Sharing some thoughts

This evening’s Psalm, Psalm 27, is my favourite. It’s not the best known of the psalms, but it is one that I think expresses our need to give thanks to God for things which sometimes we can’t really even express properly in words. And I just want to think this evening of a couple of verses of that Psalm. It begins with the verse, ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid.’ As David writes we get the sense of him being threatened by some sort of evil. He seems to be writing almost as someone in need of reassuring himself or reminding himself of the power of God, and the fact that God, in whatever circumstances is going to look after him. The Lord is my light expresses hope within a dark and troubled place. The sort of place where we have all been to a greater or lesser extent in our own lives. The place where there really doesn’t seem to be much going right. It may be the loss of a job, a b...

The readings for the last couple of weeks have challenged us to make some difficult decisions about commitment, and today the readings do exactly the same thing. For the last couple of weeks we have thought about Jesus’ claim to be the Bread of Life, and today he continues to challenge his listeners as he talks of the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:56-69). He is once again saying that people must make a choice for him or against him. In the Old Testament reading from Joshua (24:1-2,14-18), the prophet is making it clear that people must choose which God they will serve – will they serve the true God or will they serve one of the many other Gods which appear to be offered. And in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians ( 6:10 -20), he is urging his listeners to make a choice, to stand as soldiers in God’s army in a spiritual war. In our rather mixed up world we are often able to just sit on the fence, leaving decisions for others and I think on many occasions that is just wh...

Tonight’s gospel reading (Luke 6:27 -end) is all about Jesus blowing apart the standards that we are so used to. He seems to be going against everything that seems normal in society. He says love your enemies, do not judge, do not condemn, forgive and he says to build on a firm foundation. Those things are not really what we would expect to be normal behaviour, and the passage emphasises to us again that Jesus calls us to be different if we are going to serve him effectively. And I want to think this evening about each of these things briefly. Firstly Jesus says Love your enemies. Around the world today there are many conflicts going on. This country it seems has as many enemies as anyone, and on individual levels many people know of others whom they regard as enemies. Jesus says – love them ! From his death bed, a husband called to his wife and said, "One month after I die I want you to marry Sammy." "Sammy! But he is your enemy !" "Yes, I know that ! ...

Last week we considered the claim of Jesus to be the Bread of Life, and this week he begins our gospel passage (John 6:51 -58) with similar words, ‘Jesus said to the Jews, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever…”’ In those words he is clearly once again challenging us to make a decision about him. And we also heard from Paul in his letter to the Ephesians ( 5:15 -20) where he is pleading with his readers or listeners to live lives worthy of God, and enjoy life as he intends. He is reminding us in these words that actually our faith is not about rules for the sake of rules and misery and glum faces, and frowning at people who seem to be having fun – our faith is about sharing in an exciting partnership with God, as we seek to enjoy life – life which we are supposed to celebrate. This week I watched some of the Jeremy Kyle Show – it’s one of these morning programmes where people share problems and he tries to resolve them ...

A new Vicar moved into town and went out one Saturday to visit his parishioners. All went well until he came to one house. It was obvious that someone was home, but no one came to the door even after he had knocked several times. Finally, he took out his card, wrote on the back "Revelation 3:20 " and stuck it in the door. The next day, as he was counting the offering he found his card in the collection plate. Below his message was the notation "Genesis 3:10 ." Revelation 3:20 reads: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me." Genesis 3:10 reads: "And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, but I was naked, and I hid myself." One thing that this joke reminds us of is that the Bible can literally be used in all kinds of different ways to fight and win all kinds of different arguments… Before continuing I should point out that I thi...

The theologian, Søren Kierkegaard, told a story about a community of ducks waddling off to duck church to hear the duck preacher one day. The duck preacher spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly. Using these wings there was nowhere the ducks could not go. With those wings they could soar high into the sky. Shouts of "Amen!" were quacked throughout the duck congregation. And at the end of the service, the ducks left commenting on what a good message it had been, and they waddled back home. But they never flew. In the gospel today Jesus began to lay claims to his standing with the first of his ‘I AM’ sayings recorded in John’s gospel. He said, ‘I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE’(John 6:35 ). Later he would follow this by saying I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (John 8:12 ), I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD (John 10:11 ), I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE (John 11:25 ,26), I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE (John 14:6) and I AM THE TRUE VINE (John 15:1,5). ...

Sunday 6th august evening This evening we continue to reflect on the transfiguration as Peter, James and John went up to the mountain top with Jesus and were greeted there by Moses and Elijah – It was an incredible display of God’s power, and also a statement that the time had come for Jesus’ ministry to move forward – forward to Jerusalem, to his trial, to death and ultimately of course to victory through his resurrection. Jesus had a painful ministry – there was no comfort and no riches for him. And as I was thinking about this and watching yet another news story with many more people killed in wars, it became clear again of how much the world today is in need of transfiguration. I have no doubt that Jesus continues to live in the middle of misery and that he feels pain every time one of his children suffers, and every time one of his children does something wrong. So where is God in the middle of conflict ? It’s an age old question – why does God allow evil ? and it’s one that...

sunday 6th august In today’s gospel reading we had the account of the Transfiguration – the day when Jesus along with three of his disciples, Peter, James and John, went up to the mountain and there were greeted by the appearance of Moses and Elijah, two of the great figures of the Old Testament. During that time Peter, recognising the importance of the occasion and wanting to preserve it for all time suggests that they should build some dwellings there – but that was not the purpose of this occasion – a voice from heaven, the voice of God, came down and said, ‘This is my Son, My chosen, Listen to Him !’ This occasion was to confirm the ministry of Jesus and his commitment to die on the cross in order that the sins of all people could be forgiven. And transfiguration has some vital lessons for us as well today. The first is that the glory of God really can’t be kept in one place. The glory of God, whether we choose to see it or not at times, is all around us. One of my ni...