Traditions can be good, bad or indifferent and the numerous traditions that have grown up around Easter probably cover all three categories. Pancake Tuesday for example is a wonderfully quaint tradition – using up all the eggs, fat and other perishables in the house to prepare for the Lenten fasts and enjoying a big feed of pancakes in the process. [...]

Jesus at Gesthemane: They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.” And going a little farther, he threw [...]

Heavenly Father, you see how your children hunger for food, and fellowship, and faith. Help us to meet one another’s needs of body, mind and spirit, in the love of Christ our Saviour. O God, giver of life and health, your Son Jesus Christ has called us to hunger and thirst to see right prevail; refresh us with your grace [...]

In the cross God is revealed not as One reigning in calm disdain above all the squalors of the earth, but as one who suffers more keenly than the keenest sufferer – “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” – Oswald Chambers. Through the life of Jesus, God reveals himself as distinctly within the journey of humanity, intimately aware [...]

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us. Share this article…

Autumn and Lent work well together. Cooler and shorter, the days gain an edge, a hint of melancholy magic. We watch trees being stripped of their colour and feel time passing, winter approaching. Lent also has that ascetic edge. We strip away some of our comfort and prepare for Easter – the pilgrimage from pain and death to elation and [...]

What a Hypocrite I AM Dear God, It’s Lent and my sidekick is pointing out how much of a hypocrite I am. You see, we had the possibility of having a nice coffee machine at work that made a latte that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was put to a staff vote and only three of us voted in favour of [...]

Back in 2003 award winning English singer/song writer Dido (real name Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong) put out her second big CD Life for Rent. The title song is a melancholy number about feeling disconnected, unable to commit to love or life. haven’t really ever found a place that I call home I never stick around quite long enough to [...]

For lent today, I want to offer you an icon to reflect on. Iconography is a long held Christian tradition, rich in depth and steeped in history. For the artist, the creation of the icon is an act of worship as every part of the image focusses towards God. In a good icon, no brushstroke is an accident or without [...]

I was reading Galatians recently and was drawn to the phrase in chapter 3, verse 27 “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (NRSV) What did Paul mean by the idea of being clothed with Christ? In Greek thought, to clothe ourselves in another is a very rich metaphor. It refers to a state [...]

The following is taken from Sirach, one of the apocryphal works that is included as part of the scriptural canon according to some Christian traditions, but not others. I will not comment on the authority of the apocryphal works as there is much to be found on the internet on both sides of the argument relating to their authority. I will [...]

One of my favourite books is Thomas A. Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. It is a deeply moving work that has much to meditate on. I was reading through some of the writing where he reflects an inner conversation between Christ and the faithful soul and this struck me, I thought it was very relevant to the fasting aspect of Lent [...]

Last Sunday at Cityside, a beautiful young woman spoke the beatitudes. It was striking for two reasons (neither of these being the fact that she was young and beautiful) – the way she spoke these core teachings directly to us rather than reading them added so much dramatic power – and her choice of The Message version gave, as it [...]

To Pray is to Become There are three main pillars of Lent, practices that we draw on to help shape and grow us. Those three things are fasting (restoration in ourselves), praying (restoration with God) and giving (restoration amongst our neighbours). Today I want to look at the depth of prayer, something often overlooked or sidelined in our lives. The following quote gives [...]

Ever wonder why Lent is 40 days? In the bible 40 days is a convention which crops up all over the place. 40 days of rain floated Noah’s boat. Moses was on the mountain for 40 days. Hebrew scouts explored the promised land for 40 days. And of course Jesus fasted and resisted the devil for forty days in the [...]

A Video The Prayer of St Francis as sung by Sarah McLachlan Share this article…