Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at God

Happy New Year! January is, of course, the time to take down the decorations and put them away for next year. In many churches however, the Crib scene is left up until the beginning of February – the Feast of Candlemas.  That celebrates the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. It’s yet another moment of ‘illumination,’...

We begin the New Year with a Bible event from 2 Kings and an anecdote from Birmingham. For a number of years, the king of Syria had tried to capture the prophet Elisha. (The story is found in 2 Kings 6:11-19). Elisha always knew what the Syrians were planning, and revealed their plans before they...

For many today the universe began with a big bang, in which a lump of matter, smaller than a pinhead, exploded 15 billion years ago. It’s a story that defines who we are and where we come from. However, the Bible gives us another perspective on this event, revealing God as Creator: ‘By faith we...

As we enter this New Year of 2022 even the most devoted Christians can’t ignore the uncertainties we face. The whole world was caught up in the persistent spread of Coronavirus. It is shaking national economies and causing untold stress and harm. Many people fear that their lives and families will never be the same...

More people join health and fitness centres each January than at any other time of the year. And well over half the newcomers will be gone again – within a month. Perhaps there’s not much commitment to begin with. Or maybe, they lack motivation because they haven’t made themselves accountable to a personal trainer. (One...

‘…and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.’ John 12:3 A story runs of how a lady was having tea outside a tea shop late one afternoon, when she became aware of a pleasant scent filling the air. She asked the waiter the source of the scent and was told that it...

Advent From the Vicar A Christmas Gift What a Christmas Amazed! Music for the Messiah When someone you loved is dead ** Editor:  The Revd Canon Paul Hardingham on waiting for Christmas. Advent Waiting is not popular in our culture, when so much can be obtained simply at the press of a button! Advent, when...

Waiting is not popular in our culture, when so much can be obtained simply at the press of a button! Advent, when we wait for the coming of Christmas, is also an opportunity to learn what it means to be waiting for the promised return of Jesus. He says: ‘It’s like a man going away:...

Waiting is not popular in our culture, when so much can be obtained simply at the press of a button! Advent, when we wait for the coming of Christmas, is also an opportunity to learn what it means to be waiting for the promised return of Jesus. He says: ‘It’s like a man going away:...

It’s not easy getting the right Christmas present for others, especially in these uncertain times. However, the Magi’s gifts were entirely appropriate and help us to understand God’s gift of Jesus to us. ‘On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they...

The Bethlehem manger, shepherds, wise men, Jesus, Mary and Joseph – it’s all so familiar to older people, who are shocked to hear that younger generations may be hazy or ignorant of them.  Aren’t they part of everyone’s education? Yet the first Christmas was restricted to just a few. What 21st Century Christians proclaim as the...

Some people like surprises. The pleasant ones, anyway! When we look at the Christmas story, it is full of surprises. Mary didn’t expect to be chosen by God to give birth to His Son. Joseph was surprised and shocked that his fiancée was pregnant. The couple thought they would start married life together in Nazareth,...