[musings from the manse – 23rd April 2020]
“Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:8)
This is one of those verses from the bible which many people may know the first part of, but do not know the second half. However, as in most of the Psalms, the verses have sentences with different halves; halves mirroring each other in some way to amplify the meaning.
We tend use the words “taste and see that the Lord is good” as an invitation to p...
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Other Activities
times of refreshment
[musings from the manse – 18th April 2020]
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” (Act 3:19)
I was reading something where this verse was highlighted, and I realised I had never really noticed it before. It is buried in the midst of one of Peter’s sermon’s in the early chapters of Acts, but it never stuck in my mind. (Just goes to show that all those wonderfully-crafted words that I preach must just pass...
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the strange silence of Saturday
[musings from the manse – 11th April 2020]
What do we do about that strange day stuck between Good Friday and Easter Sunday?
We’re not even all that sure what to call it. It’s not Easter Saturday because Easter doesn’t happen until the next day. I suppose Easter Eve is appropriate, but that makes it sounds a bit Christmassy. Holy Saturday makes it sounds all very … well, very holy. When actually it is a day that we don’t really know what to do with.
Do we just treat it like we do any oth...
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A quote for Good Friday
[Musings from the manse – 10th April 2020]
‘When you reflect upon Jesus Christ hanging upon the cross of shame, you understand the depth and weight of human sin. How do you measure the size of a fire? By the number of firefighters and fire engines sent to fight against it. How do you measure the seriousness of a medical condition? By the amount of risk the doctors take in prescribing dangerous antibiotics or surgical procedures. How do we measure the gravity of sin and the incomparable vastness...
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slowing down and taking notice
[Musings from the manse – 4th April 2020]
One of the reasonable excuses for leaving home, unless you have been told to shield, is for exercise once a day. This means we can go for a walk and enjoy the emerging signs of spring that are coming in nature.
It can be quite tempting to rush our exercise, trying to get as much out of our “out of the house” experience as possible, but maybe we should just slow down a little bit and look around us.
Out on a walk the other day, we paused for a mome...
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