Author: Simon van Bruchem

What does “risen with healing in his wings” mean?

What does “risen with healing in his wings” mean?

There is a line in a famous Christmas carol, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, that says that Jesus is “risen with healing in his wings”. You’ve probably sung that line countless times and never really understood what you have been singing. Wings? I don’t remember that bit in the Christmas story! Charles Wesley, who wrote …

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God is our Father, not our storekeeper

God is our Father, not our storekeeper

It is easy to slip into thinking of God as owing us something. We can get upset if we have worked hard to be faithful, we have been generous, we have served God, and then we don’t get something we prayed for or wanted. We can think that we have a right for God to …

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Rule keeping is not the same as Christianity

Rule keeping is not the same as Christianity

Many people think of Christians as people who like to follow rules. There are a range of things Christians do that others do not, like going to church and praying. There are also things Christians avoid doing that many others think as normal, like drunkenness and lying. It sure looks like rule following or religion! …

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Seeing God working through events

Seeing God working through events

God works in mysterious ways. We know that. There are so many things that happen to us and around us that we would never have predicted and which we do not understand. Yet sometimes we are privileged to see a series of events that reveal a little of God’s unexpected kindness to us. I can …

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Christian ministers are not priests

Christian ministers are not priests

Occasionally someone calls me a priest. I have been given all kinds of labels, from pastor to minister to teaching elder, and I can live with most of them. Yet the word ‘priest’ is not appropriate. The task of a Christian minister after the time of Jesus is not to be a priest in the …

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Understanding the Old Testament sacrifices

Understanding the Old Testament sacrifices

The Old Testament says a great deal about sacrifices. The people of God had to do so many of them, some at set times, and some in response to things that happened. Sometimes they brought a lamb or a goat, sometimes a bird, sometimes grain or wine. There would have been a permanent BBQ smell …

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Sin means that we cannot have a perfect world now

Sin means that we cannot have a perfect world now

I’ve just finished reading a thorough and very interesting historical account of China’s Great Leap Forward in 1958-62. The book is called ‘Mao’s Great Famine: The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe’ by Frank Dikotter. It’s a harrowing read at times. In an attempt to bring China’s industrial output in line with the developed countries …

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Christians are sons of God, not servants

Christians are sons of God, not servants

One of the wonderful benefits we have as Christians is to be sons of God. Trusting in Jesus is not only a matter of having our sins forgiven, though it certainly includes that. It also means that we are adopted as sons of God. We are in God’s family, loved, secure, and with a certain …

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