Trinity Vineyard Sunday Morning: Recent Episodes

Trinity Vineyard Church

We're a church in South East London learning how to love God and love our neighbours. Here you can listen in to what we're talking about.

Matthew 28:16–20

“I have been given all authority” is the declaration of a King. Jesus is claiming the rightful authority of the risen Lord. Jesus says that after His resurrection, the territory of His Kingdom is heaven and earth - the realm where His word is law.

From the beginning, creation was designed for heaven and earth to belong together but human rebellion tore them apart. Jesus came to heal that division.

How will the nations learn that all authority belongs to Jesus? Disciples are to go and make disciples. A follower of Jesus must have a worldwide vision. Vision requires action. It calls us to serve, to organise, to give, to participate. Our service and our participation doesn't finish with us but we must prepare our minds for the possibility that we will be that person that God wants to go out to the ends of the earth. Becoming involved in organising for, praying and giving to world-mission is a normal part of our discipleship.

He speaks of the duration of His authority: to the end of the age. One day heaven and earth will be fully united. As Paul writes:

“Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power… The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
1 Corinthians 15:24–26

Jesus told his disciples to make disciples because we must first become disciples ourselves before helping others become one. There is both receiving and giving. Learning and teaching. Being formed and helping form others. This is describing a continuing process. We are formed as we become involved in helping others to be formed. So some questions to ask ourselves.

Are we:

allowing ourselves to receive from another?
open to someone else’s insight?
humble enough to listen?
making ourselves vulnerable enough to share what we have learned?
speaking into another person’s life for their good?

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Acts 1:6-11

Thursday was Ascension Day. We’ve forgotten what it means, and we mostly pass it by without a second thought. But it belongs alongside Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. Because the Ascension isn't just the moment Jesus left - it's the moment he became King.

Imagine a coronation in the ancient world. Imagine and struggle against enemies and threats. Imagine the king overcoming his enemies and then riding victorious into his capital city. Imagine the declaration of the victory - the euangelion going out across the country.

That's exactly what we see in the Creed we recite together: he descended, he rose, he ascended. These aren't three separate events. It’s a single act of cosmic conquest. Jesus walked deliberately into death's stronghold and walked back out. And then he was seated at the right hand of the Father. That's seated - not standing, and not waiting. That's the posture of a king whose rule has been established.

We live in a world that often feels as though the wrong forces are in charge — chaos more real than order, death stronger than life. The Ascension doesn't pretend that the chaos isn't real, but it does declare that chaos does not have the last word. The King is on his throne. The decisive battle has already been fought and won. In the book of Revelation, the ascended Jesus says: "I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever - and I hold the keys of death and Hades."

It is true, in Churchill's famous words, that “It is not the end, not even the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning”. Jesus told his disciples: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses... to the ends of the earth." The Kingdom now advances - and is declared - through his people, empowered by his Spirit. In our places, in our times, that's us.

As Paul puts it in Romans 8, creation itself is groaning, waiting for the people of God to live in line with the victory King Jesus won.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Luke 24:30 - 32

The journey of life is often defined by the people we travel with and the stories we share along the way. In Luke 24:13–35, we encounter two disciples walking seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus on Easter Sunday. Disoriented and grieving the crucifixion of Jesus, they are literally moving away from the scene of their dashed hopes.

As they walk, Jesus joins them, though they are "kept from recognizing him." He doesn't interrupt their journey; he walks at their pace, listens to their confusion, and allows them to process their pain. After hearing their story, Jesus reframes their perspective using Scripture, showing how the Messiah’s suffering was necessary for his glory.

The turning point occurs not during the sermon, but at the dinner table. When they invite Jesus in, he takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them. In this act of hospitality and "recognizable reforming love," their eyes are opened. Though he disappears, their hearts remain "burning." Transformed from despair to hope, they immediately journey back to Jerusalem to share their encounter. This story invites us to reflect on our own paths: identifying where we are heading, inviting Jesus into our daily lives, and allowing him to transform our stories into a message for others.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
- John 21:15-19

Heroes returning from a great quest often find that they face a last obstacle at home. In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus returns to Ithaca after long years away to overcome Penelope's worthless suitors. After the great victory, the hobbit heroes of Lord of the Rings have to come home and deal with the mess on their doorstep. The great victories have to be applied to ordinary life. That's what this series has been about.

So: Peter. Impetuous, loyal, often wrong, occasionally magnificent. In Luke 5, the first time Jesus produces a miraculous catch, Peter's response is to fall at Jesus' knees and beg him to go away - "I am a sinful man!" The presence of Jesus overwhelms him. But in John 21, the same kind of miracle happens, and Peter throws himself into the water and swims to shore as fast as he can. Same Jesus. Same basic situation. Completely different Peter.

What changed? He's learned something about grace - of how in Jesus, the holiness and transcendence of God can be enjoyed, not feared. Theologian Miroslav Volf about the two wrong pictures of God we tend to carry: the Santa Claus god who gives and demands nothing, and the wrathful moralist just waiting for you to slip up. Jesus blows both of those apart. He is genuinely holy - and genuinely loving. Both at once.

Then we have the three-fold "do you love me?" conversation on the beach. It's a deliberate echo of Peter's three denials around the charcoal fire. But Jesus isn't rubbing Peter's nose in his failure - he's restoring him. He's asking: Do you understand now? Do you see what I came to do? And he recommissions Peter. In a mirror of his first calling in Luke as a fisher of people, he is now called as a shepherd of people.

It turns out that failure isn't the barrier to being used by God. If anything, it might be the condition. Only when we learn that our efforts for the cause of Jesus are neither sufficient nor the thing he wants from us, are we ready to serve. Like Peter, you will most probably break down under pressure. What matters most is that we love him.

Stammering Moses became God's great prophet. Annoying little brother David became Israel's great king. Peter failed spectacularly - and became the rock on which the church was built.

What could he do with you?

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

- John 20:19-23

What do you think to church? Do you like it?

It might be interesting for you to know that C. S. Lewis, the twentieth century's greatest Christian apologist, didn’t like it at all - at least at when he first became a Christian. He spoke about “the fussy, time-wasting botheration of it all… the crowds, the umbrellas, the notices, the bustle, the perpetual arranging and organizing…”

The thought that following Jesus is something we can do on our own is still with us. But that misses something essential about what the resurrection does in the world.

In John 20, Mary meets the risen Jesus and clings to him. But Jesus tells her, “Do not hold on to me.” Mary is trying to return to the old world, but a new world is breaking in. The resurrection is not a repair job on the past but the beginning of “New Creation” - a completely transformed reality. And this New Creation requires a new kind of human being.

Humanity as it currently exists is deeply broken by sin - not just individual wrongdoing, but a condition that shapes and distorts everything. If the world is to be renewed, people must be renewed too.

Jesus begins with his disciples. He appears among them, speaks peace (“shalom” - wholeness, restoration), shows his wounds, commissions them, and breathes the Holy Spirit into them. This is creation itself: just as God breathed life into humanity in Genesis, Jesus breathes new life into his followers.

The same pattern of encounter, transformation, and sending that we see with Mary is repeated with the disciples. They are gathered, restored, and then sent out to invite others into this New Creation.

