WITH ME IN PARADISE  Jesus’ seven last words, as they are traditionally called, refer to the statements the four gospels record him saying while he hung on the cross on Good Friday. In this week’s Lenten meditation, we will ponder the third words of Jesus.  One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save...

LENT 2025 – PART TWO 1. The Family of God  This Lenten season, we at A Vivid Life, are pondering what is known as the seven last words of Jesus from the cross. Lent is the 40-day period before Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Resurrection Sunday.  Today we will linger at what is generally accepted as the second words that Jesus spoke from the cross...

FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.   This Lenten season, we at A Vivid Life, are focusing on what is the central fact of the Christian faith, and that is the cross of Christ. The words of the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth come to mind: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who...

JONATHAN AITKEN AND PSALM 130  In 1995, Jonathan Aitken, who served in the Cabinet of John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, resigned from the conservative government because of a libel case with The Guardian. The newspaper had accused him of spending a vacation in Paris in a hotel that was paid for by an Arab to whom he had given a...