Sunday's coming!

Readings: 1 Peter 3: 13-22 John 14: 15-21 (Just to explain the last part of the sermon - this week we 'launch' a new thing - four groups from all four churches to plan worship, mission & outreach, youth & children's work, & pastoral care. It seemed right to refer to this in the sermon). Easter 6 Today - the fifth Sunday after Easter - is called by some people Rogation Sunday and can be marked by a congregation going out and ‘beating the bounds’ - walking around all of the edges of the Parish. It got this name because of the words in the Prayer Book gospel for the day: "Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give to you". (The Latin for ‘ask’ is 'Rogare' ). By the 17th century, the old Roman festival of "boundaries", had been adapted by the church on this Sunday and served a practical purpose. In the days before Ordnance Survey maps, there were not always clear lines of demarcation between the parishes, especially...

I wrote this for one of my church newsletters - I think it also applies to the guilt I feel about not always getting round to posting early on this blog! "It was bound to happen sooner or later. I missed the deadline for my minister’s letter in the village newsletter. I am cross with myself for leaving it so late and feel guilty that it might make people think I don’t care enough to write this month. The truth of course is that among the many things I had to do to catch up from time away at Minister’s Spring School and then URC Mission Council the letter got left until…too late! But it has got me thinking about guilt. “We have not done those things which we ought to have done”, we might sometimes pray. I end every week feeling that there are things I haven’t done, and often find myself praying that God will grant me another week of life to try to get it all finished. In one prayer from Iona we pray “Give us time to amend our lives”. Yet fortunately, since absolute complet...

Home You might think it’s a good job that Ella- Rose is too young to understand the Bible readings we’ve just heard, because they seem a bit gloomy for such a happy occasion. Jesus talks about a home in heaven for us at the end of life: and the story of Stephen tells us how suddenly and violently his life ends. But I think these are amazing readings, which remind us that Ella –Rose is starting out on a journey today which Jesus promises will never end. Today we celebrate Ella Rose’s baptism and remember that the love of God is here for her and will travel with her all through the life that we know and beyond it to the place we call ‘heaven’ – the life that never ends, in God. I have often used the words of Jesus from John’s gospel at funeral services – they are words many people find comforting. A promise of a Home in Heaven, many dwelling places, prepared for us by Jesus himself, a place of peace and eternal rest. But the Story of Stephen reminds us that this earth is not ou...

Apologies for late posting - been away from the desk most of the week. Readings are: Acts 2: 42-47 John 10: 1-10 Good Shepherd Do you ever find yourself wondering quite what it is that Jesus was offering people? That’s an easy question for those who are sick and come for healing – but John’s gospel tells us that Jesus came for the sake of the whole world, so what exactly is this “full life” that Jesus promises his disciples? The first part of the Gospel reading seems rather complicated: Jesus says ‘the man who does not enter the sheepfold by the door.. is nothing but a thief and a robber’ but ‘the shepherd... calls his own sheep by name’. John then goes on to say of Jesus’ disciples, ‘they did not understand’. I don’t really blame Jesus’ listeners for not immediately understanding - it does take a bit of thinking through. Jesus is saying something about his relationship to those who follow him: he is the good shepherd, the one who cares, the one who can be trusted. He has...

Coming to Faith Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Luke 24:13-35 This story of the events around the journey on the road to Emmaus is one of the most memorable in Luke’s gospel. It’s a story you could tell almost entirely in verbs. Walking, talking, arguing, asking, explaining, understanding, inviting, staying, breaking, praying, sharing, recognising, returning, telling. All this activity, but perhaps the most important part of what happens is the process of turning around. First the disciples literally turn around – they walk the 7 miles or so from Jerusalem to Emmaus & then, as night falls, they turn around and go straight back to Jerusalem again. And what causes this physical turn around? A turn around in their knowledge and emotions. At first they fail to recognise Jesus, but they are taken on a journey by Jesus which leads them to turn around from lack of recognition to recognition. There is a real sense of transformation in this story. The disciples are crushed, puzzled, crest...