Sharing some thoughts

One of the readings that we seem to have quite a lot in the Church is the account of the Transfiguration that we have heard today (Matt.17:1-9). It’s a remarkable account, but as with so many other accounts we have from the Bible we can only really appreciate it best when we allow ourselves to be immersed in the story – and to put ourselves in the positions of the main characters. When Jesus took Peter, James, and John along on a trip up the mountain (Matt 17:1-9), they probably felt very honoured. They must have felt that they were the chosen among the chosen. Or perhaps not, maybe they thought: "what does he want us to do now? Do I always have to do the work? Why couldn't he pick Andrew or Judas, or someone else ?" But whatever they thought, I wonder what they really expected… Some kind of special meeting, a picnic or a prayer meeting perhaps… We don’t really know. But one thing that they almost certainly didn’t expect though was what actually happened. Jesus was transf...

  Today in the Church in Wales is designated as Creation Sunday – and whilst many people will hold different views about creation and about how it all happened, today we are called to celebrate the wonder of creation and our place within it….  The long creation reading (Gen.1:1-2:3) reminds us of the wonderful gifts that God has prepared for us all in his creation. A world of beauty, a world of challenges certainly, but a world crammed full of resources and gifts to be used by all his people. It is a world where men and women are created equally in God’s own image – where every man and every woman has a right to enjoy the resources we are given. In a world where it seems more and more opinions are being expressed about looking after ourselves first, or at least people who look like us or act like us, this is a call to get back to God – to recognise we are made in his image… With all of our differences, we are created in God’s image…  And when God...

 I’m not sure who to credit for the photo but thank you !  Our readings today are very much a call to look at ourselves, a kind of pre-lent preparation, and whenever we might identify a fault in ourselves we hope that both we and others will deal with it gently!  But it was a concept that people such as St Paul, and even Jesus himself would not have understood well. When they saw an issue that needed dealing with they went straight in and did something about it. And the readings today from Isaiah (58:1-9), Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians (2:1-12) and the gospel of Matthew (5:13-20) contain some pretty straight talking. In the gospel Jesus said to the crowds, ‘You are the light of the world…’ (Matthew 5 : 13-20) And he went on just a little bit later, ‘let your lights shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.’ This theme of light and darkness is one to which the Bible...