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Proper 28: "What would love do?" Parable of Talents.

Matthew 25: 14-30 - the parable of the talents. I am very grateful to the faith exploration group for meeting without me last week and with Susan’s help, coming up with their ‘Landsker creed’.  A Landsker Creed     We believe in God, the Creator of all things, who loves all that is made, and asks us, God’s people, to care for Creation.   We believe in Jesus Christ, born of Mary and the Holy Spirit, who saves us, and shows us what a human life can be: overflowing with love, made in the image of God. We believe his teaching: that we should love our enemies, forgive those who hurt us, bring healing to the broken, and offer welcome to all.   We believe that Christ calls us to walk humbly with him, to live generously and joyfully, and to serve in the world as his hands and feet.   We believe that he suffered and died, that God raised him from death, so that he is with us now: in love and mercy, bread and wine, and in the community of his people.   We be...
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Fully Alive as saints of God (All saints year A)

     1 John 3: 1-3    Matthew 5: 1-10 One of the things I thought I knew, growing up, was that we were not people who commemorated saints. We were Marsden United Church, and then Alkrington Congregational Church, and then Market Square & Hope United Reformed Church. Down the road was St Bartholmew’s and St Andrew’s and St David’s. They all had stained glass windows and statues and celebrated all saints day. But I never really thought saints were for me.   My life changed when (aged probably about 12) I went to a children and young people’s event in Cardiff, and was introduced to this hymn:   I sing a song of the saints of God, patient and brave and true, who toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew. And one was a doctor , and one was a queen , and one was a shepherdess on the green; they were all of them saints of God, and I mean, God helping, to be one too.   They loved t...
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Proper 25 "the greatest commandment? - love"

     Matthew 22: 34-46   A lawyer comes to test Jesus – “Which commandment is the greatest?”.   The books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy contain pages and pages, chapters and chapters of commandments – not just the ones we call the ‘ten commandments’, but many more besides, dealing with how to live, how to walk in God’s way, how to serve justice, what to eat, property law, rules of warfare, marriage, money..   How do you choose just one? Jesus’ answer? He brings together the teaching of many of those pages and pages of commandments into this: “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”     You shall love.. says Jesus. All of the commandments are meant to bring ...
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Harvest and the senses

Psalm 104: 1-12    Mark 7: 31-37    Reflection Today we have an opportunity to rejoice in Creation.   Roger has brought so much into the chapel to help us think about how all our senses respond to God’s wonderful creation outside and around us.   Take a moment to take in what you can See.. Smell… Touch… Hear.. And we look forward to our lunch when we can taste.   Through our senses we can celebrate the wonders of the world around us.   The writer of Psalm 104, which we heard, speaks about the whole of creation as God’s dwelling place –     ‘you stretched out the heavens like a tent, you set your chambers on the waters. The clouds are your chariot, the winds your messengers’.   This world is the place God created and the space in which God lives and is encountered. When we sense the wonders of creation we cannot help but marvel at the creator who made it and who lives in it all. ...
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Proper 23 - living in the love of God

      Philippians 4: 1-9, Matthew 22: 1-14 Through September and into October,   I have really enjoyed the richness of late Summer and early Autumn. We have had quite a few harvest festivals – and still have a couple more to come, and we have been thinking about “the season of creation” and our place as stewards within this world God has made.   But it’s sometimes quite helpful to turn from global issues and huge themes to something much smaller and more intimate. How can we fill our lives with the good things which God wants to give us? When St Paul writes the letter to the church at Philippi, he gives clear instructions ‘All that is true, noble, just, pure, loveable, attractive, excellent, admirable, think on these things’.       If we can fill our minds and our lives with what is good, then we will experience joy – the joy of the Lord, the joy that comes from knowing we are children of God living in God’s wo...
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Parable of the tenants & our celebration of creationtide

     Matthew 21: 33-46        Psalm 80: 7-14   One of the great things about the parables of Jesus is that you can read and re-read them and they can hit you with different meanings at different times.   Reading this parable of the tenants in the vineyard this week, I was struck by the actions of the owner of the vineyard, compared with the actions of the tenants.   The owner plants the vineyard                   builds a wall and a tower to protect it                    and prepares the winepress ready for the harvest. Then he lets it out to tenants.   All they have to do is move in, care for the vines, water them, prune them, and be ready to take in the harvest. Then they will be able to pay the owner his share from the takings. I...
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