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Once in royal David’s city
One of the best-known Christmas carols is “Once in royal David’s city.” It was written by Cecil Frances Alexander whose husband became bishop of Derry. Mrs Alexander, as she was known, wrote 400 hymns including “All things bright and beautiful” and “There is a green hill far away.” She wrote hymns for children many of…
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O give thanks to the Lord
Thursday 24 November is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. The first Thanksgiving Day was celebrated in November 1621 by the Plymouth colonists and the indigenous Wampanoag people. In September 1620 a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth in England carrying 102 passengers. Most of the families on board were Christians who belonged to churches…
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Lest we forget
In the past week we have remembered those who died in the two Great Wars of the 20th century. Remembering those who died is important. The scale of the losses was terrible. In WWI 20 million military personnel and civilians died. In WWII between 40 and 50 million died. There were also many millions who…
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Forgive us our trespasses
When the Allied forces surrendered Singapore to the Japanese in 1942, Tony Lucas was one of 80,000 troops who became prisoners of war. For the next three and a half years he, along with many others, were slave labourers on the construction of the Burma-Thailand railway. Tony was one of 17,000 Prisoners of War packed…
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Righteousness exalts a nation
During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln approved a Senate resolution to proclaim a day for National humiliation, fasting and prayer on 30 April 1863. The President and the Senate “devoutly recognised the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations.” They affirmed, “It is…
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Learning from autumn
In our deeply troubled world God’s creation eloquently speaks to us. The spectacular autumn colours display the glory of the Creator as the sun illuminates the red, brown, and golden leaves. The leaves have already begun falling and soon the trees will be bare. Animals are preparing for winter by growing thicker coats and storing…
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Noah’s Ark
According to the Office of National Statistics Noah has replaced Oliver as the most popular name for boys. In the Bible Noah was a remarkable man who is described as “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, who walked faithfully with God.” Noah lived in days of great evil. The Bible says,…
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God never left me alone
The FIFA World Cup 2022 will begin in Qatar on 20 November. There will be 32 teams competing across 64 matches. Brazil will be hoping to win the cup again. They are the only team to have competed in all 21 World Cup tournaments and have won it 5 times. In recent years some Brazilian…
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God’s Smuggler
Dutch Christian missionary Andrew van der Bill died on 27 September 2022 aged 94. To millions of Christians around the world he was known as Brother Andrew. In the 1940s, while serving with the colonial army of the Dutch East Indies during the Indonesian National Revolution, he was wounded in the ankle. During his rehabilitation…
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Thank the Lord for all his love
At this time of year many churches and schools hold Harvest Festival services. It is good to give thanks for another year when God has provided for our needs. Because of the dry weather in the UK crops have been less than normal but the weather has been good for harvesting so the combine harvesters…