Sunday's coming!

   1 Peter 2:2-10,  John 14:1-14   “Come to him, a living stone,, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.”.   I’ve spent quite a lot of this week wondering about what a   ‘living stone’ really is.   What it is not You might have come across a house plant called ‘living stone’ or lithops: it looks like a couple of smooth, greenish pebbles nestled together and just sits there for the most part, but if you’re lucky it will suddenly produce a flower, like a yellow or white daisy, from between the stone-like plant parts. Is that what the writer of the letter is imagining? If we are living stones,   are we meant to be people of long periods of inactivity followed by a short burst of life? I don’t think so. I think Peter’s letter is written to help us to think about a life of faith, a life of following Jesus, that is both sure and firm but also involving growth and change.   Letter to...

            This is Wolfsdale Chapel's anniversary   our readings will be  Psalm 23 (sung version); John 10:1-10; Godly Play story of The Beatitudes   On this anniversary Sunday it is good to remember God’s guidance through the years and give thanks that the same God is with us to guide us today. How do we find God’s guidance for us in the years to come?   We have heard in John’s gospel how Jesus tells his followers that he is like a good shepherd. Of course, he’s drawing on a very familiar Psalm, Psalm 23 where God, the Lord, is my shepherd.   This may be the Psalm we know best, probably because is our Christian faith it is impossible not to associate the car of God the Shepherd with the care of Jesus our Lord. Even without that connection, in its original Hebrew Bible context, it is a lovely picture of God’s care. God is the shepherd who cares for us, his sheep. He gives us a place...

            Luke 24: 13- 35   At the Bible exploration group on Tuesday, we were looking at the journey those two disciples make, on the evening of the first Easter Sunday.  (using the Trussell Trust "Walking Humbly" Bible study booklet)   We thought about -         how they were feeling -        how Jesus joins them -        the importance of them inviting Jesus in -        and the moment of revelation of who Jesus is. We also wondered what it might mean for us.   How the two were feeling The two people are grief-stricken, puzzled, desperately questioning all that has happened. It is Easter Sunday, but they have not yet grasped the Easter message that Christ truly is risen. And so they begin their journey home, grieving and puzzling and constantly stumbling over their own lack o...

  In the first part of the service, we are hearing the Godly Play story "the Faces of Easter" you can watch a version   here  John 20: 19-31 is then the reading.  The reflection follows      Today’s gospel reading is from the gospel of John. John himself tells us he is not writing ‘everything Jesus did’, but telling us about the signs – helping us all to understand who Jesus is.   Thomas gets labelled ‘doubting’ because of this moment, in the week after Easter Sunday. He was not there when the other disciples first see the risen Jesus. But he had seen and heard so many of the signs of who Jesus way. And in then end that helped him to make sense of the fact that the risen Jesus was now standing in front of him, on this first Sunday after Easter.   We have heard the Godly Play story “Faces of Easter” reminding us of the whole of Jesus’ life:   Birth – his family. Thomas would have known Mary, Jesus’ mo...

    Our theme running through today’s synod is Doing the little things (Gwnewch y pethau bychain).   In the part of John’s gospel we have just heard, we are approaching the end of Jesus’ earthly life. Just before this section there has been the triumphal entry into Jerusalem – which we will be remembering next Sunday – Palm Sunday. But this story is a quieter one, a smaller one, if you like.   Jesus’ disciples have a small role in the story – but a vital one.   The Greeks who have arrived for the Passover festival want to see Jesus. They go to Philip – who has a Greek name -   “Sir, we wish to see Jesus”. Philip goes and tells Andrew and then together the 2 disciples tell Jesus.   The whole area is talking about Jesus – but these Greeks have sidled up to try to get close to the great man. And Philip & Andrew help them – they use the small amount of influence they have to tell Jesus these men want to meet him. ...

This was such a long reading that I broke it up a little with reflections between the readings...    John chapter 11 from v 1 - 16 We’re hearing part of John’s gospel, so this isn’t just a travelogue of where Jesus went or a diary account of what Jesus did. John wants us to know who Jesus is – he is telling us his account of one of the ‘signs’ of Jesus’ identity as the son of God. Lazarus is sick. Jesus loves him, but he delays travelling back to Judea, to Bethany, which is very near Jerusalem. His disciples are clearly concerned about the journey – but Jesus has told them that they are going to see God’s glory revealed. Let’s read on…   From v 17 - 31 When Jesus meets Martha he says the words “I am the resurrection and the life”. These are words you might well have heard at a funeral service. They are words of comfort – and we’ll come back to those words in a while….     From v 32 - 37 Mary echoes her sister’s words   “Lord ...