​
Completing the Puzzle

​'Sunday Thought'
for the third Sunday
​of Easter



​

                              Sunday Thought                                                           
​         for the First Sunday of Christmas

    A Lighbulb Moment   !!!     ​

Secondhand Cross
At the beginning of the first century recycling was probably only the concern of the majority poor.  However, I cannot imagine the Roman military in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ execution designing individual crosses for their victims nor ordering a new one for each crucifixion.  I read that the uprights – stipes – were often left in place, possibly as permanent warnings, leaving the crossbeam – patibulum – to be carried by the victim, as was the case with Jesus. No doubt even these crossbeams could be returned to stores for reuse or re-cycling. This consideration led me to think of Jesus dying on a second-hand cross …. and the following story …..
 
Secondhand Cross 
Click here for story or on Neighbours Page

I
Want
to see
My Dad

Learning the parenthood of God

I WANT TO SEE MY DAD is about my daughter Ruth and our daughter/father relationship.  For thirty-five of her forty-nine years Ruth suffered physically and mentally, waging a heroic battle with an extreme eating disorder.  This is both Ruth’s and my story.  Through the successes and failures of our relationship I gained insights into the parenthood of God.  Here are glimpses of a life of sparkling sunshine breaking out of terrifying shadowy places.  It relates incidents of an undulating way along which I was privileged to discover what it means to say God is my parent – father and mother.
 
Paragon Publishing
From Amazon or Bookshop

The following prayer for Autumn is a new addition to Prayers
Also on the Website are new files in
Faith Thoughts
Neighbours
Stories


The Fall
 
Autumn is such a beautiful time.
Trees dress for the leaving party
before their leaves fall in glorious
cascades of multiple colours.
 
Lord, our God, Creator, Saviour, Renewer.
Praise to you for the beauty of your natural world;
for the glory of this season.
 
As we enter into your presence to worship
we resemble the falling leaf;
restless in the turbulent winds of life;
feeling curled at the edges;
showing the deep etched veins of anxieties and cares;
falling
falling
falling short of your loving expectations for our lives.
 
But here among your people;
in the presence of Jesus our Saviour,
you will touch us like sunlight on falling leaves;
turning our weakness into golden glory.
 
Lord, give us grace and faith
to let go of ourselves;
knowing that like the leaf,
we shall fall into your prepared ground;
part of your purpose, through your Spirit,
of nourishing new life for ourselves,
and sharing your love with our own
and future generations.
 
Show us the glory of Jesus
amid the beauty of The Fall.