Like the disciples, we meet every Sunday - every resurrection day! We meet because a new way of being human is being formed in us. The “botheration” of it all - the gatherings, rhythms, and structures - is the place where Jesus meets people, brings life to what is dead, and sends them out again. It is where broken people receive peace, purpose, and the Spirit.

In other words, if Jesus rose from the dead… go to church!

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

- John 20:11-18

The historian Jaroslav Pelikan once said this: "If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen, nothing else matters".

Either the resurrection changes everything, or nothing ultimately has meaning. If Christ is not raised, then death wins. Injustice stands. Love loses. Even the best human life - a healer, a teacher, a forgiver - is crushed. Why? Because that's how the world works. Didn't you know? Contrary to what Martin Luther King Jr. suggested, the arc of history doesn’t bend toward justice after all.

But if Christ is raised, then history itself has been split open. The future renewal of all things - where death is defeated - has broken into the present. The resurrection isn’t a comforting idea; it’s a total reordering of reality.

In John 20, Mary finally recognises the risen Jesus, and she clings to him. Of course she does. She thought she had lost him forever. This is relief, restoration, a return to what was.

Strangely, Jesus says, “Don’t hold on to me.” Why does he say that? It sounds so cold. But perhaps Mary is trying to get her old life back, while Jesus is offering her a completely new one.

The resurrection is not a rewind; it’s a revolution. The past hasn’t been undone. The pain was real. The cross still happened. But something entirely new has begun—what the Bible calls New Creation. Not a patched-up life, but a transformed life. So “don’t hold on” is actually an invitation. Don’t cling to what was. Don’t reduce Jesus to comfort or familiarity. Step forward into something you don’t yet understand.

That lands uncomfortably. Most of us don’t want a new world—we want our world, just fixed. Safer. Happier. More in control. But resurrection life doesn’t work like that. It asks you to loosen your grip - on your past, on your sin, on your pain, and on your assumptions about what a good life looks like.

And then you are propelled outwards: go! Mary is comforted - but so much more. She is sent. She becomes the first witness - the apostle to the apostles - stepping into a future with no map. That invitation is for us, too. If Christ is risen... don’t hold on to the old world, to your old self. If you can let go, you can step into the New Creation, here and now.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

- Matthew 25:31-40

In 2006 Guy Goma got an interview as a data cleanser in the IT department at the BBC. At the front desk, the receptionist falsely identified him as Gay Kewney, a technology expert, who had come to be interviewed on the BBC News channel. Want to know what happened next? Click here.

Cases of mistaken identity can be comic, but sometimes they can have more serious consequences. Take the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. If you start with the wrong set of ideas, you will end up reading the passage as a moral checklist: you should care for the poor, the sick, the imprisoned (and if you don't you'll face judgment). It’s a compelling message, and not without an element of truth - God has a particular care for the vulnerable. But in this moment, Jesus is teaching something more specific and more surprising.

Who is being judged? Not the disciples, but the nations. Who are “the least of these”? Not humanity in general, but Jesus’ own brothers and sisters - those who follow him and do the will of the Father. And what is the basis of judgment? How the nations respond to these vulnerable messengers of Jesus. In receiving or rejecting them, they are - without even knowing it - receiving or rejecting Jesus himself.

This changes everything. The parable is not a command to try harder or rouse ourselves to feats of compassion. It's a promise to those who risk everything to follow Jesus. Those who are overlooked, rejected, and persecuted are not forgotten. Their lives are seen. Their suffering counts. Jesus is "with them to the end of the age", so close to them that their treatment becomes his own.

And for the rest of us? There’s an invitation. Not just to show kindness to the marginalised (we should be doing that anyway, btw), but to step into the risky space of faithful obedience.

You may not “win” by the world’s standards. You may even end up doing things that look like a failure. But the King Jesus is on the throne. And in the end, he will make things clear.

Always pray and never give up.

Prayer is not a transaction. Prayer is not something we give God in exchange for services. Prayer is relationship. Persistent prayer is not about wearing God down. It is about remaining close to the One who loves us. When the result of our prayer is not what we think, rather than giving up or resorting to manipulation we keep the conversation with God going. Persistent prayer forms Kingdom faithfulness within us. Prayer is a two way street, God does not mind us repeating ourselves. We do however need to be careful that we are listening to Him.

It is easy to think of prayer as only asking for things from God. That is part of what this parable is about but not all. In v7 we have this “So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night?” Cry is a wordless call.

Prayer includes something we often forget today: Lament. The Bible is full of lament. Nearly one third of the Psalms express it. Lament is looking at our situation, especially when our situation is giving us pain and problems, trials and tribulations and crying out.

Lament is different from whining or being downhearted or having a pity party. Lamenting is taking the situation to God rather than letting your head drop and acting as if you are trapped in an unfeeling, blind universe. Lament is being honest with God and honest about our pain. Lamenting is not a lack of faith. It takes a lot of trust and loyalty to look to God in our pain and problems.
This parable is telling us we aren’t forced to pretend everything is all fine. Express your complaints to God and cry out to him to do something about the situation. Your emotions will never be too strong for God. If your pain persists? Keep on crying out to God.

Lament is not weak faith. It is faith refusing to let go of God in pain.

https://undeceptions.com/podcast/god-laments/

The end of v8 is a sober warning. But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith? Jesus wonders if he will find followers loyal to him when he returns. And so he urges us to always pray.

Matthew 25:14-15 For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

God’s judgment is real, and Scripture says it begins with the church. Living in the tension between God’s love and His judgment is essential, because it is at this hinge point that we come to truly know both God and ourselves. To know God—the One in whom mercy and truth meet, where righteousness and peace embrace—is to see His perfect beauty. In that light we recognize our own brokenness. And when we truly see ourselves apart from Him, we are drawn back to Him, longing for restoration through His mercy, forgiveness, and justice.

This meeting point produces what the Bible calls the fear of the Lord. This fear is not anxiety or dread, but a trembling awe: the awareness that we are finite, created beings standing before the infinite Creator. Such awe would naturally overwhelm us. Anyone unmoved in that situation would lack wisdom, which is why Scripture says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

In Matthew’s parable of the talents, the key question is how the servants participate in what belongs to their master while he is away. Faithfulness is not passive; it is active engagement with what has been entrusted to us. The servants receive different amounts—five talents, two talents, one talent—but the first two receive the same commendation: “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of your master.” The praise is not for success, but for faithfulness. God’s kingdom runs on faithfulness, not comparison.

The third servant, however, buries his talent. In his culture, this was considered a safe, responsible choice. Yet what appears wise by human standards is not always godly wisdom. His explanation reveals the real issue: “I was afraid.” His fear distorts his view of the master and leads him to hide rather than act. This is not the fear of the Lord, which draws us toward God, but a fear that pushes us away.

The master replies that even the smallest faithful step—simply placing the money in the bank—would have been acceptable. The problem was not failure but refusal. The servant did not trust the master’s heart and chose self-protection instead of obedience.

True fear of the Lord restores our vision. It enables us to see clearly, leading to repentance as we recognize both our sinfulness and God’s righteousness. Such awe does not paralyze us—it moves us to faithful action and draws us into the joy of our Master.

God’s kingdom is like a banquet, a generous celebration. The kingdom is a vineyard, with everything necessary for it to be fruitful. The invitation is still going out.

