#2 - Usefulness

Tuesday 26 Sep, 2023

There’s a guy on Youtube who releases videos of useless inventions that he has come up with, personally I think he has too much time on his hands, but they do make for a good laugh. He’s created crocs for your hands, an umbrella for your phone and what he calls flop flips (flip flops with an inverted sole that make your footprints look like you’re walking backwards). His inventions are useless and there’s no point in keeping them.

I’m not a huge fan of keeping …

#1 - Christian Character

Friday 1 Sep, 2023

Great things come in small packages. You’ve probably heard that before; I remember saying it once as a child when someone called me short. Some of life’s most life-changing moments come in small things. An engagement ring in a small box, a gift through the post, a job contract folded in an envelope. In our current stage of life, I would probably say that babies come packaged up quite small but are definitely life-altering.

Over the next three instalments of the Pastor’s Pen articles we’re going …

Part 2: The preparation that we all need!

Friday 30 Jun, 2023

Whenever you go away from home, for any length of time preparations need to be made. If you’re going on a road trip you need good music, snacks and a wee bottle of Irn Bru (if you’re like me). If you’re going on a bigger trip you need to pack a suitcase and you normally spend time chasing others around the house, double checking that they’ve packed everything they need for the trip. Sound familiar?

Whenever we go away, we need to prepare. That’s what Jesus is doing in John 14-15, He is preparing …

Part 1: A suffering Saviour who cares for the good of His own

Thursday 1 Jun, 2023

I remember sitting my driver’s license theory test and one of the elements of it was the hazard perception test. You sit in front of a computer screen and are shown numerous video clips of everyday road traffic scenes with a developing hazard. You then identify it and act accordingly, to ensure your safety and the safety of those around you.

As we’ve started our series in John 13-17, I’ve been thinking about that test again. Jesus knows very well that, as He concludes His earthly ministry (John …

Part 4: Love the Lost

Monday 1 May, 2023

In some ways love is easy. Whether it’s loving a friend you grew up with playing together in the park, or a friend that you met at school and you share the same interests so you naturally get along and build a good and close friendship. There are some people you just naturally get along with more and that makes loving them easy. But what about those who we perceive to be different? That’s where it gets a little bit trickier doesn’t it?

Think about loving people who have different political …

Part 3: Love His People

Saturday 1 Apr, 2023

The local church is a place that has always fascinated me. At its most basic level the church is a collection of people from different backgrounds, cultures, countries and languages all gathered together to praise God, to fellowship with one another, and to grow together as we are pointed to Jesus through the teaching of His Word. The thing that has always intrigued me is that the local church is a mixed bag of people but at the same time a group of people that are united in their love for Jesus …

Part 2: Love His Word

Wednesday 1 Mar, 2023

One of the books that our 20s-30s reading group recently read together is the well-known Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. If you’ve not read it yet, you must! It’s a phenomenal book that takes you on the adventure of the life of a man called Christian, the ups and downs, the highs and lows. Ultimately it is a story about the life of every Christian. John Bunyan was a man so steeped in Scripture that Charles Sturgeon said that he was a living Bible and that if you cut him he’d bleed Scripture. …

Part 1: Love the Lord

Wednesday 1 Feb, 2023

What characterises the life of a Christian? Your answer will largely depend on your experience. You may say that a Christian is characterised by following certain traditions, by obeying certain norms within Christian-culture. You may jump to actions and think about Bible reading, church attendance, prayer and other kinds of Christian disciplines. But at the very core being a Christian means following Jesus and becoming more like Him, it also means being characterised by the love that we have …