Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. […]
URC Daily Devotion 21st December 2018
Throughout Advent we reflect on the Nativity; many will have been involved in Nativity plays with children over the last few weeks, whether it be directly in church or school, or, indirectly, as someone who has been to watch children perform. Often in these plays Mary is presented as meek and mild, yet, if we […]
URC Daily Devotion 20th December 2018
Why the haste? Was Mary bursting to tell the news? A young pregnant unmarried mother with her story of a divine conception? If so, why the rush to go to her kinswoman’s house some distance away? It was surely a story worth telling firstly to her Nazareth relations and neighbours? But no, Mary chose to […]
URC Daily Devotion 19th December 2018
I don’t know about you, but I’ve often wondered exactly what Mary was doing when Gabriel turned up that day. Of one thing I am sure – she didn’t expect what happened. The angel arrives and tells her that her whole life is about to turn completely upside down. Perplexed doesn’t begin to cut it […]
Daily Devotion 18th December 2018
Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly […]
St Luke’s Gospel
Dear <<First Name>> We have now finished our long journey through the Saul – David – Solomon saga. Well done for sticking with the story, the long readings and, I hope, the interesting practical reflections on them. We try to alternate between Old and New Testament and mix various styles of writing. When looking at the […]
Daily Devotion 16th December 2018
I cried aloud to God for help;I prayed that God would hear.When I was plunged in deep distress,I sought the Lord in prayer. At night I stretched untiring hands,relief my soul refused.Rememb’ring you, O God, I groanedwith longing as I mused. In my distress I could not speak;from sleep you kept my eye.I thought about […]
Daily Devotion 15th December 2018
The plot thickens The warning given to Solomon was crystal clear. If you stay on track then the Temple will be hallowed and the succession is secure. If not then the House, the Temple and the Dynasty will fall. Actions have consequences. And here is the unfolding of that warning. Jeroboam is an outsider and […]
Daily Devotion 14th December 2018
King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the Israelites, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you; for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods;’ […]
Daily Devotion 13th December 2018
Seldom, it seems, has a woman, about whom we know so little, caught the imaginations of so many. If we pare back the myths that have grown up around her we have left a core of information which is, nonetheless, very significant. She is a woman of some personal resource whether a queen in her […]