I recently read Matthew 6:5-8 , which is a prelude to Jesus giving the disciples what we know as the Lord’s Prayer as a template for how to pray. I was particularly struck by verse 7 and where it falls in relation to the Lord’s Prayer. “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as…

One of things I love is a beautiful sunset. (I rarely get up in time to see the sun rise), or to gaze at the night sky and try and imagine the distances the stars are from us. I was half listening to the Today programme on radio 4 two weeks ago when an item…

How often do you hear or say the Lord’s Prayer? How often do we really reflect on its meaning? The Lord’s Prayer was given by Jesus to his disciples as an illustration of how they and we should pray. It includes all the elements of prayer- praise, confession, prays for the world and for our…

My son recently sent one of those messages, (we’ve probably all had them), “mum, what are you doing in May?” How would you respond to this? Excited? “Why what are you suggesting we do?” Cynical? “Why, what do you want?” Needless to say it was the latter. “How would you like to look after Bill…

How to feel alone in a city of 9.5million This is a quote from a friend in Elmsett when I sent her the attached photo. It was a beautiful crisp sunny wintery day, the sort of weather I like. My husband and I met our son and his wife in Greenwich park, along with Bill…

A few weeks ago the preacher at Elmsett brought us a challenging sermon, as is his usual habit! A very brief, and poor, summary of his message was that science and the Bible can and do sit happily alongside each other. We, as Christians, often struggle when challenged by non-Christians about evolution and science and…

The regional water authorities have been in the news many times over recent months, leaks, sewage spills, no water, too much water, and most recently the Offwat decision to increase average annual water bills by £86. Depending on which part of Suffolk you live in, you will have seen fields being ploughed up by bulldozers…

“Jesus promised his disciples three things, that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy and in constant trouble.” This is a quote from theologian William Barclay, used by John Bell in the York advent course “Life in the comma” that I referred to last week. When did you last feel completely fearless, or absurdly happy?…

Our house group have been studying the York Course over the period of Advent. The title of the course was “The Life in the comma” and involved watching a video led by  John Bell, of the Iona Community, in conversation with Smitha Prasadam, Bishop of Huddersfield and Lauren Windle, a journalist. John Bell explained that…

For the last two years my family have done a “secret Santa.” For anyone who thinks this is a cruel way of celebrating Christmas with young children, it’s actually a system where a group of people decide to rationalise spending on gifts at Christmas. Names are drawn at random and in “secret” and you buy…