Thought for the Week

May 17, 2021

The Seventh Sunday of Easter

Portions of a sermon on the Ascension of Jesus (based on Mark 16:14-20) by Martin Luther in 1523. [German text: Erlangen Edition, 12:169; Walch Edition, 11:1256; St. Lou- is Walch, 11:931.] Now we must consider the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first place, it is easily said and understood that the Lord […]

May 2, 2021

The Fifth Sunday of Easter

We sum up people pretty quickly. We have expectations about them depending on how they look, sound, even smell. This activity is part of who we are in terms of safety – flight or fight sort of thing – but once that is assessed, what else we might do can be very varied – and […]

April 25, 2021

The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Knowing what we should do doesn’t mean we do it. We all know that – and whether it is good health advice we accept (but don’t do) or something personal we want to do but find ourselves struggling with again and again – we are very much aware that changing behaviour can be really hard […]

April 18, 2021

The Third Sunday of Easter

The pandemic has shrunk our social circles, interactions, and horizons. The family networks remain unchanged but we miss seeing loved ones – being in the same room – as we used to do so. We miss the hugs – even if on reflection, some of them may have been rather perfunc- tory. And we have […]

April 11, 2021

The Second Sunday of Easter

The death of HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, has brought the nation to mourning, reflection, comment on social media, and physically distanced acts of remembrance and grieving. Our response has a noticeable public dimension because Prince Philip was such a public person. His death brings mortality more to the fore though, at this […]

April 6, 2021

The Resurrection of Our Lord

I listen to many podcasts on my travels. Yesterday I was intrigued to hear about those people who have stopped believing in God*. I am interested in the story and the rationale because I am curious why people believe what they believe – and, for me, that includes unbelief or a walking away from faith […]

March 28, 2021

Palm Sunday

This week I have been the Sea Cadet Chaplain for the SCC’s Virtual Chaplaincy on Face- book. This involves posting something on Facebook each day beginning with Monday which generally begins with Unit Prayers. Often a padre has a theme for the week. This time I based my postings on ‘servant leadership’ which has had […]

March 21, 2021

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

This week I encountered an article about online fatigue or burnout. The overall message, I thought, was that too much online meant people became tired and became inefficient. It was- n’t so much the actual hours in front of the screen – though that cannot be ignored – it was more the over stimulation and […]

March 14, 2021

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

If you go into any kitchen and check the cupboard for the recipe books I’m guessing you will quickly see which are the favourite recipes. They will be in the books that look the most used, that possibly have scribbling and comments, food stains and dates so that the pages them- selves reveal the use […]

March 7, 2021

The Third Sunday in Lent

I did enjoy the news item this week of the oil tanker hovering above the surface of the sea near Falmouth in Cornwall. There was a photo to go with it – the coast walker snapped a picture – and there the huge ship was suspended in the air. I didn’t think it was fake […]

Page 3 of 35