Thought for the week

Tag: earth

  • The courage of Henriette Hanotte

    In the dark days of war heroes and heroines often emerge who demonstrate outstanding courage. Recently Henriette Hanotte died at the age of 101. During World War II this brave Belgian lady, known by the code name ‘Monique’, assisted 100 Allied airmen to evade capture by the Germans. She escorted them along the Comet Escape…

  • The story of Lisala Folau

    Early in the morning on 15 January a volcano near Tonga erupted produced a colossal explosion that triggered a 7.4 magnitude earthquake. A shockwave radiated outward at close to the speed of sound eventually travelling halfway around the world. The sonic boom was heard in parts of New Zealand more than 1,300 miles away. A…

  • Mary was a remarkable young woman

    Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a remarkable young woman. She grew up in the family home in Nazareth, a small village in Galilee. While she was in her early teens Mary fell in love with Joseph, the village carpenter, who was a few years older than her. Mary and Joseph made a solemn promise…

  • Loved with everlasting love

    The bright sunny days and glorious blue skies have lifted our spirits. People are out walking, jogging and cycling and there is a feeling of springtime in the air. The natural world is coming to life again with the beautiful snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils bringing colour to our gardens and hedgerows. The winter is passing…

  • Now thank we all our God

    Martin Rinkart was a Lutheran minister in Eilenburg, Saxony, at the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War, which was fought between 1618 and 1648. It is estimated that between 4.5 and 8 million people, both military and civilians, died in that war, most from disease and starvation. In some parts of Germany as many as…

  • The Grave of the Unknown Warrior

    Services and acts of Remembrance have been severely restricted this year, but last week Queen Elizabeth went to Westminster Abbey for a deeply personal service at the grave of the Unknown Warrior. The Queen laid a floral tribute based on her wedding bouquet on the grave. After their weddings both she and her mother had…

  • The Hope Mars probe

    This week the Arab world’s first mission to Mars was launched. An H-2A rocket carrying the unmanned Al-Amal, or Hope, probe lifted off from the launching pad at Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan. This UAE project is one of three racing to Mars, including Tianwen-1 from China and Mars 2020 from the United States, taking…