Bishop’s Message

AFTER Sadhu Sundar Singh had completed a tour around the world, people asked him, “Doesn’t it do harm, your getting so much honour?” The Sadhu answered, “No. The donkey went into Jerusalem, and they put garments on the ground before him. He was not proud. He knew it was not done to honour him, but for […]

ARSENIUS, one of the Desert Fathers who lived in the early centuries of the Church, joined his fellow pilgrims in a serious pursuit of God and His righteousness. His life was marked with a deep hunger for God and a determined effort to be totally available to God. His longing to be Christ-like and to […]

OUR calendars (tracing the repeated journeys of planet earth around the sun) remind us of the flow of time. We record this with days, months and years. With the passing of time, we are reminded of the deeper realities of our lives, our own mortality, our own appearance and disappearance in this world. William Shakespeare expressed […]

THERE are Jews today who still tie phylacteries (little boxes with biblical verses) on their foreheads and hands. Are they guilty of taking their scriptures (Dt. 6:8) too literally? Most of us would think so. There are sections of Scripture that are not expected to be taken literally. But does that mean that we must […]

I REMEMBER watching a funny film that was screened in school in which the inimitable Peter Sellers played the role of a hapless Indian actor. At the party where he was a fumbling guest, someone, obviously irritated, asked him, “Who do you think you are?” The answer is one of those memorable lines – “In India […]

JESUS was wary of crowds, though he often ministered among the crowds. Is there something He knew that we should also know? We live in what has been called the “age of individualism,” the “me-first” age. This is expressed in countless ways in popular culture and lifestyles. The way one dresses, talks and lives is supposed […]

  SOME people make a living looking for life in the most unlikely places. There are scientists, archaeologists and speleologists (scientists who explore caves) who are known in academic circles as experts in finding life forms in the harshest of environments on earth. For instance, in the deep ocean floors of the Atlantic Ocean, where […]

HOW often have we heard people say with frustration or resignation, “They don’t make them like they used to … “ The “them” may refer to buildings, electronic products, furniture or the host of modern paraphernalia. These days, mass-produced things are made not to last – so that consumers can buy replacements and newer models. When […]

AMERICAN psychiatrist Karl Menninger once remarked that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 per cent of them could walk out the next day! Sadly, the psychiatric hospitals are still filled with people whose hearts and souls are tormented by guilt. People plagued with guilt are not […]

THERE have been several attempts to unseat God from heaven. Lucifer and his rebellious angel friends tried it a very long time ago, and failed (Is. 14:12; Rev. 12:7-9). They have refused to accept defeat, and for some not-fully-understood purposes of God, they have been allowed to roam the earth, living in their destructive demonic […]

A GROUP of eminent historians got together to share what they imagined would have happened if certain well-established historical events had turned out differently. In their book What If and its sequel More What If they use their imagination and expertise in history to entertain history buffs. What if Socrates had died in a battle he fought in […]

IF YOU see someone reading a mystery novel, and you have already read it, you are not supposed to tell him how the story would end. You are expected to let him enjoy struggling with every twist and turn of the story. As far as literary enjoyment goes, that is fine. In real life though, when […]