This meditation on Matthew 26:59-66 was first published in the Bellevue Chapel Easter Reader for 2019. 59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 60 But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward 61 and declared, ‘This … Continue reading A stunning confession
Recent blogs
Dig Deeper by Nigel Benyon and Andrew Sach
Do you want to study the Bible for yourself? I mean really study it for yourself, not just rely on a commentator you think is 'sound' to tell you what it means. Then you need this book. Its subtitle is 'Tools to unearth the Bible's treasure', and that's exactly what it is. Sixteen tools to … Continue reading Dig Deeper by Nigel Benyon and Andrew Sach
Christ’s suffering for Us
The Crucifixion of Jesus33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his … Continue reading Christ’s suffering for Us
Death of the Singing Mailman
This is in danger of becoming a blog of obituaries, but I felt I had to mark the death of John Prine (actually on Tuesday, my birthday). Having twice survived cancer, he succombed to Coronavirus, which he contracted on a recent European tour. There's an interesting compare-and-contrast between Prine and Kenny Rogers, who also passed … Continue reading Death of the Singing Mailman
A lovely man
It was almost two weeks ago that Derek Prime passed away, and I’ve been reflecting on my memories of him. I wrote this in our church email last week: Derek Prime went to be with the Lord on Saturday. Derek was minister at Charlotte Chapel for 18 years and preached many times at BEC. He … Continue reading A lovely man
Death of a hero
I was sorry to learn about the death of Bill Frankland, though at 108 years old it was after a long and full life. Dr Frankland was a very distinguished immunologist, who worked with Sir Alexander Fleming, did groundbreaking work on desensitisation (risking his life by injecting himself with allergens) and devised the pollen count. … Continue reading Death of a hero
Mary’s Christmas
"Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Luke 2:19 The account of the first Christmas in Luke's Gospel is Mary's story. Of course, it's ultimately Jesus' story, but there's little doubt that Luke's key source in his careful investigation of the nativity was either Mary or someone very close … Continue reading Mary’s Christmas
King of the Road
Roger Miller was like Shakespeare: he wrote comedies and tragedies. His songs were invariably extremely wacky with clever word plays that left you with a broad smile or sad enough to make you cry in your beer (Diet Pepsi in my case). Like Shakespeare, he was also happy to invent new words: usually ones that … Continue reading King of the Road
My favourite Pensions Ministers
My involvement in pensions politics broadly spanned the New Labour and Coalition Governments between 1997 and 2015. In that time there were eleven pensions ministers - mostly titled Minister of State for Pensions. Some were able, while others were quickly forgotten. Three stand out from the rest. They are, in date order: Frank Field (Labour) … Continue reading My favourite Pensions Ministers
Getting to the root of it
It's a problem we must all have had. You desperately need to know the square root of a number, but the only available calculator doesn't have a square root button. How can you work it out? Of course, there are standard estimating techniques. Let's say we want to find the square root of 5. We … Continue reading Getting to the root of it
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