Word Studies: Why Did He Do That? – The Temptation and Baptism of Jesus – According to Luke

It was great just recently spending time as a community considering the account in Luke’s gospel of when Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness and was tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1-13). We wondered what God might be saying to us today through these words, as we reflected on the parts of the passage…

Rewilding The Dales – Part 3: The Great Rewilder

Farmed fields, even those sown with mixed crops, sustain only a few species of plants and animals compared to their wild equivalent. Our heather-capped moors similarly support a shorter list of living things than the mixed forests that once covered these hills. Equally, the Biblical vision for the church was always for a community where…

Rewilding The Dales – Part 2: Church

If the idea of rewilding our countryside evokes emotive images, both positive and negative, with many of us who live and work in and around these Dales, then the notion of rewilding the church of the Dales is equally likely to elicit emotional responses. If you like to imagine how things might be in the…

A Prayer For You: For The Dales

I pray for the Dales every day. Will you join me in praying for these northern Yorkshire Dales? Proudly called “God’s own county”, Yorkshire was once a place filled with folk whose faith in God inspired them to love their families, help their neighbours, serve their communities, work hard and appreciate the benefits of living…

Turning Tables and Temples

Isn’t it amazing what you can see through an image formed in an artist’s imagination and the graphic crafted by the skill of their hands? My thanks go to Chris Bambrough for his skill and for allowing me to share the picture he created. The Jerusalem temple was certainly one of the ancient world’s most…