Posts For November 2011

Having That Gratitude Attitude

Posted: 23rd Nov 2011 (0 comments)

Having That Gratitude Attitude

No US holiday is as distinctive as Thanksgiving, held on the last Thursday of November. In our busy, deadline-fixated age, expressing gratitude to our heavenly Father is too easily squeezed out of our lives but it is important. Firstly, I think human beings are ‘hardwired’ to do this. Even atheists seem to have unsettling moments when they feel an irresistible urge to thank someone ‘up there’. One of the problems with atheism occurs when pain is avoided or pleasure gained – having no one to give thanks to leaves you with an itch you cannot scratch.

Losing the plot at St Paul's

Posted: 1st Nov 2011 (0 comments)

Losing the plot at St Paul's

The troubled stand-off between the anti-capitalist protesters of the ‘Occupy the London Stock Exchange’ and the management of St Paul's Cathedral has put Christianity into the national headlines for all the wrong reasons. The first closure of London's great landmark since the Blitz of the Second World War and the succession of resignations that have followed has perplexed many. What is going on? Who's right and who's wrong?

Have you overlooked something this Christmas?

Posted: 30th Nov 2011 (0 comments)

Have you overlooked something this Christmas?

There was once a successful businessman who came from a large, close-knit but hard-up family. One year, when it came to December, he realised that he was far too busy to buy his relatives presents. So he decided to send each of them – there were twenty of them – a £100 cheque. He bought a pile of Christmas cards and a cheque book into his office and, between answering the phone and holding business meetings, managed to write a single sentence in twenty separate cards: ‘I thought you should buy your own Christmas present this year!’