Sunday's coming!

We have an ordination of an elder at one of the churches on Sunday and a baptism at one of the others. For each service, the final paragraph will be different according to what the service is for... Pentecost Every year we come round to Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit 50 days after Easter. We have had the usual celebration of the death of Jesus on the cross, his rising from the grave on Easter Sunday, and his ascension back into heaven to the father. Now the Spirit comes down on the disciples, as Jesus promised before he died. No wonder little Patrick, in the Reception class at William Westley, wanted to ask me last week ‘Jesus died and rose and where is he now?’. I would want to add to that question the further question – what relevance does Luke’s account in Acts of the pyrotechnics of the first day of Pentecost – the coming of the Spirit with a great rush of wind and with tongues of fire – what relevance does all this have for us today? Perhaps the answe...

Among all the pyrotechnics of the events of the day of Pentecost, the lectionary also has us listen to Jesus' promise of the spirit in John's gospel: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 I was very struck by this part of what Jesus says: 'And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.' If there's time this week (and I am beset by funerals) I would like to think more about how the Spirit helps us makes sense of this world and of God's place in it...

  The Father & the Son     1 John 5: 9-13, John 17: 6-19) About 15 years ago my brother gave me a Christmas present: “juggling for the complete Klutz”. You know how it is with brothers – mine knows me very well & he knows that I have not been blessed with manual dexterity & good hand-eye co-ordination. But he also knew how fascinated I was by juggling. So here was the chance to learn the principles & see if even a klutz like me could learn to juggle. First, one juggling ball – learning to throw easily from hand to hand, trying to keep your hands as still as possible – learning to relax & have confidence in your ability (never did master that part). Then, two – trying to keep them at the same height, trying to move easily, smoothly… And then three – but that’s for Trinity Sunday.. but I’ll tell you the principle – you throw one and as that begins to fall you throw the other and empty your hand ready to catch the first ball, th...

John 15: 9-17 Acts 10: 44-48 One of the things I enjoy in life is switching on the radio when I get into the car to go somewhere & just happening across really interesting programmes. So this week I ended up hearing ‘Start the week’ on Radio 4. It was a conversation between 4 people who try to work out what inventions and ideas are going to be used in the future. The 4 guests explained how they do this in different ways: through a magazine which combines science-fiction and scientific developments; through exploring new inventions and asking how they can be used; through looking at successful companies who market new devices; and through examining how people react to new inventions. One of those being interviewed said that to help people understand the future they need to actually see the physical objects they are going to use, even if the science behind them hasn’t yet been fully developed – people need to handle physical objects rather than just being told about ide...

Today is a Bank Holiday, so I decided to start the day by ironing some clothes and listening to 'Start the Week' on Radio 4  here, if you want to listen It is a fascinating conversation between 4 people who try to work out what inventions and ideas are going to be used in the future. The 4 guests explained how they do this through a magazine which combines science-fiction and scienitifc developments, through exploring new inventions and asking how they can be used, through looking at successful companies who market new devices, and through examining how people react to new inventions. One of those being interviewed said that to help people understand the future they need to actually see the physical objects they are going to use, even if the actual science hasn’t been developed – people need to handle what they call 'props' physical objects that they can touch, rather than just being told about ideas. For example, what will a hand-held computer look like, what...

The true vine Jesus says ‘Abide in me as I abide in you.’ I love that word abide. Somehow it sounds stronger, deeper, better than just the word ‘live’. Of course your abode is where you live – your home – but home is so much more than just where we sleep, isn’t it. So the word ‘abide’ contains a meaning of stay, live, inhabit, dwell. Jesus could have said be at home in me as I am at home in you. Inhabit my love – live entirely in it. Abide in me. The key to discipleship is right here. It is not just agreeing that what Jesus says makes a lot of sense, and deciding to try to live the same way. It is a real, loving, relationship with God through Jesus. We must abide in him and allow him to abide in us. Jesus uses the example of a vine to help us to understand this. The branches at the end of the vine cannot continue to live and grow and thrive if they are cut off from the rest of the vine. We know this from trees all around us – branches that are cut off the rest o...

I do wish that blogger hadn't changed the publishing thingy: I haven't got time or patience to work it out right now! 1 John 4:7-21  John 15:1-8 I'm interested in the word 'abide' in both the John and the 1 John readings.  We must abide in Christ and abide in Christ's love: that is the only way to health and strength as the body. I've just started reading Kenda Dean's "Almost Christian" -and  have been very struck by her assertion that it is not that our generation has failed to teach the next about the faith, it's just that we have taught them a wishy-washy, watered down faith which basically tells people to be nice. If we abide in Christ we are light-years away from this sort of luke-warm faith, and instead inhabit a living faith and allow it to inhabit us. Then we can teach our children what real faith is. For the first time I can ever remember, I may actually choose 'Abide with me' as one of the hymns for the service on...