December has come and we are well into celebrating the four words of Advent. Four Sundays before Christmas we hear the message again and again – rightly so. We need it. We need to be washed in the water of the Word to be cleansed and ready for the Feast. We give the content to our Christmas celebrations; we make contact with others…
Tag: hope
235. The Future – again
It is not very often during a year that we contemplate the piece of future ahead of us like around New Year every year. It is only natural. It is valuable to meditate on the year past. We meditate with God in mind, not emptying our thoughts like eastern meditation encourages. Christian meditation urges “fulness of thought” – full of…
227. The Answer
The whole world demands answers! The questions are too many and too hard. The responses to the bigger issues and so-called answers come fast and furious with confusion and violence in their wake. The leaders contend with overwhelming appeals. They reach out for earthly wisdom, established ideology and unproved snap-answers that are being forced on a confused population…
226. Everything is under control
This old world van never hold me, any moment I’ll be gone. I have made my consecration and I have my “wedding garments” on. These are the words of an old song. Our world feels timeworn and feeble. Our planet is overweight with desperation, destruction, and deprivation, hungry for relief and restoration and overwhelmed with burning issues aimed at…
220. Pebbles for the footpaths
Stones, rocks and pebbles speak to me. They always have. I had collections of rocks and pebbles that adorned my shelves where other people would place a souvenir or ornament. I read about the significance of Joshua’s altar on the banks of the Jordan with river stones from the middle of the river that looked and felt different…
198. Christmas Communion
[Christmas 2020] What would you choose as a gift this Christmas? Do you feel that Christmas has been stolen from you or cancelled just because you cannot make merry in the same way you always do? The tiring old story of the virus just does not go away. It rages on into “my” December. I like December – always. My…
196. Planning for abundance
November is upon us. Most of us still feel as if the Sword of Damocles is hanging over us. World events, politics and pandemic policy all contribute to the stress of this year. The second wave, more lockdowns, more masks and in the northern hemisphere the icy fingers of winter restrict life. Most people are looking forward to…
195. Sensitive senses
It is almost the end of October of this most extraordinary of years that we call 2020 and mark as the beginning of a new decade. Just three months into the beginning of another year full of plans and regular life, the governments of the world made regulations to limit personal freedom, travel and business –…
188. The Pathway of Praise
So, things are opening up, eh? Here in my city the roads are busier and I am grateful. Yes, I am grateful for traffic. It is a sign of normality. I did not like the silence. The deserted streets, the closed businesses, the ghostly masked figures in the supermarket who avoids even eye contact were…
173. Future time – let’s look forward
[New Year 2020] Indeed, it is that time of the year again. Christmas is over and we enjoy the lull of activities before the storm of responsibilities of a year ahead put us back into bustle-mode. The days after Christmas are our opportunity to calm down and enjoy the feeling of satisfaction over the last year…
Pebbles of Perpetuity 