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What’s it worth?

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  Our gospel reading today (Mark 10:17-31) is a little uncomfortable for any of us with any money or possessions. Jesus is approached by this man who asks him what he must do to get eternal life... It seems that the man is looking for a checklist he can complete, but Jesus of course doesn’t give him a simple answer.  Instead, he says about keeping the commandments, and the man says he’s done that, but then Jesus adds, ‘... go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me.’ This isn’t the answer the man wanted, but perhaps Jesus was pointing out the very thing that was stopping the man from really being willing to follow Jesus. This reading is often used in stewardship talks, when we’re asked to consider what we are giving to God. It is really important that we consider our giving, whether that be in money or time or anything else, in relation to what God has done and does for us, in relation to the love that was display
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Journeying where?

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  Our gospel reading (Mark 9:30-37) describes a great journey – Jesus had been in the north of his country in Caesarea Philippi and was now travelling south through Galilee. It was a journey he would have done before but this time was special as he went to Jerusalem to die.    We are told that this was to be a quiet journey, he didn’t want crowds of people – in many ways his public earthly ministry was nearing the end… But Jesus did have things to do, and most importantly of all was to try and prepare his followers for what was to come, and so he told them that he was going to be arrested and killed, that he would die but on the third day would rise again… And the disciples didn’t understand.  And, on the journey, we are told the disciples argued but when Jesus asked them what they argued about, they wouldn’t say because they were ashamed to say that they had been arguing about who was the most important of them… As Jesus spoke of his arrest and death and resurrection, they argued abou
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Nothing else matters…

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  The church is often the subject of controversy. It seems there are lots of people just waiting for us to get things wrong - and sometimes we oblige of course! One of the great challenges for the church in this is to balance the spiritual and secular. How much do we fit into society and how much do we stand separately?   This is a challenge that, as Christians living in a modern society, we constantly have to be aware of. Just because society does something it doesn’t mean the church should, but similarly just because the church has said something for years doesn’t mean it can never be thought through again and again…   And this conflict is one that has gone back to the times of Jesus himself, as we have seen in the gospel reading today (Mark 8:27-38). Jesus, travelling with his disciples, asks them who people say that he is – and Peter replies, ‘You are the Messiah’. It could have been a gold star for Peter, but then, as Jesus moves on to speak of the suffering that he must undergo
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At the feet of Jesus

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  Today’s gospel reading (Mark 7:24-37) gives us the account of a persistent woman begging Jesus to heal her daughter. We are told that the daughter had an unclean spirit, perhaps today we may recognise it as something like epilepsy, but whatever it was it was damaging her life. And so the mother approached Jesus who initially seemed to reject her. But she persisted and eventually her daughter was healed. And so in a way this just goes down as another miracle of Jesus, but actually there is a little more to this account as well. The first thing to look at was the attitude of the mother. This was a very pushy woman - perhaps the sort of ardent feminist found on a bus one day. When she was getting on a man just in front of her got up from his seat. She thought to herself, "Here's another man trying to keep up the customs of a patriarchal society by offering a poor, defenceless woman his seat," and so she pushed him back onto the seat. A few minutes later, the man tried to
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If the heart is God’s ground…

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  St Francis of Assisi is well known as a kind, compassionate and caring man, but there was also a slightly sterner side to him as well. One day, a woman went to see him and asked what she had to do to be forgiven for her gossiping. St. Francis told her to take feathers and place one at the doorstep of everyone she had spoken ill of in the town. She did so and returned to Francis who then told her to go and retrieve all the feathers. When she attempted to do so, of course they were all gone. By that time the feathers were scattered all around the town. Once again, she returned to St. Francis and told him about the feathers. He said to her, "You wish to repent and be forgiven of your sin. Good. But the damage of your words is done and cannot be taken back." It’s a harsh lesson – forgiveness is certainly possible but some of the damage done by our actions can have lasting effects. And in the reading from the letter of James today (1:17-27) this is the message that he is tryin
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