…He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven

by Rev. Antony W. Ball This is an ultra-traditional depiction of the ascension, which St. Luke mentions twice1, but is not really described in scripture. Such artistic representations as this must inevitably be offered in a spirit of “as good a guess as any”, because we are not actually told anything about Jesus’ appearance – […]

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Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first went in too, and he saw and believed…

by Rev. Antony W. Ball Trouble is, we don’t even know for sure who that ‘disciple who had reached the tomb first’ was, we’re just told that ‘he saw and believed’. We think it might have been the apostle John (the writer of the Gospel) who mysteriously refers a couple of times1 to ‘the disciple […]

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As in Adam all men die, so in Christ all will be brought to life…

by Rev. Antony W. Ball Twice in his letters in the New Testament1, St. Paul compares Jesus with Adam, but the comparison is not immediately obvious apart from the scriptural claim that neither had a human father – and there’s more to it than just that. According to the creation story in Genesis2, Adam’s disobedience […]

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Hark how all the welkin* rings, ‘Glory to the King of kings…’

by Rev. Antony W. Ball . You know that Christmas carol, of course? No…? Oh – perhaps you know it as… Hark! The herald angels sing ‘Glory to the new-born King’ They’re two different versions of the same carol. Charles Wesley wrote it in 1739, and was apparently not too keen on it – he […]

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