man with fireworks

Our New (300th) Year: What Are Our Hopes And Dreams For It?

January 2, 2022Posted inSermons1 Comment
Our first reading today comes from the Book of Ecclesiastes, said to be by the pseudonymous author Qohelet [Koh-HEL-ith] – this is a very odd book of the Bible in many ways. I never cease to be amused by the stances various biblical commentaries have on this book. One of the Anchor Bible commentaries on the book opens with the following: “Ecclesiastes is the strangest book in the Bible.”

New Year: Predictions and Perspectives

January 3, 2021Posted inSermons
About a week ago, my Dad forwarded me an article that he found highly amusing. It was published on the website of the Daily Mirror with the headline ‘Nostradamus terrifying predictions for 2021’. Now I’m know that the tabloid press is commonly perceived as having no aversion to kicking people while they are down, however to do such to the hopes of an entire population first struck me as being in bad taste and highly frivolous. It still strikes me as very frivolous, but we might be able to use it to our advantage. It is, after all, a very useful and, depending on one’s sense of humour, fun, way to think about the future.