THE FORGOTTEN MESSAGE OF ADVENT

ISAIAH 40:1-11 Advent is the beginning of another year of the Christian Church and the Church season that leads to Christmas Day. At first, it was a time when converts to Christianity prepare for baptism. In the Middle Ages, Advent was associated with the preparation for the Second Coming. Many Christians still see Advent as a time to prepare … [Read more…]

LET US TALK ABOUT DEATH

HEBREWS 9:27 One question that many do not want to think about is this – what lies beyond death? Society treats death like most of our ancestors treated sex – it is best not to talk about it. Advances in medicine bear the weight of promising interventions to prolong earthly existence. However, the Bible explains that death … [Read more…]

THE FROME HOARD

COLOSSIANS 1:27–2:3 A treasure trove of 52,503 Roman coins was found by metal detector Dave Crisp near Frome in Somerset, England in April 2010. The coins were housed in a ceramic container and dated from 253 to 305 AD. Most coins are made of weathered silver or bronze. This became known as the Frome Hoard. While Crisp’s … [Read more…]

LET US REASON TOGETHER

ISAIAH 1:16-20 To some people, God may seem like a great idea, but an unattainable pursuit. Feeling loved by the Creator of our world touches our emotions, but our minds tell us that it is only a dream. The Bible is full of God’s invitations to broken humanity to come into His loving embrace. In the various … [Read more…]

DEATH IS DEAD!

1 CORINTHIANS 15:50-58 Medical researchers work tirelessly to find ways to defeat a range of debilitating diseases. But what if you wake up to the headlines saying death is dead! Would you believe it? The New Testament proclaims that for those who believe in Christ, death is annihilated, reduced to inaction, and incapable of doing what it … [Read more…]

FREE FOOD!

JOHN 6:25-41 Money is tight and feeding is difficult. So when there is free food, people show up anytime, anywhere. When a church, corporation, or even politician wants to attract people to a programme, presentation, or rally, they offer free food. People visit occasion after occasion just for food. Food seems to be more important in … [Read more…]

BREATHTAKING MOMENTS

ECCLESIASTES 2:1-11 Some people believe that life is not calculated by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. I think this thinking is misleading.  If we measure life with mind-boggling moments, we lose the wonder of ordinary moments. Eating, sleeping and breathing seem “common” in the sense that … [Read more…]

DANGEROUS TASK

MATTHEW 1:18-25 Joseph – the father of Jesus. After the stories of the nativity, we do not hear much about him. If we did not know him better, we would think he was an insignificant passer-by, or at most a mere necessity, to support Jesus’ claim to the throne of David. But in fact, the role played … [Read more…]

MAKE A WISH

1 KINGS 3:1-9 The “three wish stories” are said to be repeated in almost all cultures and they all follow a similar theme: a benefactor appears and offers an unsuspecting recipient the opportunity to make three wishes. The fact that these stories are so common suggests that we all want something that we cannot achieve on … [Read more…]

A SKETCH

1 CORINTHIANS 13:8-12 In the 1941 publication, “The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses” by C.S. Lewis, he tells the story of a woman who gave birth to a son while imprisoned in a dungeon. Since he had never seen the world outside the prison, his mother tried to describe it with pencil drawings. When … [Read more…]