Reflections – Page 27 – stfrancischurchtairuanz

Why?

Why do bad things happen to good people? seems to be the question asked of Jesus.
This is an age-old question, isn’t it. I suppose to ask “why” is to be human. We can’t help ourselves; we want to understand. We want to make sense of the world. We want our lives to be logical, reasonable, orderly, sane. Of course, not all the whys of the world are bad; some can lead to really positive outcomes – an example being Sir Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin. … [To read more, click on title]

Our citizenship is in heaven

These are troubling times, and if you’re anything like me you’ll have a heightened sense of anxiety about just what is going on in the world. Not anxious, not fearful … maybe just a bit unsettled. This is not the world we were living in ten years ago. I don’t need to list things, really, but – you know – Ukraine, the threat of a third world war, oil prices and inflation, Covid, global warming, divisions in society, violent protests, fake news … what is going on, and how should we be reacting?… [To read more, click on title]

Wesley Day

Let us try to go back to 24 May 1738, to the City of London, where we discover an anxious young clergyman called John Wesley, aged 35. He has just returned from a two-year appointment as a missionary in the American colony of Georgia. For various reasons, this placement had ended as an embarrassing failure and caused him, John to question his vocation as a minister and indeed whether he was truly a Christian at all. [To read more, click on the title]

Sermon on the Plain

Jesus gives us a stern warning. It comes in the last part of Luke 6:37, followed by v38: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.” Then comes the crunch. “… for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” These words could be daunting, but, if the following guidelines are observed, then we should have no problems …. [too read more, click on title]