Read: What are mortals…that you care for them? (Psalm 8:4) Think: Last week I reflected on some of the most disreputable people and asked the question, “What’s a sinner?” Since then, we have remembered those who made great sacrifices in war: on Remembrance Sunday last weekend, and again at 11 am yesterday morning. For many…
Read: What are human beings that you are mindful of them,mortals that you care for them? (Psalm 8:4, NRSV) Remember, remember, the fifth of November,Gunpowder treason and plot.I know of no reasonWhy gunpowder treasonShould ever be forgot. (Traditional English rhyme) Ponder: Last week we asked ourselves the question: what is a saint? This week, on…
(Gustave Doré illustration from Dante’s Inferno) Read: ‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?’ (Psalm 8:4) Consider: We are approaching All Saints’ Day. But first comes the evening before it: Halloween, or All Hallows’ Eve. Although its name is Christian, modern Halloween has become largely secular…
Read ‘When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established’… (Psalm 8:3) Reflect In several of my thoughts recently, I have referred to the majesty of God as it is shown to us in creation: in the sky and in the natural world around…
Read: ‘The moon and the stars, which you have ordained’ (Psalm 8:3) Think: I remember realising, some years ago, that I was the only person in our household old enough to remember the first Moon landing properly. I can still recall the wonder of hearing those words from the first astronauts as they stepped out…
Read: ‘When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers’ (Psalm 8:3) Think: Three weeks ago, I reflected on the extraordinary effect of a solar eclipse on the natural world. For a few moments, the familiar became strange: light faded, the air changed, and creation seemed to pause. Such moments remind us how little…
Read Psalm 8:2(b) ‘You have founded a bulwark because of your foes’. Reflect Different translations of this verse give us different words to ponder. The New Revised Standard Version says, “You have founded a bulwark”; the New International Version speaks of “a stronghold”; the English Standard Version says, “you have established strength”; and the King…
Read Psalm 8:2 “From the lips of babies and infants you have established strength.” Thinking Despite having reached retirement age, plus a little more, I recently had a new experience. For the first time, I took my grandson to playgroup. We had him for childcare on a different day of the week from usual, and…
Read ‘You have set your glory above the heavens’. (Psalm 8:1b) Think The sky, the stars, and the planets have always fascinated people. Personally, I am very ignorant about the names of the different heavenly bodies, but that does not detract from the wonder of looking at them. When the recent eclipse occurred, something else…
Psalm 1:1 ‘O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth’. Reflection Names are descriptive and sometimes evocative. The name of our church fellowship in Framlingham is predictably unexciting, but it does describe the kind of fellowship we are in a way intended to be clear—although whether it is clear remains…