Maybe the title is a little presumptuous—maybe I have only one reader! Or to see the title in a different light—perhaps you are a bookworm, if so this is for you too.

Over the last ten years of writing this column, I’ve become aware that perhaps more people read it than I thought. A famous preacher once quipped that he wouldn’t cross the street to hear himself preach, I’m a bit like that with this column—so I’m always pleasantly surprised when I hear people say they read it.

So I thought that, since I don’t get the chance to meet many of you, I’d like to invite you to come along this Wednesday (25th) to a books and supper evening—no strings attached. We’ll be having a bookstall, so you can have a browse through a good selection of books on Christianity and the Bible. The bookstall will also have a range of children’s books and Bibles.

I’d love to meet you, whether you have questions on things I’ve written, or are simply looking for a book recommendation; I’d be glad to see you.

In the autumn we’re thinking of running a Christianity Explored course – a six week course which looks at the Gospel of Mark and the foundations of Christianity. It is a useful refresher course, and also a good way to find out what the Bible really says. If you would be interested in taking part, come along to the books night and let me know, or drop me a line.

So why not come along and join us for a cup of tea and a chat. The Books and Supper evening will take place on Wednesday 25th August at Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church Hall on the Kilmacrenan Rd from 7.30pm to 9.00pm.

Mark Loughridge is the minister of Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church. He can be contacted on 074 9123961 or mark@milfordrpc.org. You can read more or listen online at www.milfordrpc.org

Donegal’s a great place to live. One of the questions often asked by my well-meaning northern acquaintances is, “Have you settled in yet?”, even though we have been here nine years. If we haven’t settled in yet, then there must be a problem!

Donegal is simply glorious in its scenery. The rugged mountains, the barren heather-covered hills, the long sandy beaches. I love the time of year that we’ve come to—the low afternoon sun casting its long shadows, bathing everything in a golden glow. I love that crispness to the air—cold enough to see your breath, but not enough wind to blow the cold deep into your bones. I love the autumn colours of the landscape as the sun brings them out—the greens of the fields, against the blue of the sky, the golden browns of the trees just before their leaves fall.

Now it’s getting somewhat colder, and the place to be is inside. So, wearing my other hat – that of minister of Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church, I invite you to come to a special service we’re holding to praise God for his work of creation. The conservation folks at An Taisce usually have an annual service, and this year they’ve asked us to host and organise it for them; we’re delighted to do that and would like to broaden the invitation to everyone.

The theme of the evening will be “God: the Master Artist”. One aspect of the evening will be a journey of praise through the book of Psalms looking at Psalms which celebrate both the Creator and the creation. But much more than looking at the creation, we will be looking at the artist himself—posing the question, If the creation is this fantastic, what must the creator be like? We are going to let scripture guide us on a take a brief high-speed tour of the universe, pausing to ponder the artist as well as the art.

We’d love to see you there on Sunday 1st November at 7.30pm at Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church on the Kilmacrenan Road, Milford.

“The spacious heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim his handiwork.”
Psalm 19:1

Have you bought a Bible recently? I was talking to Bobby from the Open Door bookshop, and he was saying that there has been an increase in the sale of Bibles over the last 6 months. Apparently it’s not just the Open Door bookshop either, Amazon report an increase in Bible sales also.

That’s great! However, in my experience, there is a vast gulf between buying a Bible and reading it. That’s not to say that people don’t have good intentions. But what usually happens is that they start at Genesis, enjoy it, and half way through the second book, Exodus, the going gets tough, and then they grind to a slow bewildered halt somewhere near the start of Leviticus. The Bible is then put up on a shelf, with shake of the head and a “What was I thinking?”.

Part of the problem is that the Bible is a library of 66 books, not simply one book. And so to start in and read from the beginning is like walking into a library and starting to read from the left hand side round to the right. It can be done, but it is hard going. You don’t need some secret key to understand a library, but what is useful is a librarian who can take you and show you how to use a library. Once we get our bearings we are freer to enjoy what is on offer.

The same is true of the Bible—it’s not as if there is a magic secret to understanding it, but it makes it easier if someone can show you your way around. What’s the main plotline? Who’s who? How does it all fit together? Does it all fit together? Where should I start?

When we know these we will find ourselves freer to enjoy what is on offer.

If that’s you and you want to find out more come along on Sunday 28th when I’ll be giving a whirlwind tour of the Bible entitled “Getting the Big Picture”. Come and get your bearings and find out answers to some of those questions. The talk starts at 8pm in the Day Centre off Oliver Plunkett Road, and there will be opportunity for questions.

