Pastoral letters
Dear Church, My dear grandmother died almost a year ago aged 100! She often told me how as a girl she saw burning enemy Zeppelins falling from the sky over London in the First World War. She remembers being held by her father as she cried for the “…burning men” who were in those ships. I …
Dear Church, Psalm 34 v 3 – “Glorify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. As I stated in my induction yesterday, thank you so much for the honest, sacrificial, and practical welcome I and my family have received. We are always amazed at the amount of generosity and love from …
Dear Church, Are we praying or sleeping? I love the story of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane. On the cross He was stretched out physically, but here we see Him stretched mentally and emotionally as He faces and accepts the path set out for Him. Jesus agonises over the prospect of what He is …
Dear Church, “I am the light of the world” “You are the light of the world” Jesus said two apparently contradictory things about light. In John 8:12 He said “I am the light of the world.” In Matthew 5:14 He said to His disciples “You are the light of the world.” If we look closely it …
Dear Church, By faith… Hebrews chapter 11 is famous as the hall of fame of the heroes of faith who they lived out their lives by faith. “By faith” is a fundamental principle. It is how we enter the Christian journey, but it is also how we continue along it. It means that we live out …
Dear Church, Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. John 12:3. This verse speaks about worship and about how God desires our hearts above all else. Mary had …
Dear Church, “I keep asking…” Ephesians 1:17 The three emphases that we set out at the AGM back in April this year were Community Groups, Evangelism and Prayer; in different ways we have sought to promote all three in the life of the church. Today I feel drawn once again to write about prayer, because prayer under …
Dear Church, “Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.” A W Tozer In today’s world we are governed by the impressions of our senses. We live our lives by what we see, hear, smell and touch. We find our security in what we deem to be these concrete realities and our …
Dear Church, *Once upon a time people lived in community. Entertainment was found in conversation. When people were in difficulty they helped one another out. Their lives depended on that because there was no welfare state or NHS. Nowadays we rarely know the neighbours, never mind the rest of the street. We get our entertainment …
Dear Church, And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” Mark 9:28-29 When Jesus came down from the mountain where He had been transfigured, He was immediately faced with …