There's a word in John's Gospel that gets flattened every time it's translated into English. John 3:36 says whoever does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the word John actually uses isn't the ordinary word for belief. It's much more about refusing to be persuaded. Picture…
He's in training for a medic course alongside men half his age, and getting the "do you work out?" question a lot lately. His answer's the same as ever: "No, I work outside." But this time there's a training programme behind it too, and that's got him thinking about a…
Have you ever said "I've got nothing to hide"? Paul says the same thing about the gospel itself, no small print, no softened sales pitch, no catch hidden until it's too late. In 2 Corinthians 4:2, Paul refuses to tamper with the message to make it look easier than it…
Cracked pots don't get trashed, not if the Fixer's inside. A short, honest word from 2 Corinthians 4: Paul calls himself a jar of clay, cheap, breakable, and so are we. But cracked isn't the same as crushed. If your life's got failure, angst, or things falling apart in it…
What does a preacher's integrity look like in an age of Artificial Intelligence? Biblically, it looks totally as it always has! In this Word for the Week, Rev Simon Bowkett works through five Pauline texts on ministerial integrity (2 Corinthians 2:17, 2 Corinthians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 2:3-6, 1 Corinthians 4:1-2,…
Who actually stands behind the words you're reading? At the University of Aberystwyth, where questions of authorship and authority obviously matter deeply, Rev Simon Bowkett asks the most important question Christians should be asking about Artificial Intelligence: who is prepared to put their name on this content? The Apostle Paul…
Why does the same set of words carry weight when a person says them, but fall flat the moment we realise a machine generated them? In this Super Short Thought, filmed in Aberystwyth, Simon explores why communication is never just information transfer. It's people aligning their minds together, an interpersonal…
Filmed on location at a conference at Aberystwyth University (yes, that's the Chaplaincy Land Rover parked outside) this Super Short Thought asks a question that seems to matter more with every passing day: In the age of AI, what actually makes Christian communication consistently Christian? Firstly, in this SST, it's…
Jesus arrives at Jairus's house to find the professional mourners already there, the experts in death, certain they know exactly what they're looking at. When He says the child is not dead but sleeping, they laugh Him down. The Greek word is kategelōn, contemptuous, derisive laughter. They weren't wrong because…
Two desperate people. One journey. A Saviour who will not be rushed. In Mark 5:21-43, Jesus is on his way to heal a dying twelve year old girl when a woman who has bled for twelve years reaches out and touches his robe ... a very significant act in itself.…
What do you actually need on the worst day of your life? An explanation. A nice theory? What about the question: is there any reason not to give up right now? That is exactly where Jairus is standing in Mark 5:21-43. His daughter was dying, Jesus agreed to come, and…
Two people. Same afternoon. Same town. Both facing the worst day of their lives, and neither one knows the other exists. A woman who has been bleeding for twelve years, spending everything she has on cures that never worked. A little girl, just twelve years old, whose life is about…
On the way to save a dying child, Jesus stops ... not for the crowd pressing all around Him, but for one woman who was DESPERATE, who reached out with nothing left to lose. Here's a Super Short Thought on Mark 5:25-34: the woman who had spent everything, tried everyone,…
The Show's over. But the horseflies are still biting. And something I saw at the boot sale won't leave me alone. Nearly 2,000 years ago, a man named John opened a letter with words we now toss around without thinking: "I pray that you may prosper and be in health,…
A young handler burns her leg at the Royal Welsh Show. Her mam knew exactly what to do: cold water, straight away, twenty minutes, no fuss. That's the kind of quick, practical, action-packed compassion rural Wales runs on, and it's exactly the shape of the story Jesus tells in Luke…
At the end of a long, hot day at the Royal Welsh Show, here's a word for anyone running on empty. Psalm 23:3 says "He restores my soul", not "He keeps me going." A shepherd who never rests isn't a good shepherd, he's heading for a breakdown, and that's bad…
"He will feed his flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them close to his heart." (Isaiah 40:11) Filmed in the sheep shed at the Royal Welsh Show, this Super Short Thought looks at the difference between driving a flock and carrying it.…
There's no mess like 'oxen' in the barn, and there's no increase without them either. Proverbs 14:4 puts a choice in front of every farmer, and in front of every one of us: keep things clean and empty, or carry the cost and mess of real strength in your enterprise…
He had no name, no home, and no hope, until Jesus crossed the lake to find him. In this episode of the Word for the Week, we work carefully through Mark 5:1-20, the account of the Gerasene demoniac, from the Greek text (NA28) outward. We look at why the demon's…
What value do you put on a human life? Filmed live at Carmarthen livestock market, where the price of sheep and cattle was being weighed up all around, this Super Short Thought asks a harder question. In Mark 5, Jesus set a higher value on one broken man than on…
