Dear Friends, What is culture? For some people, it is something they grow in a dish in a lab! For others, it means the theatre, the ballet, classical music and the opera. For many, culture is something that other people have: we speak of Bangladeshi culture, West Indian culture, and so on. The reality is
Read moreDear Friends, I guess most of us feel at least a little uncomfortable with the thought of describing ourselves as zealots. I can’t say it’s a way I’ve ever described myself! Isn’t that kind of language fertile territory for breeding religious extremists and fundamentalists? Surely, zealots are dangerous people? The only thing is...
Read moreDear Friends, While at the Northern Men’s Convention last week (a men’s convention in the north, that is, not a convention for northern men!), I was reflecting on the fact that I am so often somewhat half-hearted in my devotion to the Lord and my desire to give my life in serving him – looking
Read moreDear Friends, Do I want to believe in hell? No, of course not. But can I believe in hell? Now, that’s a different question. In preparing for our Toolbox sessions on ‘What happens when I die?’ I have been enormously helped by Francis Chan’s little book Erasing Hell. He points out that there are many
Read moreDear friends, Those famous words are the opening line of Charles Dickens’ great novel A Tale of Two Cities (which I plan to read this year!). They could have been used to describe the nation of Israel in the 8th century BC, in the days of Jonah the prophet. Now, you may wonder how that
Read moreDear Friends, None of us knew that Matt Patient would die just before we were due to have a Toolbox seminar with the title ‘What happens when I die?’ The least we can do is to apply what we are learning there to this horrible situation. In our first session we noted that one of
Read moreDear Friends, Many of us were devastated to hear last weekend that Matt Patient had died. It was so sudden, and he was so young, so fit and so able, with so much to give. And, to make matters worse, he leaves a young wife and young children. Naturally, we find ourselves asking “Why?” Why
Read moreDear Friends, Poor Thomas hasn’t had a good press over the years. After all, we still use the phrase ‘doubting Thomas’ to describe someone who is unbelieving or sceptical. Imagine having your name forever associated with doubt! But we can be grateful to Thomas. To see why, let’s remind ourselves of what happened. Thomas had
Read moreDear Friends, Dan Poulter is an MP who still works as a doctor. He has this to say concerning the issue of assisted dying and so-called “right to die” legislation: “I cannot see that we could make legislation on this without leaving people open to abuse … I’m not doubting the good motives of most
Read moreDear Friends, It’s not hard to feel that everything is going against Christians in the UK at the moment. There are proposals to extend marriage to same-sex couples, a possible ban on wearing a cross in the workplace if the employer requires it, and now perhaps the extension of Sunday trading hours beyond the Olympics.
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