Thursday, December 28, 2017

Wesley has a Huge problem with his Testicles



Jan 4 1774: Three or four years ago, a stumbling horse threw me forward on the pommel of the saddle. I felt a good deal of pain; but it soon went off, and I thought of it no more. Some months after I observed, testiculum alterum altero duplo majorem esse. I consulted a Physician: He told me

The Christmas Season: Stars to Steer By

This is the next in my series of blogs in which I am reviewing Joan Chittister's The Liturgical Year.
[Order it here and read my earlier reviews of her book here.]
Thus far we have looked at Advent; now we move to the Christmas season, which includes Christmas Day and the season of Epiphany.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

This Child Cannot Be Ignored: Stop Ignoring Him

The birth of this child would not be remembered if it were not for His life ... and His life would not be remembered if it were not for His death ... and His death would not be remembered if it were not for His resurrection ... and His resurrection should not be remembered without the memory of His promise to return.

Because this child was born 2000 years ago ... and for absolutely NO other reason than His birth, the streets of my suburb, city and nation look like this:

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Carol Service: There were Two Trees in the Centre of the Garden


There we have a beautiful Christmas tree in the garden, and I’m reminded of another garden, long, long ago. It was called the Garden of Eden, a garden God planted right back at the beginning of all gardens, and the Bible tells us that in the middle of it was a tree and it was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Original "Hark the Herald Angels" from the Wesley Brothers

Hark, how all the welkin rings,
"Glory to the King of kings;
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"

Friday, December 8, 2017

Advent 2: Let God Distract You


The Advent season sounds the alarm, once a year, with a wake up call to prepare ourselves for the return of Christ. Many of us press the snooze button the rest of the year, but if we let Advent do its work ... No more hitting the snooze button! The message of Advent insists that the first step in getting ready for our Savior is to wake up and stay awake.

Friday, December 1, 2017

Advent is here: Happy New Year


Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Sourced here)

Pastoral Message from Cedric for my worldwide JohnWesleyProject.com community

‘And He who sits upon the throne said ‘Behold I make things new” Rev 21:5

Happy New Year !!!!!?????

Advent marks the beginning of a new year in the Christian calendar. The liturgical year starts with the first Sunday in Advent, which in 2017 is 3rd December, and then

Prayer for World AIDS Day 2017

10 years of my ministry (1996-2006) were spent at the worldwide epicentre of the HIV/AIDS pandemic ... rural KwaZulu Natal in South Africa ... which had the highest per capita rates of new infections and number of deaths worldwide. That many of those deaths were completely preventable is the well documented story of denialism and quackery that were the institutionalized order and government policy of the day in South Africa. Praise God that His will was eventually done in terms of justice and mercy. I have journeyed professionally and compassionately through the path of this scourge. In my 3rd year as a dental student (1980) our lecture in Virology (which we did together with the medical students) on the subject was a simple 4 or 5 lines of notes on this new disease !!! The rest, of course, is (ongoing) history.
Please pray the prayer below, which I republish from last year, as often as you can:

Gracious God and Father of all comfort, Creator of all life and Purveyor of all creation, Almighty God of the Universe to You belongs all life. Today, on World AIDS Day, we give you thanks and praise for Your mercy, grace, compassion and love which are beyond measure. In You is our Salvation and in You