All Saints Celtic Communion 3.12.06 Advent 1 Luke 21, 25-36
In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I bring you good news. We are now in the season of Advent. We are waiting during this special time for the coming of Jesus. Anticipation and preparation are the order of the season. This is the spirit of Advent - expectant, preparation, longing.
The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival” The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus th
Another reply to Dr. Alsop. I do not know how I got into this correspondence in the Manx Independent but I've sent this reply to Dr Alsop's letter published 3.11.06. It was not published.
Sir,
Like Dr. Alsop, I agree any debate on the monetary value of human life is fraught with many ethical problems. However, to inform him as he requests, presently an estimated 150,000 people die annually because of global climate change due to air pollution, extreme heat events, infectious diseases
Dr Alsop's reply to my letter on climate change (Manx Independent 20.10.06) contained many spurious and misleading remarks.
1. He mentions "pernicious regulation and the unjustified use of taxation for ill-conceived intervention". Contrary to his view, the main UK political parties accept the need for "green taxation". In the USA, states such as California are leading the way on measures to prevent climate change. If the existence of climate change is accepted. it is logical to support re
The Positive Action Group had Mrs Anne Craine MHK as their guest speaker last evening. Anne gave a very well presented and thought provoking talk on "Counting the Cost of Families in Crisis".
She told us that she places great store on family values and the community. She went on to prove it.
She spoke about parents today being seen more as "providers" rather than "carers", which in her view was the wrong way around. The nuclear family is breaking down. There are major health concerns
Manx_Independant_letter_25.9.rtf.rtfLetter sent to Manx Independent
The Editor,
Manx Independent
Letter from Charles Flynn, 31 First Avenue, Douglas. Tel: 673925.
Sir,
With reference to Dr Fox and Mr Alsop’s letters on Climate Change (MI 22.9.06). Whilst I am very pleased, Dr Fox is supportive of the Government recognising the importance of Climate Change it is incorrect to state that the scoping study the DLGE has commissioned focussed on mitigating and adapting to clima
Attended Zero Waste Man event at Loch Parade sorry the Promenade Methodist Church last evening. Two great speakers and experts on recycling - Mal Williams from Wales and Iain Gulland gave us a three hour insight into how waste can be managed. Dudley Butt MLC chaired the meeting. However only 38 attended which was rather disappointing for the organisers.
Basically the advice was to keep it simple.
1. Put waste in separate bins
2. Collect material for recycling weekly
3.Everybody
A new website has been launched for the Society for the Preservation of the Manx Countryside and Environment -
www.spmce.com
Please feel free to send us your comments on Planning Applications, any environmental concerns and let us have any relevant LINKS which you would like us to include on the site.
Tonight I preached on James 3,1-12 which speaks about the damage the tongue can do. Shortly afterwards my Vicar, Rev. Mary Railton-Crowder sent me the attached - the text of the Pope's speech which I think could be of interest to you.
I came across a wonderful website today -
www.pandora.com
It's for music fans as it only plays music. But it's different - it's your choice of music. Give it the name of an artist or a track and it makes the selection for you. Just like having your own juke box!
Top of the pops returns for me!!
Do successful politicians have principles or are their principles discarded on the way?
We hear so much throughout the world that politicians are corrupt, dishonest. Most we are told would sell their grandmother to the highest bidder. To reach the highest level of politics you must be conversant with lying and cheating - Jeffrey Archer is a prime example, Jonathan Aitken - now reformed - is one who was convicted for betraying the truth and there are numerous others who it is alleged are s
I ask the question of what global warming means as too few of us understand this complex and challenging problem. Of course even when they do we have many educated bright seemingly intelligent people who refuse to do anything about it. I was helping on the One World Centre stall at the two agricultural shows recently and without fail it was these type of people who were not really interested. It could be said they were of no earthly use to anyone despite their own inflated sense of importance
I went to the PAG meeting at the Empress Hotel last night. Stuart McCudden, President of the Chamber of Commerce was the guest speaker. He said the Chamber was not anti-politician just anti- untrained and incompetent politicians of which all of us know there are too many!! Nice chaps but why are we paying them £50k p.a. - my remarks not his!
