Matthew 7:24-27 1 Corinthians 3:1-14 Most of us grew up making sand castles at one time or another. These days the buckets and spades are plastic, but children still make the sand castles of their childhood dreams. Sand castles, of course, are about much more than just children with a bucket and spade. At Brighton,…
Psalm 104 I’m told that 96% of the species that ever existed on earth are now extinct. Of course, some have evolved into newer species, such as some of the forerunners of Homo Sapiens; some, such as dinosaurs, would have driven many other species into extinction. But the fact remains, the variety of life on…
Luke 13:18-19 Genesis 2:8-9 & 15-17 Revelation 22:1-5 I’m told that Surrey has more trees per square mile than nay other county in England. You only have to walk or drive a mile or so outside most of our towns to see that. I’m sure, as soon as trees are mentioned, many of us will…
1 Kings 19:1-15a Galatians 3:23-29 Luke 8:26-39 I wonder if you’ve ever read or seen the film of The Lord of the Rings? A friend of mine had never read the book and was taken by his wife to see the first film, and came away saying it had a funny ending, not knowing that…
1 Kings 19:1-15a Galatians 3:23-29 Luke 8:26-39 If you ask a United Reformed Church Minister why they do, or why they don’t, wear a clerical collar, you’ll receive a wide variety of answers from every conceivable point of view, but what you can be sure of is that they’ll have a good answer. For those…
Galatians 2:15-21 Luke 7:36-8:3 ’ere mate, you can’t you do that! It’s against ’elf n safety, innit! The killjoys of our age are definitely Health and Safety, we love to demonise it. It seems almost an obsession in this country to ban all manner of common sense things in the name of health and safety,…
Jonah 3:1-5 Matthew 5:38-41 Mark 10:28-31 Today the church marks the feast day of an Irishman who was accused of theft and murder, but who brought Christianity to Scotland and half of England. His name was Columba; he was born in Ireland in 521, and died in Scotland in 597. Columba studied under the legendary…
Genesis 22:1-18 Acts 11:1-18 John 13:31-35 We live in days when we’re very concerned about child protection, and the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac strikes most of us as particularly barbaric. How traumatic it must have been for poor little Isaac! But, if we can, let’s leave our own culture aside…