I love to dip into Revgalblogpals, and though I don't usually 'play' at the Friday five questions, I thought that with no sermon to do I would, for a change: Sally writes: Candlemass is past, and Christmas is well and truly over, here in the UK February looks set to be its usual grey and cold self. Signs of spring are yet to emerge; if like me you long for them perhaps you need ways to get through these long dark days. So lets share a few tips for a cold and rainy/ snowy day.... 1. Exercise, what do you do if you can't face getting out into the cold and damp? I do find it therapeutic to clean the house vigourously - but if you could see the dust you'd know I don't often get round to it! I also make a point of always running, rather than walking, upstairs - something my mum always did until her stroke. 2. Food; time to comfort eat, or time to prepare your body for the coming spring/summer? I try to eat healthily, but my body craves carbohydrate. 3. Brainpower; do...
Amos 7: 7-15; Mark 6: 14-29 To be honest, I’ve had a bit of a hectic week since returning from URC General Assembly late on Monday night; involving a church path, a funeral, 2 more funerals to organize, and many more things you don’t need to know about. What I really needed was a break after Assembly – which was hard work and faced the URC with some tough choices about budget cuts and how to find God’s way forward. Of course the general Synod of the Church of England was no picnic, either – and I know Methodist Conference had a hairy time, too. I’m left feeling that Church politics is bad for your health. And anyway, the Gospel reading seems a bit gory and unnecessary and I’m tired and ready for a holiday. So I was all ready to preach about Amos and plumblines & how God helps us to sort our lives out by showing us what is good and true and straight. In any case I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels uncomfortable with the idea of a God who judges you – or will ...
Following Christ. On the 21st August, Professor A C Grayling reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, London, wrote an article in the Guardian about David Miliband’s future political hopes and the fact that he is a declared atheist. ‘It would be a great advantage to everyone to have an atheist prime minister’, states Grayling. His arguments are that an atheist will form decisions based on rational argument, not ‘messages from Beyond’; that an atheist PM will not give special treatment of funding to religious groups, but will treat everyone fairly; and that an atheist will be down to earth about lifting up the poor of society, rather than simply offering them a heavenly reward. All this shouldn’t surprise us from the man who in March 2007 took part in a public debate arguing ‘We’d be better off without religion’. Meanwhile, in the States, Sara Palin, the Republican Vice-presidential candidate, is making a lot of her credentials as a creationist, anti-abortion, fundamentalist Christian....
Comments