Sunday's coming!

                                                            St David's Cathedral   Reflection 1 on    Psalm 121   We have heard the story of David healing Paulinus – helping him to see again. ( A video of the story can be seen  here ) How wonderful if St David could help us to see our scripture readings in a new way! Well, perhaps he can.   We have very little recorded of what David actually said except the words, said to be from his last sermon to the brothers in his monastery: “Be joyful, keep the faith and do the little things you have heard and seen me do”.   It’s not surprising that we have so few of David’s words – he lived in the 6 th century and his biographer wrote down the stories of David 500 years later.   But what a man David must h...

 Matthew 17: 1-9 In the first part of the service I am telling the Godly Play story "The Mystery of Easter" - this short sermon then follows on, after the Gospel reading. If you want to hear the story, it is  Here   Reflection   This has been a good week to think about transformation – things changing – the way sadness and celebration can belong together.   The weather has given us days when we have glimpsed the daffodils, snowdrops and crocuses in a little sunshine and started to dare that Spring might be just around the corner – and then we’ve suffered days when the cold wind and driving rain have sent us scurrying back indoors.   The news has stories that can leave us feeling appalled and depressed – and yet even in the darkest times there are stories of amazing heroism or stunning compassion.   The mystery of Easter   - that purple and white jigsaw puzzle - reminds us of the reality of sadness but also the trut...

Isaiah 58:1-9a and Matthew 5:13-20   What are you here for?  What a dangerous question to ask people who have come to worship. You might all suddenly slap your hand to your forehead & say ‘well, now you come to ask, we have no idea – there are so many other things we could be doing this morning – having  lie-in, reading the Sunday papers, washing the car .. the list is endless’.   And if it’s not bad enough to have to face up to self-doubt, we hear a gospel reading in which Jesus says to us “ you are the salt of the earth, you are light for the world” – and we all know that salt isn’t mean to sit in the pot on the table, any more than light is meant to be hidden, it is meant – salt and light – to be spread around, to bring savour and illumination to the whole world.   So why come to this – or any -   chapel building?   Jesus makes it clear to his listeners that the law is there to help people to live lives of righteousness, wor...