Let the water and the blood... Words from Rock of ages, written by the wonderfully named Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady. The song takes it's imagery from a gorge in Southern England, where Toplady sheltered from a storm, from the rock that was struck in the desert and from which water flowed during the Israelites' Exodus from …
…and round his piercèd feet
...and round his piercèd feet fair flowers of paradise extend... The words are from the hymn Crown him with many crowns by Matthew Bridges. Then there's this from Psalm 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The footstool is where the king puts …
Hands that flung stars into space
Hands that flung stars into space... ...To cruel nails surrendered Words from Graham Kendrick's song The Servant King. Jesus who John's Gospel tells us "Created everything there is, nothing exists he did not make," (Living Bible) When Mel Gibson made the film The Passion of the Christ, the hand you see nailing Jesus to the …
…or thorns compose so rich a crown
...or thorns compose so rich a crown A kine from Isaac Watts hymn When I survey the wonderous cross. A crown of thorns would have been very painful. But this was mot about pain or torture, this was mockery. And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they …
What will Jesus do next?
Palm Sunday Sunday 9th April, 2007, Holy Trinity, Huddersfield. As usual when talking about a service these are my impressions after the event. I have taken no notes or anything to fall back on. This was a family service, so there was a talk to the children and a drama rather than a reading. There …
Whipped and stripped
They whipped and they stripped Not a sequel to 50 shades of grey, but my reflections from memory of the Lent course from Holy Trinity Huddersfield, based of the wounds of Christ. The first of which took its title from the song Lord of the dance. Before Jesus was whipped he would have been beaten, …
…and so it ends. (Almost)
Way back on Ash Wednesday I blogged that I was unlikely to blog 40 times during Lent due to the fatigue I was feeling at the time. Now I am more optimistic. With 7 days left and 7 blogs to go the target is in sight.
Seek ye first… (Haiku)
To follow Jesus: Do not seek your comfort, seek the kingdom of God
Above and Beyond
Above and beyond what? Holy Trinity Huddersfield, Sunday 2 April 2017 I don't know how to blog this, as it was a very internal thing. What follows is more or less my first draft. I was aiming for it to be more upbeat. It was delivered in a worship service and worship was what it …
What if?
Don't worry about a thing “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither …
Making an ass of myself 