Some of you know I like doing jigsaws, as probably many of you do.  I usually do Gibson’s jigsaws (there are other manufacturers!!) 4×500 pieces.  In fact, Ray usually gives me one for my birthday and another at Christmas.  The cupboard is getting full as I don’t like parting with them. When I’ve completed them,…

You may be aware of the saying ‘people in glass houses should not throw stones’; it is a warning against hypocrisy. When your name is Glasse, it becomes quite personal, particularly if, like me, you went through your school years being called by your last name. Hypocrisy is a trap easily fallen into, something that…

John 19 v 30.When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit Outside Madrid stands an ancient monastery where the kings of Spain have been buried. The architect designed an elongated arch so flat that the reigning monarch insisted it could not hold the…

John Wesley preached a series of sermons on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). In one of them, sermon 22 in the book of 44 sermons (1944), based on Matthew 6 v16-18, the larger part of the message is an exposition of the Lord’s Prayer. Helpful and useful though that is, the more interesting…

When is the last time you asked someone to pray for you?  A lot of us are only too happy to pray for others but it can be very hard to ask someone to pray for us.  It’s only recently I’ve realised how rarely I’ve asked for prayer and yet it should be a natural…

I met an amazing man several years ago, who is sadly no longer with us. John Hawkridge struggled to walk even the shortest of distances aided by sticks and I guess that in his early years would have been labelled with the horrendous term “invalid” yet with grit and determination, this incredible man managed to…

A few weeks ago, I met an extraordinary woman. Let’s call her Jan. She would not see herself as extraordinary, in fact she sees herself as very ordinary. Jan had a troubled adolescence and early adulthood. She discovered boys at 16, or probably before, and found herself pregnant. The father of the child was nowhere…

A church organist was practicing a piece by Felix Mendelssohn and not doing too well. Frustrated, he gathered up his music and started to leave. He hadn’t noticed a stranger come in and sit in a rear pew. As the organist turned to go, the stranger came forward and asked if he could play a piece.…

Psalm 51 v 10.Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me God can bring good out of our failures, and even out of our sins. J. Stuart Holden tells of an old Scottish mansion close to where he had his summer house. The walls of one room were covered…

When I was a child, for several years, we spent our family summer holidays at Hope Cove in South Devon. Recently we have returned on several occasions and old loves and fascinations for a delightful village and coastline have been reawakened. The signpost to the Hope Cove car parking arrangements is a wonderful summary of…