I was listening recently to a discussion on Radio 4’s Moral Maze programme. The question was, ’Who would you choose to picture on a bank note?’ and centred on what it meant to be a ‘hero.’ Although the panellists couldn’t agree on who they would choose, in fact one thought the whole idea to be…

Read: Zephaniah 3:14-20. Back in the winter someone kindly left a gift on our doorstep. It so happened that we were away for the weekend and the orchid in question spent more than 24 hours in the cold and rain. On our return the plant was rescued and put on a windowsill but shortly afterwards…

Something to read Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him…

This phrase, mentioned in Acts 2, reminded me of an incident many years ago. We lived in a small village outside Colchester, Essex, and to save money I decided to cycle to and from work a few miles away. It was quite a struggle for the first few days, but one evening I was cycling…

Some of you may know that we have a vine in our greenhouse. Last year we were in competition with our resident blackbird, who appeared to “steal” all the grapes. (We knew it was him because he has a distinctive white fleck on his side). This year I have been more vigilant, or lucky, and…

Let us keep moving forward Albert Einstein once said, ’Life is Like Riding a Bicycle: A Metaphor for the mission of the church. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. I enjoy riding a bicycle almost every morning and my wife always remind me to be careful of the obstacles such as cars on…

I help at quite a few church events where serving teas, coffees and food are involved. I find that I am washing quite a few tea towels but to me this isn’t an arduous chore. When I’m ironing them, it gives me time to study them and there are so many different ones. There’s Christmas…

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 cannot be alone in being amused by all the scandal surrounding the revelation that not all the ‘facts’ in the ‘true story’ set out in ‘The Salt Path’ are quite as factual and true as was thought originally. It is said that there is fabrication at the heart of Raynor Winn’s memoir. Of course…

Today’s thought for the day is brought to us by is Dr Frances Clemson, Faith Communications and Just Scripture Specialist, Christian Aid. www.christianaid.org.uk Something to read Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Proverbs 4.24. Something to think about I suspect that there are few people who would think…