Mr McCudden went over the speech he made at the Chamber's 2006 AGM reiterating his misgivings about some of the current MHK's - self publicists,chara
Sermon preached recently on Revelation 4,1-11.
Difficult topic on dreams and visions.
Saints EP 11.6.06 Revelation 4,1-11 CF/EP
In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
All of us have probably had a dream, which we remember. It could have been a
nightmare or something about falling or even your teeth falling out! It is because
dreams are so diverse and sometimes bizarre that many people dismiss them as
of no particular importance.
Derbyhaven is in the news as the result of a planning application from Mr Ferguson Lacey to build 21 dwellings on part of the golf course. The residents oppose it as they believe it is a breach of a deal which they thought they had reached with Mr Lacey not to build more than one house - a mansion house - on the site.
Attached is my letter to the Appeal Inquiry Chairman supporting their position.
19th June 2006
The Planning Appeals Inspector,
Government Offices,
Douglas.
Dear
So few thoughts come to me that I think when one does I should perhaps make a note of it. My wife has just handed me a quote from Ecclesiastes 7:12 - I have no idea why but presumably she thinks it might be of benefit , and so if this is true, why not share it with a wider audience. Anyway here it is for what it is worth:
"Wisdom is a shelter, as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this:
that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor."
I have just been reading the current issue of The Pharmaceutical Journal . The Leading Article details the problems of funding Herceptin through Primary Care Trusts in the UK and speaks in particular about Ann Marie Rogers who took Swindon PCT to the Appeal Court to force the PCT to pay for this medicine. UK Government policies covering NHS prescribing is in a mess and so patients are in a lottery according to where they live as whether or not they can obtain life saving treatment.
Primary
I was impressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter Day sermon. In it Rowan Williams, ignoring those who may speak about "glass houses" and "stones", spoke about the eternal truths of Christian faith - the life and resurrection of Jesus and the way that story and faith has been brought down the centuries to us through the real life experiences of people who knew him first hand.
The Archbishop goes on to speak about how so many people have risked their lives, how some have been matryrs
Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the first and the last, says the Lord, and the living one;
I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.
Alleluia.
The risen Christ came and stood among his disciples
and said, 'Peace be with you.'
Then were they glad when they saw the Lord. Alleluia.
John 20,19,20
Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and
"After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty."
A jar full ofsour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
[/b]John 18:1 - 19:42
The Passion Story told in a Hymn:
For righteousness and peace will show their faces
to those who feed
the
Maundy which comes from the Latin mandatum means "to give", "to entrust", "to order". It is usually translated "commandment", "mandatum novum", a "new commandment" from St. John's account of this Thursday night. It's "Mandate" Thursday.
On this day Jesus showing absolute humility washed the feet of his disciples and gave them a new commandment - a commandment which he had illustrated throughout his Ministry:
"Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me
"I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though
Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and
rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that,
into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not
talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke. Every one there is
filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled
with light. But they do not call it goodness. They do not call it
anything.
Palm Sunday (Dominica in Palmis).
The Sunday before Easter which introduces Holy Week.
On this day in the Western and some Eastern Churches the palms are blessed and often there is a procession representing the Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem a week before the Resurrection. The Palm Sunday procession is attested for Jerusalem as early as the 4th cent. by the 'Pilgimage of Egeria'.
Prayers for Palm Sunday:
Lord Jesus,
you showed the world your princely power by riding int
In the critical experiences of our lives, how often do the least important happenings become our most lingering impression!
The size and shape of our room, the pictures, the books, the computer, the flowers in the vase, the view from the window - all these blend with our thoughts and emotions as we go through each day.
And so it is when we think of some crucial happening in our time to perhaps an historical figure such as JFK or an event such as 9/11 or to ourselves and the people we lov
