Genesis 28.10-17; Revelation 12.7-12; John 1.47-51 "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." (Genesis 28:16) Those words of Jacob which we heard in the Old Testament reading have echoed through many centuries because they capture an experience that many people recognise. We often assume that God is present in the obviously holy places such as churches, or in prayer, in worship , in those moments when faith seems clear and strong. Yet life doesn’t always work like that . We can find ourselves in places of uncertainty, disappointment, anxiety or loss, and it becomes much harder to believe that God is near . Yet the surprising message of the Bible is that God often chooses those very moments to make himself known. Again and again people discover that God was present long before they recognised him. Heaven is closer to earth than they imagined. That, I think, is the theme that runs th...
Readings: Psalm 34 Isaiah 33.13-17 Matthew 6.19-34 One of the features of society today is that we have become remarkably good at protecting ourselves from life's uncertainties, but not nearly so good at finding peace. We can insure almost everything. We can check our bank balances in seconds, track parcels across the country and see tomorrow's weather forecast before today is over. We can communicate with almost anyone, almost anywhere, at almost any time. Yet, for all these ways of making life feel more secure, anxiety remains one of the defining features of our age. Perhaps that should not surprise us. Anxiety often has less to do with what we possess than with what we cannot control. The more aware we become of everything that might go wrong, the harder it can be to remain calm. There is always another uncertainty, another decision or another possible problem ahead. That is why the words of Jesus in tonight's Gospel still sound so fresh and challenging. They ar...