“The more you spend your time in the ordinary streets, the more extraordinary things you will learn!” Mehmet Murat ildan It’s a challenging time here in this little corner of the Middle East. Tensions throughout Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories continue to be high, no one is sure what the new Israeli government will…
What’s in a tradition?
As I wrote ‘The Christmas Lamp’ I realized that tradition is priceless, whether you have a small family, a large family, or no family.Tradition doesn’t have to be logical; it only has to emphasize the light of Christ and his everlasting love. Lori Copeland “The Christmas Lamp” Last weekend I was blessed to attend the…
Transforming Charity
Preached in Jerusalem, Sunday 7th August 2022 Isaiah 1:1 & 10-20 | St Luke 12: 32-40 Open our ears, O Lord, to hear your word and know your voice. Speak to our hearts and strengthen our wills, that we may serve you now and always. Amen Money, it’s something most of us would like more…
“Quiet is peace”
“Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it. – Amir” The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini At a time when events around the world weigh heavily on all of us every day, it is more important than ever…
Sitting in Tension
Faith isn’t just Good Friday and Easter Sunday; faith is awkward Saturday too. So much is sitting in that tomb with the soon-to-be resurrected Lord. It’s so dark. So damp. So scary. The silence is deafening. But there is hope in there. A.J. Swoboda, A Glorious Dark: Finding Hope in the Tension between Belief and Experience…
Following the road less travelled
A reflection for The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jerusalem. January 2022 Psalm 16 & Matthew 11:25-30 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen Journeys are hard, physical ones especially now in the time of…
Stop and listen
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. James 1:19 How often do we take the time to just stop and listen to the world around us? I don’t mean stopping and listening for something specific or expected, I mean…
“What does love look like? Not like this”
Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them. Dalai Lama There are times when words just don’t seem like enough. The more I write, the more anger, frustration, hopelessness, and helplessness pours out onto the page – this is a blog post…
Exploring the Road to Emmaus
The following piece is a short exploration of the narrative around the Road to Emmaus written for a Symposium on Scriptural Reasoning which took place in late January 2020 in Jerusalem. Luke 24 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the…
“Compassion is the chief law of human existence.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“Man’s inhumanity to man,” the words from Robert Burns’ poem Man was made to mourn: A Dirge (1784) are heard often when we speak of injustices carried out by people to other people.
ThinkingAllowed 