Comfortable or Commissioned?

As we start a New Year (2021), we tend to reflect on what has gone before (and 2020 was such an unusual year, this may take longer than normal!) as well as look ahead, making plans and resolutions. The end of one year and the beginning of another – actually nothing...

Assumptions

What happens when you make assumptions? ‘Assume makes an ass of U and Me’, the saying goes, and this can be so true. In Acts 21 and 22, we see the dangers that are inherent in assumptions. The Jewish crowd assumed, without taking the trouble to check, that Paul had...

Defending Yourself

In the latter part of the book of Acts, Paul has to defend himself from accusations of sedition and rebellion before a variety of people (crowds, Felix, Festus, Agrippa) and as a result we hear the story of his conversion at least three times. The Greek word for...

Before & After

Acts 22:1-21 is Paul’s testimony to the crowds in Jerusalem and we see once again how conversion gives us a clear ‘before and after’ story. Paul’s life before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus was exemplary from a Jewish point of view. His Jewish...

Holy Defiance & A Steady Heart

Ps 112 is a wonderful psalm which speaks into our current situation where we feel uncertain, afraid and anxious because of the constant barrage of bad news we face each day. It starts with praise (‘Hallelujah’) and as Ps 89:15 reminds us, we are blessed...