For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we […]
URC Daily Devotion 15th December
In these times,when we feel like exiles in a foreign land… In these times,as we hanker after an age that felt so much clearer than the confused and uncertain now… In these times,the great and glorious past (the days of packed churches, world peace, community as family, children safely playing in the streets…)calls to us […]
URC Daily Devotion 14th December
In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the […]
URC Daily Devotion 13th September
The Book of Zephaniah is all about judgement and deliverance, but chapter three, the context of our verse for today, concentrates on the former, revealing precious little hope of deliverance for Jerusalem. ‘Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled’ (3:1) because: ‘She obeys no one, she accepts no correction. She does not trust […]
URC Daily Devotions 12th December
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,and you will not listen?Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails.The […]
URC Daily Devotion 11th December
Living in central London often feels like a strangely absurd and irrational experience. I would argue that London is the greatest city in the history of the world. On its best days, London foreshadows many of the realities of the New Jerusalem — a city where the nations live side-by-side in unity and reflect the […]
URC Daily Devotions 10th December The Second Sunday of Advent
The LORD’s my saviour and my light—who will make me dismayed?The LORD’s the stronghold of my life—why should I be afraid? When evildoers threaten meto take my life away,My adversaries and my foeswill stumble in that day. Although an army hems me in,my heart will feel no dread;Though war against me should arise,I will lift […]
URC Daily Devotion 9th December
“With what shall I come before the Lord,and bow myself before God on high?Shall I come before the Lord with burnt offeringswith calves a year old?Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,.with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,the fruit of my body for the sin […]
URC Daily Devotions 8th December
When God said to him, “What right do you have to be angry about the plant?” Jonah replied, “I have every right to be angry—angry enough to die!” The Lord said to him, “This plant grew up in one night and disappeared the next; you didn’t do anything for it and you didn’t make it […]
URC Daily Devotion 7th December
For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, all the nations around you shall drink; they shall drink and gulp down, and shall be […]