Sunday's coming!

Readings for lent 4 (Lent, not Mothering Sunday readings) are: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Ephesians 5:8-14 John 9:1-41 There's so much hear about seeing & not seeing & how we 'see' what God sees. The Samuel reading is the one about David being 'selected' by God - with that memorable phrase that 'God does not see as mortals see - because mortals only see the outward appearance' - then David is selected and the description is that he was 'ruddy, and had lovely eyes & was handsome' - just the outward description, then! Meanwhile jesus heals a man born blind - and is criticised by the PHarisees for healing on the Sabbath - so the story becomes a question of who is 'seeing' and not seeing Jesus. Can we see as God sees? Can we see others as God does? There is a link to Mothering Sunday here - can we see other with the eyes of an adoring mother? Can we dare to believe that that is how God sees us - as a precious, adored, child. That...

Lent 3 In the Lent groups last week we were looking at what brought us each to faith – whether there where things we had in common, or whether our stories were quite different. In the group I was in I think one of the things that we felt we had in common was a sense of having, at some stage in your life, to make a choice for yourself about God and about Jesus. Did you believe the stuff you have heard? – or not. As we hear John telling is the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well, we might feel that here is a familiar sort of story . Jesus meets a woman, they get to talking about something ordinary - water – but slowly the woman realizes that this person Jesus is extraordinary and it slowly dawns on her that he could be the Messiah. And so off she goes to tell other people what she has found. If you look at the gospel of John as a whole, you find that this idea of meeting Jesus and having to decide for yourself what you think is a recurring theme. John uses a recu...

Yes - all of it! Looking at today's lectionary reading (Jesus & Nicodemus - John ch 3) in context yesterday I realised something about the 'shape' of John's gospel that I don't think had hit me before. i knew about John's use of the symbolism of water. I knew about the 'signs' that John draws attention to - the wedding at Cana, the healing of the man born blind, raising of Lazarus, etc (7 of them, if I remember correctly). But what I don't think I'd noticed before was the recurring conflict: John begins by setting his stall out in the prologue - he is clear about who Jesus is: and equally clear that John the Baptist in NOT the Messiah. Then comes the first 'sign' (wedding at Cana) followed immediately by Jesus overturning the tables; the conversation with Nicodemus, followed by an argument about baptism; the woman at the well, the second sign (healing of official's son) & third (healing of the man at the pool of Bethzat...

Apologies that there's been no 'thinking' going on here this week: one of those weeks where I have been wrestling with a combination of the texts & all the stuff going on in the world - but not found time to actually post: so here we are 'fully formed' - but I still reserve the right to preach around these notes, rather then read them! Readings are Genesis 12: 1-4a John 3: 1-17 Jesus & Nicodemus Lent 2 Some weeks when we come to meet with God in worship it feels as if our heads are just full of unanswerable questions. Civil war in Libya and UN involvement in yet another country; tragedy upon tragedy for Japan; and some of the most heart-breaking stories of suffering – especially of children – on Friday’s Comic Relief Day. Why does it happen? How should we respond? Where is God in all this? So how are we meant to listen to the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night – and that knotty phrase it contains where Jesus says that ‘you must be born agai...

Reading: Matthew 4: 1-11 Lent. The annual decision about whether we should give something up, or take something up: the time of lent studies and groups and lunches…and always the sense of ticking down towards Easter, and trying to be ready to make sense, again, of this story that is the most vital one of our Christian faith... and yet the most demanding. As Lent begins, we hear again the story of Jesus beginning his public ministry by resisting the temptations placed before him by Satan. Each of these temptations concern the question of how Jesus will conduct his ministry. 1. ‘Turn these stone to bread’ Jesus has to decide whether he will perform miracles just for his own satisfaction or to gain the attention of the crowds. But he resists with the words ‘Human beings cannot live by bread alone’ 2. ‘Throw yourself from the temple heights’ As the son of God, Jesus could call upon his heavenly father to protect him from all that being human might entail – to be caught by angels...

We have a 'creative church service based on the theme : “If you are the Son of God…” Reading: Matthew 4: 1-11 As we talked about the temptations as a planning group, we realised that as well as what Jesus said to Satan to resist temptation, he also lived his resistance in different ways - he acted out his resistance to temptation as his life & ministry continued. So we wil have three 'stations' to explor 1. ‘Turn these stone to bread’ Reflection on the Last Supper – “I am the bread of life” With chunky bread to share. 2. ‘Throw yourself from the temple heights’ Reflection on Jesus being lifted up on the cross Making crosses from wire & nails 3. ‘Bow down and worship me’ Jesus stoops to wash the disciples’ feet Washing one another’s hands Our gathering thoughts will reflect on what it truly means for Jesus to be the Son of God – and how we can reflect on that & develop and live out our own resistance to temptation, through Lent & Easter. ...

Readings: Exodus 24: 12-18 Matthew 17: 1-9 I wonder how you would respond if someone asked where you find God? Some people would point to amazing places – I remember some friends being utterly bowled over by the Grand Canyon: personally I find the sands around the causeway to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne very special. Some people might say they find God in amazing feelings: John Wesley, founder of Methodism spoke of his heart being ‘strangely warmed’, I have heard people talk about a sudden rush of a sense of love, or of worship which helped them feel they had found God. Other people might talk about finding God in amazing people – saints whose lives we read about in history books, or people we know or have known ourselves. And a final group of people might say they find God in the quietness of a church.. or a forest.. or their own room. There are no right & wrong answers of course, and it is amazing to reflect on the great variety of ways in which people become aware ...

Women's World Day of Prayer. The readings chosen by the women of Chile are: Deuteronomy 8: 7-10 1 Kings 17: 8-16 Mark 6: 30-44 This is what I'm saying: I’m always happy to talk at a Women’s World Day of Prayer service – but I nearly always have to start by saying I don’t know every much about the country we’re thinking about. I’m sure I don’t know anymore about Chile than most of you – I have unfortunately never been there – but it is a country I find fascinating and amazing. Those of you who have had time to read the information inside the order of the service may have been as shocked as I was to read that the country is 110 miles wide and 2,640 miles long – it also includes in its possession Easter Island, 2,200 miles form the mainland in the Pacific. Transport is notoriously difficult in such a long, thin country. 80% of the country is mountainous – including the Andes range, which separates it from Argentina – and there are over 600 volcanoes: 10% of whoch have e...