Sunday's coming!

Psalm 114,   Matthew 18: 21-35   I heard a church leader this week suggest that people in their church were far keener to return to the church building for the Harvest Festival than they were to get back to celebrate what is said to be the pinnacle of the church year - Easter.    Perhaps some of that is about the timing of the two festivals in the course of this pandemic; perhaps some of it is about the place that harvest festival has in our hearts, with all the smells and tastes of autumn produce; but I’d like to think that at least some of it is that harvest puts us back in touch with the natural world. And perhaps our sense of belonging to the natural world has been heightened by our experiences over the last 6 months.   Unless you subscribe to some of the especially extreme conspiracy theories, the Covid19 epidemic is a natural phenomenon. Any virus is part of the created order, and so can be studied. We know how small viruses are, we understand how they ‘wo...

Genesis 45. 1-15 ,  Matthew 15. 21-28 Today We’re back! Well, some of us.. in masks… keeping an appropriate distance. At times during the pandemic I have found myself describing the virus as being like a lens- magnifying those things which were there before.  We have seen that neighbourly care can be really important; that we all need hugs; that too much news makes you tetchy; that nothing tastes better than a freshly -baked loaf of bread; that our homes are important, but they’re not everything; and that we miss our friends from church.   And what about our faith? I think I have learned that I need to make time to stop each day and pray and read my Bible; that I am aware of relying on God much more when life is difficult; and that I somehow need to share my faith more with the people around me.     I’m sure you have your own things you have learned.   One of the things that we’ve missed is the opportunity to come together in our churches. Here we can share...

I have recently been looking at the book of Ruth, preparing a Bible Study on ‘Zoom’. There’s a fantastic Youtube video of the whole story which you can watch  here -         which takes just 7 minutes. Naomi and her husband are driven by famine from Israel to Moab, where their sons marry Moabite women, but then those sons and her husband all die. Naomi decides to return to Israel, and Naomi tells her daughters-in-law to leave her. One of the daughters-in-law – Ruth – refuses to leave, and I love the words of love and  faithfulness Ruth speaks to her mother-in-law (Ch 1 v16) ,‘Where you go I will go and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God..’. After quite a story, Ruth marries Boaz and together they have a son, Obed, who is to be the grandfather of King David. When Obed is born, the women of Bethlehem declare “a son has been born to Naomi”. And they all live happily ever after. But b...

My latest letter for the E Newsletter: Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, The church year is now in that strange time between Ascension and Pentecost. Jesus, who was dead, is risen but his resurrection body can no longer be seen. Jesus has returned to God the Father and he has promised his disciples that the Holy Spirit will come and be their comforter and guide… but nothing has changed yet. The disciples know that they cannot follow Jesus in the way they were doing – literally walking in his footsteps  - but they haven’t yet worked out what the new way of following  Jesus will look like when they walk the way of Jesus Christ as his new body, the church. We, too, are in a strange time, as the COVID19 restrictions on society are loosened somewhat, but the life we knew last year still feels a long way distant, and the future very uncertain. There is a document written to help local churches prepare for the “new normal” – you can find it on the Synod Website   ...

More covid musings.. this one from a letter to ministers in the South Western Synod: I was recently reading the account of Jesus walking on the water in John chapter 6 (v16-21). I realised I am much more familiar with Matthew’s account, where Peter attempts to join Jesus on the water, or Mark’s account, where Jesus climbs into the boat and the storm subsides; and of course Mark also tells us the story of Jesus asleep in the boat and woken to still the storm. This account in John chapter 6 feels more like the situation we are in at the moment: the storm is raging and we cannot help feel afraid. We know we need Jesus to help – but we might also wonder how that help will come to us. When Jesus appears, walking on the water and speaks to reassure the disciples, they are ‘ready to take him on board’ and immediately they reach the land they were headed for. They never actually have the absolute reassurance of having Jesus safely inside the boat with them, yet he helps them be wher...

For these worship suggestions this week I have used a Catholic pattern which was introduced by St Ignatius Loyola . Presence God is with us –whether we are together or apart.  Pause for a moment and become aware of God with you. Freedom Although we cannot live our ‘normal’ lives, we are free to use this time to draw closer to God. Give thanks to God for this moment of worship. Consciousness Where in the last week have you found hope, mercy or peace? When has life been harder than usual? Thank God that God is with us in these positive times. Ask for God’s strength in the negative times. Word of God John 20:19-31 Conversation This story come almost at the end of John’s gospel, and perhaps is the ‘sign’ of Jesus Christ the Lord which can touch us today, as we continue to be isolated by the Covid19 virus. The disciples are locked away in fear – what changes their lives is the presence of the risen Christ, with his words “Peace be with you”. Jesu...

This is what I have just written for our Synod newsheet: It is Holy Week. I’m reminding myself that, because at the moment it’s hard to keep track of what day it is, let alone what week it is. Holy Week without waving palm crosses in church, without a version of the ‘last supper’ with friends around the table, without hoping for warmer weather for the Good Friday walk of witness, without the anticipation of the joyful service on Easter Day as we tell each other “he is risen”. Instead, a week of minimal outside contact and trying to find ways to support other people so that isolation does not tip over into loneliness or even desperation. What kind of Holy Week is that?  I think it must have been on the radio that I heard someone mention the  increasing isolation of Jesus  in Holy Week. It’s worth thinking about as we reflect on the familiar story: The disciples falling asleep in the garden of gethsemane, as Jesus prayed alone. The betrayal by Judas Iscariot...