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A prayer based on Colossians 3:1-4 Living Lord Jesus, We praise you for the life we have in you. A life of peace and purpose. A life enable by your power and driven forward in your hope. Forgive us, For living for things that do no last. For straining to keep our little rules, which have no value. For filling our minds with trash. For seeking our own ends and pleasure, rather than yours. Spirit of Christ, Lift our eyes from all that dazzels in this world. May we not be consum

A prayer based on Colossians 2:6-23 Lord Jesus, We look to you. We have received you as Lord and we keep holding onto you. You are our head, our life, our all. In you we see God. In you we ourselves have come to fulness. Forgive us, For the ways in which we have wondered from you. For the many times we have thought we don't need you. For the ways in which we seek wisdom, power, help and strength in things other than you. Forgive us for not being thankful - you have gi

On Sunday morning, when we looked at Q25 in the catechism, we reflected a bit about how good our memory is, asking the question - do you forget things? No-one of us has a perfect memory. It is simply impossible for us to remember everything we have experienced, read or person we meet. Yet, we also know what it is to want to forget things, but we simply can't. Some memories and experiences haunt us. God's different - he can remember everything. However, when our sins are

A prayer based on this mornings passage - Colossians 1:24 - 2:5 Lord God, Thank you for the wonderful message you have given to us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. For many generations, this truth was a mystery, Christ was hidden. But now, you have revealed him to us. You have caused us to see him. He has come to dwell in us. Thank you that we see, know and have Jesus Christ in us. This is a marvellous message and a living hope. We long for glory. Because He is in

A wise man once said 'I love it when a plan comes together' Now, I admit it wasn't quite planned, but this Sunday morning two things came together in a beautiful way. Our passage for Sunday was Colossians 1:15-23 and two of those verses are the text given in the catechism question for the day. As it so happens, the catechism is about THE GREATEST coming together. Q24. Why was it necessary, for Christ, the Redeemer to die? A. Since death is the punishment for sin, Christ d

A prayer based on Colossians 1:15-23 Lord of all creation, We worship you - the one who made all things. We praise you for the beauty, power and mystery of this created world. You flung stars into space and spoke galaxies into existence, so we worship you. We bow before the one who made rulers, thrones, power and authorities. We say, you are the greatest. We worship you - the one who holds all things together. Without you, the world would spin out of control. Without you

One plus one equals two - doesn't it? When it comes to Jesus Christ - one plus one equals one! It is this mystery, which the next two questions in the catechism touch on. Q22. Why must the Redeemer be truly human? A. That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin; and also that he might sympathize with our weakness. Q23.Why must the Redeemer be truly God? A. That because of his divine nature his obedience and

Over the past 6 Wednesday evenings I have been leading a stream at Plunge looking at the book by Ed Welch. is a practical look at what it means to be a church family. It considers how we can walk with each other in wisdom and love. The book is built around two central thoughts - we are both needy and needed. That is to say we give and receive love in the church family. As we considered our needs, we acknowledged the difficult circumstances we walk through at various time

A prayer based on this mornings passage - Colossians 1:1-14

Praying in response to Acts 7:54-8:8 Lord of the church, We praise you that nothing is able to crush your church. Foes come, Satan rages, your people are persecuted, but the light is not snuffed out. Your church is not extinguished. We thank you for the example of Stephen. For his Spirit filled witness to you, in the face of a hostile and raging crowd. We thank you for the stories we have heard down through history, and across the world today, of your Spirit filled people

You can't fit a square peg in a round hole - so the saying goes. And it is true. You can try. And you may sort of get it to fit. But there will be gaps round the edges. If you pour some water over it, you'll soon see the peg may be in, but the hole isn't plugged! You need a round peg for a round hole. And come to think of it, you need the right size of round peg, to perfectly fit a round hole. With this in mind, we come to the next question in the catechism. Q21. Wha

Following on from last weeks prayer, here is another prayer, flowing from our passage for this morning (Acts 7:17-53). God of history We praise you for the way in which you have led your people all through history. This morning, we thank you for Moses. Prophet, leader, rescuer. We are amazed at the way you called him, at 80 years old and used him to bring your people out of slavery in Egypt to the land of promise. A land flowing with milk and honey. Your gift to them.

We face countless choices every day. Choice is good. But it also complicates our lives. Things are so much simpler if there is only one choice. The next question in the catechism has that feeling of simplicity. God has provided a Redeemer. And there is only one Redeemer. Simples! Q20. Who is the Redeemer? The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself. Some things to note: It really is G

We left the catechism in a bleak place. God will not allow our disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished. What hope do we have? Q19 asks that very question. Q19. Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God's favour? Yes, to satisfy his justice God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin by a Redeemer. There is hope The last answer (Q18) began with a clear no . All looked bleak.

What are you more scared of - cheating or getting caught cheating? If we are honest, there is a thrill when you get away with it. But we all know that feeling of fear when you are caught, especially if you think you have got away with it! In the catechism we have learnt that we all sin. So the next obvious question is - can we get away with it? Simple answer, no. Here's the longer one. Q18. Will God allow our disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished? A. No, every sin

This morning we meet Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He in turn introduced us to Abraham and Joseph, two of the 'patriarchs' who lived a life of pilgrimage. We discovered that to live a life of pilgrimage and to die the death of a martyr you need to know the God of glory and covenant. As we seek to life a life off pilgrimage this week, here is a simple prayer. Why not pray it every morning this week? Lord of all creation, In all I do and experience today, show me yo

Over Christmas we took a break from the New City Catechism, returning to it on the first Sunday in the new year... but I have been neglecting blogging on it. Nothing else for it but to get back to it now! We pick the catechism up at Q16 - What is sin? And to help us catch up, shall include Q17 - What is idolatry? However it is more that expediency - these questions belong together. Q16. What is sin? Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling again

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Acts 6:7 Our passage this morning, ends with this huge encouragement. The number of disciples increased - rapidly! Why? Was it because... A new effective structure was put in place? The apostles facing up to the problem of injustice in the church? All the believers where cared for? All the believers where serving one another? Fresh l

This morning we saw in the apostles an example of what it means to follow Jesus. They demonstrated true discipleship, as they obeyed God, no matter the cost. Having seen their example. We now must follow their example. That means, as the quote from Bonhoeffer put it, this week, we must 'come and die' for that is the life Jesus calls us to. We must die a thousand little deaths to self - in the small choices we face this week. We choose to spend time with our neighbour,

As we look back on 2018, and forward to 2019, here are a couple of things I came across online. First, a prayer for the new year from the American author and blogger Tim Challies. He based it on two prayers from the book Valley of Vision. My Good and Gracious Father, You have brought me safely through another year. This was a year in which I saw and experienced so much of your goodness. You were good when you gave, and you were good when you took away; you were good when the