Tag: Ian Banks

God asks us not to count the rings of the dead wood of the past – but to look for small signs of growth, the green seedlings of the future.

We’re in Advent – and each Sunday has a reading from Isaiah. Isaiah is a visual prophet. He thinks in pictures. He uses his imagination.

For that that kingdom to be more visible, Christ has to be seen to be believed – and how he is seen is down to you and down to me

Remembrance Sunday – We remember Des Aspin, who had that undefinable something that caused him to stand out and above all those around him.

Jacob is one of the Bible’s anti-heroes. There aren’t too many redeeming features on display. Not many laudable characteristics to emulate.

Naaman goes down to the river – and his flesh is restored like the flesh of a young boy. It’s not just the leprosy that goes. He’s made new.

At some stage, God’s plans will intersect with our own sense of being and purpose. We need to listen and hear and respond. To say: “send me”.

But back from Renton to Moses and the original ‘Choose Life’ monologue from which this was all shamelessly, if maybe unwittingly, pinched.

That’s what the Books of Proverbs is about. Every single moment is a lesson, if we choose to take the opportunity to learn.

Compassion sees broken bodies & broken souls and then does something about it. Because God is not interested in religion but in human beings.

Jesus was an agitator, not a pacifier. He started fires to bring justice for all. God’s love causes division because it makes people uncomfortable.

May the faithfulness of Abraham and Sarah be an example to us so that we too may prove faithful and hopeful in whatever the future holds for us.

That said, don’t you wish Jesus had replied: Martha, go and put your feet up. And to the disciples: Come on boys, we’re going to the kitchen

Jesus started his church with a bunch of men and women that we know about from the Gospels. For the…

Do you ever wonder that if your church or organisation or your place of work would cease to function, then…