Background to Rosh Hashanah Leviticus 23: 23-24 The Lord said to Moses, Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei (September […]

“The promises of God are like moulds into which we pour our prayers like liquid metal” Tim Chester, The Message of Prayer  There is something inside the human psyche that is driven to prayer. We pray because we are overwhelmed by the enormity of a task, and equally we pray in response to the beauty […]

Psalm 46: 10 “Be still, and know that I am God”  Most days I write out a prayer to God. It’s not the only prayer I pray throughout the course of a day, but as part of my quiet time I send God an email (or letter) in my journal.  Earlier this week, before I […]

What do you pray about? What sort of things do you bring to God?  Our prayers, or more specifically the content of our prayers so often reflect our priorities and values. In John 17, we get insight into the desire of Jesus for himself, his current disciples and also for us, his future disciples.  For […]

A crowd gathers, wind blows, tongues of fire appear, people miraculously hear the message of Jesus in their own language, and three thousand are added to their number that day.  One of the surprising things about this story is that the extraordinary, explosive growth of the church on this day is almost a footnote. Only […]