“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”

These words, the last words of Jesus on the cross before he died, changed everything for everybody for all time. We may never fully understand, but we can, as we look forward to Easter Sunday, read, pray, meditate and rejoice. John Grayston in today’s SU WordLive leads us through the levels of understanding of the [...]

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The Passion of Christ

How do you respond to scenes of extreme violence? The opening words as I read SU WordLive this morning. “How do you respond to scenes of extreme violence?” It is a very sober treatment of the passage in Mark 15:16-20 when the Roman soldiers torture Jesus cruelly and viciously before he was taken off to [...]

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Dealing with Bin Laden

Basically I’ve avoided blogging on the recent death of Osama Bin Laden. Like many others that I encounter on the blogosphere, on Twitter, on Facebook, in general conversation – I am uncomfortable with what has happened and how it has happened. I don’t think I have any wisdom to add, so I’m just going to [...]

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Easter is about everything!

I sat in church a few Sundays ago enjoying the singing. The focus was on the coming celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection – but something was bothering me ever so slightly. Too many lines in the songs seemed to focus on Easter being about personal salvation! Somehow it didn’t seem quite right to me… [...]

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Good Friday: a Roman soldier remembers… again

Last Easter my local church Saintfield Road Presbyterian Church, Belfast staged a musical called Stauros in the church on two nights. I was part of the 50+ choir along with an 11 piece band and a team of readers. Being involved gave me  a fresh perspective on the Easter Story and a new appreciation and [...]

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He has risen!

“You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen!” Mark 16:6 Although Jesus had told his followers what would happen, they were all totally unprepared for the events of that Sunday morning. Look at their reactions (vs 8,11,13,14). They need help! So through his messenger (vs 5–7) God provides: ● A [...]

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Good Friday: a Roman soldier remembers

Stauros is, of course, the Greek word for cross. My local church Saintfield Road Presbyterian Church, Belfast staged Stauros in the church on two nights last weekend. I was part of the 50+ choir along with an 11 piece band and a team of readers. Being involved has given me (and many others) a renewed [...]

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“Hail, king of the Jews!”

It was, of course, one of the most irony laden acclamations in history! The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to [...]

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