The Book of Daniel

Dear <<First Name>> I hope you found Alan Spence’s reflects on the Holy Trinity helpful – it’s often good to look at what we believe and think about how we can better articulate those things. For the next month or so we will be turning to the Book of Daniel.  This is an interesting yet, in places, […]

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URC Daily Devotion 13th July 2019

The early Christians were confronted with a number of realities which were theologically perplexing but nevertheless integral elements of their shared faith. They were monotheists who believed that God was one. Yet they offered divine worship to Jesus Christ as Lord, risen from the dead. And in their communal worship they experienced personally the Holy […]

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URC Daily Devotion 12 July 2019

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very […]

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URC Daily Devotion 11th July 2019

Hebrews was written to a dispersed community of Jewish Christians who were apparently being tempted to downplay their recently professed Christian faith and return to the security of their religious past. To counter this tendency the author of the letter encourages his readers to reflect on the significance of the person and work of Jesus. […]

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URC Daily Devotion 9th July  2019

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,who, though he was in the form of God,did not regard equality with Godas something to be exploited,but emptied himself,taking the form of a slave,being born in human likeness.And being found in human form,he humbled himselfand became obedient to the point of death—even death […]

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URC Daily Devotion 8th July 2019

As Jewish children are tucked into bed at night many are taught to recite the words above. Jews call these verses ‘the Shema’ and it remains a central feature of their daily devotions. The prayer affirms the essential unity of God, so important an idea for the faith of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. It is […]

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URC Daily Devotion 7th July 2019

1 Praise the LORD, my soul, O praise him!LORD my God, you are so great!2 Wrapped in light as with a garment,clothed in majesty and state.Like a tent he spreads the heavens,3 and above the waters thereSets the framework of his dwelling,making it an upper layer. He makes clouds of heav’n his chariot;on the wings […]

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URC Daily Devotion 6th July 2019

Short letter, long division? This short letter highlights some painful tensions in church life. There are two names in today’s verses, who never surface elsewhere in the Bible. All that we know about them is here, in and (to some extent hypothetically) between the lines. Diotrephes (9) appears to be a local church leader, who […]

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URC Daily Devotion 5th July 2019

The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.  I was overjoyed when some of the friends arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, namely, […]

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URC Daily Devotion 4th July 2019

It’s hardly surprising that the early Christians were victims of false and confused messages spread by the ‘many deceivers’ whom John mentions here. After all Christianity was new and the message of love, and a Kingdom where everyone looked after everyone else, was utterly counter-cultural. It was fertile ground for the heretics who spread inaccurate […]

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