Acts 2:1-21 Louis Armstrong is best remembered for how and what he played, rather than for anything that he said. By and large, he let his trumpet do the talking, as it were. But he did come out with a few memorable remarks. My favourite is: ‘If you haven’t got it in you, you can’t…
Acts 16:9-15 John 5:1-9 I had a dream last night. This voice said, “on your marks, get set, go!” and I woke up with a start. I dreamt I wrote The Hobbit the other night. I think I was Tolkein in my sleep. Whatever you dream about, whether you remember them or not, whether you…
Psalm 148 Romans 8:18-27 Revelation 21:1-6 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. Today is May Day, the first day of summer! (reflection on weather) May Day isn’t something you’ll find in the Bible, it’s not a Christian…
Revelation 21:1-6 John 19:16b-18 & 28 Teach me, my God and King, in all things thee to see, and what I do in anything to do it as for thee. A man that looks on glass, on it may stay his eye; or if he pleaseth, through it pass, and then the heaven espy. George…
Acts 9:36-43 John 10:22-30 No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of…
Psalm 23 With two large glasses and a large bottle of fizzy drink (at least l.5 or 2 litres); a large plastic tray (to catch spills); kitchen roll or cloths (to mop up liquid). Invite someone to pour themselves a drink, using one glass and the bottle. They are unlikely to pour out a full…
Psalm 30 John 21:1-19 If you’re in a boat, and look in towards Crosby beach, in Lancashire, you’ll see an Antony Gormley sculpture on the beach. If you at the beach at Aldeburgh, in Suffolk, you’ll see a memorial sculpture to Benjamin Britten. If you look at Brighton beach, well, you get everything you deserve!…
Those of you on Facebook will know that Michael Hopkins, our minister, was visiting the Vatican on Friday for a fact finding visit on behalf of the Assembly Arrangements Committee for ideas to improve the URC’s General Assembly, and finalising details for Pope Francis’s visit to the Assembly this year. He was, of course, on…
Mark 16:1-8 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 There are no Easter bonnets or bunnies in Mark’s story. How strange, and thin it is compared to the other three gospel accounts. There’s the empty tomb, the young man’s message that Jesus is risen, the command to tell the disciples that he’s gone ahead to Galilee, and the promise…
Luke 24:1-12 1 Corinthians 15:17-26 ‘These words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.’ Why not? Why were the eleven disciples and the others so incredulous? Perhaps because those who brought the news were all women: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others. Resurrection, if it happens,…