Isleworth Congregational Church
Twickenham Road, Isleworth, Middlesex, TW7 7EU, United Kingdom
by Donald A.G. Burling My family has suffered a couple of mishaps recently. My daughter Ruth inadvertently stepped off a kerb, fell and broke a bone in her right shoulder. Then my daughter-in-law Lucy, doing nothing more dangerous than getting up from a sofa, managed to twist her ankle and suffered severe bruising and tissue […]
Read on...by Donald A.G. Burling On Saturday the 3rd December – the day after my 90th birthday – I have promised to give a talk to the local branch of the Association of Christian Writers, about writing Gospel tracts. Not that I can claim to be much of an expert; Only one of my tracts, as […]
Read on...by Donald A.G. Burling We often say that to children, and with good reason. In our age of immorality, we are all too aware that the apparently friendly stranger may turn out to be an abuser or even a kidnapper. The trouble is, the habit sticks with us all our lives. This habit is peculiarly […]
Read on...by Donald A.G. Burling There is a well-known story of a farm labourer who had heard a sermon on sin. When asked what the preacher had to say about the subject, he replied “Oh, he was agin it”. This was thought funny, because of course any preacher would be against sin, However, that was […]
Read on...by Donald A.G. Burling Spring and summer are a time of growth. Flowers bloom, trees and plants flourish – and so do the weeds. The grass needs continual cutting, if you like to have a lawn looking like a bowling green. The crops on which our lives depend show signs of life as they begin […]
Read on...by Donald A.G. Burling Easter is the one Christian festival for which we have the right date – more or less. One could also count Pentecost, which follows seven weeks later. The ancients counted time by looking at the phases of the moon, one cycle of which they called a month. The problem was that […]
Read on...by Donald A.G. Burling What’s all this about global warming? Might a couple of degrees Celsius not make life a bit more comfortable for us, particularly in winter? The reality of climate change cannot be denied, as we see spring flowers blooming earlier each year. When did we last see a white Christmas? Whether this […]
Read on...by Donald A.G. Burling Have you ever seen a picture of an old man with a flowing beard, holding a scythe and an hour glass? This image of “Father Time” used to be quite common, particularly around the New Year. It is in fact derived from representations of the Roman god Saturn, the father god […]
Read on...by Donald A.G. Burling “I am the Lord thy God . . . Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” So begin the Ten Commandments given through Moses to the people of Israel just escaped from slavery in Egypt. Yet within a few weeks of receiving this command they were resorting to the kind […]
Read on...by Donald A.G. Burling I recently listened to a reading of Luke chapter 2, and it occurred to me that this must be the best known chapter in the Bible. Millions of people have heard, at church or at school, the story of the Roman census, the journey to Bethlehem, the lack of room in […]
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