The Word became flesh and God’s extraordinary gift
John 1:14-18; Exod 33:1-3, 12-23; 34:1-10 Secular people in the West can feel resentful about the seemingly arbitrary Christian rule that only those who believe in Jesus can enter ‘heaven’. How can a loving God exclude even good people from…
What makes God’s Word life-giving?
John 1:11-13; 6:26-58; Deut 8:3 My uncle once filled up a rental car at a petrol station, but when he started the ignition, he heard clunking noises and despite pushing down on the pedal to accelerate, the vehicle moved sluggishly.…
God’s Word as Light
John 1:4-13; Ps 119:105 A woman I know shared in a Facebook group her struggles with stress and the physical effects this has on her body. Her request for advice, opened a floodgate of confessions from others who were similarly…
God’s Word: Lessons in wisdom and faithful giving
John 1:1-3; Prov 8:22-31 Imagine if everything we said came into existence! ‘Coffee’, we say, and hey presto, it materialises on our desk; ‘House’, we say, and the mansion we dreamed of is waiting for us with open doors. ‘Make…
The Word that makes things happen
John 1:1-3; Isa 55:10-12 In my early days of studying theology in the UK, I had to apply for a visa on entering the country. Once, there was a delay, so that two weeks before Christmas I still had no…
The missing ingredient that leads to transformation (Psalm 43)
Ps 43:1-5 My husband regularly teases me about the conversational jumps I make that seem to come out of the blue. The truth is that after saying something, the thought continues in my head so vividly that I forget I…
The way forward when God feels absent (Psalm 42)
Ps 42:1-11 As life expectancy increases, more people encounter the effects of dementia. Seeing a loved one forget details of their lives or confuse the identity of even their nearest and dearest can feel like witnessing the slow death of…
The most fundamental question of our life
2 Kings 1:1-18 When I was learning to drive, my instructor let me try a new manoeuvre once or twice before moving on to the next thing. This felt quite unsatisfactory as I did not feel I have learnt what…
The challenge of how we respond to God’s generous grace
1 Kings 22:41-53 A former colleague once shared how an aunt raised her after my colleague’s mother died. The aunt was not an easy person, very critical of her and never satisfied with anything she did. In old age, the…
How to face the truth about ourselves
1 Kings 22:29-40 A middle-aged woman went to see a friend of mine and shared with her that her marriage was failing. She had been single for a long time and lonely, so when she met her future husband, the…