Thought for the Day
A one-minute read to inspire or challenge. Written by members of the church and updated every few days.
3rd May 2024
It will be 20 years tomorrow, 4th May, that I moved into my flat. In a short while it will become the place where I’ve lived longer than any other in my life. It’s my haven; it’s quiet and cosy; somewhere I can relax completely; where I can read, study and write without interruption; and surrounded by things that have important meaning and memory for me, plus quite a few plants, and lots and lots of books!
When I wake in the morning, I often say a ‘Thank You’ for this home of mine – the roof over my head, a comfortable bed, clean water in the tap, food in the fridge, and clothes to wear. We hear of so many who do not have these things; who are prepared to leave all behind, sometimes even their loved ones, in order to be free from war, persecution or poverty.
When I was training at Bristol Baptist College, the college community – tutors, admin staff, and students – gathered for worship and Communion every Wednesday evening. I remember one occasion when we were invited to come forward and ask for prayer for someone or somewhere in the world, whilst putting a lighted candle on that place on a world map. As others named different situations and positioned their candles, who might I name? When I placed my candle, it was nowhere on the map, but off to the side. And my prayer?… for all the ‘stateless’ persons in the world, who tonight, and every night, have nowhere to call home.
David Bell
1st May 2024
Have you watched “Saving Lives at Sea”? Stories of RNLI rescues round the coast of Britain, many very moving. Why do people volunteer for this (and mountain and cave rescue)? Not just for the adrenaline rush, but to feel they have helped people in danger. But they also cope with the down-side. The commonest call-out […]
26th April 2024
The preacher at my ordination service was my College Principal, Revd Dr Barrie White. In a section of his sermon aimed specifically at me, he warned that ministry wouldn’t always be easy. There’d be times when I might feel completely out of my depth, worn out by the responsibility, empty of anything useful to give […]
24th April 2024
This week I received emails suggesting a response to “Earth Day” – I should book train tickets to limit my carbon footprint, or a holiday to go walking in nature! Consume more to help the planet … hmmm? I prefer Sam’s Sunday sermon challenge to us, to get out and look around us at the […]
19th April 2024
Margaret and I recently found ourselves in Little Gidding, a tiny village deep in the Cambridgeshire countryside. It’s where in 1629 Nicholas Ferrar, a high church Anglican layman, founded a small religious community for prayer and meditation. Today Little Gidding owes much of its reputation to the poet T. S. Eliot who visited there in […]
17th April 2024
Peter Higgs, professor of physics at the University of Edinburgh, died this last week. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013 for the discovery of a fundamental particle whose existence he had predicted fifty years earlier. I met Peter when I was a physics student at Edinburgh in the 1990s. He taught me […]
12th April 2024
Now above the sky he’s King. Many of us sang those words recently on Easter Day – the climax of one of the best-known of the Easter hymns: Jesus Christ is risen today with its repeated Alleluias. Really? Above the sky? Then in a few days on Ascension Day we will celebrate Christ’s ascension to […]
10th April 2024
THROW AWAY OR REPAIR Two contrasting forces – first the idea of built-in obsolescence and making something for today which will not last until tomorrow, essential aspects of what Pope Francis has described as our ‘Throw-away Culture’. Contrasted with this there is the old war-time slogan of ‘Make do and mend’, or the work of […]
5th April 2024
Jesus’ resurrection is a pivotal event in our faith. It symbolizes triumph over darkness, hope over despair, and life over death. In an age characterized by scepticism and doubt, the concept of faith may seem antiquated or irrelevant to some. Yet, Easter invites us to reconsider our perceptions and explore the transformative potential of faith […]
Good Friday, 29th March 2024
I find Good Friday an overwhelming event to write on, so I am borrowing a reflection on Psalm 22 from John van de Laar which I have found helpful. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? Ps 22:1 In the […]