Sunday's coming!

Exodus 33: 12-23, 1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10 It has been another tough week for the people living in Gaza & the people living in Israel. Almost every conversation I’ve had has turned, sooner or later to the need for peace with justice for the Middle East. And even while such terrible events come to our living rooms via the news, we are also living our own lives – with the inevitable ups and downs we face. We might want to ask ‘where is God?’.   I think it is a fair question – with a complex answer – one we need to be honest about. There are times when God feels far away. There are times when we feel we need to see God at work. So, like Moses, we may call out in distress for God to show us his face. What happens next?   Let’s look at the Exodus story.   Moses is having a wobble - and you can't really blame him. After much pleading with Pharoah, and many miraculous interventions from God, God’s people have been released from Egypt. Then the people wander in the wilderness,...

Psalm 23        Matthew 22: 1-14 What comfort there is in the 23 rd   Psalm. At our Zoom Bible Study last week someone said that the different verses and the different images of the Psalm hit home in different ways in different times. We can relax into the green pastures; imagine the cool still waters; know that, even in the darkest stretches of life, we are not alone; look forward to a feast where we will be able to look down on our enemies; and know that there is a place in God’s house where the cup will never run dry. It all sounds very reassuring, and is made even more comforting by the link to Jesus the Good Shepherd, brought out by the Godly Play story.   But Mathew’s version of the parable of the wedding banquet is a different kettle of fish: it is incredibly challenging. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. When the original guests do not come, the slaves are sent out to gather people from the streets – good a...

 (Psalm 25 1-8; 1 Philippians 2: 1-13) I had a colleague once who likes to start his services with a cheery call to worship: he would say  “God is with us” and the congregation would respond  “all the time!”. Then he woud say “All the time” and their response was “God is with us”.   It seemed a good way to involve the congregation: until I happened to be there one week when life was feeling difficult for me and the people around me I loved. 'God is with us – all the time' didn’t feel true, I certainly didn’t want to shout it out when I felt like I was sitting in the shade.   This week I have had my moments of shade, too: perhaps you have as well. My grand-daughter, Rose is 15: full of life and hope and plans for the future. This week two 15 year-old girls have  died: one, Elianne Andam, was stabbed at the bus stop on her way to school in London; a second, Jessica Barker, died in a bus crash on the M53 in Merseyside. I couldn’t help thinking about these two ...