Sunday's coming!

Matthew 11: 2-11, James 5: 7-10 How great it is to stand on the brink of a great new chapter for our world. A new start, a new government, a time of peace and prosperity and goodness for all people. Not a reference to Thursday’s General Election result – but a reflection of what our Bible readings have to say about the kingdom of God. However we feel about the new government, we can all agree that through the human decisions that are made at Westminster we want to see a country – even a world – where God’s will is done, where the values of the kingdom are honoured, where God is in charge, for the good of all God’s children. But how do we know what God’s kingdom looks like, and how do we become part of it? The passage we heard from Matthew comes from a time right at the start of Jesus’ ministry, when John the Baptist, who has been put into prison, is wondering about God’s kingdom . Specifically, John asks whether Jesus is here to bring in God’s kingdom. “Are you the o...

Isaiah 1: 10-18 Luke 19: 1-10 Today is the nearest Sunday to All Saints day (November 1 st ) and so I thought we could think about ‘saints’ today. But the readings we heard are the ones chosen for this Sunday, and not specifically chosen because they are about saints. Yet in reading these – both the gospel story of Zacchaeus and the teaching of Isaiah – I realised they had a lot to teach us about saints. I only learnt this week that Zacchaeus is considered a saint by the Orthodox church – he has his own day – April 20 th – and he even figures in some icons. This print out is a bit blurry – but it shows a bearded man with a halo and the words ‘hagios zakaios’ – saint Zacchaeus – or ‘holy Zacchaeus’. The crowd who surrounded him when he climbed the tree to see Jesus were very clear that they did not think Zacchaeus was a saint. Quite the opposite – when Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house they grumble “ He has gone to stay at the house of a sinne...