Genesis 1:1-5; John 1:1-5 Right now the whole world is considering beginnings. But usually they’re the beginnings that we will make. “New year, new you” and all that. What about the beginning that God has made? Let’s think about that for a minute. Wind back the clock to the time before people and planets and protons, what […]
What is God up to in the world? Here’s a word to drop into conversation: God is ouranifying the earth. Ouranos is the Greek word for heaven – it’s where we get the name for the planet “Uranus”. And here Jesus tells us that God’s desire is to ouranify the earth. You might say – […]
There is a limit and a longing to us all. And that interaction between the limit and the longing defines our human condition. We are finite creatures, and yet this finite world does not satisfy. The prophet Haggai wrote in the 6th century BC to the Israelites in a strange kind of in-between time. They […]
[Apologies for this post out of sequence] What have been the decisive moments in your life? Can you pinpoint certain choices or “chance encounters” that have shaped your destiny? One single piece of news, good or bad, can change everything. Sometimes our whole world can turn “in the twinkling of an eye.” When the Apostle […]
“Says who?” Children learn that phrase very quickly. A sibling tells them to set the table. What happens next depends entirely on the source of the command. If the reply comes: “Thus saith mum!” things might just get moving. Hundreds of times the bible contains this phrase: “Thus saith the LORD.” Even when it’s the […]
Isaiah could be called a tale of two cities. Yet both cities are Jerusalem. There’s an old Jerusalem – the Jerusalem in which Isaiah’s listeners live. They face a terrifying judgement that is first threatened by Assyria and then effected by Babylon. The city is sacked, the house of God (the temple) is destroyed, the […]
Here’s a phrase that has morphed from it’s biblical origins. Isaiah wrote about “the wolf dwelling with the lamb while the leopard lies down with the kid… and the young lion” (Isaiah 11:6). Yet, as with a phrase like “Pride goeth before a fall“, it’s the abbreviation that has survived the test of time: the […]
It’s a beautifully symmetrical phrase. The first five syllables perfectly mirror the last five. In each, the stresses are on the second and fifth syllable. This is the work of the translators. And we should remember that the King James version was written to be read aloud. Yet the poetry in the underlying Hebrew comes […]
Where is the world heading? Climate catastrophes? Asteroid impact? Nuclear armageddon? Global Pandemic? Cosmic big crunch? Heat death? Not according to the bible. In the beginning, God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. And ever since, the week has proclaimed to us God’s purposes with the world. Through His Word […]
“Have you seen the news? Flooding, fires, earthquakes, wars. If we don’t watch ourselves the world’s going to fall apart completely.” “I fear we’ll soon pass the point of no return!” “We must be very near the end!” These are statements I hear pretty regularly about “the state of the world today.” The trouble is […]
