We have recently had scaffolding up outside our house (again), as our chimneys needed repainting. When he climbed up the ladders to start the job, our decorator found a family of jackdaws nesting in one of the chimneys. Fortunately, this is a “redundant” chimney so there was no debris in our fireplace. The chimney was…
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C 22nd June 2025 Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 65 v1-9; Psalm 22 v19-28; Galatians 3 v23-29; Luke 8 v26-39. ‘But the people were terrified’ (Luke 8 v35d) In the gospel reading for today we read of Jesus healing a man possessed by ‘many demons’. This poor man had been…
We have just spent a wonderful week in the North East on holiday with our eldest daughter and our grandson. I had two main objectives for the holiday: the first was putting the new mobility scooter through its paces and secondly, as my daughter puts it perfectly, making memories for our grandson. During the course…
My home town of Ballymena in Northern Ireland has been featuring on the main news over the last couple of days. Unfortunately, it is for all the wrong reasons. There has been rioting and destruction of property and quite a few policemen have been injured. It is being blamed on racial attacks. Many of the…
I recently found a Nigerian prayer which begins like this: “God in Heaven, You have helped my life to grow like a tree. Now something has happened. Satan, like a bird, has carried in one twig of his own choosing after another. Before I knew it, he had built a dwelling place and was living…
Read Ezekiel 36:22-28 God did good things for Israel, not because Israel deserved their treatment but because God was demonstrating his own grace so that through, and in some ways in spite of the chosen people, others would see his goodness and marvel. On holiday recently on Shetland (you may suffer more references in weeks…
Today’s thought for the day is brought to us by Stephen Trew www.christian aid.co.uk Begin afresh, afresh, afresh. Something to read On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month,…
This week, our 10 minute service reflects on Psalm 119:10.
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I like the story of the lady who, looking out of her kitchen window, told her husband that her neighbour’s washing wasn’t very clean. A few days later, she repeated her comment and asked her husband if she should talk to her neighbour and recommend using a different washing agent. The husband wisely responded that perhaps she…