Announcing our new exciting Fundraising Event for 2013 in aid of International Faith Outreach, International Prison Outreach and The Cheerful Giver Fund.
In May, the Alive Publishing Three Peaks Team will attempt to climb the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales in ‘one go’ and within 24 hours!

During the Year of Faith the Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) is helping seafarers visiting British ports to discover how the Bible can help them develop their spiritual life.

The Pope’s Lenten theme for this Year of Faith is taken from the Letter of Love by the Evangelist of Love, and not surprisingly it is about love: ‘We have known and have believed the love God has for us’ (1 John 4:16).

One was once an IRA prisoner, the other is the son of a Loyalist leader. But in the new Northern Ireland, the two have come together over a shared love of art – and they’re covering Belfast’s walls with their vision of a better future. Joanna Moorhead went to meet them.

Pope Benedict’s new book, the third in a series on Jesus of Nazareth is a publishing sensation. What is it about Pope Benedict that his insights into Jesus are so penetrating and his theological writing so popular. Perhaps it’s got something to do with him being the Pope and one of the world’s greatest theologians. Monsignor Paul Watson explains.

Every Christian would applaud what the Albrechts do, but not many would do it themselves. Joanna Moorhead meets the family that shares its life with street dwellers

The first Hobbit film is now on general release – but how important a factor was his faith in the life and work of its creator, JRR Tolkien?  Joanna Moorhead meets the author’s grandson to find out. »

After the exuberance of the festive season, what better way to spend a few days in the quiet months of the new year than on a retreat, where you can refocus on what really matters in life?  As well as being oases of spiritual calm, many convents, monasteries and retreat houses also offer characterful and reasonably-priced accommodation.  We’ve found some of the best for 2013.

Award winning investigative journalist Eileen Fairweather shares how with the help of God’s grace she gave up smoking for good.

Hebrews 2:14-18

Are you afraid of dying? Are you afraid of death? Can you talk about death in a way that allows you to face it and come to terms with it? The truth is that in our society death is not considered a polite topic of conversation. As Mark Twain observed, death and taxes might both be certain but we sure prefer to talk about taxes than death. Indeed, as a society we find sex a more comfortable subject than death. Why is this? What is it about death that makes it such a taboo subject? Is it fear? Fear of extinction, fear of oblivion, terror of the unknown?

We live in a world that puts a premium on being sophisticated, smart, scientific people. We don’t like to think that we are as terrified of death as our forefathers (and foremothers for that matter) were. We like to think we take it in our stride. The Scriptures reveal that fear of death is, in fact, a universal human condition. The truth is we are terrified of death. How do we know this? The Bible tells us so! The author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus came to ‘deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage’ (v. 15). Fear of death came with the fall of man. Death has been part of the human condition since the very beginning. God said, ‘For dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return’ (Gen. 3:10 KJV). The prophet Joshua prayed as death drew near: ‘I am about to go the way of all the earth’ (Josh. 23:14). The book of Job reminds us: ‘You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season’ (5:26).

Jesus came to free us from our fear of death. He is the One who liberates us from the shackles that see death as the end, not the beginning. For Christ vanquished death. He conquered it by being the sinless and perfect offering to the Father. Through him, with him and in him, we are reconciled to the Father, and the gift of eternal life, lost at the Fall, is restored to us once again.

Lord Jesus, you are the Conqueror, the Victor, the Lord of Life: you crushed him who held the power of death and destroyed the hold death had over us.

Hebrews 2:14-18  •  Psalm 104(105):1-9
Mark 1:29-39