Our lives should be characterized by the joy of inviting people to the banquet God has prepared, a banquet that is both present and future. Far too often our joy has been muted. The joy in our lives of the celebration of the kingdom should be so evident that the invitation becomes compelling.

But God’s kingdom is also marked by decision. The expected are absent and the unexpected are present. Some people say they are too preoccupied to come. Others presume they belong because of history, background, church attendance, or the right label. But belonging in the kingdom is not about labels. It is about loyalty to the king. The kingdom must shape who we are.

The warning about the improperly dressed guest reminds us: invitation does not remove expectation . We cannot have the kingdom on our own terms. Grace is free—but it is not cheap. Grace invites you as you are. But it does not leave you as you are. This man wanted the celebration without the change. He wanted proximity without allegiance. He was a vineyard that did not produce any fruit.

We should be alert to the importance to the kingdom of the inclusion of those on the margins, those who we would not normally think of inviting. We should be suspicious if we look round at our gatherings and see that everyone present is like us. Beware if all the relationships we have at church are with people who we feel comfortable with. The parable is not about mission, but we need to reflect on who we are inviting to come and participate in the kingdom with us.

We must not lose sight of the theme running through both parables: judgment. We are uncomfortable with that word. Would it not be easier if God simply overlooked everything? But without judgment, salvation loses its meaning. Urgency fades. Justice evaporates. Accountability disappears.

As CS Lewis tells us often, Aslan is not a tame lion. Grace is only grace if the outcome could have been otherwise, and the significance of life depends on accountability for life. We may not like judgment, but it is a central and necessary message of both Testaments and especially of Jesus’ teaching.

“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend… Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’”
— Matthew 20:13–15

Jesus tells a story that sets off our fairness meter. People work different hours and receive the same pay. The early workers aren’t cheated, they get exactly what they agreed, but they’re furious that the late workers are treated as equals.

That’s the sting of the parable. The landowner refuses to send anyone home empty-handed. And Jesus uses that to expose what happens in us when grace doesn’t match our instincts for reward. Our “fairness meter” doesn’t just care about justice, it also cares about comparison. It doesn’t just ask, “Is this right?” It asks, “How did I do compared to them?”

The landowner’s question lands like a mirror. “Are you envious because I am generous?” It’s an invitation to drop the scoreboard. To stop turning faithfulness into a claim, and obedience into leverage. To receive what we were promised and still have joy when mercy meets someone else.

It’s also a word of hope for anyone who feels late, overlooked, or behind. The landowner keeps going back. He keeps calling people in. Grace is welcome, not scraps.

So this week, ask God for the freedom this parable offers. Gratitude instead of grumbling, celebration instead of comparison, belonging instead of anxious performance. The kingdom doesn’t run on earning. It runs on grace.

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”- Luke 15:31-32

Parables are like rooms you can stand in and look around. They are told that way deliberately. When something is varied and complex, you can’t always explain it in a textbook way. So Jesus told stories that could be explored from different angles - stories that could slip underneath our defences and assumptions, and reshape our lives.

In Luke 15, we are given what is often treated as three parables, but it is really a story in three chapters. The pattern is identical each time: something is lost, something is found, and there is great celebration. A shepherd finds a sheep. A woman finds a coin. A father receives back a son.

By the time we reach the third chapter, the pattern is familiar. The younger son is clearly lost. He demands his inheritance, disgraces his father, wastes everything, and ends up ruined. According to Deuteronomy 21:18-21, a rebellious son deserved judgement. Rebellion results in death - that is the direction the law runs. But here the mechanism is reversed. The father runs, embraces, and restores. The son is not alive, then dead - he is dead, then alive. Lost, then found. And, as before, there is rejoicing.

Which means we expect the story to end there.

But it doesn’t - after the three chapters, there’s an epilogue! The elder brother stands outside the party. He doesn’t celebrate, but complains and criticises: “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

The older brother does not speak as a son but as a servant who believes he has earned something. In the logic of transaction, grace is an insult. If the reckless brother is honoured, what was the point of obedience? He is scandalised less by his brother’s sin than by his father’s mercy. The father’s response is astonishing: “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” The elder brother believes that there is only so much blessing to go around, and the love the younger brother receives means that he is excluded. was never outside the blessing. Yet he cannot enjoy it because he cannot rejoice in grace.

Many of us, as we read these words, will feel like the older brother. But what if we’re operating with the wrong assumption? There is no scarcity of blessing, love or mercy.

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it."

Matthew 13:44-46

Discovery is exciting—whether it’s a world-changing scientific breakthrough or finding a forgotten £5 note in your coat pocket. Sometimes it’s planned, sometimes it’s a happy accident, but the joy of finding something valuable is universal. In life, we search for houses, holidays, jobs, and relationships, and when we finally find the right one, the excitement is real.

Jesus used parables to explain the Kingdom of Heaven, comparing it to hidden treasure or a precious pearl. One man stumbles across treasure in a field; a merchant searches and finds a pearl more valuable than he imagined. Both react with joy, selling everything else to claim it. The Kingdom of Heaven works the same way—its value surpasses all worldly ambitions and possessions. Discovering it isn’t about improving your life or following rules; it’s about recognising something so supremely valuable that everything else fades into the background.

Following Jesus is a radical reordering of life priorities. Unlike destructive obsessions, giving everything for God is safe and life-giving, because He is loving, compassionate, and trustworthy. The Kingdom transforms, restores, and renews. Jesus has already given everything for us—our response is to discover, delight, and respond in joy.

*He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”*

- Matthew 13:31-33

Jesus says the Kingdom is like a mustard seed and like yeast. Both start small, both look unimpressive, and both work on a timeline that doesn’t match our impatience. The Kingdom often begins as something you can barely name, a cautious “maybe,” a tiny prayer, a fragile step, but it grows into something with real presence. And it grows for a purpose. Not just “bigger,” but shelter. Branches where others can rest.

Yeast, meanwhile, is the change you can’t track while it’s happening. It disappears into the dough and quietly works through the whole batch. That’s how God often reshapes us. With a slow, deep transformation that eventually shows up in steadiness, humility, repentance, mercy.

So don’t despise small beginnings. And don’t panic in slow seasons. The Kingdom is already here, and not yet finished like living in a house mid-renovation.

Keep trusting the builder, keep showing up, and ask simply: “Jesus, plant your Kingdom in me.”

Listening to the words of the King

Parables are given to make us wise — to shape how we live, to train our character, to form us spiritually. This parable gives us the message of the kingdom so that we might hear, respond, and be fruitful. “Hearing” is central to this parable. In the language Jesus was telling this story, the word translated to hear also means to obey. That is no coincidence.

It’s possible to be physically present, religiously active, and spiritually closed. You can come on Sunday. You can hear sermons. You can read Scripture and still not really hear. Not because the message is unclear — but because the heart is guarded. We fear that listening too hard will draw our hearts to places we don’t want to go.

The crowd would have known there was meaning beneath the surface of what they heard but exactly what Jesus meant would not have been obvious The key turning point is verse 10: “The disciples came to him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’” “Disciples” here does not mean only the Twelve. Anyone who wanted could come closer and ask. This is not a closed group. This is about attitude.

Those who come and ask are given more. Those who stay at a distance hear the stories — but do not really listen.

