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).
The Primacy of Prayer
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”Angelic Waiters
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”New Year 2021
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”Remembrance Sunday 2020
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.
Simon the Pharisee, a woman, and St Luke
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”Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them
Christchurch Brentor Matthew 18:12-22 6th 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”Jesus, Julian of Norwich, St Teresa of Avila & Coronavirus
Now when Jesus heard (how John the Baptist had been killed by Herod), he withdrew … in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them … Matthew 14:13f.
Jesus, human being like us, needed space to think and pray and be with his grief for his cousin John. A little later on from this episode and on many other occasions he succeeded in doing just this. But when his plans were thwarted and he was faced with human need he responded with compassion.
Continue reading “Jesus, Julian of Norwich, St Teresa of Avila & Coronavirus”