Thursday, March 27, 2025
What are the 3 most commonly told stories in the world?
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Peace
Throughout the world, many people today yearn and hope for peace, writes Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall. Our attention and concern centre on Ukraine and the Middle East just now, but there are more wars in the world than we realise, some lasting for years. Much high-level diplomacy and complex negotiations continue, with repeated efforts to get opposing sides to agree even to a ceasefire. Still, in the meantime, we can pray while we wait to see the final outcomes. But it’s a just and lasting peace that’s needed, not just a patch-up without dealing with the root causes of the conflicts.
For too long now, we have looked with sadness and dismay at scenes of destruction, brutality and suffering. The causes lie deep and are as old as history. The Bible reminds us that it is all rooted in man’s selfishness, jealousy and pride. If we are honest enough to look within, that’s something each of us can be guilty of, a refusal to “love our neighbour as ourselves”, as Jesus said, even to love our enemies. That is how He loved us, and He still loves us despite our failures and sins: “God commends His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5.8). There is no greater love than this!
We can refuse this love or receive it with gladness. If we receive it, we will enter a real and lasting peace with God. Those who accept Jesus as their own Savior and Lord are “justified by faith, and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5.1). Peace between warring nations seems so challenging to achieve, but here and now, we can have peace with God for ourselves.
All photos courtesy of Unsplash
Sunday, March 23, 2025
Did you miss St Patrick's Day?
Friday, March 21, 2025
All things bright and beautiful
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
20th July 1969 - Remember!!
Photos courtesy of Unsplash
Monday, March 17, 2025
Letter from America
All photos courtesy of Unsplash
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Self Deception - an interesting tale!
Have you heard the story of the bank robber named McArthur Wheeler in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who was told that if he rubbed lemon juice on his face, he wouldn’t need to use a mask to avoid detection because his face would be invisible to the cameras? This is not a joke; it’s true! He bought a Polaroid camera and a couple of lemons, squeezed them and applied the juice to his face. He then pointed the camera at his face and clicked, rotated the camera and clicked. He finished up with a photo of the ceiling but no image of his face, and he fully believed that the lemon juice did the trick.
Thursday, March 13, 2025
The bad news and the good
We get a lot of bad news these days, writes Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall. Apart from international conflicts and worries, there is plenty to be concerned about here at home, with so many wicked things happening in what was meant to be a civilised society. We hear about disruptive behaviour and violence in schools, bullying in playgrounds and workplaces, neglect and cruelty to children in families, partners being murdered, physical and sexual abuse of children and vulnerable young people in care settings, knives and guns on the streets, overcrowding in prisons and more. Some public figures in sports, politics, and church organisations who should have set good examples do the opposite. Their behaviour is disgraceful and unlawful in financial, moral and sexual matters. Nowhere seems to be exempt. Promises to “clean it up” and “learn lessons for the future” are not convincing. It can be pretty depressing but be assured that God will ultimately deal righteously with crime and wickedness in His ways of perfect justice.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
How many doors?
Have you ever thought about how many doors you use daily? asks Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall. Try counting the number of doors in your house, including cupboard doors you need to open and doors you go through, and the number will soon be doubled. And if you go out and travel anywhere, what about car doors, bus doors, train doors! Doors are almost too common to wonder about, but we would be in trouble without them.
Sunday, March 09, 2025
Powerful Men
This blog post was written before Russia invaded Ukraine. It is, however, very pertinent as President Putin of Russia obviously feels that he has the power and right to invade a peaceful nation to expand his territory and create another iron curtain between him and 'the West'.
History is replete with men who strived to be recognized as God. The ultimate power sought by many is to rule over other men and women and be worshipped by them. They may not use the term ‘God’ but it is self-evident that crave the power and glory that only rightly belongs to God.
Before Jesus had reached His second birthday, He had already become the target of an assassination plot by King Herod, the ruthless and paranoid ruler of Roman-controlled Judea. Joseph and Mary, prompted by a dream from God, took the baby and fled to Egypt.
Egypt's history was one proud and glorious procession of kings spanning thirty dynasties and nearly 3,000 years. Egyptian kings--the pharaohs--were powerful figures and rich beyond imagination. They wielded wealth like a weapon, built sprawling cities and commanded huge armies.
Friday, March 07, 2025
The ‘If’ question!
Wednesday, March 05, 2025
The world has become a very angry place!
All photos courtesy of Unsplash
When I read the newspapers, watch the news, or just generally observe the behaviour and reactions of people in society, I become aware, very quickly, that the world is an angry place. I am not saying that this is unjustified, I am just noting what I see.
Beneath the surface in many lives is an irritation, an annoyance at what life is delivering.
There are a whole host of things that aggravate people:
- how people drive
- the response to the pressures of financial commitments
- the rising cost of living
- the frustration of coping with under-funded and overused public services
- the general pressures of life.
We live in a world where there are so many reasons to be agitated and angry.
I am sure that psychologically and physically, anger does not have a good outcome in people's lives. There may be some good side effects, such as increased adrenaline empowering you to protect yourself or giving you the motivation to do better and improve your situation, but the side effects of constant agitation and anger have got to negatively affect our health.
Monday, March 03, 2025
Learning lessons from History
All photos courtesy of Unsplash
I was thinking about what to write, and as part of selecting a topic, I was browsing the Liverpool Echo website online. Not only was I shocked by the variety of news items, but I was amazed that the ‘Echo’ has been doing its job of communicating news for so long - it was first published in 1879.
That got me thinking. How long have the local newspapers on the Wirral been publishing, and how many have ‘gone the way of all the earth’? The oldest one I came across was the ‘Birkenhead and Cheshire Advertiser’, printed from 1863 to 1946. No doubt someone will know of an older paper. If you do, get in touch and pass the information on. Newspapers began appearing across Europe and the UK as early as the 1600s.