Ever since I was a child, first standing by the sea and marvelling at the horizon, I have been intrigued by perspective. I know I often use it in illustrations and sermons, but I make no apology for returning to it today. What we see from a distance can be very different from the detail…

Those of us who drive know the anxiety of wondering whether the fuel will run out before we reach the garage. I now have an all-electric car and, while most people worry about battery range, I am actually happier because I am less likely to take the risks I once did. Yes, perversely, I am…

When I was working, I often chuckled to myself at some of the ridiculous buzzwords and phrases used in the corporate world. To me, these words often obscured ideas that would have been better expressed in plain language.  More seriously, the legal world seems to have a language all of its own, as do other…

Read John 16:12-15 Some of us can ‘do maths’, while others are baffled by numbers. As we grow up, we tend to master the skills we need to get by in life—unless, of course, we are among those who find numbers fascinating for their own sake. My father was one of those people. He took…

Read: John 7:37–39 If you have always lived in East Suffolk, you may have become desensitised to the impact on our lives of the many rivers that make their way into the sea between Harwich and Lowestoft. The coast is very beautiful, but the rivers can also make travel tortuous. For example, the distance from…

Read: Galatians 5:16-25 In today’s reading from Galatians 5, the Apostle Paul sets out the contrasts between life in the flesh and life in the Spirit. He argues that those who have fully accepted life in Christ are in a different world from those who have not. In referring to the ‘sins of the flesh’,…

Read: Luke 24-44-53 Today is Ascension Day. The Bible reading explains how Jesus reminded the disciples that the Old Testament Law, Prophets, and Psalms had been fulfilled; he had suffered, he had risen, and soon the message of repentance and forgiveness would spread out, starting in Jerusalem but reaching all corners of the world. Jesus…

Read: Acts 13:26-33 Today’s passage is an extract from the account of Saint Paul’s first missionary journey. He was in Pisidian Antioch, where he was outlining to a gentile gathering how Jesus had been treated. Quoting Isaiah (53:1-4), he explained that people who had been promised a deliverer despised him when he came. The Sanhedrin…

Read: Acts 10:34-48 In the garden outside our dining room window, we have a completely random and uncontrolled mixture of spring bulbs. Over the years, they have been added to indiscriminately as things turn up, usually as gifts. Most recently, a kind friend gave me five tulip bulbs with the comment, ‘I have no idea…

While the authenticity of large-scale performances is known to be doubtful, I believe that genuine spiritual connection can be found in any setting that moves us. This conviction guided my experience at the Good Friday performance of Messiah in The Royal Albert Hall—first when I was 19, and again this year as I witnessed the…