"All we can give back and all God wants from any of us," writes Richard Rohr in his book, Falling Upwards: A Spirituality for the Two Halfs of Life, "is to humbly and proudly return the pr
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So, my wife asked me evening. ‘Do you ever think about dying? Hmmm. Good question in this day of pandemic pandemonium, uncertainty and fear.
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An old tractor in my friend, Bill's barn. Like all of us, it has a few years and miles on it and now it waits for winter in the steel quonset barn. We get to wait in warmer, nicer surroundings.
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The moments, days and years go by quickly. - All too quickly it often seems.
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"Since I am coming to that holy room,
Where, with thy choir of saints for evermore,
I shall be thy music; as I come
I tune the instrument here at the door,
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Ontario winter,
and roots in black soil of century past,
white covered, snow laden.
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I once heard well-known Christian speaker and writer Tony Compolo encourage a room frull of Christians to live life to the full.
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Unlike the warmth and splendour enjoyed and even taken for granted in some parts of the world, at present, my garden and environs are encased in the cold white and grey of winter.
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Every year a few scraggly tulips come up in our front garden. We never planted them. There was only one there our first spring, years ago now.
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I may think and respond in 360 degrees, but my father was able to think and create in 3D. I envy that ability.
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“Teach us to number our days that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom.” – Psalm 90: 12
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Lambshead – interesting name, that.
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Year ago now, British author Dorothy Sayers wrote a murder mystery of this title - 'Whose Body?'. That title helps us also, to explore the doctrine of the incarnation.
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Really, fear is selfishness. We are concerned too much about what others think of us – how am I doing? Will I fit in? Will they laugh at me? Will others see my failure and take pleasure in it?
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The following information about the Barber Family of Fressingfield, Suffolk, England is gathered from The Bohun of Fressingfield Cartulary, Edited by Bridget Welss-Furry in the series Suff
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In "Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church," (HarperOne), Canon N.T. Wright claims that God is redeeming THIS creation.
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God’s Heaven’s near, a Throne holds sway
Close to creation’s sphere,
And there are places thin, that cry
This is God's world, His Presence near.
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Resurrection and Ascension – Because He lives, we shall live also; because He was raised, so shall we be. Already Christ, the first of a new race has entered fully into the New Creation.
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I have just discovered the following - and I think it's a huge advance.
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One doesn't hear so much of late about 'emergence' in Christian Church talk.
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We join in worship, angels 'round the Throne
To worship Him whose death made us His own
With elders, saints and martyrs in that Room -
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One day I mourned; it could have been any day and in many places in our broken world.
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A Hymn - a Prayer for the Holy Spirit to come and bring fresh renewal to God's People and through them to the world.
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In the Autumn of 2012, I visited Co Wicklow, Ireland, to the ancestral home and townlands related to my Willoughby family ancestors.
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"Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the soil, it abides alone,” said Jesus.
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As with most great books and authors, one can re-read them with new insight and increased profit time and again.
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My longing is that we may see in local churches join in the creation of a missional movement, comprised of new mission-shaped atmosphere and ethos.
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Hebrews 2:11 – “Both the one who makes mankind holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”
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