Thought for the Day
A one-minute read to inspire or challenge. Written by members of the church and updated every few days.
17th April 2026
The return of the Artemis II crew last Friday following their record-breaking flight to and from the Moon was surely a source of satisfaction for many of us. Apart from some minor difficulties with the on-board toilet, the mission seems to have gone rather well. By coincidence, fifty-six years ago today, the world was celebrating another safe return from space, but that happy outcome had been far from certain.
Commander Jim Lovell’s famous words, ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem,’ announced to NASA that the Apollo 13 mission had suffered damage to an oxygen tank, meaning that the planned moon landing wouldn’t take place and that the priority was now to get the three-man crew back to earth. The technical ingenuity of the scientists and engineers on the ground, matched by the skill, courage and fortitude of the three astronauts, eventually turned a near disaster into an against-all the-odds success, the three men safely recovered using the lunar module as an improvised lifeboat.
Nothing short of a miracle, some might have said, and, in truth, many around the world had no doubt been praying for those men to be swiftly re-united with their anxious families. But were such prayers necessary? What part, if any, did they play in that remarkable rescue? Prayer alone surely wouldn’t have saved Lovell and his two companions, but who can tell what difference it might have made to the sum total of human effort, determination and hopefulness underlying the eventual achievement of the goal? The moral for me is that in all our endeavours we give our utmost best, while trusting in the God who always gives us his.
Ken Stewart
15th April 2026
Finding God in the Stillness In the busyness of life, it’s easy to move quickly past the quiet invitations God places before us. Yet again and again, scripture reminds us that his presence is not found only in the dramatic or extraordinary, but in the stillness, when we pause, listen, and trust. Often in the […]
10th April 2026
At Easter we recall the story of Jesus, risen from the dead, joining two of his followers walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Last month the new Archbishop of Canterbury undertook an 87-mile, 6-day walking pilgrimage from St Paul’s Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral in preparation for her installation. BBC TV has just aired the latest series […]
8th April 2026
Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in […]
1st April 2026
In John’s account of the crucifixion Pilate asks, “What is truth?” Perhaps a deep philosophical question or perhaps trying to find what the Jewish leaders were claiming. The Romans had a goddess of truth, Veritas, and considered truth a virtue. Truth seems to be increasingly under threat. There are those (mainly celebs) who make statements […]
30th March 2026
Let us join the disciples as they follow Jesus during the week that will lead to his crucifixion. I encourage you to read the whole of John chapter 12 and imagine yourself in Jesus’ presence as the story unfolds. The week begins in Bethany, at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus – yes, the […]
27th March 2026
From the writings of Martin Luther King: “I’ve seen hate on too many faces to want to hate, myself; every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must say to our most bitter opponents: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our […]
25th March 2026
Have you noticed an increasing tendency of people and businesses offering their services to say, ‘We’re passionate about . . .?’ It can be a ‘passion’ about anything from car maintenance to plumbing to landscape gardening to . . . whatever. I confess to finding this somewhat annoying. When I look for a job to […]
20th March 2026
I have recently been reading a novel – Peter Abelard – by Helen Waddell. It is about a cleric in France in the 12th century. As a priest he is supposed to remain single, but he secretly marries and, while he manages to avoid being condemned by the church court (which could have meant excommunication), […]
18th March 2026
The way we are changing our language sometimes worries me. For example, we seem to have become frightened of the language of death and dying, and have substituted the weak and ambiguous language of passing, not even passing away. How far have we come from the historical language of gone to glory. We may rightly […]