A woe is a curse. In the context of Matthew 23. These woes match with the beatitudes, those short sayings at the beginning of the sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 5. The Greek is οὐαί, meaning not only woe, but also alas, not words we use a lot these days. Jesus is not …
Continue reading How not to win friends – Matthew in Advent day 7
In the 1990s British sitcom Keeping up Appearances, Hyacinth Bucket, who insists on her surname being pronounced Bouquet, is a snob despite her family being the kind of person she looks down on. The comedy comes from Mrs Bucket getting into embarrassing predicaments in each episode. Patricia Routledge and Clive Swift as Hyacinth and Richard …
Continue reading Keeping up Appearances – Matthew in Advent day 6
“If we do an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we will be a blind and toothless nation.” Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, waving to the crowd at a civil rights protest in Washington DC.Picture used under a Creative Commons licence. The Gospel of Matthew is written as a series of …
Continue reading Sweating the small stuff – Matthew in Advent day 5
It has become an increasingly common sight these days to see padlocks fastened to bridges where there is a metal handrail. While I find it sweet for couples to leave a momento of their love, the traditional way was to carve it into a tree trunk, this new way has problems, ornate wrought iron work …
Continue reading Oath is a four letter swear word – Matthew in Advent day 4
Holy Trinity Church, HuddersfieldSunday 19th November, 2020 I usually have few problems with email. However the one which normally gave links to the services which arrives on a Sunday morning. Scrolling the window and refreshing did not help, it appears nothing had arrived since 9 PM last night. This did not stop me getting in …
In the Bible a covenant is given and there are a series of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. This was as true for business agreements as it was for religious laws. Moses on Deuteronomy 28. An example from thet is this: 4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of …
A few years ago I attended a Christmas meal at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, home of the Dukes of Devonshire. Not dining with the Duke, unfortunately, nor in the dining room of the great house itself, but in rooms in a converted stables. Still this was a level of luxury that I am not accostomed …
Continue reading Heaven, mansion or shack? – Matthew in Advent day 2
Holy Trinity Church, HuddersfieldSunday 22nd November 2020 The lych gate of Holy Trinity HuddersfieldThe caption reads: AD 1884"Praise Ye the LORD. Praise God in his Sanctuary" I had a quieter week this week, the sermon on Sabbath last week must have done the trick. After last week I was all zoomed out, meeting on Zoom …
In the book "Why democracies die" by Harvard University political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, coup-d'etat is not the most likely way. That, they say, is when the views of the opposition are no longer tolerated,. This tolerance involves accepting the results of a free and fair election where the opposition has won, in contrast with advocacy for overthrow or spurious …
This blog post was written before the recent news about several vaccines being in a late stage of development, and may be ready for large scale distribution in the spring. There is even more reason to be optimistic than when I wrote this. This is not the new normal Some people are saying that this, …
