On the 27 of January 1945, just over 60 years ago, the Nazi extermination and concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated. Last Thursday, the 27 January 2005, was Holocaust Memorial Day. I won’t mention what went on on Auschwitz. I won’t mention other Nazi atrocities. I think we all have a good idea what went […]

The last time I exhorted from 1 Samuel, I got to chapter 6, where the Ark had just been sent back by the Philistines. In Chapter 8, Israel demands a king. 1 Samuel chapter 8, verses 19 to 22: Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we […]

Today’s exhortation on Samuel focuses on the Ark of the Covenant, its brief exile from Israel, and its subsequent return. The story is in 1 Samuel chapters 4 to 6, and it tells us some very interesting things about the state of Israel at the end of Eli’s life, as well as contrasting Israel unfavourably […]

I am continuing my series of exhortations on the book of Samuel today, and I want to consider the demise of Eli and his sons, and the rise of Samuel. First Samuel chapter two, verse 12: Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD. “Sons of Belial”–does that remind […]

There is a suite, by the composer Aaron Copland, called Appalachian Spring. It was written in the mid 20th Century, and first performed in 1945. It’s a particular favourite of mine at the moment. Appalachian Spring is one of those pieces that nobody has heard of, but everybody recognises. One of the themes is used […]

This is the first exhortation in a series which I am planning on the books of Samuel. First Samuel begins a little before the end of the era of the Judges. Eli the priest was the leader. Israel had begun to grow decadent; the Philistines were a very real threat to the survival of the […]

Consider the following words: Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners, uncleanness, lasciviousness, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, whoremongers. How many of you can honestly say that you understand every one of those terms? What is ‘uncleanness’ for a follower of […]

And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with […]

This morning I want to consider two parables: the parable of the Good Samaritan, and the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Normally it can be a dangerous thing to draw too much from parables. They are stories that illustrate a point, rather than being literal events. An incautious reading of the parable of […]