One of the many popular perceptions about the Bible is that it is like all other ancient traditions—misogynistic, in other words it presents a view that women are to be despised and trampled on with little or no rights.

Whilst this may be true of many ancient societies, the Bible’s teaching on women was completely counter-cultural. It went against the flow. The gospel writer Luke noticed this too, and in his account of the life of Jesus he highlights the equality of women—nearly every major moment or parable or teaching has a male-female counterpart. For example: an angel appears to Zechariah and then to Mary, the parable of the shepherd searching for the lost sheep is followed by the woman looking for her lost coin, the healing of the demon possessed man is followed by the double healing of the sick woman and the dead girl. It is evident that Jesus had women amongst his wider group of disciples, an unheard of thing for a rabbi to do.

All this is by way of saying that the Bible doesn’t fit with the preconceptions, and over the next few weeks in Milford RP church we are going to be looking at lessons God taught some of the remarkable women of the Bible.

What do you know of Sarah? Or Miriam? Or Esther? Or Jochebed? Or Martha? Or what about Gomer?

I suspect that you’ll know quite a bit about some of those, but others perhaps not so much, and even those we do know will surprise us.

We’ve just spent a number of weeks at the end of last year looking at Jacob, and now it’s time to redress the balance somewhat. But what does this have to say to men? Is this a series where the men get to stay at home for a few weeks? Certainly not. It doesn’t matter whether we are looking at men or women or children in the Bible, because at a fundamental level the problems of the human heart are the same whatever gender or age you are.

Not only that, but when we look at the Bible we are never simply using it as a scrapbook full of examples—as if all you did was open its pages, find the person in a similar situation and seek to emulate them. That would be to miss the point in a most colossal way—yet that is how many people, including preachers, use it. No, the Bible is God’s story about his dealing with people, and so we are always looking at God and what we can learn about him in his dealings with people. Since people haven’t really changed that much at the heart level down through the centuries, and since God has no need to change, being completely outside of time, we will find much that is relevant to us today.

So I’d like to invite you, whether male or female, to come along and to hear about these remarkable women, and more importantly their remarkable God. We meet at 12 on Sunday and you’d be most welcome to come along.

Donegal’s a great place to live. One of the questions often asked by my well-meaning northern acquaintances is, “Have you settled in yet?”, even though we have been here seven years. If we haven’t settled in yet, then there must be a problem!

Donegal is simply glorious in its scenery. The rugged mountains, the barren heather-covered hills, the long sandy beaches. I love the time of year that we’re coming to the end of – the low afternoon sun casting its long shadows, bathing everything in a golden glow. I love the crispness to the air – cold enough to see your breath, but not enough wind to blow the cold deep into your bones. I love the colours of the landscape as the sun brings them out – the greens of the fields, against the blue of the sky, the golden browns of the trees just before their leaves fall.

Now it’s getting somewhat colder, and the place to be is inside. So I invite you to come to a special service we’re holding to praise God for his work of creation. The conservation folks at An Taisce usually have an annual service, and this year they’ve asked us to host and organise it for them; we’re delighted to do that and would like to broaden the invitation to everyone.

The theme of the evening will be “Living in God’s Masterpiece”. One aspect of the evening will be a journey of praise through the book of Psalms looking at Psalms which celebrate God’s creative powers. But there is much more to creation in the Bible than the Psalms – the wonder and beauty of creation is a theme that stretches from Genesis to Revelation. And we’re going to take a brief high-speed tour through the scriptures stopping to look at some of the highpoints of God’s creative work as we go.

We’d love to see you there on Sunday 9th December at 7.30pm at Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church on the Kilmacrenan Road.

“The spacious heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim his handiwork.” - Psalm 19:1

Two old men were sitting watching a heavily loaded van making its way across an old bridge. The bridge croaked and groaned under the weight. As they watched, a starling landing on top of the cab, and immediately the bridge collapsed in a cloud of dust. One of the men turned to the other and said, “Heavy wee thing, that bird.”

Sometimes it’s not the big things in life that get to us, it’s the collection of little things that mount up, and soon you feel up to you neck. And perhaps you find yourself lying awake at night and your mind is racing with the circumstances you find yourself in, and it gets to the point where you are on the verge of panic.

Perhaps it’s the kids, they’re playing up, and you just don’t have the energy for this. Perhaps it’s bills coming in, perhaps it’s reports coming home from school of disruptive behaviour, perhaps it’s worries about a job, work isn’t coming in, or too much work is piling up. Perhaps it’s losing your job, and how then are you going to provide?

