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 […]
Apostles…
“These are the names of the twelve apostles. Peter… and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Batholomew: Thomas and Matthew the tax collector: James and Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanean, and Judas, the one who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out..’ There’s a great song in the musical […]
A trinity of stories for Trinity Sunday
I remember that early on in this pandemic people kept saying that what was happening was ‘unprecedented’. I said it too. Because nothing like this has ever happened before – where I live and in my life time. But of course, the more I look across the world or through history the more I see […]
Mothering Sunday, Jesus and Covid 19- a reflection and prayer
A reflection for Mothering Sunday: Jesus said, ……How often have I longed to gather your children, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings; but you would not let me. Look! There is your temple, forsaken by God and laid waste. I tell you, you will not see me until the time when you […]