Jesus says: “Whoever has will be given more… whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” These two groups are self-selected.

This is not about intellectual ability. It is about receptivity.

They are not smarter.
They are not more moral.
They are not more religious

They are not more deserving.

They are simply willing.

Willing to listen.
Willing to be taught.
Willing to admit they don’t fully understand.

When people responded by seeking Jesus and wanting to understand more, he turned towards them and invited them to come even closer. When people stayed superficial, no further explanation was given. Not because Jesus wanted to hide — but because lack of receptivity prevented further progress. These parables are the King graciously telling us what the kingdom is really like.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
- Matthew 9:10-17

Human beings are deeply wired to want to stay separate from the things that we fear might make us dirty. In our modern world, we think in biological terms about infection. In the ancient world, the wrong kind of people could 'pollute' you. That's why some groups didn't like it when Jesus sat down to eat with tax collectors and sinners. When people complained, Jesus responded with the image of new wine in old wineskins. It's a simple message—the old cannot contain the new. Old frameworks could not contain the inbreaking Kingdom of God - in fact, it was bursting out of the boundaries that people would want to place on it.

The Pharisees and John’s disciples were sincere, committed people. Their movements sought holiness, repentance, and faithfulness to God. But they were still waiting—waiting for renewal, for restoration, for God to act. What they failed to see was that the waiting was over. The bridegroom had arrived. God was restoring his people, not through stricter boundaries or deeper separation, but through mercy, healing, and presence. Jesus’ holiness worked differently. Instead of avoiding the sick, he became their doctor. Instead of guarding purity by distance, he restored people just by drawing near to them.

Where do we struggle to make space for what God is doing now? Are there habits, identities, or ways of seeing ourselves that no longer stretch? Perhaps we sense the tension—the feeling that we can’t cling to what’s familiar and fully receive Jesus at the same time. The good news is this: there is nothing we can do to heal ourselves, but there is someone who has come to do what we cannot. Jesus is the healer. He is the new wine. He offers the Kingdom freely and waits for our response.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:4-10

What should Christians be doing?

You probably know the list: go to church, sing the songs, pray, and read your Bible. Don’t drink too much, don’t swear, don’t sleep around. Be nice, even when people are annoying. Basically… be Ned Flanders. But if we’re honest, most of us aren’t really like Ned Flanders and probably don’t want to be Ned Flanders either.

In Acts 1, Jesus tells his followers they’ll receive power from the Holy Spirit and be his witnesses - starting in Jerusalem, but ultimately to the ends of the earth. That word witness can feel uncomfortable. We’d prefer to stick to being nice. We don’t want to offend people. When we do try, we don’t always know what to say. So often we replace the story with systems - it’s as if life is like a cosmic game of Snakes and Ladders. Good behaviour is a ladder to get you closer to God; bad behaviour sends you sliding back down the snake.

But that is not your story or mine. Over and over again, the Bible tells a story that when people mess things up, God goes looking for them. He starts in the Garden, looking for Adam and Eve, who hid from Him. In exile. In the wilderness. With murderers, adulterers, outcasts, traitors, and doubters. God doesn’t wait at the top of the final ladder of good works. He shows up right where people have fallen.

Jesus eats with Zacchaeus, offers living water to a broken woman, heals and forgives the sick, and offers Thomas his wounds. Grace always comes first. Transformation follows. So what does it mean to be a witness? We don’t have to sell a system or teach people how to climb ladders. You just need to tell the truth about where we were, how God found us, and how grace is reshaping our lives. In view of God’s mercy, we learn to live - head, heart, and hands - in the rhythms of that same God’s grace.

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.”

Romans 12:9–16

Paul reminds us in Romans 12 that transformation by God’s grace doesn’t happen in isolation — it happens as we live together as the body of Christ.

Using the image of a body, Paul shows us that life and growth come through connection. When we choose to live disconnected from the church, we cut ourselves off from the very place God uses to form us. What holds the body together is love — not the fragile, emotional love our culture often celebrates, but agape love: self-giving, sincere, and active.

Paul describes love that is honest and discerning, devoted like family, enthusiastic in action, patient in suffering, faithful in prayer, generous with resources, hospitable to others, and willing to share both joy and pain. This kind of love isn’t something we produce by trying harder; it flows from the grace we’ve already received in Christ.

True love commits to people for the long haul. It challenges, supports, celebrates, and suffers together. As we live this way, we become a visible picture of God’s kingdom — a city on a hill — transformed together by grace.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
- Romans 12:1-2

Romans 12 marks a significant turning point in Paul’s letter. After laying out the gospel of grace, Paul turns to the life that flows from it. Everything hinges on one word: therefore. Christian ethics are not about earning God’s favour, but responding to God’s mercy. As someone once put it, “religion is grace; ethics is gratitude”.

And what is gratitude? Paul urges the people of the church to offer their bodies as “living sacrifices.” For his original hearers, this would have been a paradox. Sacrifices were dead bodies, bleeding out on an altar. So what could a living sacrifice be? Only your whole self and your everyday life given over to God. In other words, not just your “Sunday self,” but our work, relationships, choices, and habits.

The problem with living sacrifices is that they keep trying to crawl off the altar. We are not set up for sacrifice but self-interest, with deep patterns and instincts that shape how we work, rest, play, and what we do when things don’t go our way. If the same outcomes keep repeating, it’s probably not a coincidence—it’s a pattern.

So Paul asks listeners - and us - not to pattern our lives according to the world. It is as if to say, we must realise that many of us are already sacrificing our lives without knowing it, offering them up to careers, success, or autonomy. These things are false gods, not just because they have no right to ask for our worship, but because they haven’t done for us what Jesus has. Jesus himself offered everything—taking his hands off his own life and trusting the Father completely. When you know that grace, then offering your life back to God becomes the only reasonable thing to do.

And if you don’t yet know that grace, then what? Real transformation doesn’t begin with trying harder, but with being deeply grasped by what has already been done for you, without even knowing that you need to ask.

When the angel says Jesus will receive “the throne of His father David,” it tells us something very concrete. The coming of God’s kingdom arrives in the shape of an ideal King ruling His people.

“Son of David” draws together Israel’s best experiences of leadership—its golden age—as well as its hopes, promises, and yes, even its disappointments. It narrows the story down to one royal line, one covenant, one expectation, and finally one King.

Because David wasn’t just any king—he was the king and God’s promise to David wasn’t only for David, it was for the whole nation. A forever King means a forever people. This extends this vision of kingdom beyond the ordinary existence of this world as we now know it.

So when Mary learns her child will sit on David’s throne, she hears more than a personal blessing. She hears more than a description of what her son will be. She hears that God’s long-awaited King is finally coming, and that God’s long-awaited restoration is beginning. God’s plan is grounded and embodied and involved in our lived daily experience.

We follow:

a wise and righteous King.

a King worthy of our loyalty and obedience.

a King whose reign brings peace, healing, and transformation.

a King who expects us to live by a distinct rule.

a King whose kingdom never ends.

A king is meaningless without a people. We—the Church—are King Jesus’ people. That gives extraordinary dignity to everything we do.

This Advent, we aren’t just looking back to a baby in a manger. We’re looking forward to a King on a throne— a King who reigns even now, and whose reign will one day be gloriously obvious to all.

