Wednesday Wisdom

  “You have reached your destination” by Andrew Norrie Well here we are the last week of 2020, the last Wednesday of 2020 and our last Wednesday Wisdom Blog. I hope that you have enjoyed our weekly blogs and videos and that they have encouraged you on your journey with Jesus throughout the Autumn and Winter. It’s always helpful to hear from others as we navigate this journey of life to learn from their experiences and use them to help us shape our faith. Life is a journey and each year that passes is another chapter on our journey of life. Last week I went on a very different journey, one that should have been very straight forward, should have taken no more than 45 minutes but instead I ended up on an unexpected journey that ended up taking over an hour and resulted in a few scary encounters.  I set off last Tuesday evening to deliver Christmas presents to my friends for their kids. A journey that I had done many times before, one that in reality shouldn’t have taken that lo

  “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 will

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 death we should have died in

  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 himself will give you a sign: The virgin   will conceive and give birth to a son

  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 ultimate gift t