they were concerned, church was a place that you came to in order to get away from all the problems…

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Minister’s Blog 10 May 2020

Having been unable to meet together in the church building during this time has made me think about what being church is about. One of the defining marks of the church is that we come together for public worship. If we are unable to do this, are we still “church”? Even I know that worship…

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Minister’s Blog 3 May 2020

If it’s not too much of an oxymoron, I have a bit of Calvinist humour that could possibly brighten your day. As a minister, I am sometimes asked, “why do bad things happen to good people?” As a Calvinist, my answer could be, “That’s an easy one, there are no good people”. Joking apart, it’s…

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Minister’s Blog 26 April 2020

I reckon there is an awful lot of people around at the moment dealing with broken dreams and shattered hopes. I know I am. Chances are, you had plans or schemes in mind that have now been thrown into chaos thanks to the pandemic. Whether it was something major like a wedding or holiday being…

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