Wednesday Wisdom

  “A Weary World Rejoices” by Andrew Norrie Well, guys there’s only two more sleeps to go, that’s right in just two more sleeps we will be celebrating the birth of Santa! I am of course joking. In two days time we will be celebrating and remembering the birth of Jesus in a cold, draughty stable over 2000 years ago. Whilst I joke about Christmas being a celebration about the birth of Santa I do wonder how many of us spend more time celebrating the present giving, the trashy tv and the fantastic food than we spend remembering the true reason for the day. For many of us this Christmas will be very different to what we have been used to, we may not be able to see the friends and family that we are used to seeing and Christmas parties are a thing of the past. In a year when everything is upside down and the world seems to be completely broken. I am reminded more than ever of the simple message of that first Christmas Day and the reason for God sending Jesus to earth. I for one ...

PEER PRESSURE by Alice Patterson - Schools & Community Worker, Love for Life Peer pressure, feeling like you have to do something just because your friends are. You likely know what it is and probably at some point in your life have known that feeling. But let’s go further and think what actually gives peer pressure its power? Why does it cause us to fuss over our words? Cause our palms to get sweaty? Cause us to panic and overthink? The power behind peer pressure is this- we desire to please people! We want to be accepted, liked and maybe even loved. We forget however something much bigger, that we are to please not people but God!   Why should we want to live to please God? Because the God over all creation knows, loves and accepts us.  He knows  every part of us, the good, bad and the ugly. Yet  he loves  us, and proof of that is found in the fact that God sent his one and only sinless son to live the perfect life we should have lived, and to die the deat...

  What's in a Name? by Grace Cleland The highlight of my short time in my school’s senior choir was performing Immanuel (Our God is With Us) in Down Cathedral.  It remains one of my favourite seasonal hymns and I love the simple truth found in its words.  Have a wee listen here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrmMQdkBPwY&ab_channel=Songs4OurSavior https://open.spotify.com/track/5Gy2go3vpnLfg5FY680Hzz?si=8ax78byKTPuB2NPD2uWs2g What do you call your grandparents?   Granny, Papa, Nana, Grandad, Grandma, Pops… The list goes on!  These all refer to the  same people and mean the same, but have different names.  We give multiple names to people and things all the time. We know that Jesus is given many names in the Bible.   The Bible also calls Him the Messiah, Wonderful Counsellor, Almighty God, Redeemer and Prince of Peace.  Immanuel is one of these and we see it used in Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord himse...

  Pause Well guys, here we are, we've made it! We are now 2 days into the final month of 2020. In just 29 days it will be a brand new year, 2021 will begin and we will have a whole new 365-day story to write.   Today's Wednesday Wisdom is a little different to our previous weeks. Today we want to invite you to take some time to stop, yes stop what you are doing, pause, put your phone turn, turn off the music and just spend a few moments with God.   As I was preparing to write this short introduction I came across this quote,   “In the rush and noise of life, as you have intervals, step home within yourselves and be still. Wait upon God, and feel His good presence; this will carry you evenly through your day’s business.”   The Christmas season is a time when we look forward to gathering with friend and family, exchanging gifts and eating ridiculous amounts of food., but most importantly it is the time when we remember the birth of Jesus all those years ago. God’s...

Who would have thought? When celebrating the end of 2019 none of u realised that we were counting down the days until the world would be crippled by a global health crisis. Yet, while we celebrated many great minds were already focused on a novel pathogen that presented a significant potential for harm globally. Immediately the scientific community jumped to action to determine what the world was about to face. Despite inevitable political intrigue, scientist had rapidly discovered the genetic code of this novel virus and distributed it publicly for global researchers to get a head start to which they took full advantage off. Now as of writing this, various vaccines are now in phase 3 trials in less than a year and numerous clinical trials are under way. So a question I find intriguing, as we cautiously pause mid-way to reflect is; how can so many people be surprised that something so small, so biologically “narrow minded” has caused so much devastation and yet the scientific community...

  Going Against the Norm by Ben McMechan from International Justice Mission How would you define unfairness? Your sibling taking charge over the T.V. remote? Something you were blamed for but didn’t even do? Covid-19 cancelling holidays, seeing friends and just generally messing up your plans? This year, the phrase I have heard the most has been… “I can’t wait for everything to get back to normal”. In the case of all the changes that Covid-19 has had on our lives, I personally look forward to getting more back to normal. It will be great to see my friends and family more again, to get stuck into 5-aside on a Monday evening and to wear a face mask less! But, this season has also allowed us time to think about how ‘the normal’ isn’t always okay? Let me explain further with 3 everyday items. Chocolate, a phone, and an item of clothing. All three of these items can relate to something that is deeply unfair and, unfortunately, has been considered ‘normal’ in today’s world. I am talking ...