Best Loved Prayers and Words of Wisdom

Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we

know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one

can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’

Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the

kingdom of God without being born from above.’ Nicodemus

said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old?

Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be

born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter

the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is

spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be

born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you

hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from

or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’

John 3:1–8, NRSV

Being fruitful again

Christina Rossetti was a poet and sister of the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Her Christmas poem ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ became widely known after her death when it was set as a Christmas carol. In these lines from another poem she reflects on the fact that painful circumstances can be used to help us grow and develop.

Although today he prunes my twigs with pain,

Yet doth his blood nourish and warm my root;

Tomorrow I shall put forth buds again

And clothe myself with fruit.

Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)

Belief in the unseen

In a scientific age we can be tempted to want proof of everything. We believe only what we can see. Far from losing their faith in the unseen, those who have suffered for their faith down through the ages have often found strength and comfort. In Germany during the Second World War, Jews in hiding left this inscription on a cellar wall.

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in

love even when feeling it not. I believe in God even when he is

silent.

Anon. (20th century)

The best things

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Scotland, where both his father and his grandfather had been lighthouse keepers. He is best known as the author of Treasure Island. He died in Samoa at the age of just 44.

The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in

your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of

God just before you.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)

Beware anxiety

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was an English Baptist preacher who became a pastor at the age of just seventeen. He also founded the charity organization now known as Spurgeon’s, which works worldwide with families and children. His sermons were translated into many languages in his lifetime and are still read and quoted from today by Christians of all denominations.

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow – only today

of its strength.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–1892)

Beyond our understanding

Origen is generally considered the greatest theologian and biblical scholar of the early Eastern church. He was probably born in Egypt, and was taught by Clement of Alexandria. Origen’s literary productivity was enormous. His writings helped to create a Christian theology that blended biblical and philosophical study.

Of all the marvellous and splendid things about the Son of

God there is one that utterly transcends the limits of human

wonder and is beyond the capacity of our weak mortal

intelligence to think of or understand, namely, how this mighty

power of the divine majesty, the very Word of the Father, and

the very Wisdom of God, in which were created ‘all things visible

and invisible’, can be believed to have existed within the

compass of that man who appeared in Judaea; yes, and how the

wisdom of God can have entered into a woman’s womb and