Sharing some thoughts

  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...

  There are many things in life for which we rarely stop and say "thank you”… I don’t mean special gifts, such as birthday or Christmas presents or extraordinary blessings, but ordinary things: a slice of bread, clean water, a warm home, friends around the table, or simply another day of life. Harvest is one of those moments in the Church's year when we are invited to pause and take notice, and then not forget… We notice what we have received, the goodness of God and the needs of others. Above all, we remember that nothing we have is entirely self-made. That theme runs through all our readings today. In Deuteronomy (8:7-18), God's people are standing on the edge of the Promised Land. After years in the wilderness, they are about to enter a place of abundance. Moses paints a wonderful picture of streams and springs, wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, olives and honey. It is a land where they will lack nothing. But then comes a warning: "When you have eaten your fil...

If somebody unfamiliar with Christianity walked into any church today and looked around, one of the first things they would notice would probably be the cross. There may be one on the wall, one on the altar, and quite possibly several hanging around people's necks. The cross is everywhere in Christian life.   And it might be worth pausing for a moment and remembering how extraordinary that really is. The cross was originally an instrument of execution. It was a symbol of shame, suffering and death. Nobody in the Roman world would have thought of wearing one as jewellery any more than we might wear a tiny electric chair around our necks. It was a brutal reminder of human cruelty and human power.   And yet today, all over the world, Christians gather not to hide the cross away but to celebrate it. We sing about it.  Some mark themselves with its sign. We place it at the centre of our churches and at the centre of our faith.   Why? Because God took what seemed to b...