Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at God

Do you ever take pain killers? If so, do you take one for your shoulder, and another one for you knee? Of course not. Once the painkiller enters your bloodstream, it goes everywhere, soothing and damping down the pain, and hitting all the right spots. God works a bit like that on the pain in...

Christians and the bubonic plague of London Blessed are the truth-tellers (during the pandemic) The Valley of Dry Bones has a future hope From the Vicar Jesus calming the storm of Covid-19 ‘How long, O Lord?’ – the lament of Psalm 13 A prophet for our time of testing – Isaiah Learning to trust in...

The Reverend Richard Peirson was one of the exceptions.  Most of the other clergy in the City of London had fled the Great Plague in 1665, but Peirson stayed behind to look after the parishioners of St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, where he was Rector. The parish was densely populated and the pandemic was catastrophic....

ITV News journalist and presenter Julie Etchingham, a practising Christian, has defended the role played by journalists during the Coronavirus pandemic. She told the Christians in Media website, “Reporters are coming in for a lot of flack for the questions they are asking government. But what else are we for?  We all get that this...

‘A dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. An’ I hear the word of the Lord!’ – (spiritual song by James Weldon Johnson) At this time of global pandemic, we live with stark reality of death and life. Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones (37:1-14) was given when God’s people were in exile...

At this time of global pandemic, we live with stark reality of death and life. Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones (37:1-14) was given when God’s people were in exile in Babylon. They felt dead, being separated from home and God! The vision answers God’s question: ‘can these bones live?’ We can also...

The BBC ‘Today’ programme that was broadcast on Good Friday included an interview with Hylton Murray-Philipson, a survivor of Covid-19. He had been on a ventilator in Leicester Royal Infirmary, “reduced to the state of a baby”. The programme presenter, Nick Robinson, invited him to describe memories of his time in intensive care.  When he said...

– the lament of Psalm 13 As we struggle with the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic, we might echo the words of Psalm 13: ‘Howlong, Lord? Will you forget me forever?’ It is one of a number of lament psalms, where the psalmist cries out in pain, because he feels abandoned by God. In...

The Scriptures stress the importance of desert experiences as essential preparation for times of spiritual renewal. The desert is the place of weariness, dryness and weakness which we all go through at times. The 35th chapter of Isaiah helps us to understand such experiences, and reminds us of God’s purpose in uncertain times. A Desert...

A friend, writing about the challenges she is facing, says: “We never cease to have invitations to trust, do we?” I tend to agree. Almost every day we face circumstances that we cannot control, and for which the only way to find peace is to trust in the loving wisdom of our faithful God. Yet...

Editor:   If you are not producing a magazine during the coronavirus outbreak, why not use one of these articles each week on your church website? Coping in the Storm From the Vicar Severed from routine and obliged to fashion new habits Psalm 34 Try a little kindness The wisdom of afternoon tea Passed On **...

‘Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.’ (Mark 4:39).  What started out for the disciples as a routine trip across the Sea of Galilee, ended up with a storm threatening to overwhelm their boat! Jesus was asleep in...