The British Museum - Preserving the Bible

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In the British Museum in London is one of the most wonderful of ancient manuscripts and it is a copy of the Bible known as Codex Sinaiticus.  Today it is carefully preserved by the experts of the Museum but during its history, it was very close to destruction.  

A German scholar named Tischendorf discovered it and incredibly he spotted the Codex amongst waste material that was being used for lighting fires in the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai in 1844 and he saved it from being burnt and destroyed. The monastery presented the codex to the Czar of Russia in return for certain favours and decorations.  Later it fell into the hands of the Soviet government following the Russian revolution. As an atheistic regime, they had no interest in Biblical material and were prepared to sell the codex and so it was purchased for the British Museum through public subscription in 1933 for £100,000.  

Seeing is believing!

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‘Seeing is believing’ — or so some say. But try asking someone who is blind whether theirs is just a virtual world. God cannot be seen with our eyes but it does not mean God is not there and that He cannot see us. Actually, God knows everything about us.

One day, Jesus saw a man who had been blind since his birth. He could not see Jesus, but Jesus could see him, and soon actions and words revealed His presence. As Jesus’ disciples looked on, they wondered how such a condition had arisen. Could this man somehow have committed wrong before his birth? Or perhaps it was because of some blunder on the part of his parents? 

Whilst it is true that our mistakes can have repercussions both to ourselves and others, Jesus said that this was not the case here. The Bible says, ‘Jesus saw’ him. He not only saw the man’s physical condition but his spiritual state too. The man’s physical blindness gave Jesus the opportunity to perform a miracle that would show God’s power at work.

Have a look around you - what can you see?

 

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David the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 8, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth." When we look around at the world that God has made it is amazing! Whichever way we look we see the wonder of creation. We can look up at the grandeur of a huge snow-capped mountain range and the views are amazing. 

I can remember as a child sitting in a train that was climbing slowly on a Swiss mountain railway, sat in the same carriage was a group of excited teenagers. They talked and laughed loudly as we went higher and higher. Their noise spoilt really the sense of awe that I was feeling looking around at the scenery.

The train came to its destination, it was a station cut out of the rock and as we alighted from the train we had to walk through a tunnel to a platform with a panoramic view. The view was truly awesome snow-covered mountains in every direction. I felt small and, in my head, I rehearsed the words of the famous hymn, "How great Thou art!" 

God be with you!

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The question asked by many people after Christmas is “How did Christmas go?” For the Christian, every day is like Christmas in that God is with us every day. That is the true meaning of “Emmanuel: God with us” and, even better, God is for us; on our side. 

But, remember that God’s Son has another name – Jesus. Every name has a meaning and Jesus means “He will save His people from their sins.” After His resurrection, before returning to His Heavenly Father, Jesus spoke to His disciples with these reassuring words: ”…and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”. This is how Matthew ends his gospel. These words offer great comfort to every Christian. Jesus has promised to be with His disciples “even to the end”. Are you living in the good of Christ’s promise? Do you face tough times with the certainty that God is with you throughout? I truly hope so. 

Farming Life in East Sussex

There is a Christian farmer in East Sussex who has spent years planting and pruning thousands of willow trees to create a Bible verse that can be read-only from the sky. The farmer started this incredible task in the 1990s on his farm near Whitesmith, East Sussex.   He chose John chapter 14 verse 6 to patiently cultivate. The willow trees spell out words spoken in answer to the question, ‘How can we know the way?” Jesus replied, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’. As well as a message, his carefully spaced “many thousands” of willow trees form a maze. 

 

The maze has been used by friends and members of his local church and although the farmer knew that his maze was well set out, it was only after a number of years he was shown a picture of it taken from above from a helicopter. Now every time he sees a plane going over, he offers up a little prayer that people will see the verse and it will help them to trust in and follow Jesus. So, close up it is a maze with people trying hard to find their way through, but from above it is an easily read message. 