When we pray “Your Kingdom come” we are asking for something specific and concrete. It is a vision that first appears with King David and the kingdom of Israel. Then the son of David, when on earth as he gathered his followers, put reality to this vision. Today we pray that Jesus’ vision of the kingdom will be formed in London through us. We know that the Kingdom will some day come in completeness.

“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.

- Acts 7:51-58

In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ trial, the high priest demands that Jesus state plainly whether he is the Messiah. Jesus first gives an ambiguous response—“That’s what you say”—as if to hint, “If you’re asking the question, perhaps you already see something.” If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… Then Jesus goes further: “From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” That statement pushes the high priest over the edge. He tears his robe in outrage. For him, this isn’t just a rebel speaking - it’s blasphemy. Case closed.

At Stephen’s trial, it’s the same claim that lights the fuse: “I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” That vision seals his fate just as it did Jesus’.

Across much of Scripture, “son of man” simply means “human.” But Daniel 7 uses the phrase in a unique way. Daniel dreams of the beast-like kingdoms of the world - violent, arrogant powers - being judged before God. Then a human figure, “one like a son of man,” is brought into God’s presence and given everlasting authority. The dream isn’t about an ordinary human king; it’s about The Human, entrusted with divine rule over all creation.

Israel longed for a Messiah as an earthly king, someone who would lead Israel to political and military renewal. But Daniel’s vision points beyond that hope. Jesus’ claim isn’t merely, “I am the Messiah.” It is, “I am the Son of Man who shares the authority of the Ancient of Days.” Stephen’s vision confirms that Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension were not the end of his mission but his enthronement—not as a symbolic ruler or “king of our hearts” but as Lord over everything.

Suffering comes to all of us. When it does, Stephen’s story reminds us what sustained him. He saw a reality more solid than the stones and curses around him: Jesus, the Son of Man, reigning. It's not politicians, populists, influencers, despots, bankers, generals, judges or tech-entrepreneurs that are in control. Jesus, the Son of Man, is on the throne.

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
Ask me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
You will break them with a rod of iron;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
— Psalm 2:7–11

You may have had the experience of tracking a parcel obsessively: “Out for delivery,” “Delayed,” “Arriving by 9pm”… You check the window, the drive, the door. When it finally arrives, you’re almost surprised the waiting is over. And sometimes the parcel is even better than expected — sturdier, more beautiful, more fitting than what you ordered.

This Advent, we’re exploring Isaiah 9:6 (“to us a child is born, to us a son is given”) and the titles given to Jesus: Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David. These titles expand our vision beyond the sentimental Christmas image of a baby in a manger. This child is fully God, fully human, and the humble, merciful, and just King.

They also speak to the longing that shapes this time of year. As children, we long for Christmas Day; as adults, we long for life to be better, fuller, more whole. Scripture shows we’re not alone. Abraham lived his life clinging to God’s promise of a land he never fully saw. His only piece was a burial plot — a tiny “first instalment” of a much bigger future. Yet he lived forward, trusting God’s word.

Generations later, Israel’s kings were called “sons of God,” appointed to rule with justice. But reality fell short: weak kings, a fragile nation, hopes that never materialised. Still, the prophets urged the people to keep looking for the true King, the true Son of God.

By Mary’s day, hope was low. Rome ruled, leaders were compromised, and God’s people longed for deliverance. Into this comes the angel’s announcement: a child will be born, the Son of God — fulfilling God’s ancient promise and the longing of generations. The “tracked parcel” finally arrives, and the reality surpasses the expectation.

Jesus isn’t just another king. He inherits the nations, reigns forever, and fulfils every longing at its deepest level.

So what does Advent call us to today?

• Don’t be surprised by longing — it keeps our eyes lifted to God’s future.
• Don’t despise small beginnings — God often works quietly and humbly.
• Let Jesus reshape your expectations — the greatest gift God gives is Himself.
• Look forward with hope — Christ has come, and Christ will come again.

“You shall not covet your neighbour’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife,
or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey,
or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”
— Exodus 20:17

Jealousy rarely makes our “top ten” sins. We say we’re tired, stressed, skint… but we don’t often say, “I’m jealous.” Yet the tenth commandment drags this quiet sin into the light: “You shall not covet…” because God cares not just about what we do, but about the inner weather of our hearts.

On Sunday we looked at coveting through the story of Cain and Abel, a family drama that becomes the Bible’s first crime scene. Cain can’t cope when God looks with favour on Abel’s offering, and jealousy slowly grows: comparison, resentment, refusal to listen… until it spills over into violence. God warns him, “Sin is crouching at your door,” and that same warning comes to us whenever envy lurks in our scrolling, our workplaces, and even our churches.

But the Bible doesn’t leave us with Cain. Hebrews speaks of “the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel”: the blood of Jesus. At the cross, Jesus is crushed under a world full of envy and rivalry, and yet his blood cries out not “guilty!” but “forgiven… new start… beloved.” In him our worth is no longer set by salary, status, relationship or success, but by the Father’s unshakeable love.

So how do we live free of jealousy in an age of constant comparison? We learn to bring envy into the light in honest confession, to actively bless the people we’re tempted to see as rivals, to practise simple, contented lives, and to walk closely with one another in community. By the Spirit, God slowly reorders our loves until we can look at others’ good gifts without fear, because in Christ we have all we need.

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate.

John 18:33-38

In the penultimate commandment of the Ten Words, Israel is told that they should not bear false witness against their neighbours. God is a God of truth, and his people should be people of truth.

Everyone agrees - in theory. Truth is a good thing. We want to know the truth. We like to think of ourselves as searchers for truth. But we all live under the power of the first lie: did God really say? (Genesis 3:1). The problem seems particularly acute in this age of truth decay. How can we become truthful people?

In John 18, Jesus stands before Pilate in one of the most striking scenes in Scripture. The Jewish leaders bring Jesus to the Roman governor because only Rome can authorize what they want - his execution. Pilate questions Jesus about their central charge: “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answer seems to be something like 'yes and no'. Yes, a king, but not in the way they think - a kingship of coercive power, violence and compromise. His kingdom is “not of this world” and he is a king that rules through speaking truth: “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

Pilate’s reply—“What is truth?”—is the final time the word truth appears in John’s gospel, which is full of talk about the truth and how the truth comes to us. From the opening chapter (“the Word… full of grace and truth”) to Jesus’ promise that “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free,”... the truth is not an idea or ideal. Jesus is the truth.

When Pilate asks his question, it not clear whether it is cynical or genuinely searching. Perhaps he views truth as whatever is politically expedient. Perhaps he feels trapped between competing claims—Jesus’ truth, the leaders’ truth, Rome’s truth. His ambiguity mirrors the questions of our own age, in which truth can seem contested, subjective, or unreachable.

The tragedy is not that Pilate cannot discover the truth, but that the Truth is standing in front of him and he cannot recognise it. Joy Davidman said, "Pilate chooses to doubt reality rather than accept his own sin".

The irony is - the truth is! - that Jesus is not the one on trial. Pilate is on trial. Will he listen to the voice of the one who is Truth? And we all stand behind Pilate - we are on trial! Will we prove ourselves to be on the side of truth? Will we listen to voice of Jesus?

