Dear All Today the church celebrates ‘Pentecost’ which has its origins in the Jewish harvest festival called the Shavuot, ‘Feast of Weeks’. The word ‘Pentecost’ is a Greek word derived from the term ‘fiftieth’ ie, Seven times seven equals 49 plus1 equals 50. Fifty days after Easter. Remembering that the early followers of Jesus were Jews we should consider the events at that time in context. I stress this point over and over again as I fear there is always the danger of misunderstanding and distortion. What happened on Pentecost has been......

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Dear All Sit back and relax, put your feet up and empty your mind completely, this incidentally, reminds me of a workmate of years ago in the shipyards. At lunchtime, ‘dinner time ‘ in those days, he said: “Jim, I’m just nipping out to the pub to clear my mind”, it worked a treat, he came back four hours later and his mind was a blank. Now, where was I? Yes, you are relaxed with your feet up and now I’m going to put you to sleep. This usually works on a......

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Dear All There have been many social ‘experiments’ tried and tested over the years and each with varying degrees of success. Many books have been written and read and political systems and principles developed on how we should live. Some books emphasise individualism while others promote a more egalitarian outlook. The three major systems in place today in sociological terms are Authoritarianism, Monarchy and Democracy. We might, however, say something like Communism, Socialism and Capitalism and some like our own here in Britain a mixed economy with elements of Capitalism, Liberalism, Socialism......

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Dear All Isn’t it the case that whenever we lose something we try mentally to re-trace our steps to jog our memory? It happens too sometimes that we walk into a room and forget why we came in in the first place and then there’s the ‘what was I going to say…..’ You’ll know what I’m talking about as it happens to us all. Now, where was I?….. ah yes. Forgetting and finding is what ‘I’m on’ about today. Everyone has at one time or another lost something and my guess is......

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Dear All Have you ever found yourself trying to convince someone about what you are saying and then find the need to offer some kind of ‘guarantee’ that you’re being absolutely truthful? I’m sure on occasion you’ll have felt the need to resort to your favoured oratorical incantations by way of ‘reinforcement’. In order to reinforce our point, we say something like ‘I swear to God’, or ‘I swear on the grave of….’ and here some dearly departed relative, usually mother, is cited to convince your doubtful hearer, assuming she has actually......

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Dear All Throughout the bible, we find many references that speak of contrition and humility and their opposite attitudes, pride and arrogance. The ‘contrast’ is stark and how people reveal their respective attitudes influences how we regard them. Nobody likes a snob, but we all warm to folk who are ‘nice and ordinary’. I’m sure some folk try very hard to be a snob and for others, it just seems to come naturally. Either way, we don’t like it. Even if someone is the very best, the number one, in their particular......

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Dear All Seldom in the news do the best examples of good human behaviour ever grab the headlines, that is until recently of course. Now almost every day we hear of the decency, thoughtfulness and kindness shown in so many and imaginative ways by ordinary folk not looking for any praise or reward, but truly worthy of it. The truth is that even before this lockdown the same kindness and generosity was still there in abundance, it’s just that it never attracted attention. That same generous spirit of human compassion will surely......

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Dear All Today’s passage is probably one of the most familiar in the entire bible. It is sung along with another well-known hymn, ‘Abide With Me’, so often at funerals that it has become known to the clergy as the ‘Co-op Double’. The hymns are so familiar and, the tune ‘Crimond’ in particular, have become synonymous with sadness, sentiment and death. The tune ‘Crimond’ hasn’t helped in my opinion and is probably responsible. It’s a dirge. Anyone having attended a crematorium will have noticed that there are dirty big thumbprints in the......

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Dear All There was a lot of snooping going on in the Old Testament and according to Numbers yesterday, and Joshua today, some of the Israelites are at it again. Yesterday we read in the book of Numbers, of the twelve spies who took a look at Canaan for themselves, there were ‘no home reports in those days’ as a suitable place to live, and now it was Jericho’s ‘turf and real estate’ that’s to be ‘checked out’, all of course, with a little help from a friend. Some of you have......

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Dear All A few short years ago when I was a boy I, along with just about every other boy and girl of my age, went to Sunday School. It was fun. Fun was in short supply then, the fun you could buy I mean, the other fun, the stuff you made up for yourself, well, that was plentiful and It never rained during the summer holidays either. One of the songs we sang in Sunday School went like this: ‘Twelve men went to spy in Canaan, ten were bad two were......

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