Author: Rev Tony Vigars

 Blessed are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the assembly of the scornful. Their delight is in the law of the Lord and they meditate on his law day and night. Psalm 1:1-2 (Common Worship) 

Reading and thinking on the Bible (God’s Law) has been seen as something essential to anyone who desires to lead a Christian life. But how do you do that? We hear it read and explained when we meet together for worship or in smaller group to discuss it. But how do you get on trying to do that on your own? Many I know find it a struggle – where and how do you start? 

The Bible is a daunting book. Have you ever tried to read it like another book from beginning to end? Genesis and the first part of Exodus are generally a gripping story – though with a few low and puzzling points, but when you get onto Leviticus you really get bogged down with the ins and outs of all the Jewish sacrifices. The Bible is a deceptive book – it does begin with the beginning of the universe and end with its end and renewal – but it takes a lot of twists and turns on the way. 

The Bible is in fact not a book, but a library of books of all different kinds of literature – some which are more understandable than others: stories with eternal truths (myths); history; laws to be obeyed; examples to be followed or avoided; hymns; laments; proverbs or wise sayings; prophecy; warnings of judgement; words of comfort; prayers; cries of agony and despair; good and bad news; struggles for meaning; revelations of faith and truth; calls for repentance and change; messages of hope. Some commands within it were temporary guidance for living at the time, others though stand for ever. 

So how can we hope to get to grips with the Bible and understand it better? We as a church are going to have a go at doing that daily together – leading up to Lent and through and beyond Lent into Eastertide. We are going to take a look at the whole Bible Story split up into seven sections with a brief introduction and conclusion for 67 daily readings (leaving out Sundays) starting on Friday 28th February and ending on Friday 16th May – on those days to line up suitable readings for Good Friday and the Easter Weekend. For each section there will be a booklet to collect in church or emailed out for us to print out or use on our phones or computers – here is the first one to be collected this week or next and sent out by email after this service – ready for us to start on Friday 28th February. 

Don’t panic! We are not going to read the whole of the Bible but we are going to trace the Bible’s storyline from beginning to end – sampling from all of the different types of books within it. Each section there will be a suggested prayer to use and each day there will be a reading at the top to find in your Bible to read followed by some comments to help you think about it. If you need a new Bible have a word with David or Helen or one of us – the church had Bibles that can be lent out. Be disciplined and don’t read several at once, but take each day’s reading to think about slowly and let it sink in. Hopefully the readings will stimulate plenty of questions which will provide our group meetings to think about together. Maybe you can discuss it with another individual or ask for help. There is nothing wrong with questions – it just shows that we all have more to learn. And you may not agree with some of my comments – that’s allowed! 

I would like to draw your attention to the prayer I used at the beginning of this sermon and it may be one you can use daily before each reading followed up by the prayer in each section at the end of your daily time: 

O Lord, you have given us the Holy Scriptures for our instruction; 

grant us also the help of your Holy Spirit, 

that we may hear your word in the depths of our hearts, 

and growing thereby in repentance and faith, 

may serve your eternal purpose for your creation 

and praise you in the light of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

For me that sums up what reading the Bible is all about – given to us by God but only understood when God’s Spirit helps us. The purpose is to hear what God says to each one of us in our hearts so that we may turn from what is wrong and grow in faith so that we may serve God & others in our lives so that we may be ready for Jesus when he comes to us – on the day we die or the day he returns.. 

Blessed are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the assembly of the scornful. Their delight is in the law of the Lord and they meditate on his law day and night. Like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither, whatever they do, it shall prosper. Psalm 1:1-2 (Common Worship) 

Jesus said, ‘… from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” “For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall
become one flesh.”’ (Mark 10:6-8a) In this episode of discussion between rabbis Jesus quotes both accounts of creation found in the first two chapters of the Jewish and Christian Bible (Genesis 1:27; 2:24).

Continue reading “The Image of God”

Readings

1 Samuel 17:37-50 and Mark 9: 9,14-29

Both David and Jesus faced what seemed impossible odds. A handsome young lad, ruddy and with beautiful eyes, so we read (1 Sam 16:12), pitched against the gigantic Goliath about 9 foot in height and armed to the teeth! Or one person faced with a violent and berserk young man whom a crowd of willing and experienced helpers had failed to restrain or help. But they both triumphed in spite of the odds. So what was their secret?

Continue reading “The Primacy of Prayer”

The Spirit immediately drove (Jesus) out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Mark 1:12f.

I’ve always had a problem with Lent, or at least with the way I have been encouraged to keep it, or by the way I have interpreted that encouragement.

Continue reading “Angelic Waiters”

Today, anticipating the Epiphany on 6th January, we remember the Wisemen bringing their gifts to the child Jesus. They were foreigners and Magi – the intellectual, scientific and religious experts of the day, but they obeyed the summons; admitted that for all their wisdom they needed guidance. They humbled themselves; and they were open to changing their plans. And they brought as gifts the most costly and precious things they had.

Continue reading “New Year 2021”

Psalm 46: A reading for Remembrance and Lockdown 2020

1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 ‘Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.’
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Continue reading “Remembrance Sunday 2020”

I expect that most of us have been to a meal or a party at a friend’s or a relative’s house. We would have been invited with a spoken or a written invitation. When we knocked at the door it would have been opened and we would have been welcomed and our coats taken. We would have been shown in and at some point told where the bathroom or toilet was. When the time came for the meal, if it wasn’t an informal buffet balancing food on our laps, we would have been invited to sit on chairs at a dining table with knives and forks set out before us. And if a neighbour turned up that had not been invited then they would not have been let in.

Continue reading “Simon the Pharisee, a woman, and St Luke”

Christchurch Brentor           Matthew 18:12-22            6^th September 2020

Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.  v.20. That is a very well-known promise that we Christians like to claim as a great encouragement. Commentator William Barclay puts it like this: Jesus is just as much present in the little congregation as in the great mass meeting. He is just as much present at the Prayer Meeting or the Bible Study Group with their handful of people as in the crowded arena. He is not the slave of numbers. He is there wherever faithful hearts meet, however few they may be, for he gives all of himself to each individual person.

Continue reading “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them”