The command not to steal is rooted in the positive vision of God’s goodness and provision. It’s (usually) easy enough not to steal, but the real call is to a life of generosity rooted in a trust in God’s generosity.

God’s Spirit is given to us to transform us from. We are sometimes people who look good on the outside, but are trapped by our desire to take what seems good in our own eyes.

The Spirit can make us into people that truly reflect the image of God. We can reflect His abundance and generosity. We can become more and more like Jesus.

This is my prayer for you:

Soften our hearts by your Holy Spirit.

Expose where we would hold onto lies, that we can achieve security through seeking financial control; hoarding and accumulating.
Help us have the freedom to accept your beautiful invitation, so generously and freely offered, to life - true life.
Make us people who are not devoured by our desires, to do what seems right in our own eyes, but people who devour your word.
Put us in community with one another so that the enemy, who prowls around like a hungry lion, won’t pick us off and devour us.
Thank you that you have promised that you will never leave or forsake us.
That you are preparing us, your Church, to be ready for your return.
That you promise not even the gates of hell will prevail against your Church.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

John 8:2-5

Sex: our culture seems obsessed and confused by it all at once. If Christians are often accused of being hung up on sex, maybe it’s because the stories and words of Scripture expose our pain and our longing for a better way.

On Sunday, we looked at the seventh commandment: do not commit adultery. When the Bible talks about faithfulness, it paints a picture of deep, faithful love. Marriage, in the Bible, mirrors God’s relationship with His people: a bond of promise - a covenant. When we’re faithful to our spouses, we’re reflecting God’s own steadfast love. And when that faithfulness breaks down it points to a deeper unfaithfulness towards God. So when it comes to adultery, God seems to take it personally.

Jesus takes the conversation deeper still. "But i tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). He doesn’t just tighten the moral rules, but calls for a recognition of our brokenness and radical action for transformation.

That’s why the story of the woman caught in adultery resonates so powerfully. The crowd was ready to stone her. In such an act of collective punishment, no-one could be identified as guilty for her death. Jesus turns this round, and asks if any single one of them would dare to step forward and claim the kind of moral integrity that could qualify them to execute justice. All of them turn around and walk away.

The irony is, of course, that Jesus is qualified to execute judgement. But he doesn't condemn her. Instead, he releases her and invites her into life. Such mercy doesn’t excuse sin, and it does something far more than punish it. It breaks sin's power and releases the offender from death.

This is for us too. None of us can stand without need of grace — and that grace is always ready to meet us. Jesus still stoops low, still writes in the dust, and still offers new beginnings.

Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Exodus: 20:12

This is the first commandment in the list of the ten commandments about loving others. And not only is it the first commandment about loving others but it's the first commandment with a promise. Honour your parents "so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you".

God wants to bless his people. After generations of slavery in Egypt, He is giving them their own land, a beautiful garden land. And if God’s people want things to go well in the land It starts with correctly ordered family relationships.

We the church can live in a way where we are a sign of restored familial relationship that showcase God’s faithfulness and point to the hope of fully restored human relationships. I pray that is particularly hopeful for you if you come from a family of origin where your parents have not honoured you as they should and that maybe it has become the case that the way to honour them best is to have boundaries so that no one is dishonoured.

You have a new family and God will call us all to honour our earthly parents in a way that is safe and appropriate. But we can receive from God, our good Father, all that we need to be able to do that. The healing and transformation we encounter today points in hope to when one day God fully dwells with his people and all broken family relationships are fully restored.

To give us a clearer idea of what lies behind the idea of “the name of the Lord” in the bible, fast forward to the dedication of the temple. In 1 Kings 8 King Solomon dedicates the temple with a prayer. He prays: As for the foreigner … will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple. ‘The name’ is completely linked to the actions and intentions and reputation of the owner of the name. The point was that anyone should be able to look to the temple and learn of the character of God and respond in loyalty.

The verb before “the name” is actually two words and it literally means ‘to lift up (or carry)’ - ‘in vain’. In Exodus 28 the robes of the high priest are described. On his chest he was to wear 12 precious stones each with the name of a tribe engraved on it. It says he was to lift up or carry (same verb) these stones as he went before Yahweh. As the priest went into the holy place of the temple he would carry the names of the tribes. He would represent all the 12 tribes to God.

To bear the name of someone in vain is to be a bad representative of that person. It means to misrepresent someone, to give a misleading idea of the character of the person or organisation we are claiming to represent. God was saying to his people that others should be able to tell just by looking at us who we belong to. To carry the name in vain is to claim we are in a covenant relationship with him but for that claim to make no difference to how we live.

At Sinai, Yahweh claimed a nation as his very own and released them to live out their calling. Our calling is to bear Yahweh’s name among the nations, to represent him well. At Sinai, he warns the people not to bear his name in vain. Keeping this command, then, involves much more than not saying gosh or OMG. Keeping the command not to bear Yahweh’s name in vain changes everything about how we live."

Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’
- John 3:5-8

When people hear the words “born again,” a lot of us think of that as something for other Christians. Maybe for the ones who’ve really messed up—people with addiction stories, people who hit rock bottom, and then found got religion. But if we actually look at John 3, the very first person Jesus says “you must be born again” to is Nicodemus.

Now Nicodemus isn’t a failure. He’s not on the margins. He’s a respected leader, a teacher of Israel, educated, stable, religious, moral. In other words, if anyone didn’t need to start over, it would have been him. And yet Jesus looks him in the eye and says: “Amen, amen… no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”

That’s what baptism is all about. Not just a symbol, not just a ritual. It’s death and resurrection. It’s saying: the old life is gone, and a whole new life begins. When we watched Dami, Ren, Abraham, Solomon and Jennifer go down into the water at their baptisms, that wasn’t just a nice ceremony. That was them dying with Christ and being raised into new life.

The image is shocking—because it is meant to be. Think of that Mission Impossible moment when Ethan Hunt has a bomb in his head, and the only way to save him is for his wife to stop his heart and shock him back to life. It looks like death, but it’s the only way to live. That’s baptism. The only way to live is to die.

Why does Jesus make it so drastic? Because small tweaks won’t cut it. You can’t just polish up your life and hope it’s enough. An apple tree can’t grow oranges no matter how much you prune or fertilise it. To bear different fruit, you need a new root. That’s why Jesus says, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

Here’s the best part: you don’t make yourself born again. Babies don’t give birth to themselves! Birth is the work of another. And in our case, it’s the work of Christ—lifted up on the cross, suffering so that we could have life.

So whether you’ve been in church for decades or you’re just exploring faith, the call of Jesus is the same: you must be born again. Not just reformed, not just improved—renewed.

Idols bring death but Jesus brings life.

Jesus’s invitation to follow him,
Is an invitation to put our faith in him.
To put our faith in the fact that
He entered into our humanity with us,
went into death for us
And that if we want believe that and accept that invitation
the same power that rose Jesus from the dead.
The power of the holy spirit is at work in us
As a deposit of what is now our inheritance
The inheritance that one day we will fully be like Jesus,
we too will pass through death into new life.
And that each day we can walk the beautiful way.
Becoming more fully human.
A person who is being transformed and renewed
Into someone who can truly love God and love others.

