Sharing some thoughts

Most people have at least some idea of what Christmas is about - Jesus being born in Bethlehem, angels singing, shepherds hurrying down the hillside.   Most people know that Easter is important - something to do with Jesus dying and rising again, some recognising that it is something to do with hope breaking out of a tomb. But Pentecost? For many, it’s simply the weekend that sometimes brings a Bank Holiday, a long weekend, a chance to cut the grass, maybe a barbecue if the weather behaves… And yet Pentecost is one of the most important days in the Christian year. It is the birthday of the Church, it is the time that God breathed life, power and purpose into ordinary people and invited them to be part of something world‑changing. In the book of Acts (2:1-21) we read: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place… Suddenly a sound like a rushing wind… tongues of fire… all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit…” “A crowd gathered… each one heard them speakin...

  Ascension Day, which we celebrated on Thursday, marks one of the great turning points in the Church’s year. It is a moment that we can easily miss, overshadowed by Easter on one side and Pentecost on the other, yet it is absolutely vital for understanding who we are as followers of Jesus today.   For the disciples, the Ascension marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. No longer would they gather around Jesus physically, listening to him teach, watching him heal, sharing meals and conversations. Now they were being prepared for something new - a life of outward mission, a life that would take them far beyond the familiar rooms and roads where they had walked with him. In today’s gospel reading from John (17:1-11), Jesus is praying for his disciples on the night before his crucifixion. He knows what lies ahead. He knows that soon he will no longer be with them in the way they have known. And so he prays - not for their comfort, not for their safety, but tha...

There are moments in life when we suddenly become aware of something special, something holy, not necessarily because we are standing in a church or a cathedral, but simply because something opens our eyes.   It might be a conversation that touches us more deeply than expected, a sunrise that stops us in our tracks, or a moment of kindness that arrives just when we need it. These glimpses remind us that God is not confined to holy places. He meets us in the ordinary, the everyday, the unexpected. And yet, throughout history, people have built churches and cathedrals as signs of their longing for God. They wanted to create spaces that lifted the heart and stirred the soul. Some were built out of deep devotion, some out of civic pride, and some out of a mixture of both. But behind them all was a desire to reach towards something greater. In today’s reading from Acts (17:22-31), Paul stands in a city full of such longing - Athens, a place overflowing with ideas, shrines, philoso...

There’s a wonderful line from the great American evangelist Billy Graham , who  once said, “I’ve read the last page of the Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.”   Some days, that sentence  feels more real to us than others. Some days, we need to hear it with a little more conviction, a little more reassurance.  Some days we don’t seem so concerned!    T he readings we’ve heard this morning  (John 14:1-14/ Acts 7:55-60/ 1 Peter 2:2-10)  don’t take us to the very last page of the Bible, but they certainly point us toward hope. They point us toward God who steadies  us when we’re worried or struggling , who prepares a place  for us, who walks with us through every chapter of life  -  those we enjoy and those we  just  have to   endure.   In our gospel reading from John, Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”   They’re powerful  and comforting...