Today is October 4th, the feast day of Saint Francis. And it is also our Harvest Festival. Francis is considered to be, by some at least, the patron saint of all things ecological and of the environment. The present Pope took his name –Francis – and wrote his first major encyclical on the care of […]
The name Jesus
I wonder whether some of you have had a look at the picture on the front of the order of service. It shows some graffiti – about the name of Jesus. ‘No name is higher’ is the message. But you might notice that some wag has written another name higher up the wall; the name […]
Prayer for using gifts with humility
Prayers of thanksgiving & intercession for the 4th Sunday in Creationtide, following a sermon on Philippians 2:1-11 (with an eye on verse 13) We give you thanks, God our creator, that you have given us, not just life, but the means of flourishing. Your gifts to us enable humankind through science to explore, better understand, […]
The workers…..
The parables of Jesus are extraordinary texts and they speak to people from all sorts of times and places. The fascinating thing about this parable is that when you read it with those who are among the poorest people in the world they don’t worry about the advice not to take it literally or to […]
Radical forgiveness
Today’s Gospel reading, suggests very strongly that if being a Christian means anything it means being a person who is characterised by forgiveness. We can all be impressed to our bones when we hear about someone who really lives that out; Gordon Wilson, whose daughter was killed at Enniskillen was one I remember. Or the […]
Freedom meal…
Today, the lectionary asks us to read a part of the story of the Exodus. For the people of Israel, this was the most important story in their history and it was one of which they reminded each other every year and in between too. It was bigger for them than Christmas is for us. […]
From feeling guilty to being inspired…
Sometimes, when I read the Bible, I get a sense that it was written for people better than me, or at least different from me. Some of the most lyrical passages are beautiful and awe inspiring, but they also leave me feeling a little bit defeated somehow too. The passage from Paul’s letter to the […]
God in my life
A few weeks ago, someone from the class in my final year at school got in touch. She is putting together a yearbook, with brief lives of each of us, as we turn another decade. It’s been fascinating, both to set down a paragraph or two about my own life and to read about what […]
Not being a virtual Christian
So, I wonder how you are finding your Christian life these days; which of course is not so very separate from the question of how you are finding your life these days? How do you find worshipping together on Zoom (by phone or computer?). If you go to meetings on-line, like Elders or Citizens UK […]
Prayer for this time
Loving Jesus, who touched the sick, who blessed those named unclean, who let Mary touch you with her tears, and whose own body was pierced by the nails, come and be with us now in these times. When we have to be untouchable to one another for a time, show us how to love. When […]
Come unto me…
It’s hard to believe, given my youthful looks, that when I was first going to church as a child it was all Book of Common Prayer and Hymns Ancient and Modern. And there were odd things about the language that both puzzled me and nourished me. I didn’t take communion as a child, but I […]
Fathers’ Day…
There is someone in our family of whom we are rather proud – she’s just written and directed a new comedy series on the BBC called ‘The Other One’. The premise is that a man called Colin dies suddenly when it’s discovered that for decades he has actually had two families. And he has two […]