Jesus’s invitation
Is an invitation to be set free from the lies of false gods
that promise us freedom and security
but enslave and destroy us.

Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, ‘This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.’
- Exodus 19:3-6

Last Sunday we started a series on the Ten Commandments - or, to be more precise - what the Bible calls the Ten Words. But before diving in, we need to get something straight.

When most people think of Christianity, they imagine rules: a moral code, a list of dos and don’ts, a cosmic scorecard. Be good, and you go to heaven. Slip up, and you’re out. But Exodus 20 – the famous “Ten Commandments” – tells a very different story.

Before Israel ever received the commandments, God rescued them: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Ex. 20:2). Salvation was not earned by good behaviour, by either ritual practice or moral practice. God carried them “on eagles’ wings” before they knew the law.

In other words, grace comes first.

And the opposite of grace is not judgment but transaction – the assumption that a covenant is the same as some trade. In a teaching about the Law, Jesus tells the Rich Young Man to give up his bargaining power (whether his money, or his behaviour - "what must I do to enter eternal life") and follow him empty-handed. It comes right after Jesus' encounter with children, where we learn that faith like theirs is required to enter the kingdom; they don't tend to come with wealth, or status, to trade on. They can only trust.

So why commandments at all? They are not conditions of God’s love but invitations to live out a calling. Israel was chosen to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6). Their obedience was meant to reveal God’s character to the world: they should be a people of peace in a violent culture, a people who rest in a world of endless striving, a people marked by gratitude instead of envy.

When Israel failed, it wasn’t about breaking arbitrary rules but about failing their vocation. That same calling continues in Christ. Jesus fulfils Israel’s role, becoming the true priest and mediator, and now the church is described as “a royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9). The Ten Words, then, are not a cold checklist. They are a vision of flourishing – boundaries that make us more human, not less – lived out as a response to grace and as a witness to God’s goodness in a broken world.

Are there times when you’re seeking to enter a transaction with God - trying to earn His love or blessing - instead of resting in His grace and living out of your identity as His beloved child? Take a while to ask what Jesus is asking you to put down, so that you can be ready to hear what you should take up.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:1-6

Paul encourages the church in Ephesus to “live a life worthy of the calling” they’ve received. His worry is that they might exist in a state of spiritual immaturity—muddling around in the gap between the extraordinary new life offered in Christ and the way they had lived in their own past.

What’s striking is that Paul doesn’t start by urging us toward more religious effort or personal achievement, or offer models of great spiritual and moral achievement. Instead, he calls for humility, gentleness, patience, and love. In other words, spiritual maturity is deeply tied to how we treat one another within the Christian community.

Paul emphasises that we are one body, united by one Spirit, one hope, one Lord. This unity is the foundation of the church. And yet, within that unity, there is beautiful diversity: Christ has given different people different gifts—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers—not for their personal elevation, but to equip the church for service and to help it grow in maturity.

The mature church is not just a place where consumer needs are met or sermons are impressive, but where each member plays their part in love and truth. Spiritual growth happens in the context of community—not an idealised version of it, but the real, sometimes difficult, community that God has placed us in.

So the invitation is this: what does your “yes” to the church look like right now? Perhaps it’s showing up consistently, praying with others, serving, or giving. To discern where your gifts might meet the church’s needs. Look outward to what moves you, inward to what you’re good at, and upward to what others affirm in you (if you want to dig deeper, have a look at this article from Tim Keller).

The church needs what God has placed in you—so take your next step, offer what you have, and watch what God builds through it.

"For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."
Ephesians 1:15–21

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:14–19

Paul doesn’t pray for quick fixes. He prays that we would see. That the Spirit would open the eyes of our hearts to grasp the hope, power, and love already ours in Christ. His prayers are not transactional (pray and receive), but transformational: shaping how we see God, ourselves, and the world.

This kind of prayer matters most when we’re waiting. When we’re crying out for loved ones to meet Jesus. When we’re facing silence and uncertainty. Perhaps we're burdened for our family, what it means for them not to know Christ yet, and how hard that silence can be. But Paul reminds us: God is at work even when we can’t see it.

This week, let us reflect on where God might be transforming us. Has someone said, “You seem more peaceful lately”? That might be the Spirit at work. Let’s keep praying for deeper roots in love.

You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
- Ephesians 2:19-22

It would be hard to overstate the significance of the Jerusalem’s temple in the mind and life of a first century Israelite like Paul.

The gospel authors record the awe Jesus’s disciples felt when they encountered the temple. But even more impressive that the great architecture was that in Paul and the Apostles' thinking, the Temple was the centre of the cosmos.

It was THE place that heaven and Earth overlapped; the hotspot of God’s presence.

But Jesus saw the corruption of Israel's leadership behind those massive stones and the magnificent buildings. The week before he was arrested Jesus went into Jerusalem, right into the Temple courts, and openly accused the priests and the leaders of Israel of corruption.

Messing with the temple system is dangerous business.

At Jesus' trial one of the false accusations used against him was that he claimed he would destroy the physical Temple and rebuild it in three days.

But Jesus’s claim was that he was the new Temple. In him, God’s presence and rule had come into the world in a new way. Now, Jesus is the place where Heaven and Earth overlap - not the physical Temple building. Jesus was referring to his own body, that would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days when he rose to new life.

After his death and resurrection, Jesus said that God’s presence would come and live in and among his followers. That they would become communities of people where God rests and rules. They would be temples!

And through these communities - these living temples - God’s presence, rest and rule, God’s dwelling with his people, was to fill the whole world. All because of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection.

We, Trinity Vineyard Church, are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Sometimes it's hardly noticeable. Sometimes work seems to leap forward massively in only a few days. But whether we notice it or not, IT IS happening.

Come Holy Spirit of the Living God. We continue to ask to receive Your presence. Build us, your living temple, into a unified space, hosting your presence.

"In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets".
Ephesians 3: 4-5

We’ve titled our new sermon series 'Receive the Holy Spirit' for two reasons. First, because the ability to understand what Paul means when he talks about his new insight requires the gift of the Spirit. Second, because living in response to that reality also takes the gift of the Holy Spirit.

This insight, this new view of reality, is NOT one Paul reached on his own just by being smart. It is NOT a view of reality that is only available to a few with money and influence. It is an insight into the identity of Christ Jesus and it has been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.

Paul wants to share his new view of reality with the Ephesians and with us today as we 'read their mail', but, it can only truly be revealed to us by the Spirit of God.

To have the identity of Jesus revealed to you is a sign that the Spirit of God has descended upon you and has begun work on your imagination. The Spirit has begun to shift your view of reality.

It is that same Holy Spirit who with God the father announced Jesus’s identity, who Paul says is at work revealing Christ to him as an apostle.

And the personal presence of God, His Spirit, is here today.

Still hovering in dark places. Hovering over our imaginations.

Revealing who Jesus is.

Pointing us to the crucified and risen Jesus.

Transforming us and empowering us so we can love God and others.

"Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?"
Jonah 9:11

Many of us didn’t plan to settle in Woolwich — I certainly didn’t. Yet here we are, called to more than just survive. It’s easy to despair when faced with violence, addiction, and poverty in our city. The temptation is to retreat into safe Christian circles. But Jesus calls us to engage, not escape.

