Jesus was no ordinary man. He performed countless miracles. In one chapter alone (Matthew 8), we are told that Jesus cleansed the defiled, healed the diseased, and drove out demons with a word.

We live today in a world short on hope and amply supplied with despair. For most, this has been a rather bleak year. We are all looking for hope in the midst of the pandemic – hope for Covid numbers to improve, hope for life to go back to normal. As Christmas approaches, we hear music in the background reminding us that comfort is on offer.

Approximately 360,000 babies are born each day around the world. The birth of a child is always a joyful thing. But the arrival of most babies won’t become headline news. Sometimes an enthusiastic parent will publish a birth announcement in the local newspaper.

The Queen’s Coronation in 1953 was the first coronation in history to be a truly global spectacle. It was broadcast in 39 languages to 200 million viewers worldwide. It was important for it to be a global event because, even though the days of Empire were gone, the Queen was still monarch to millions of people in nations scattered across the globe.

It’s a scary thing to be in a state of open war; it’s unsettling to think that you might be under attack but quite unaware of what’s taking place. It’s no secret that warfare today is undergoing rapid change. There are still live fronts with soldiers and military hardware in many places. But there is a whole new aspect to it: the silent, the covert, the electronic.