Sunday's coming!

 Colossians 1: 15-28, Luke 10: 38-42 When my parents were the age I am now, they moved from Merthyr to Chippenham. They had both retired in their mid 50s, but still kept busy with many tasks as Elders in the URC. My dad was a practical person, who was one of the few to really understand how the church heating system worked - but he was also known for his good sense and keen moral compass. My mum had run the junior church for nearly 20 years, plus a youth club, and a Pilots company, and had a knack for getting young people singing, learning & making things.  But now in their early 60s they were both feeling ready to slow down a bit, and had decided they needed a smaller house, fewer hills & not so many church jobs.    So they moved to a small house in Chippenham, and joined a URC where they were treated more like retired people, and enjoyed the fact that the walk into town was flatter.     And someone at church suggested they might like...

Luke 10: 25-37 I would be most surprised if any of us here did not know what we thought a ‘Good Samaritan’ is. We even have the organisation “The Samaritans” – set up to listen to and help people.   So we might think we know exactly what the story of Jesus – of the man mugged and ultimately helped by a Samaritan – is telling us. Jesus tells the story to answer the question “who is my neighbour?”. If this story from Jesus helps us realise that the neighbour is the one who steps in and helps – even if it is the one we least expect to help – then it is a story worth reading.   You can find some really heart-warming modern stories which echo exactly Jesus’ story of the person you least expect acting as a true loving neighbour.   I found this story. In May 2023, a   60 year old prison guard in Louisiana, Roberta Bell, heard that one of the women in the facility where she worked was about to give birth … and because they had no facilities at the prison, the b...

 Proper 9 ;  2 Kings 5:1-14 It feels like the most dangerous time for the people of the Middle East.   Israel is said to be considering a 60 day ceasefire in Gaza: but the atrocities of October 7 th 2023, carried out by Hamas, are still brutally alive in many Israeli people’s memories. Meanwhile Palestinians in Gaza may well feel that after so many hundreds of people being killed trying to get aid, as well as the recent attack on a beach-front café in Gaza, the most they can hope for is a gap in the hostilities, rather than true lasting peace. Against this back-drop, President Trump has ended US sanctions against Syria; and supported Israeli attacks against nuclear facilities in Iran.   These are dangerous times – and so it feels like a difficult time to read the Old Testament, as it documents some of the ancient battles between these warring enemies.   These are the Hebrew Scriptures, the foundational stories of Judaism: some would argue...

  Luke 8: 26-33   & then Luke 8: 34-39 Reflection 1 At first hearing this story of Jesus healing this man doesn’t feel like anything we would experience. But I still think it’s worth listening carefully to what the story means for us. Jesus is in the land “opposite Galilee” - a land of Gentiles, non-Jews, outsiders. That’s why there’s a herd of pigs, which Jewish farmers wouldn’t touch, because pigs were considered unclean. In this land which is not quite home to Jesus, he comes across an outcast, a man not in his right mind, someone we might describe as having a mental illness. The poor man hears voices,   can’t be restrained, rips his clothes off, and chooses to live among the tombs. Jesus heals him, because that is what Jesus can do for those who need his help. There was a time in my life when I needed mental healing.   Just after Ellie was born I became very detached from reality due to a condition called postpartum psychosis. It affects abo...

  Matthew 7: 7-11 & 24-17           Ephesians 2: 17-22 We are celebrating the 202 nd anniversary of the building of this chapel - What does it take to build a chapel? I can recommend typing that question into a search engine if you want to give yourself a giggle. One website solemnly describes the process of engaging an architect to help you decide the best site – and then the need to discuss “ sufficient office spaces, the children’s department, the proper sanctuary size, adequate parking, church kitchen and/or café, and needed storage areas   - just to name a few”. Or you find a man like Thomas Skeel. Thanks to the fact that the “History of the Welsh Independent Churches” by Thomas Rees & John Thomas (published in 1871) is available online I can tell you quite a lot about Thomas Skeel – and it’s worth hearing! Thomas Skeel was born in 1758, in Hayscastle, the son of farmers. He was ordained at Trefgarne in 1795 and later married M...