It has often been said ‘Practice makes perfect’. I have practiced doing, or learning many things, but I have never done anything perfectly. No one is perfect. Pope Francis has himself admitted, “I am a sinner”. We learn from our mistakes. Observing the failure of the people to keep their covenant with God Micah posed the question, “What does the Lord require of you?” to which he gave the answer...

As the brain needs oxygen, as the lungs need air, as the body needs nourishment, as the fish needs water – so we need God. Our physical structure, our emotional balance, our social relations and mental health – all have need of God. The person who denies this need should explain why from the earliest recorded time and through every age Homo-sapiens has experienced a sense of fear and need, but...

We were invited out to dine at an up market restaurant. It was all ‘a la carte’. When the menu came one course included crocodile and my wife’s immediate comment was “Crocodile! I am afraid to order that”. Whereupon the African waiter, with solemn expression, leaned forward and said, “It is dead, Madam”. When we go to worship God is ‘on the menu’, in fact he is the ‘main course’, but I wonder,...

Ever since boyhood I have been fascinated by watching craftsmen at work; a carpenter, a bricklayer, a painter, an artist at his easel. People using materials and tools to mend or make something. Admiring their skills I dreamed of copying them and imagined myself becoming like them. The variety and volume of creative hobbies indicates the inherent human desire to create and the deep satisfaction...