Sunday's coming!

Mark 5: 21-43 I visited someone this week who was telling me that where her daughter lives, in Canada, going to church or chapel is the norm “You’re the odd one out there if you don’t go to worship, if you don’t believe – here it’s the other way round.   We  are the odd ones out”.   It can feel risky to say you believe in God, or that you try to follow Jesus, or that you choose to go to church or chapel on a Sunday. In “The Message” version of the Bible, the intertwined stories we heard of people seeking healing from Jesus are given the title “the risk of faith”. Was it really that risky to ask Jesus for help, for healing?   The first person to take a risk is Jairus. He’s the leader of the synagogue – he might think that Jesus could be a bit dodgy, not the sort of person you want to be associated with. Jesus is teaching and healing outside the synagogue, the official place of worship, as well as inside.   But Jairus puts his daughter’s needs first, and comes to ...

1 Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49 Intro:  The story of David and Goliath is a story we know well, but it still repays looking in detail – so we’re going to look at it section by section.  We are used to this as story of the little, under-rated David beating the mighty Goliath. But today you might want to listen out for the people in the story who are trusting  human  strength and plans, and those who are trusting  God’s  strength and plans.  In the battle between David and Goliath, David is short on human skills but strong on divine trust whereas Goliath is huge, and full of human strength, but he doesn’t understand that he fails to have God on his side. First an introduction. This is not the first we’ve heard of the Philistines in the first book of Samuel.  They are long-standing enemies of the Israelites,   and King Saul and his son Jonathan have each been victorious over them in various battles. At one point in their difficult history,...

 Psalm 92: 1-4, 11-14      1 Corinthians 10: 31-11:1 Today is Fathers’ Day. Some of us might have had the chance to give cards and presents; others of us might be remembering our fathers. All of us might feel a mixture of gratitude, appreciation, reality and exasperation. A little story about my father might help you see what I mean about a mixture of wanting to say ‘thank you’ for our fathers and wanting to say “oh, dad!”.  My dad died 7 years ago, so he’s not in a position to complain about this story. When I was 10 I joined the Guides, which met down in town. At the end of the Guide meeting many parents used to come and pick us up. My dad would drive down from our house and pick me up in the car: so far, so normal. But then we would drive past our house and carry on up the hill to the garage, which was about a 10 minute walk from the house.  I would have to jump out and open the doors, dad would drive the car in and lock up the garage - then we would wal...

1 Samuel 8: 4-20 I had reason to drive with 2 other people to Swansea on Tuesday this week. About 10 minutes into the journey I asked my passengers “how are we feeling about the General Election?” – it kept us going for most of the journey !   I wonder how you feel…? Love it or loathe it, our media are full of coverage of the parties, the party leaders, the policies, the polls… Love it or loathe it, we need to decide which way we are voting: and as Christians our faith is an important factor in how we vote.   So what has our faith to do with how we vote?   The Joint Public Issues Team, of the URC/Methodist Church & Baptist Union working together, are encouraging us to remember, as the Election approaches, to: Love; pray; vote.   They point out that  Politics plays an important role in how our society is run. It helps to influence our priorities and the opportunities we create in our communities. It enables us to advocate for different values and beliefs, put...

  2 Corinthians 4: 5-12        Mark 2:23 - 3:6   Some passages of scripture feel like a real gift, don’t they? They cheer us when we are down; inspire us when life seems humdrum; and provide guidance when we are unsure what to do.   It is just possible that the passage we heard from the second letter to the Corinthians is the favourite of someone here. In fact, I know it is, because it is  my  favourite!   Two of those verses were the inspiration that I needed when I was being encouraged to think about becoming a minister of word and sacrament. I really wasn’t sure: I loved what I was doing (school teaching) and I certainly didn’t feel like I was good enough to be a minister. Those verses spoke to me:   “it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be mad...