In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city […]
URC Daily Devotion 24th December 2018
Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy: ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.He has raised up a mighty saviour for us in the house of his servant David,as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from […]
URC Daily Devotion 23rd December 2018
O my people, hear my teaching;parables I will unfold.Give attention as I utterdark and hidden things of old—things that we have heard and known;by our fathers they were shown. We will tell them to our children,generations yet to come;We will show the LORD’s great powerand the wonders he has done.Laws for Israèl he made,statutes firm […]
URC Daily Devotion 22nd December 2018
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 […]