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Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12). The word blessed describes how we can live under God’s blessing. Jesus talks about the ‘beautiful attitudes’ (Billy Graham) that characterise followers of Jesus. They speak more about ‘who we are’ than ‘what we do’ and reflect perfectly the character of Jesus that...

Middle-aged women who are open to a bit of romance should be careful: they are in the age group which is most vulnerable to dating fraudsters. Dating fraud begins online.  You think you have met someone rather special on that dating website, app or social media.  But as your friendship develops, they suddenly hit a...

Have you seen the film How to Train your Dragon? It’s set in a Viking village under attack from dragons, who steal livestock and burn down houses. Hiccup, the village Chief’s son, invents a machine to capture dragons. However, when he catches one of the most dangerous dragons, he cannot kill it, when he sees...

The Archbishop of York and the lead Bishop for the environment have welcomed a ‘plastic free’ version of The Real Easter Egg. Out of the 80 million eggs sold in the UK every year The Real Easter Egg is the only one which includes a 24 page copy of the Easter story in the box, is...

Negative thoughts can actually harm you, physically.  In a recent study by the universities of Exeter and Oxford, it was found that if you listen to that critical inner voice, you will end up with an increased heart rate, consistent with feelings of being under threat and distress. On the other hand, positive thoughts have...

I remember vividly a simple poster I saw on the notice board of our local Methodist Chapel. It had a silhouette of three crosses on a hill, and underneath the words, ‘FOR YOU’. Nothing fancy or clever, but a clear presentation of the Easter message, and it struck me deeply. At Easter our thoughts are...

Mark, whose home in Jerusalem became a place of rest for Jesus and His 12 apostles, is considered the traditional author of the second gospel.  He is also usually identified as the young man, described in Mark 14:51, who followed Christ after his arrest and then escaped capture by leaving his clothes behind. Papias, in...

I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women. How the mighty have fallen! 2 Samuel 1:26 A lament is a passionate expression of grief, a heartfelt cry of sadness. Here David, who composed some of the most memorable...

Our roads are full of holes.  Potholes.  There is now a two and a half times greater chance that your car will be damaged in a pothole than there was 13 years ago. One in five local roads in England and Wales is in a poor condition, and road resurfacing has declined, according to the...

The Rectory St James the Least of All My dear Nephew Darren My generous offer to take last week’s marriage service for you in your church, so that you could attend your weekend plumbing course, proved most unwise.  You may now be qualified to unblock church hall kitchen sinks, but I will not be taking...

Tertullian was born in Carthage, North Africa, about 155 AD. He had pagan parents and his father may have been a centurion. Carthage was a prestigious Roman colony and Tertullian was given a good education in Greek, Latin, literature, history and philosophy. On arrival in Rome, Tertullian probably worked as a lawyer. In Rome, he...

Plans to encourage the Church of England’s one million regular worshippers to be more confident in spreading the Christian message in their everyday lives were given the backing of the General Synod in February. Members of the General Synod welcomed the Church of England’s campaign Motivating the Million, which is aimed at helping congregations in...