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My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.Your eyes saw my  unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.   Psalm 139:15-16 You began life as a single...

One hundred years ago, on 14th December 1922, John Reith (later Lord Reith) was appointed general manager of the newly formed BBC. He was its first director general when it became a public corporation in 1927. Born in Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Reith was educated in Glasgow and Norfolk. An engineer by profession, he had fought in...

Jesus brought healing to Galilee, and nowadays the Nazareth Trust carries on this work through running one of the oldest hospitals in the Middle East. The Nazareth Trust traces its roots back to 1861 and is now one of the largest Christian organisations in Israel. Located in Nazareth, the Trust engages with around 400,000 people...

The temperatures are dropping now, and if you are going away for Christmas, it is a good idea to nurture your car battery. Cold, damp weather can cause problems for it. The RAC recommends the following to take best care of your battery: Before you switch off your engine at the end of a journey,...

– is a “body blow” to world’s poorest, Christian Aid say International development agency Christian Aid has urged all parties to the Black Sea grain deal, which would allow the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to world markets, to persuade Russia to end its unilateral suspension. Elizabeth Hallinan, Christian Aid’s Global Crisis Contexts Lead, said: “Any...

Matthew 1:18            Joseph’s dilemma This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit….” It is not clear at what point Mary told Joseph the news of her pregnancy,...

The Church of England is to provide £15 million for dioceses to help churches struggling to pay their energy costs. The Energy Costs Grant will be distributed to dioceses to enable them to help Parochial Church Councils (PCCs) cover the increased cost of heating and lighting church buildings this winter. Dioceses will also be able...

Shepherds in first century Palestine would have been attuned to the wonders and ravages of nature: star-lit nights, cold and heat, storm and calm, and the unwelcome attention of predators, both animal and human.  They would have been more aware than we of human dependency on the seasons, and more respectful than us of the...

There are numerous communities in the Middle East which, for one reason or another, find themselves excluded from the mainstream. They are the focus of the charity ‘Embrace the Middle East’, which supports more than 50 health, education and community projects through their partners on the ground. Embrace the Middle East explains: “We enable and...

Have you ever stopped to consider that the very first martyr of the Christian Church (Stephen died c 35 AD) was a deacon?  (But no, he wasn’t worked to death by his church.)  It was Stephen, one of the first seven deacons of the Christian Church.  He’d been appointed by the apostles to look after...

This month’s drawing is ‘The Virgin and Child’ by Raphael (1483-1520). Raphael was a talented artist from a very early age, but this drawing belongs to a time when he was in Rome from 1510-12. The finished painting is known as the Mackintosh Madonna, after its last owner. This drawing, or cartoon, was the first...

This year we shall have our first Royal Christmas Message from King Charles III.  He follows in a tradition that spans three generations. It was 90 years ago, on 25th December 1932, that the first Royal Christmas Message was broadcast on radio. King George V addressed the nation live from Sandringham. A quarter of a...