Tag Archives: St Thomas’

Love your Neighbour

28 April 2013, 5th Sunday of Easter

The news this week was dominated by the tragic collapse of a clothing factory in the Savar district of Bangladesh. Three hundred and fifty people have died– so far. Six months ago, a fire gutted another factory, killing hundred workers. In the past decade seven hundred have died in forty similar disasters in the clothing factories of Savar. The sad truth is that thousands of workers return, day after day, to dangerous factories, to produce clothes for high street brands – for us!

All these things happen in faraway countries, to people of whom we know little. Apart from compassion and pity, how should we respond?
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Prodigal Son, Again

10 March 2013, Lent

If you watched the recent TV series “Wonders of Life” by Brian Cox you would have seen the close ups of the moment when the water-bound larva turns into a dragonfly. It is similar to a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. The transformation is quite incredible.  It is hard to believe that the crawling larval form of the dragonfly or butterfly metamorphoses into the beautiful adult airborne creatures with bright wings. Continue reading →

The Prodigal Son

10 March 2013, Lent

The concept of “Sin” seems to be past its sell by date. I think many people would be uncomfortable or offended if someone were to suggest that they are sinners. Sin, most people feel, belongs with Medieval or Victorian Christianity; or perhaps with certain enthusiastic preaching about sin and being washed in the blood. Continue reading →

Temptation

17 February 2013, Lent

I have recently been thinking about how things are reused – hyped up or dumbed down – especially on TV and in the advertising world. For example if Sir Winston Churchill had been told that someday a generation of kids would believe he was the bulldog on TV saying “ohhh yes” as he promotes insurance, he would never have believed it! Dvorak’s New World Symphony with sweeping panoramic views of the countryside concludes with a loaf of Hovis bread. And then there is the Go Compare man singing opera. In the same way, the meaning of the word temptation has been hijacked. It is now generally associated with a box of chocolates – “dark temptations” they might call it, an expensive perfume, ice cream or a pudding. Temptations today are more a nod and wink towards indulgence and the slightly naughty. We in turn relish the thought of succumbing to it. As Oscar Wilde put it “I can resist everything except temptation”. Continue reading →

Metamorphosis

17 February 2013, Lent

I have recently discovered that acquiring a driving licence requires something of a metamorphosis! I now have a new identity – I’ve turned from a pedestrian into a driver. I no longer see myself as a pedestrian – even when I am a pedestrian! I no longer nip across roads in suicidal leaps through slow moving traffic, because I have a new perspective. Instead of seeing myself as outsmarting traffic, I see myself as a hazard to an approaching driver! I am no longer a passenger peering at cute dogs we pass – I now scour the road for hazards. I have a clear purpose in sight – getting my driving licence. Continue reading →

Sanctified and Sent

20 May 2012, 7th Sunday of Easter

I wonder if you have watched the series “Rev” – about Alan, a Church of England vicar in London. Alan has an interesting “nickname” given to him by heavy-drinking conspiracy theorist Colin. Colin always greets him with a hearty “Hello Vicarage”, and Alan’s wife is duly addressed as Mrs Vicarage. Continue reading →

Living Water

Pentecost

I am just beginning to understand the Northern Irish Summer. I have noticed that the sun is definitely shy and evasive; the rain is not! In a place where water from the sky is greeted with stony glares and angry muttering, it is difficult to get excited about “Living Water”. Not when it drips on us throughout the year, flows from our taps, wets our gardens, dampens our dogs, and soaks our lives.

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