Articles

How often should we celebrate the Eucharist? Why do Roman Catholics, most Anglicans, many Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians have a weekly Eucharist (Holy Communion) and most other churches a monthly, quarterly or even annual Holy Supper? The Anglican way to approach such questions is to turn to the Bible, to tradition and to reason. [...]

Divine healing and other miracles         – part 1 Some time ago I was triggered by a text we read during a Wednesday evening Healing Service, from Mark, chapter 6. It made me think, study and pray about the nature of healing. I found 5 aspects of divine healing (and indeed of all miracles) in the [...]

The other day, in one of our Wednesday evening Healing Services, we read the following text from St. Mark, chapter 6. “He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did [...]

J.C. Arnold has collected a number of stories from survivors of the Enschede and Volendam disasters in a book called “To retaliate or to forgive”. In the advertisement for this book our options – when confronted with injustice and suffering – are described differently, “We either keep harbouring resentment or we forgive the other person. [...]

The words “blessing” and “to bless” are used a lot in Church, and in a variety of meanings. But what is the essence of these concepts, and where do they come from? The English word “blessing” comes from the old Teutonic (Germanic) word ‘bletsian’, meaning “blood sacrifice”. But its meaning changed when it was used [...]

In these dark times before Christmas we traditionally pay attention to glimmers of light heralding the great light that came into the world. But as Halloween, All Saints / All souls, Remembrance Sunday and even Advent demonstrate, we also pay some attention to darkness and death itself. After all, we are expecting something that is [...]