Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at God

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.   ‘We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church’: The Creed affirms the four marks of the church, defining...

Paul wrote the letter of Ephesians around AD 60, while in prison at Rome. It was probably a circular letter to be read in the house churches of Ephesus and the local area. Paul founded the church over a period of three years (Acts 19:1-20:1) between 52-55 AD. Ephesus was the leading city and commercial...

They dress the wound of My people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 6:14) I wonder what peace felt like in 1945, after 9th May or 16th August? These, of course, were the days after Victory in Europe Day and then Victory in Japan Day....

For the last few months, we’ve been looking at the way that church services are put together. After the Gloria each week, this we hear ‘God’s Word’ as written in the Bible. This is usually three passages: one from the Old Testament, one from the epistles, and one from the gospels. But how much do...

2 Cor. 12:8; ‘Three times I asked the Lord about this …but…’ Paul is talking about one of the most mysterious and one of the most baffling aspects of prayer – when God does not say yes. On the face of it, Paul’s prayer was very modest.  For some time he had been troubled by...

The Friend at Midnight Vicar’s Letter What’s the Big Idea? – An Introduction to the Books of the Bible: Galatians The Nicene Creed: The Person of the Holy Spirit Let Him lead me to the banquet hall, and let His banner over me be love. Praying With the Prayers of the Bible: the Prayer for...

As we remember St Luke this month, let’s note that one of the major themes in his gospel is prayer. Jesus tells the Parable of the Friend at Midnight (Luke 11:5-8) in the context of teaching His disciples to pray (1). Pray Shamelessly: In the parable a man approaches his friend at midnight and asking:...

As we remember St Luke this month, let’s note that one of the major themes in his gospel is prayer. Jesus tells the Parable of the Friend at Midnight (Luke 11:5-8) in the context of teaching His disciples to pray (1).  Pray Shamelessly:                                                                                                                            In the parable a man approaches his friend at midnight and asking:...

Paul’s letter to the Galatians has been described as the ‘Magna Carta of Christian Liberty’, because it emphasises the freedom that we have through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul vigorously defends the truth that people are justified (‘made right with God’) by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Our standing with God is not determined by...

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. This month we are considering what the Nicene Creed says about the Holy Spirit. ‘We believe in the...

Song of Songs 2:4 I like a good harvest festival. ‘Come, Ye Thankful People, Come’, ‘For the Fruits of His Creation’, ‘Now Thank We All Our God’ and my favourite, ‘We Plough the Fields and Scatter’, the last one is not everyone’s favourite but I like it. It reminds me of school assembly and teacher who...

1 Thessalonians 3:12, 13, runs: ‘May the Lord …establish your hearts unblameable in holiness.’ Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian church, dating from about 51 AD, is generally regarded as the first book in the New Testament to have been written. That means that this prayer is the first New Testament prayer to have been...