Sunday's coming!

Psalm 118; John 12: 12-16 I have had reason to do some hospital visiting over the last few weeks. And twice now I have had the experience of someone other than the person I’ve gone to visit asking me to pray with or for them. It’s no surprise, really, is it, being in hospital makes us feel especially vulnerable, and I don’t mind anyone, spotting the dog collar, asking me for a prayer. It is a privilege sometimes to be the right person in the right place at the right time, to offer words which will reassure someone that God has not forgotten them, that they are loved and cared for – that God’s love surrounds them. I don’t think it’s only in hospital that sometimes we want to pray ‘God save us/ God help me/ send your loving Spirit’.   Just for a moment, I invite you to think about what you want to be saved from: what your deepest need is that you would like to bring to God today..  You don’t need to tell anyone, just take a deep breath & offer to God your own need.   Yo...

  Jeremiah 31: 31-34; John 12: 20-33   ‘We would like to see Jesus.’ I would like to see Jesus – wouldn’t you? Out of curiosity, if nothing else -  wouldn’t it be fascinating to know exactly what Jesus looked like. Did he look particularly kind (I hope so) or wise (I expect so). Was there anything in the way he looked which gave a hint to his identity as the son of God?  Yet all four gospels remain frustratingly silent on the subject of what Jesus looked like – because they’re far too busy wanting to give us the good news about who Jesus was, and what he did and said.   So John’s story of the Greeks who say ‘We would like to see Jesus’ is so much more than just a story of idle curiosity of wondering what Jesus looked like: it cuts to the heart of who Jesus is and what he has come to do.  These Greeks are in Jerusalem for the Passover festival, they have come to worship God.  And presumably they have heard something of Jesus of Nazareth. So they co...

Numbers 21:4-9;  John 3: 14-21 Introduction    Mothering Sunday Today is Mothering Sunday – a term I confess I prefer to ‘Mothers’ Day’, because it is a day that is about more than just mothers. All of us begin life with a mother. But not all of us still have a mother living. Some of us are lucky and have or have had a good relationship with our mothers – but I realise that isn’t true for everyone. Not everyone’s life journey leads to them being a mother. And not every mother is able to raise her child. But mothering is for everyone.  Mothering, at its best, is about nurturing, caring, constancy, and unconditional love. The Bible talks of God as Father, Shepherd, protector, redeemer, saviour, rock, refuge… we might very easily speak of God’s love as a mothering love – and God as mother. In our worship today we will think of God’s love – and especially God’s loving offer of healing for those who are broken, wounded and in need. If Mothering Sunday makes you feel wound...