My first recollections of the Antichrist were from the 1970s horror film “The Omen”. I was a kid then, and such talk gave me nightmares for days. Are such threats real? Firstly, lets nail down what a Christian might be. We can use many definitions, but theologian N.T. Wright’s characterisation of loyalty to Christ is […]
URC Daily Devotion 12th June 2019
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world …”Hang on! Hang on! I thought we were meant to love this world in which we live, from God’s beautiful creation to all the messiness which we humans have managed to […]
URC Daily Devotion 11th June 2019
If you are an insomniac like me you might have seen the “infomercials” that run on certain channels late at night. Watch long enough and you will find yourself wondering how you ever managed to navigate life without a solar-powered-salad-spinner. The infomercials’ sales pitch works hard to convince you that their product is for everyone, […]
URC Daily Devotion 10th June 2019
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light […]
URC Daily Devotion 9th June 2019
Today is Pentecost Sunday, and Psalm 100 is a good thematic match. In services today, we will probably hear Acts 2, when God’s Church burst into life! The excitement in that reading is palpable. How do we respond? Psalm 100 gives us inspiration. This Psalm has inspired many hymns/songs through the centuries: e.g. “All People […]
URC Daily Devotion 8th June 2019
Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of […]
URC Daily Devotion 7th June 2019
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. […]
URC Daily Devotion 6th June 2019
This is a familiar passage for many of us because it is often a go-to text for prayers of confession (see, for example, Rejoice & Sing no.3). We are all sinners, and if we claim not to be we are lying to ourselves – being Christians doesn’t stop us being as flawed as any other […]
URC Daily Devotion 5th June 2019
When we moved to a new area and found that we needed to find some tradespeople to do a number of jobs that we could not do ourselves, what did we do? We could have looked at Yellow Pages or some other directory, or Checkatrade which claims to have unbiased reports on local firms. However, […]
Devotions on 1, 2 and 3 John
Dear <<First Name>> I hope you found the series looking at the Lord’s prayer helpful – it’s always good to think about a prayer we use week after week, often day after day. We are grateful to Michael Hopkins for spending so much time in preparing that series. For the next few weeks a variety of […]