PJBelfast

What Is the Difference between All Hallows' Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day? Once Autumn is the air across the world department stores will entice consumers with discounts on costumes and sweets. There will be carved pumpkins and bobbing for apples at holiday parties. There will be hayrides, hot apple cider, gathering around bonfires with friends. Then, on the 31st of October, kids dressed in costumes will go door-to-door to trick-or-treat for sweets.  For some churches, the celebration doesn't stop there. October 31 actually begins a three-day observance and celebration of Allhallowtide, a combination of Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day.  Where did these holidays come from?  Is there a difference between them? According to dictionary.com, the word "Halloween" is a "direct derivation of All Saints Day" with "All Hallows" in Old English meaning " the feast of the saints ." To hallow is " to make holy or sa...

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; They shall be full of sap and green: ( Psalm 92:14) Those who are older should speak, for wisdom comes with age (Job 32:7).  I bought an Apple ipad when they originally launched back in 2010. Today, eleven years later, the software is antiquated and ready for the technological scrapheap. When I spoke yesterday to the Apple Genius bar guru, he said that, even if I did restore its settings, many of the new apps don't work on the old software platform.  Thankfully Apple have introduced a iPad 10.2 – it’s very much the everyman of the range, offering up a vivid screen, light and portable build, and an A12 processor capable of some fairly heavy lifting. With this most recent iPad release, it offers a larger screen for around £319. As I embark on retirement from work next year, I want you to know that, unlike the original ipad, this old guy is far from done yet! In fact the scriptures above give me great cause to believe...

" Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God " (Eph 5:1-2) As I was strolling through a walled garden yesterday, I was greeted with the wonderful variety of a sweet-smelling hedges and herbs. I then realised that these herbs were being grown to be used by the chefs in the nearby restaurant .  I took the liberty of crushing some of the  super-fragrant needle-like leaves between my thumb and forefingers, releasing a unique pungent, lavender-like aroma.  It was only when I put the herb under pressure, by crushing, that it gave off a beautiful fragrance.  The verse above indicates that the aroma of Christ's life was a sweet fragrance of selfless love and sacrifical service. He truly was the Servant-King.  Maybe the pressure that you have found yourself going through was so that your life would give off a certain frag...

Yesterday my senior smartpass arrived. This entitles me to free travel across all of Ireland. Its available to Northern Ireland residents who are 65 years of age.  With the Senior SmartPass i can now travel anywhere in Northern Ireland on any Translink bus or rail service completely free of charge. I can also enjoy free cross border travel and internal Republic of Ireland travel. Although this concessionary senior smartpass is free to me, it costs the government Department of Infrastructure millions of pounds every year.  This concessionary pass reminded me of " the gift of God"  " For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God " (Ephesians 2:8) I cannot earn it - it's a gift I didn't deserve it - it's by grace It admits me to heaven.  It gives me eternal life.  Like the Senior SmartPass, it is paid for by someone else. As the song says,  " Jesus paid it all All to him I owe S...

After hearing a recent sermon on "The Call of Samuel" I decided to delve a little deeper, to see what the scriptures had to say on the subject of Christian vocation.  Vocation is one's response to a call from the Spirit of God to use one's strengths and gifts to make the world a better place through service, creativity, and leadership Vocation means what you are called by God to be and do.  William Perkins in A Treatise of the Vocations states " Every person, of every degree, state, sex, or condition without exception, must have some personal and particular calling to walk in." I would like to explore the Christian vocation under two headings: I) The Universal Calling - A vocation for everyone II) A particular Calling - A unique calling for us as individuals FIRSTLY, The Universal Calling - A vocation for everyone There is work that God calls all of us to do, and it’s laid out for us in the Bible. God makes it clear again and again that we’r...

To celebrate my 65th birthday on Monday past, my wife treated me to a lovely lunch at a beach restaurant in Portstewart called "Harry's Shack."  The weather was great so we decided to walk from our lodgings in Portrush along the coastal path - 5 miles there and 5 miles back. En route home I stopped off briefly at a hostelry called Inn on the Coast.  The next day I searched high and low, yet I just could not find my sunglasses. When I realised my prescription sunglasses were lost I decided to retrace my steps. I reckoned that I'd set them down at the Inn. Thankfully, it took a brief phone call to the Inn to hear the good news that someone  had kindly handed them in to the reception and I was able to reclaim them. It's a horrible feeling that I'd lost something that was both useful and valuable. I was so chuffed to find, that although they were lost, they were now found. The whole of chapter 15 of Lukes Gospel is dedicated to three stories that Jesus...

Trans World Airlines  (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. The initials T.W.A . are also a great way of remembering the vital ingredients that make for strong relationships Let me illustrate using the intimacy of a marriage relationship to demonstrate our relationship to God. 1) T stands for Time . Every marriage relationship with it's salt and one that thrives involves investing time in each other. Making quality time is a key building block for any relationship. It's the same with our relationship with God. Investing in a "quiet time" is a key to developing a strong faith. When I make time for my wife it demonstrates my love for her. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 talks about time 1   There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:  2  a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,  3  a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear do...