Adventures in Lapland and Svenskfinland: part one

Earlier this month I went with my wife to visit our old friends living in Svenskfinland, that is among the minority Swedish speaking community in Finland. For some time we have been planning a trip to Lapland, a place that has always fascinated me. Land of the midnight sun, the aurora borealis or northern lights, reindeer herds, Santa Claus/Father Christmas/Julgubbe, heavy snowdrifts, frozen rivers, Sami folk, winter sports, and ice castles and ice hotels.




Liz had a particularly nasty virus infection, so our long car journey to Rovaniemi, our hotel for the first night only, was delayed by a day. Jan-Erik's car, a four wheel drive Honda with appropriate winter tyres, performed magnificently. Marianne had stocked the vehicle with plenty of snacks, soft drinks, emergency rations and some interesting items for the Lapland trip.


On the Lord's Day, when we were due to leave for Lapland, Liz was particularly poorly, too poorly to sing at the morning service as planned.  She's Welsh, with firm roots in chapel culture, so it was a great disappointment to her. I preached at Esse, on the passage for the day in the Lutheran liturgical calendar. Jan-Erik translated. My Swedish is not good enough yet, but I do speak Svengelska very well indeed! It was one week before Palm Sunday, therefore this Lord's Day we celebrated the annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  So Liz and I had travelled from Essex to Esse.

To be continued.

Diabolical deeds done by Taliban murderers in Lahore

The events in Lahore, Pakistan, on Easter Sunday were diabolical. It was a soft target hit and children were blown to bits. A despicable crime that would be despised by even the most hardened long sentence offenders incarcerated in UK prisons. They do not tolerate criminals who harm children.

Now is the time for justice to be seen to be done by the Pakistani police and judicial system.
Let justice flow like rivers. Away with pious pronouncements and pathetic promises. Justice is demanded, and nothing less.

Harming, hurting and hampering children does have serious eternal consequences.

Matthew 18:2-6, Mark 9:42-48 and Luke 17:1-3.

Ultimately the wrath of God will come upon those who have sinfully caused children to suffer.
Unless someone is protected by the blood of Christ, then their eternal punishment will be severe.
Weeping and wailing. Gnashing of teeth. Their perdition will be painful!

IS, that's intensely satanic!

We have seen the true colours of IS. They are very dark indeed.Cowardly acts of violent hatred, murderous mayhem, suicide slaughter, bloodthirsty behaviour.They fight like foxes who kill all the chickens in the pen, eager to eliminate every animal without remorse. It's in their nature, their carnal and satanic nature.

They force women to wear dark, depressing and debilitating garments. Yes, they are debilitating in the hot weather, as black is not the best choice of colour in the searing heat.  Dark, depressing garments are symbolic of a dark and deeply depressing religion.