Search Results
52 Reflections on Faith - Harvest: Saying “thank you”
52 Reflections on Faith - Harvest: Saying “thank you”
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Harvest: Saying “thank you” It’s always a good idea for parents to teach their children to say ‘thank you’. There are particular times when it’s appropriate, such as when receiving birthday or Christmas presents or when someone has gone out of their way to be helpful. It’s also i…
52 Reflections on Faith - Jesus the good shepherd: Door of the sheep
52 Reflections on Faith - Jesus the good shepherd: Door of the sheep
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Jesus the good shepherd: Door of the sheep When I worked in the Holy Land with St George’s College, Jerusalem, we often took groups to the Sinai desert to camp overnight under the stars on the way down to St Catherine’s monastery…
52 Reflections on Faith - Icons: Looking through a window
52 Reflections on Faith - Icons: Looking through a window
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Icons: Looking through a window Icons can be a very powerful aid to prayer. They’re mostly found in Greek, Russian and other Orthodox churches but in the last few decades they’ve started to appear in the UK in Anglican churches and cathedrals…
52 Reflections on Faith - Humility: The compassionate life
52 Reflections on Faith - Humility: The compassionate life
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Humility: The compassionate life ‘Can’t you have a bit of humility?’ ‘Can’t you back off sometimes?’ ‘Do you always have to have the last word?’ ‘Who do you think you are?’ How often have we said these words to someone, in a moment of anger, in an argument with a spouse, perhaps,…
52 Reflections on Faith - Wisdom: Christ himself
52 Reflections on Faith - Wisdom: Christ himself
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Wisdom: Christ himself Late one evening, as I stood outside one of my churches in Essex talking to a churchwarden, he suddenly said, ‘Listen, I think that’s an owl.’ We craned our necks and pricked our ears into the night for a moment, hoping for another ‘hoot’, but alas it didn’…
52 Reflections on Faith - Transfiguration: shining with God’s love
52 Reflections on Faith - Transfiguration: shining with God’s love
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Transfiguration: shining with God’s love Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the whole world were to shine with the love of God? That sounds idealistic, doesn’t it? If anyone actually said that, you might wonder whether they had read the newspapers lately or were at all aware of what was…
52 Reflections on Faith - Epiphany: The fourth wise man
52 Reflections on Faith - Epiphany: The fourth wise man
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Epiphany: The fourth wise man The feast of the Epiphany on 6 January is a celebration of the ‘manifestation’ or ‘shining’ of Christ to the Gentiles. In the Eastern churches it’s also Christmas Day. The baptism of Christ is another closely associated feast. In the Western imaginat…
52 Reflections on Faith - Love your enemies: Israelis and Palestinians
52 Reflections on Faith - Love your enemies: Israelis and Palestinians
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Love your enemies: Israelis and Palestinians It’s well known that Christianity tells us to love our neighbours. The expression ‘love thy neighbour’ has a special place in the English language and there was once a British TV sitcom with exactly that title…
52 Reflections on Faith - Jesus the teacher: words and deeds
52 Reflections on Faith - Jesus the teacher: words and deeds
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Jesus the teacher: words and deeds We can probably all remember particular teachers we had at school. Some stick in the mind as ‘good teachers’, but we probably remember others because we didn’t like them, got on the wrong side of them or were hopeless at their subjects…
52 Reflections on Faith - Light: Standing in the river
52 Reflections on Faith - Light: Standing in the river
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Light:Standing in the river One evening as I sit in my study, reading by a table lamp, a wasp hovers overhead for a moment, then makes for the light bulb. Finding the bulb hot, it moves to the inside of the shade and settles in the warm glow of the light…
52 Reflections on Faith - The ten commandments: Doing what you like
52 Reflections on Faith - The ten commandments: Doing what you like
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
The ten commandments: Doing what you like The fourth-century North African bishop St Augustine once wrote, ‘Love and do what you will’, which is often rendered ‘Love God and do what you like.’ It sounds ideal— as if there were no moral requirements made of us as Christians…
52 Reflections on Faith - Remembrance: Hope against hope