The way sometimes we preach we make out that God is waiting eagerly to catch us out. It's not that way at all. I mean, it is extraordinary because it almost is as if God in fact wills us also to sin, but that is not true.

South Africa, so utterly improbably, is a beacon of hope in a dark and troubled world.

And you remember the rainbow in the Bible is the sign of peace. The rainbow is the sign of prosperity. We want peace, prosperity and justice and we can have it when all the people of God, the rainbow people of God, work together.

Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes.

It may be a procession of faithful failures that enriches the soil of godly success.

The sad problem is that we see ourselves as being quite terribly small. Instead of spending my time being envious, I need to celebrate your and my different gifts, even if mine are perhaps less spectacular than yours.

Serve others. The failing recipe for happiness and success is to want the good of others.