Over the last few days, I’ve spent a lot of hours ‘watching’ : watching a friend play cricket, watching the lionesses bring the Euro trophy home, watching ITFC play a friendly match in Colchester, watching Eastenders and other dramas and documentaries. In Matthew 26:41, Jesus tells His followers to ‘watch and pray’ so they will…

I’m sure that you, like me, were horrified to hear of a recent court case in which grandparents were found guilty of the death of their grandson through ‘casual cruelty’. Any violence to anyone as a one-off crime of anger or passion is bad enough, but the idea of it being casual or habitual towards…

Psalm 84:1,10 ‘How lovely is Your dwelling place. O Lord Almighty!’……. ‘Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.’ I was reminded of these verses this last Sunday. Firstly, at our morning service we were delighted that one of our congregation brought along her young granddaughter, as she sometimes does. I’m guessing…

I’ve just returned from a weekend break in Norfolk, the highlight of which was a trip out to see the seals. I thought I would be squinting to catch sight of a few seals in the distance but was surprised and overwhelmed at the number and proximity of these calm and beautiful animals. Our guide…

The season of goodbyes and change. During the last twelve months, we’ve seen our football team go from hopeful celebration to disappointment and relegation. We’ve lost people we love and welcomed babies and new worshippers into our Church family. The world has become hotter, wars have started and continued, species have been lost and saved.…

I will never stop being amazed at how God works! I had no idea what to write about this week and it’s got to middle morning on Wednesday – usually by now I’d got it sorted. I made myself a coffee and went out to feed the birds.  As I did so, Pachelbel’s Canon in…

There is a song sung by worship group ‘Casting Crowns’ that explores what might happen if God’s church really prayed. One verse says: ‘What if the church, for Heaven’s sakeFinally stepped up to the plateTook a stand upon God’s promiseAnd stormed Hell’s rusted gates?’ God promises to listen always. God’s promises are there to be…

I recently found a Nigerian prayer which begins like this: “God in Heaven, You have helped my life to grow like a tree. Now something has happened. Satan, like a bird, has carried in one twig of his own choosing after another.  Before I knew it, he had built a dwelling place and was living…

You may be aware that all the churches in our Methodist circuit are involved in a review of what they are doing and how they are to move forward. Ascension Day was celebrated at the end of May – then there were ten days until Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and the Church was…

Today is the 150th day of the year and it’s ‘There’s a hole in my bucket’ day. Remember the circular song in which Henry discovers a hole in his bucket, Lisa supplies solutions, Henry refutes them and it ends up with him needing water which he can’t get because of the hole? Sometimes we seem to…