I’m always amazed at the effect someone’s thinking and mindset have upon their everyday life.  Recently I’ve been trying to get in shape and have been spending more time in the gym and pool.  Over time I’ve seen my lap times go down, and the weight I can lift go up.  That’s all very encouraging.  But every once in a while, I…

At the end of the thanksgiving service on Wednesday for Laura’s mum, Bizet’s ‘March of the Toreadors’ was played.  The lyrics associated with this March refer to the “celebration of courage” and “of people with heart”, but towards the end the Toreador is told these three precious words: “Love awaits you”. These glorious words are true for every Christian – love awaits…

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘school?’  Are you filled with joy at the opportunity to reminisce past relationships, experiences, and teachers, or are you more likely to respond with a silent shudder?  For many people, life at school wasn’t particularly pleasant, especially if they were never ‘academic.’  You may be delighted at being finished with textbooks, exams, and…

In a recent book the Israeli historian and professor Harari asks the simple question – what will now become humanity’s focus?  He poses this question on the basis that war has become so costly it is generally unthinkable, that humanity is able to solve world food shortages and that it may be possible soon to envisage a world free from sickness and…

We welcome on Monday morning (at 9am sharp!) our new Assistant Pastor, Luke, together with Fiona, Noah and Joel.  We believe this is a wonderful answer to the prayer the Lord Himself encourages us to pray in Matthew 9v37,38: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest…

We have been hearing about the candidates’ varying visions in the race to be Conservative leader and Prime Minister.  Sadly none of their visions appear to embrace spiritual ambitions. A friend told me that at a Christian conference he attended this week the speaker said “Your vision should be great enough to drive you to your knees”.  There is a lot of…

Wednesday evening’s homegroup studied together the theme of going from the (spiritual) mountain top to the valley floor, based on Mark 9v2-32 – the transfiguration followed by the deliverance of a boy with an evil spirit.  How often do you go from a spiritual high to a spiritual low – as it were from a Sunday morning to a Monday morning?  The…

The 75th anniversary commemorations of D – Day on Thursday 6 June were especially moving, particularly because of the advanced age of the dwindling number of veterans.  Three simple thoughts occur to me in regard to D – Day: The great theme of D – Day revolves around the sacrifice of so many to achieve, for so many others, freedom from evil…

On Thursday (30 May) we remembered again Ascension Day when Jesus was “taken up …. into heaven” (Acts 1v9-11).  What is the significance of this extraordinary event for us today?  Let me suggest three outcomes: Worshipping – the Ascension dramatically fulfils Daniel’s prophetic vision (7v13,14) of “one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven” into the presence of…

I recently came across this quote by my (earthly) hero Charles Spurgeon: “Repentance is as much a mark of a Christian, as faith is.”  You may be aware that the word “repentance” in the Bible means to change one’s mind for the better, with this change primarily involving turning from sin and turning to God.  It is often linked to a 180°…