The prayer you stopped praying

We all want to belong. As we read in Luke 1: 5-17, Zechariah and Elizabeth had spent their whole lives feeling like they didn’t fit in with the other families. Unable to have children, they faced their disappointment with a passion and focus on God. Zechariah’s name means ‘God remembers’ and here we discover howContinue reading “The prayer you stopped praying”

Jesus, the joyful announcement

In times of crisis like this, the world is waiting. Every eye is watching. Each day this year we’ve hoped for the newsreader to announce: “a vaccine has been developed!” Now we hope it will be quickly effective. We all want to know when the story will get better; when we can all (literally) breatheContinue reading “Jesus, the joyful announcement”

The grace of a day

During lockdown, I’ve periodically taken a ‘break’ from the regular structure I’ve put in place for each week to have a ‘retreat week’. Retreat has been a practice that I felt God challenge me with many years ago, and around 4 years ago (prompted by the Arrow Leadership Programme that I was participating in) IContinue reading “The grace of a day”

Kindness (part 2)

Kindness is a surprise, and kindness also has a direction. Kindness leads somewhere. The Bible puts it this way: “God’s kindness is intended to lead us to repentance” (Which means changing our minds about God.) [Romans 2:4 NIVUK] Here’s the way another translation puts it: “God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness heContinue reading “Kindness (part 2)”