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dubious dates
No, not that sort of dates. And not romantic dates… or rather, yes, romantic dates but not that sort of date either. Let me explain. The curmudgeonly part of me occasionally got a bit cynical about some of the anniversaries that are celebrated nowadays. There seems to have been a slide towards esoteric and trivial…
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joy
I think joy is seriously underrated. It’s associated with all sorts of physical actions: smiling, laughter, feeling good. It has brothers and sisters and cousins: happiness, humour, lightness, pleasantness… You can sometimes see it in a person’s face, in their eyes, in their smile, and even in their posture and gait! But joy is special.…
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joy
I can remember one of my Ministers when I was a teenager joking about Christians who have a SWEG: slimy, wet, evangelical grin. He was commenting on the superficial artificial saccharine smile that we share with one another to convey that we have everything under control and that we love Jesus. I wonder if the…
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the antidote to envy
You might just have noticed that the Olympic Games are taking place in Britain at the moment. (Technically they are the ‘London Games’ but events are taking place all over the country so I am widening the net to be inclusive.) Given how difficult it has been to get tickets for events, it is interesting…
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contagious infectiousness
There are some things we do that are infectious. Some of them are involuntary. If you have ever tried to suppress a yawn you’ll know that it’s impossible. The yawn decides when it’s coming and there’s nothing you can do about it. But why is it that when you see someone else yawn (or suppress…
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Upson Downs Baptist Church
Last night I was invited by a friend in the church to attend a football match. Free of charge. With free parking. In an executive box. It was a prize that he had won for himself and nine friends. It was a Colchester United match. We were excited and animated as we entered the box…
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soggy joy
Soooo. On Sunday morning at our church we had a service of Believer’s Baptism. Three young people declared their allegiance to Jesus in words and actions. It is always a joy to baptise someone, but it is especially special when one of them is your son. Thomas being baptised, and yes he IS that much…
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the content of this blog entry will tell you the answer to the last one
Hooray!
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Dandling
In the UK it is ‘Mothering Sunday’ this Sunday (important to point this out for international readers who celebrate it on other dates, and to point out that I have international readers [smug mode enabled], and to make those international readers feel included). Where was I? Oh yes, ‘Mothering Sunday’. It has the potential to…
nukelearfishing 