Perhaps it’s just that you are caught in a pattern you can’t get out of – you can’t seem to break free. Perhaps something has you addicted and you can’t break free. Perhaps choices you made have left you in a hopeless situation. Perhaps you have been dumped into your circumstances by others, and you are left there and you feel you are floundering, just keeping afloat and no more.

Is there hope?

We can’t always change our circumstances – despite what Oprah and the positive thinking gurus say. But the Bible teaches that we can be changed in our circumstances. In other words we can live in the same circumstances, but with a radically different mindset, and more importantly with the strength of God working in us and through us enabling us to cope. And often it is as he changes us that God does what we can’t do, and changes our circumstances.

The Bible also teaches that those who put their trust in God find that he controls their circumstances for their good. That gives a strength and a peace amidst the turmoil. And, although it doesn’t always happen, often he does lift us out of our circumstances and transform both them and us.

On Sunday evening (4th) we’ll be looking at what the Bible has to say this on topic in greater detail – ‘More than Conquering your Circumstances’. The meeting is open to anyone, and will be held at Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church, Kilmacrenan Road, Milford at 8pm. Why not come along and hear more?

If you had an opportunity to plan your life – would you be who you are now? Who we are is, in part, the result of the actions and influences of others.

That’s fine if only good has happened to you. But since we live in a broken world there are many who have been shaped by situations and circumstances that have left deep scars across the surface of their souls. It might have been abuse, bereavement, absent or distant parents, alcoholism, drug dependence, or countless other factors.

We only get one life. It doesn’t seem fair that the actions of others in time past can mar and ruin who we are.

Perhaps this is you, and you’ve tried to hide from the past, but you know that it doesn’t work.

It’s possible to live with the past, and yet not cope with the past. It gnaws away at us. We become trapped, thinking that we have to remain victims.

In Ireland we are very good at putting up masks, and hiding behind them, pretending everything is fine. But underneath lies a soul that is still raw. The past is real; it cannot be changed. Yet it can be conquered.

Our past might define us, but it doesn’t have to defeat us.

But how?

As a Christian, and as a pastor I believe that there is an answer. The Bible offers help to the hurting, so that they can emerge like a butterfly from the chrysalis of their past. God makes a promise to hurting people: “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

What great words: hope, future, prosper. The hope that the Bible holds out is of a God who sets us free from the shackles of our past, who takes our past and uses it for good in us and around us. Not only does he rescue us from our past, but he rescues our past as well. The years we thought were lost are turned around and made into something profitable.

More needs to be said, and I will be speaking on Sunday evening (7th) on what the Bible has to say about ‘More than Conquering your Past’ at Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church, Kilmacrenan Road, Milford at 8pm. Why not come along and hear more?

Mark Loughridge is the minister of Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church. He can be contacted on 074 9123961 or mark@milfordrpc.org. You can read more or listen online at www.milfordrpc.org

650 killed in flash floods in China. 9 blown-up in Iraq. 6 missing in a mine in America. 4 killed in a car crash in Ireland. In today’s world the numbers are made to matter, or the geography. Yet each tells its own tale of sorrow and heartbreak. And then there are the countless thousands whose stories never make the news: your mother, your son, your brother, your neighbour, you.

The long claws of suffering reach out and leave their filthy tracks over all of us. Death, disease, deterioration, depression, despair.

Yet just because it is almost universal doesn’t make it any easier to accept. Something deep inside us cries out for a reason – “Why is this happening to me?” – or perhaps not a reason, because a reason would do us little good. Instead, what we actually want is something to give us hope, something that will pull us through.

Some religions teach that we to are to bear it – there is no other course. Others teach that peace comes when we can ignore our suffering and rise above it. Still others teach that it is part of the cycle of karma.

Yet I suspect for most the reality of suffering cries out for a much earthier answer, something intensely real and helpful.

Is it possible to more than simply cope with suffering? Is the best we can do just to fill ourselves up with tablets and put on a brave face?

As a Christian, and as a pastor I believe that there is an answer. The hope that the Bible holds out is deep, profound and practical. The Bible teaches that there is both a reason and a resource. There is hope and there is help. It is earthed in reality and shows that we can more than conquer our suffering. We can take our suffering and triumph over it and see it used for good both in us and around us.

The great tragedy of this world is not that we suffer – that is inevitable. The great tragedy is that people waste their suffering, by missing out on the purpose for which it was given.

More needs to be said, and I will be speaking on Sunday evening 2nd September on what the Bible has to say about, ‘More than Conquering your Suffering’ at Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church, Kilmacrenan Road, at 8pm. Why not come along and hear more?