Welcome to
Haywards Heath United Reformed Church

 TALKING TO THE BIBLE

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At Sunday School we learnt some Bible passages by heart and if successful in reciting them, were given a Bible (the traditional Authorised Version) from the Lord Wharton charity. Later as a teenager I was given JB Phillips’ ‘Young Church in Action’, a then modern translation of the exciting New Testament book of Acts that follows on after the Gospels. Later still,  as a Lay Preaching and ministerial student I acquired ‘Gospels in Parallel’ in which the texts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are set out side by side so you can see which stories and what variations appear in which Gospel.

  

Why am I talking about this? Because I believe it is important to bear in mind that both the Old and New Testaments in the Bible are living documents constantly being interpreted to take account of both new knowledge, and the questions we pose and ponder today about many different aspects of our lives. The big question for me as a university lecturer in building, architecture, environmental planning, civil engineering and housing was always ‘What light does the Bible, both Old and  New Testaments, shed on our ethics and our business and moral values? And how does our human-built world join with the natural environment and many faiths and sciences in the unending praise of God?  

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What’s a key question for you, I wonder!