Jim’s Blog

  The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is an unwelcome adventure but adventure none-the-less. The Oxford dictionary calls an adventure “a daring enterprise; a hazardous activity”, which this crisis certainly is. No doubt it’s “hazardous”,  but there are also many elements of “enterprise”.   There are several burgeoning medical breakthroughs in potential vaccines, repurposing of proven anti-retrovirals; and […]

John the Baptist – Matthew 3:1-12 (Part 2) For sure his lifestyle was similar to theirs (referring to desert holy men). And his message had parallel aspects as well. These Essenes saw themselves as “end-time” heralds of a coming war between “the Sons of Darkness and the Sons of Light”. The end was near. Their […]

We’ve just come through the Passover/Easter week even while in the grip of Covid-19. This has been a Holy Week like none other-ever. Imagine online Easter services and Passover by Zoom! No need to imagine. It happened.   The underlying life lesson in this anomaly is how much we need each other. Whether sacred services, […]

John the Baptist – Matthew 3:1-12 (Part 1) Jesus’ cousin John (the “Baptist” as he became known) was just a few months older and unlike Jesus had spent most of his young adult life in the desert. In fact he had become a bit of a “wild man” in the sense that his clothing, diet, […]

Egypt to Nazareth Matthew 2:19-23 Joseph, like his patriarchal namesake, was a “dreamer”. Here in these four verses of scripture we read of a third, then a fourth directive dream. Joseph receives from the Lord. The third instructs him to go back to Israel. The fourth moves him and his young family on to the […]

You’re reading this in self isolation and I’m writing in similar circumstances. We’re all in lockdown. Who knew?   Well, not to be trite, but the Lord knew. Indeed, he knows. Covid-19 is no surprise to him. And we know that his omniscience informs his sovereignty- he is Lord of every situation.   I think […]

Infanticide Matthew 2:16-18 It’s surprising that Herod’s paranoia had not fuelled more efficient “intelligence gathering”, in that he sent no place with the Magi, nor did he commission any of his officials to “follow the star” to Bethlehem. He simply asked the magi to let him know once they had found the baby king. But, […]

Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15) This is the second time an angel gave instructions to Joseph. As husband and protector of Mary and the baby, he was told to “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.” This was to avoid Herod’s murderous intent. We read a couple of sentences like this and tend to […]

The world is in a full court press today fighting to contain the Corona virus. None of us has ever seen anything like it. We’re on a “war footing”. Like you, my wife and I attended church on Sunday by logging on to a live stream service. In our case we logged on to two. […]