God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. The readings for this week are all about abiding in God, being part of and being powered by God through Jesus. And this theme continues throughout May – our theme for sermons is “foundations for the future”. Covid […]
What does it mean to love? What does it really look like? St John gives us a clue when he writes (1Jn 3.18), “let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” We talk a lot about love when we talk about God and being a Christian. But sometimes it can […]
Despite the fact that on Thursday I wrote about peace and presence, I find myself unable to let this go as my theme on this week’s gospel reading. Peace is what so many people truly desire – both around them and within them. And in our increasingly busy world, peace is one of the hardest […]
Presence can be a very ambiguous word. Jesus’ presence among the disciples in this Sunday’s gospel reading likely caused more disturbance than peace. Mary Magdalene has told the others she has seen the risen Christ. Peter and John have seen the empty tomb. The couple from Emmaus who have encountered Jesus on their journey have […]
Thoughts on Prince Philip and Doubting Thomas, by Lucy Gildersleeves This is not the sermon I was preparing on Thursday; the news of the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, overtook it. But when I read this Gospel passage again on Friday it seemed very appropriate to the situation. Prince Philip may have been […]
Sometimes we don’t see what’s under our noses. We’re too busy focussing elsewhere. Sometimes, we just can’t believe something when somebody tells us, because it makes no sense to us. ‘It’s impossible!’ we say. And sometimes, we judge the people who don’t see what we see, who can’t understand what’s obvious to us. We forget […]
Yesterday the headteacher at Buckland school sent me the image at the top of this week’s bulletin, wishing me a Happy Easter. I love that photo. It’s cute. But as I looked again, another message began to come through. Too often we end up making difficult and challenging things cute or kitsch, and essentially removing […]