Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at God

This well-loved, world famous Christian hymn began in Sweden, moved to Germany and Russia, and thence to England and the USA, where it became world famous as the signature song of George Beverly Shea in the great Billy Graham Crusades. In about 1887 Carl Boberg was a young lay-pastor in Sweden, walking home from church...

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.  Ephesians 3:17-19 How can you describe the indescribable? How can you measure the...

The Transfiguration – seeing Jesus as He is From the Vicar The Beatitudes: ‘Blessed are the merciful’ Saintly Fifth Columnists? Too high a price? Lost at sea September 11th – 18 years on ** Editor:   The Rev Paul Hardingham considers the miracle of The Transfiguration, which is remembered by the Church on 6th August. The...

The title of Bob Geldof’s autobiography, ‘Is That It?’, will resonate with us, when we’re looking for more in life. On a deeper level, we want to see and hear more clearly what God is doing in our circumstances. Jesus’ transfiguration, which we remember this month, helps us to consider this (Luke 9:28-36). Jesus was...

The title of Bob Geldof’s autobiography, ‘Is That It?’, will resonate with us, when we’re looking for more in life. On a deeper level, we want to see and hear more clearly what God is doing in our circumstances. Jesus’ transfiguration, which we remember this month, helps us to consider this (Luke 9:28-36). Jesus was...

‘One difference between grace and mercy is that grace is getting what we don’t deserve (favour), and mercy is not getting what we do deserve (justice).’ (R.T. Kendall). Jesus calls us to show mercy in our everyday relationships: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.’ (Matthew 5:7). How are we to show...

A Fifth Column is ‘any group of people who undermine a larger group from within, usually in favour of an enemy group or nation’.  You can hardly accuse Christians of being Fifth Columnists, for we are urged to respect and pray for those in authority and St Paul claimed: “we give no offence in anything,...

In June of this year we commemorated the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in the knowledge that many of the veterans would not see another major celebration of that remarkable event. That brought an added poignancy to the proceedings. I’m sure that, like me, you were touched by what many of the veterans had...

Forty years after they were rescued in the South China Sea, a group of Vietnamese boat people met up earlier this year with the Captain of the ship who saved them. When conflict erupted in Vietnam in 1979, hundreds of people fled in boats with no idea where they were going. Linh Thi Thuy was...

Back in 2002, one year on from 9/11, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, reflected on the terrible attack.  All these years later, we think it is worth looking back on what he said.  We have run this long, for you to cut as you like. ‘For myself, the view of the skyline...

Holy Days or Holidays? From the Vicar Beatitudes – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst… Jars of clayIn praise of stalwarts The Way I See It:  Warfare, yes, but also mercy The story behind the hymn:  Thou art worthy The Bible that was thrown away  ** Editor:  The Rev Paul Hardingham considers the benefits...

Some porters were hired to carry a group’s possessions on a trip through the jungle. The pace quickly increased until the head porter called a halt: ‘We’ve come so far, so fast we need to take a break and allow our souls to catch up with our bodies!’ How often do we feel like this?...