Sharing some thoughts

When our lay reader spoke in the morning services a couple of week ago about Thomas and his doubts about the risen Lord Jesus, he mentioned the fear of the disciples as Jesus appeared amongst them, the Jesus whom they’d witnessed being arrested and crucified only days before, and said simply, ‘Peace be with you.’ How right the preacher was when he said that those words must have terrified the disciples – Jesus was dead, and people don’t come back from that, and if they did surely they wouldn’t simply say, ‘Peace’ ! Tonight we have heard Luke’s account of Jesus’ appearance (Luke 24:36-49). The disciples are stunned, they must have been doubting their own sanity, and Jesus recognised this, and so, seeing that their reaction to his greeting of ‘Peace’ really hadn’t brought them any peace, he asked for something to eat. They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it in front of them – this was a real person standing or sitting before them – Jesus had indeed risen from the dea

The 23 rd Psalm is probably the most well-known chapter in the Bible. The words in fact have become as famous as any other literary quote in history. Countless people have memorized it, and some live by it… It is a wonderful meditation about faith and trust, and being sure of God in all situations. Probably when we were younger, many of us will have seen posters of this favourite psalm superimposed on beautiful painted pictures of Jesus on a grassy hillside, with a lamb over his shoulders, rescuing it from danger. Many children still get great comfort from the image of the kind and gentle Jesus who cares for all God’s creatures. This is the Jesus who will stay with a child through a dark night filled with terrors: alligators under the bed and monsters in the closet. This is the Jesus who stays with adults too, through nights of weeping, and loneliness, and worry, and despair. And in those times of danger and grief, many people turn to the 23 rd Psalm for comfort. At the bedsi

From time to time I meet people who I kind of recognise but without any great certainty of who they are ! Sometimes a conversation takes place, where I have to ask some embarrassingly vague questions in the hope that something will dawn on me. I’m glad to know that I’m not alone in this though – this week I was reading about the conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham who was attending a prestigious reception. He was in conversation with someone he recognised but whose name he could not recall. He began the conversation desperate to find out the mystery person’s identity. ‘So are you well?’ He asked, ‘Yes thank you’ ‘And the family ?’ ‘Yes they are fine’ ‘And your husband, is he well ?’ ‘Yes very well thank you.’ ‘And is he um… still in the same line of business ?’ ‘Yes’ replied the lady, ‘He is still King.’ As Saul went along the Damascus Road (Acts 9) he was breathing threats and murder against anyone connected to Jesus. But as he walked he was struck down by a bright ligh

As a Liverpool Football Club supporter, one of my favourite songs has to be ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ I don’t think anybody can ever fail to be moved just before the teams come out at Anfield when this anthem begins, and echoes around the stadium. But, regardless of the football connection, the words have tremendous meaning I think for all of us as Christians. This evening we have heard the account of Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). In many ways it’s a difficult account to understand – surely these followers of Jesus would recognise him walking alongside them. They may have had doubts about his resurrection but still they would see him there by the side of them, talking to them. But perhaps not… perhaps the appearance of Jesus had changed, or perhaps they simply didn’t have the faith to believe that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. Whatever the situation was, Jesus walked alongside these two followers as they told him of the events of the past few days, of ho

Yesterday on the Radio there was an interview with the Archbishop of York, who was addressing the comments of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham who said that Britain was fast becoming an anti-religious country – what message, the radio presenter asked, would preachers be giving on this Easter Day. The Archbishop of York, amongst his answers, said that he felt the Church had not been so good at spelling out the Christian message very clearly – that message is that Jesus came amongst us, he died, he rose again, he is present with us now and he transforms lives ! That is the wonderful message that we celebrate today – a message that is worthy of being shouted out into the streets of this country, as Jesus calls people back to him. There’s a true story which was reported in the USA Today news paper. ‘An elderly Florida woman did her shopping, and upon returning to her car, she found four men in the act of leaving with her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags and

