Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

What time is it?

What time is it? What date is it? What century is it? What about the geological epoch? Anyone know? There is some debate about this – the question is, have we left the Holocene and entered the Anthropocene? The debate centres around the question as to whether humanity has had such an impact on the […]

Expectancy

I wonder who here has special plans for this coming Friday? I can see that some of you are sat there thinking, “why should we have special plans for this Friday?” Who can enlighten our bemused brethren? It is, of course, Valentine’s Day. An opportunity to celebrate romantic love, particularly poignant perhaps for those in […]

A Grind?

I wonder if you know what this is? It’s a coffee mill. Not one of those fancy electric ones, but a hand mill. You put your beans in here, turn the handle, and you get freshly milled coffee in the bottom. There’s a little adjustable screw and butterfly nut in the bottom that you set […]

Clear Communication

For those of you who were here last week, you will know that we are now on the second slice of the sandwich. For those of you who weren’t here, I’d better explain. Two weeks ago, we looked at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and Paul’s teaching about spiritual gifts and the richness of unity and […]

Love

It is said that familiarity breeds contempt. It’s often struck me as a slightly depressing world view, one which I hope isn’t necessarily true. It seems to me much more hopeful to believe that familiarity might breed insight, affection, and comfort. Maybe, though, this does take a bit of work, and maybe a choice to […]

Advocate

I’ve been on a conference this week, and on one of the days we did a Bible study on part of the first chapter of John’s gospel. It describes the time just before Jesus started his public ministry, a time when his cousin John was out in the desert outside Jerusalem, preaching and baptising. He’s […]

Ascension

And so we come to the season finale, the episode that draws together a lot of the threads of the story line, but leaves a few hanging out there for the next season, even a bit of a cliff hanger – keeping us intrigued and ready to come back for more when the new season […]

God is There

God is there. God is here. God is everywhere. God is present. This is one of the basic Christian assertions. It is a belief that God exists, but it is more than that. It is an understanding that God exists and is present in and to creation. We do not believe in a God who […]

Not Timid

This evening our text is from Paul’s second letter to Timothy, chapter 1, verse 7: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” Now, let’s get a couple of bits out of the way to start with. Firstly, is this spirit the Holy Spirit or […]

Lucozade and God

I wonder how many of you have seen this advertisement for the sports drink Lucozade. I first saw it a couple of weeks ago on the bill board on the station car park. I wonder how it makes you feel, what you think about this Biblical account being subverted and used to sell fizzy sugar […]