Gospel e-Letter

Leo Tolstoy was one of the greatest novelists of all time. He was famous, wealthy and extraordinarily gifted. He had a loving family and had achieved what most people could only dream of. Yet, in the middle of his life, Tolstoy fell into deep despair. Why? He began to think seriously about life and death. He struggled with the thought that death would be the end of everything. What was the point of his achievements, his wealth, his fame, and even his family, if sooner or later everyone would die and everything he had accomplished would eventually be forgotten? In his book A Confession , Tolstoy expressed the question that troubled him: “Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?” The more he thought about the implications of this worldview, the more miserable he became. He described the advice people gave him: “You cannot understand the meaning of life, so do not think about it, but live.” In other words, stop worrying about life's ultim...

Amid the agony of the crucifixion, Jesus uttered a cry that echoes through history, drawing on the opening verse of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The psalmist is wrestling with what seems to him an inexplicable contradiction. God’s people trusted in him, called upon him, and were delivered; Their confidence was not disappointed. Yet when he himself cries out, God was silent. “Why,” he asks, “have you forsaken me?” What an unimaginable cry of anguish from the Son of God! God the Father forsakes his beloved Son, leaving him exposed to the mockery and contempt of his enemies. It is a cry of profound suffering, yet not a cry of unbelief. Far from it. Twice Jesus addresses him as “My God.” Even in the darkness of abandonment, he continues to trust in his Father. Why did Jesus cry these words aloud? Why were they heard, remembered, and recorded for us? Surely so that we might ask the question Calvary demands of us: why did the Father forsake his Son? Why, then, did th...

I remember my mother busy working all day long — cleaning, washing clothes, cooking, going out to do the shopping, and attending to so many other chores around the house. She was a hardworking woman. But in the evening she would finally sit down and rest. That meant that the work she had to do for that day was finished. The Bible draws a contrast between the Levitical priests of the Old Testament and Jesus, our great High Priest in the New Testament. “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:11–12, ESV). On the one hand, we see the Levitical priests standing; on the other, Jesus is seated. The work of the Jewish priests was never complete, because the sacrifices they offered “can never take away sins.” That is why, day after day, they remained standing at the altar. The same cannot be said o...

Why, Lord, must sickness, sorrow, pain still haunt the world where You still reign? You hold the stars, yet hearts still cry — why, Lord, such silence from the sky? Creator of the stars above, You formed us with Your tender love. You shaped us fair in Your design to share Your life, Your love divine. You warned that sin would bring us death; our parents fell — and with each breath, we heirs of dust through fleeting days, still break the bond in countless ways. Is this why, as we see today, the first bright garden passed away? No bloom remains, no life, no light, only the thorns and bitter blight. Yet whispers of that garden fair still speak of all Your love and care. But every bloom is touched by grief, and every joy is all too brief. Lest we forget, through all we see, how foul is sin, how dear its fee. You warned us once; You warn us still: death crowns the proud, self-governed will. Teach me, O Lord, Your holy fear, to flee from sin that draws too near. A contrite heart to keep me t...

The New Testament frequently describes salvation using the language of creation. Redemption is not presented merely as moral improvement, religious reform, or the performance of certain rituals. Rather, it is portrayed as an act of divine creation — the bringing into existence of something entirely new. The Apostle Paul expresses this clearly in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Similarly, in Galatians 6:15, Paul emphasizes that what ultimately matters is neither external religious identity nor ritual observance, “but a new creation.” The same idea appears again in Ephesians 2:10, where believers are described as God’s workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” These passages invite a comparison between the original creation of the world and the new creation that takes place in salvation. Similarities Between the Two Creations First, both creations are entirely the work of God. Just as huma...

The philosopher Albert Camus once wrote, “Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.” Why does Camus say that beauty is unbearable? Had Camus spoken of the weight of illness, the sting of suffering, or the cold hand of injustice, we would have understood him at once. Yet the thinker confesses to despair in the very presence of beauty. We too recognise something of this inner conflict. The beauty of a rose lasts only for a moment; within a few days it withers and dries up. Old age shows no mercy to the beauty and vigour of youth. Even the most beautiful of human relationships, the tenderness and love of a husband for his wife, and of parents for their children, these too reach their end. Here lies our dilemma. For we do not want them to end. We long to press beauty to our hearts forever, yet death tears away all that we cherish and all that gives us joy. Beauty would be a crue...

The Core Truth from Scripture “He (Jesus) is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world… Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2; 4:10, ESV). Understanding "Propitiation" The word propitiation isn’t one we often hear in everyday conversation, yet its meaning is profoundly important to the Christian faith. It is not merely a blanket term for forgiveness. Propitiation speaks of atonement, reparation, and specifically, the turning away of righteous anger that has been justly provoked. It is a dual-action word: it deals with sin (our offense) and God's wrath (His just response to that offense). In fact, the word propitiation helps us understand the very heart of what Christ accomplished through His death—a truth we celebrate and remember each time we share in Holy Communion. The Divine Dilemma: Justice Meets Mercy God is Holy and Just. The ...