This afternoon’s address is built around the hymn, Stabat Mater Dolorosa. It is a 13 th century reflection of the suffering of Mary as she stood watching her Son dying. The translation literally means, ‘The Sorrowful Mother was Standing’. And as we move into this fateful hour of Good Friday we are also called to reflect on the suffering and punishment of our Lord, willingly accepted for no crime at all other than his love for us. We begin by singing verses 1 to 7. At the Cross her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last. Through her heart, His sorrow sharing, all His bitter anguish bearing, now at length the sword has passed. O how sad and sore distressed was that Mother, highly blest, of the sole-begotten One. Christ above in torment hangs, she beneath beholds the pangs of her dying glorious Son. Is there one

Yesterday we thought of the text of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane , and that is an important text because it shows us the full humanity of Jesus. I know that the divine Christ, the only Son of God came to earth to live as one of us – and I know that he bridged that gap between us and God, however it is the human Christ that I look for when I read my Bible. In the twists and turns of life, the good and the bad, it is the human Christ that understands what I am thinking, what I am going through, and most importantly how I feel. Jesus said in the garden “ The sorrow is in my heart that it almost crushes me” . He had shared his human life with his friends – he knew this was coming to an end – and in his final hours the previous triumphant and wonderful three years seemed to be quickly changing into sadness for Our Lord. He had chosen his followers, he had carefully taught and guided them, he had prepared them to be His followers after his death, he had washed their fe

I read of a Diocese in the United States where the Bishop at the Annual Clergy Conference gave out towels to every member present. They were instructed to bring them back at a later date and to tell the story of how they had been used in service. Many joked that when the time came for the report, how many would actually know where their towels were? One Priest said that several years later he had to confess that, for a while, he ended up putting that towel away with other holy relics and never used it. Maundy Thursday is the Day of the Last Supper, the day when we remember those final moments of peace as Jesus shared food with his friends in that Upper Room. At each Communion service we try to recreate some of the events of that evening as we try to come closer to Christ through the mystery of the Communion meal. But there are two parts to that final evening – there was the meal, the bread and wine being shared, and Jesus telling his disciples to carry on that practice, rememb

In recent times a lot of literature has sprung to the defence of Judas Iscariot – He wasn’t as bad as he seemed, he was doing what had to be done to ensure the death of Jesus, which was the only way the resurrection could be completed, and perhaps he was the one chosen above all others to fulfil this unique part in the resurrection story. Perhaps he wanted to try and force Jesus’ hand, speed things up a little bit, make Jesus do what he had come to do. A lot of what has been written is rubbish, based on very little fact, and an awful lot of imagination – Judas was a bad man… But, I think that we should all perhaps share a little bit of sympathy for him, because he was, in so many ways, just like the rest of us. There is no known information on his birth or life before he became an apostle. However, unlike the other 11 apostles, he was probably from Judea An interpretation of “Iscariot” is “man of Karioth”, which was a city in Judea . This makes Judas the only Judean in Jesus ’

Last night at the service the preacher spoke about the feelings of Lazarus as he discussed his sisters Mary and Martha, and the visit to their house of their friend Jesus. In that gospel account Jesus gave a warning of his impending death, and today, Tuesday in Holy Week, we move a little closer to the cross. Jesus, in this evening’s gospel (John 12:20 -36), is acknowledging that his earthly ministry is drawing to a close, and he is troubled – this he freely admits. So what is he troubled about ? Well there may be the natural fear of the pain and torture, maybe even of death – perhaps after all this was a mistake… Would Jesus have wondered if this was all some gone wrong mad idea, and he had no special powers, and no special purpose ? Well No, I suspect that is not the case – Rather I think Jesus was worried because he knew that so much of his work was still to be done, and he was looking at the people he was leaving to do it. If there was a doubt in his mind, maybe it was that

It was Palm Sunday, and the family's 6-year old son had to stay home from church because of a sore throat. When the rest of the family returned home carrying palm branches, the little boy asked what they were for, and his mother explained, "People held them over Jesus' head as he walked by." "Wouldn't you know it," the boy fumed. "The one Sunday I don't go to church, and Jesus shows up! This is the only joke I could find which related to Palm Sunday, but after reading it, it did make me wonder how often we go to Church really expecting to meet Jesus, and how often we do that in the rest of our lives. One of the words perhaps most associated with Palm Sunday is the word ‘Hosanna’, literally meaning ‘Save now’. The people who lined the route that Jesus rode on that first Palm Sunday were looking for salvation, but from what ? There are a variety of answers to that question – the reality is that different people were looking for diffe