Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

On that long ago first morning of Pentecost, Jerusalem was crowded with thousands of visitors, for it was one of the most popular feast-days in the Jewish calendar – the Feast of Firstfruits, looking forward to the wheat harvest. In one small room of that great city, a small group of people who had followed...

Helena should be the patron saint of all mothers who help their sons achieve great things. Helena was born at Drepanum in Bithynia about 250. Although only a stable-maid or innkeeper’s daughter, she caught the eye and affections of a Roman general, Constantius Chlorus, while he was stationed in Asia Minor on a military campaign. ...

John and Charles Wesley were the founders of Methodism.  Two of 19 children born to Samuel and Susannah Wesley of Epworth Rectory in Lincolnshire in 1703 and 1707, their father was the local rector, while their mother was a spiritual inspiration to her many children. Both John and Charles went to Christ Church, Oxford (1720...

Later this month the Church calendar celebrates the lives of John and Charles Wesley.  John’s great gift to the Christian cause was the little matter of founding the world-wide movement known as Methodism. His brother Charles had an equally profound impact through his hymns. He actually wrote over 6000, most of which aren’t sung nowadays,...

Augustine, a 6th century Italian prior, holds a unique place in British history.  He became the ‘apostle to the English’ – although it was with great reluctance. In 596 Augustine was chosen by Pope Gregory to head a mission of monks whom he wanted to send to evangelise the Anglo-Saxons.  Augustine was not a bold...

How far would you go to respond to God’s call on your life?  When as the daughter of a peasant family in Champagne in 1426, 14 year-old Joan heard heavenly voices calling her to ‘save France’ from the English, she decided to obey the call, no matter what the consequences. Teenage girls who want to...

Mary – the virgin mother of Jesus.  For centuries the eastern and western churches have considered her pre-eminent among all the saints. In the gospels, Mary makes her first appearance as a teenager.  Nothing is known of her childhood, and what we do know of her is found mostly in Matthew 1 – 2 and...

High Days and Holy Days for April Editor:  As the church year does not change, much of this material has appeared before.  The story on Tertullian is new this year. 1          EASTER 2          Hugh of Grenoble – the saint who fought corruption 3          Richard of Chichester – wanting God more clearly, dearly and nearly...

Easter is the most joyful day of the year for Christians.  Christ has died for our sins. We are forgiven.   Christ has risen!  We are redeemed!   We can look forward to an eternity in His joy! Hallelujah! The Good News of Jesus Christ is a message so simple that you can explain it to someone...

How do you make sense of the Resurrection?  Dead men don’t rise, so why believe that this particular dead man did rise? At the end of St Luke’s Gospel we read that: “they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement” (Luke 24.4).  This is highly significant.  The Gospels do not show us...

This beautiful event (Luke 1:26-38) took place in Nazareth, when Mary is already betrothed to Joseph. The Archangel Gabriel comes to Mary, greets her as highly favoured, tells her not to be afraid, that she will bear a son Jesus, and that her elderly cousin Elizabeth is already pregnant (with John the Baptist). The church...

Zeno of Verona (d. 371) should be the patron saint of all ministers who suspect that the more things change, the more they remain the same. For instance:  ethnic diversity…church-planting… teaching…. concern for the poor… women’s ministry in the church… sound like modern-day Christian concerns?   Not a bit of it – this was the life...