While it is yet day

Haddon Willmer

Today

  • Looking for the heavenly Jerusalem – on earth

    GIVEN a choice, would you live in the country or in the city? Many of our cities have declining populations because people get away if they can. We have enough hassle travelling into work in the city, we do not want to live there as well.  Why is the city so uncomfortable? It jams so…

  • Praying in our exiles 

    Sometimes people go far away, for a holiday perhaps. They find themselves alone in strange places and discover the experience is stimulating, educational even.  Millions of people are now tourists; but millions more are refugees and exiles: they find themselves alone and lonely in strange places. Theirs is a destructive experience. Being an exile means…

  • Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?

    Sermon on Luke 7.18-23, preached at Moortown Baptist Church, 25 February 2024 You can watch this at the link below, from 26.40 – 56.40 minutes, followed by the hymn ‘Fold to your heart your sister and your brother‘.

  • Love Your Enemies

    “You have heard, you shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.    (Matt 5:43) These words sound like a call, even a command. But we fear the risk. So the miserable-go-round of the world continues – we have enemies, and we hate them,…

  • A good politician’s reverberating mistake

    Readings : Nehemiah 13.23-31; Matthew 5.38-48 You can watch this sermon here (27:00-52:00, with prayers from 52:00-54:00). I respect and value Nehemiah because he was a politician – a good politician, good hearted, good ideas, great skill and courage.  Politics is unavoidable in our living together. We know how much we need good politicians every…

  • Monday morning

    Monday morning, I sit down to write this piece, only a few hours left before it is due. And very little idea – or perhaps too many ideas, probably most won’t do. A clue-question I will follow: What is my world this morning? ‘My world’ is the great created living world as it comes to…

  • Earth cries! Are we the gods that must step up?

    Earth cries! We are the gods that must step up to the biggest crisis in history | Ben Okri | The Guardian Reflection and Commentary  In this prophetic poem, lamenting, warning, calling, Ben Okri points to the crisis now: Words for the day.Denial. Justice. RightT​o protest. And Earth cries.O when will we wake up?Gulf Stream…

  • Illegal Boat People

    Originally posted on the Network Leeds blog here. Government makes a decree, like Knut on the beach, which says ‘These are illegal immigrants’. But they are human beings seeking life. Is any creature and child of God, ‘illegal’? If God lets down from heaven a great sample of all his creatures and says, Rise and eat, shall we say with…