There is an amusing and poignant story told of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the famous 19th century Baptist Pastor, and a member of his congregation. Apparently this lady approached him after a morning service and told him, ‘Mr Spurgeon, I am pleased to tell you that I haven’t sinned for six months!’ Spurgeon smiled knowingly at […]

I recently saw a photograph of a broken pot that had been mended using the kintsukuroi method. Kintsukuroi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold or silver lacquer. It enshrines the belief that the piece in question can actually be made even more beautiful for having been broken. I am used to […]

On any public beach in the summertime, when the weather is sunny and warm, you will find three distinct groups of people. Firstly, you will see the swimmers – out in the deep water, some with flippers and snorkels, having a wonderful time. Invariably they will greet you with shouts of ‘Come on in! The […]

A Pastor accepted a call to a certain Baptist Church in a country town in the Midlands. The buildings dated from Georgian times and the chapel was somewhat dingy, being lit only by an ancient electric central candelabra arrangement. When the Church Secretary telephoned the new Pastor prior to his arrival, to ask if there […]

Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, marks the end of the Christmas season for people in the United Kingdom. It is also an occasion for Christians to celebrate the visit of the Magi (or Wise Men, or Kings) to Jesus shortly after his birth. Some Christians attend special church services on the 6th January or the Sunday […]

George Frederic Watts’ symbolist oil painting Hope shows a scantily clad female  figure (Hope herself) sitting on a globe, blindfolded, clutching a wooden lyre with only one string left intact. She sits in a hunched position, with her head leaning towards the instrument – perhaps so she can hear the faint music she can make […]

About 20 years ago I wrote a controversial article entitled ‘Don’t Just Do Something … Stand There!’. The gist of the article was that too many of us are simply too busy for the sake of it. All too often our activity, for all its energy, is fruitless. Like the Seven Dwarves we are ‘busy […]

In the West Bank, Israel’s security barrier has started to resemble the western side of the Berlin Wall in its heyday.  The Israeli side is bleak and clean, but on the Palestinian side graffiti flourishes.  A few years ago the British graffiti artist Banksy stencilled a number of his famous cartoons on the wall and […]

There is a rather poignant Fred Craddock story about a church in interregnum interviewing a prospective Minister, that goes something like this: The chair of the church’s Search Committee said to the minister being interviewed, ‘You preached a really good sermon … as good a sermon as we’ve heard in this church for a long […]

I am reflecting once again on some of the lessons learned during our recent sabbatical in Israel-Palestine. I am remembering the time Julia and I caught the No. 15 bus back to Saint Margaret’s Guest House in upper Nazareth (where our group was staying) after church one Sunday morning. The No. 15 bus route in […]