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MARTIN LUTHER AND THE NEED FOR A NEW REFORMATION

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I have been mulling over writing about Martin Luther and the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation for quite some time.  In this 500th anniversary year we have had the opportunity to visit the sites in Germany that are most closely linked to Martin Luther.  I was surprised how "un-touristy" it all was.  I liked Wittenberg and enjoyed listening to a Lutheran service in English in the Castle Church that finished up with a rousing rendition of Luther's great hymn of the Reformation, "A mighty fortress is our God." It was stirring and moving.  The painting by Cranach in Luther's local church where he used to preach, was particularly fine.  It visually described some of the basic tenets of Luther's teaching. On October 31st 1517, Martin Luther had nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.  These 95 statements challenged the Roman Catholic Church of the 16th Century to question what it means to be a Christian a

HURRICANE IRMA AND THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD

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In the last year we have encountered two hurricanes.   The first was Hurricane Matthew which slammed into South Carolina the day l ast October before we flew in to Atlanta.  It delayed our arrival by a couple of days and disrupted the event we were due to attend not far from Charleston. This year was more specific as we landed in Florida for a week of rest and holiday and found ourselves caught up in a mass evacuation of over 6 million people.  We joined the interminable lines of cars heading north and eventually after driving for nearly 18 hours found ourselves in the safety of Orange Beach, Alabama rather than St Petersberg Florida.  We sat on the sidelines of the main event which tore through the Florida Keys, made landfall near where we were meant to be staying and ripped a path up the centre of the state causing billions of dollars worth of damage and flooding many coastal communities. Friends suffered damage to their property and most are still without power. We met nothing

AFRICA UPDATE AUGUST 2017

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Having just returned from Uganda I thought it would be a good idea to put some photos up and give a pictorial account of the two week trip.  As many will know the security situation at Mto Moyoni was serious following a spate of burglaries and the murder of the German next door neighbour by thieves who broke into his house.  This created a huge police presence in the immediate area and lots of anger among the local village community who were complaining about lack of police presence in the area generally.   We are pleased to say that on our arrival walking in the gates of Mto Moyoni was like walking into an oasis of calm and peace as always.  The staff where relaxed and trusting and very pleased to greet us.  We led a staff retreat one day and shared about the servant heart of sons. This was a wonderful time and we could see that the staff, made up of gardeners, kitchen staff, office staff and housekeepers totally identified with the vision of Mto Moyoni and were living in the