Lessons from Lockdown?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash What Was Meant for Evil, God Uses for Good’ The story of Joseph is an amazing take on tragedy and triumph? This young Hebrew man flourished in the midst of tragedy? Twenty years after his brothers sold him into slavery the roles were reversed. Joseph had become Vice Regent of Egypt and his brothers are pleading with him for food and ultimately for their lives. Once they realised that he recognised them they approached them with dread. They were terrified that he would settle old scores and throw them into a pit of their own making. But Joseph didn’t. In his explanation, we find insight into understanding the way that God operates.

Did you have 20/20 Vision in 2020

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In mid-2019, an eye-catching advert appeared: "Get 20/20 vision before 2020". It was from a company offering eye surgery, encouraging readers to have the operation before the end of 2019, so that by the beginning of the year 2020 they would have ‘normal vision’. It is now too late to have it before 2020, but doubtless the same business, and others, will continue to offer it in this New Year.

In John chapter 9 we read about a man who received a transformation in eyesight far greater than that offered by any surgical procedure: instantaneously he went from being totally blind, to seeing clearly. This miraculous change took place because the Lord Jesus Christ had pity on him and healed him.

Are you being deceived?

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None of us likes to be deceived, yet we may be subject to some kind of deception almost every day. Perhaps you have been deceived in the purchase of some commodity; for example, if the car you bought was ‘clocked’. That means the milometer (the device recording the number of miles the vehicle has travelled) had been turned back to give the impression that the distance travelled was a lot smaller than the true mileage. Along with this, the price was increased because supposedly you were buying ‘a very nice low mileage car’. Sometimes a soccer player is tackled and the tackler hardly touches him but he rolls around the turf so that the referee is deceived into awarding a ‘free kick’. Many people have been deceived by politicians who promised lots but delivered little.

We remember, when we were at school, the excuses we made because we did not have our homework done. We deceived the teacher. One of the worst deceptions was when we deceived our parents by lying to them about places we had been and the company we were with. As we look back over the past our cheeks blush and we feel most uncomfortable.

6 things we cannot do without

 

Somehow this coronavirus has changed nearly everything for us - working life, family contacts, church activities, shopping patterns and much more. We are really missing some of these, but we are learning to cope and are adapting remarkably well. When things get back to (more) normal, will we still benefit from the lessons we are learning just now?

 

We are learning that there are many things we can do without, and that many other things are more important than we thought, things that perhaps we have been taking for granted. For example:

Your PPE for 2021 (Believers take note)

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Provision of personal protective equipment for people who are dealing with coronavirus cases has been a big problem in many places. It is a shame that for lack of it, some dedicated medical staff and carers have been more at risk.
 
The three letters, PPE, have become the quick way to describe things like face masks, visors, gloves, overalls and so on – you hear it all the time! But if you were not ‘in the know’ you might wonder what PPE was! However, we use abbreviations (acronyms) like these all the time. For example, we refer to CT scans at hospital, we take precautions to avoid UV light, traffic police talk of RTAs, there are SVQs in education and training, we have MPs and MSPs, and one of these nights (a bit later on!) you might have a BBQ. I’m sure you can add a few more to the list, but can’t forget the NHS!

As you start the New Year consider this!

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In the Bible the Psalmist reminds us that we are all "fearfully and wonderfully made" so here are some amazing facts about some of our body organs.

The skin is the largest organ of the body, covering it from the top of the head to the soles of the feet. In a full grown adult, it weighs about 11lb. Its thickest point is on the soles, at up to 5mm thick (0.2in). Its thinnest point is on the eyelid at only ½ mm. 1 square inch of skin may hold 650 sweat glands, 20 blood vessels and more than 1,000 nerve endings.

The heart will beat 2.5 billion times in an average life of 72 years. It beats at around 60 times a minute with each beat pushing blood around the body 1,440 times every day.  It can increase to 200 beats a minute when running.