God loves this city, just as He loved Nineveh (Jonah 4:11) and instructed the exiled Israelites to seek the peace and prosperity of Babylon (Jeremiah 29:4-7). We are called to do the same in Woolwich.

Rather than consume the city’s resources or critique it from afar, we must ask: How can I bring life here? Jesus says we are the salt and light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). Salt preserves and flavours; light reveals and transforms. Our presence and actions should make a tangible difference.

Examples like the Mizens — who responded to their son’s murder with forgiveness and hope — remind us that faith empowers us to bring good out of bad.

Let’s pray, participate, and love our city. Whether through serving, building relationships, or simple daily actions, we are sent here for a purpose. God has entrusted this space to us. Let’s shine brightly.

They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

- Mark 12:14-17

We live in politically divided times. So did Jesus - and in this story he is asked to take a side in the most politically charged question of his age. There were people refusing to pay the imperial tax - killing and dying for their beliefs. Then there were the collaborators, who just paid the tax and accepted the way the world was, even if it meant closing their eyes to injustice and oppression. What kind of man was Jesus?

Jesus gave an answer which meant he not only escaped the trap, but also showed them he wanted a deeper revolution than the kind that could be delivered by swords. Whose image and whose inscription on this coin? Caesar's? Then give Caesar his scraps of metal.

But what is the inscription? Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus, High Priest. King, Son of God, High Priest? The same claims Jesus was making for himself. Caesar called himself the ruler of the world, and so did Jesus. Now that's a conflict.

But not the king of revolution that burns everything down, destroys and kills. A revolution that lifts up, heals and brings life. This is not a king who would ask you to kill or die for him. He is the King that dies for you. This is the King that makes the most subversive claim - one that undermines the claim of every empire - that we are all made in the image of God, and belong not to any human ruler but to Him.

As we ask ourselves what it is to be sent, we can ask what it means to be sent to the public world of political decisions, the economy and public debate. There would be those who would say that religion should be handed in at the door to this world - that it's a matter for our private lives. Jesus didn't 'privatise' the things of God, and he didn't just stick to the options that he was offered. Instead, he performed 'signs of the Kingdom' in the public world, bringing healing, freedom and forgiveness.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
- Ephesians 2:8-10

As we step into the rhythms of a new week, many of us return to routines that feel ordinary: checking emails, caring for children, fixing broken things, attending meetings. It’s easy to feel like Monday has little to do with God’s mission — but the gospel tells a different story.

You are not just going to work. You are sent to work.

In Christ, every task, however routine or hidden, can become sacred. Not because of the job title, but because of who you do it for. Whether you're caregiving, creating, or cleaning God sees your work and calls it good when it’s done in love and faithfulness.

As Colossians 3:23 reminds us: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” That transforms how we work. Grumbling becomes gratitude. Excellence becomes worship. A job becomes a calling.

You are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works and that includes your work this week.

So go into your Monday with purpose. See your workplace, your home, your classroom, your commute, as holy ground. Not because it’s easy. But because God is already there.

You are not just working.
You are participating in God’s mission.
You are sent.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
- Luke 10:1-4

After the resurrection, the disciples have a conversation with Jesus. They ask if He is now going to do what they expected all along: restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus replies, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In other words: Don’t worry about when God will act in that way — I’ve got something for you to do. If you’re asking God, “What’s the plan?” the answer is: You are the plan.

God’s calling always includes sending. Throughout Scripture – from Abraham to Mary Magdalene – those who encounter God are drawn into His mission. It’s not about our initiatives but about joining what God is already doing (Missio Dei). The Father sends the Son, the Son and the Father send the Spirit, and the Triune God sends the Church. This sending isn’t reserved for an elite few; it belongs to the whole church. Even those who feel weak or unqualified – like the women at the tomb – are sent. Our inadequacy only highlights that the power belongs to God, not to us. Every believer is part of the plan.

Second, mission has two edges: declaration and demonstration. It’s not just about preaching but about embodying God’s kingdom in word and deed – through healing, presence, and practical care. Mission isn’t merely about individual conversion; it’s holistic and relational. The point isn’t strategy, but discernment: how is God calling you to be a healing presence where you are?

Third, mission must be rooted in having truly received. The 72 return to Jesus rejoicing in their spiritual authority, but He redirects them: don’t rejoice in your power, rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Our secure foundation is our identity as God’s beloved. If our motivation is rooted in performance, failure will shake us. But if it’s grounded in who we are in Christ – citizens of heaven, loved, forgiven, and sent – then we can step out boldly toward neighbours, friends, and even strangers.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We are the creative work of God – and He has creative work for us to do in return. As Tim Keller said: “There are some hands only you can hold. Some needs only you can meet. Some demons only you can cast out.”

At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

- Mark 15:33-38

Even the execution of a guilty man is a tragic thing. How off-course does a life have to be to contemplate such punishment as the best possible outcome? The death of an innocent man could be nothing less than appalling.

What then, is this Good Friday? Why does Jesus' death take centre stage when people began to share the good news? Why does the apostle Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, say, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified".

Because the cross says that God loves us. Nothing else that we rely on - nothing else that we look to for our identity or purpose - can compare to the complete self-giving love we see on Calvary. We all desire human love, but human love is always limited. As good as it is, it isn't good like the love we see on Calvary's hill.

Because the cross says that power and brute force doesn't win out in the end. It says that the arc of the universe is indeed long, but it really does bend toward justice - and more, toward our good. It says that a life of service really is the most significant life - even the Son of Man came to serve, and give his life as ransom for many.

The cross says that we can stop reaching and start receiving. We don't have to transcend ourselves to find God, because God has descended to us. He meets us not when we escape our own failings and brokenness, but when we're at our lowest, weakest and most defeated. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The Church will remember this day as long as it exists. We will sing it, preach it, and pray it until the end of time and beyond. It truly is Good Friday.

Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate.

‘You have said so,’ Jesus replied.

The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, ‘Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.’

But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

‘Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to get Pilate to release Barabbas instead.

‘What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked them.

‘Crucify him!’ they shouted.

‘Why? What crime has he committed?’ asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’

Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

- Mark 15:1-15

As we approach Easter, we are invited to step into the story of Jesus' trial and crucifixion—not as distant observers, but as participants. By situating ourselves in this story, role-playing key characters in the Gospel of Mark, we’re challenged to consider the competing claims of truth presented by the Jewish leaders, the Roman authorities, and Jesus himself.

The passage from shows us Jesus standing before Pilate, silent in the face of false accusations. The crowd, stirred by the chief priests, demands the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus. Crucifixion was not just execution—it was total humiliation, a public declaration that a person’s life and message were utterly worthless. For the Jewish people, it carried an added spiritual horror: to be hung on a tree was to be cursed by God.

The sermon guides us to imagine the perspectives of three groups:

The Jewish Leaders: Motivated by fear of losing control and influence, they saw Jesus as a blasphemer and a threat to the religious system. Their “truth” was about protecting tradition and power—even at the cost of an innocent man.
Pilate and the Roman Authorities: Representing the power of empire, Pilate ultimately chose political convenience over justice. His truth was that might makes right, and public order must be preserved.
Jesus: Silent yet resolute, Jesus embodied a truth that was not about dominance but about love, peace, and human flourishing—even if it led to the cross.

Each viewpoint presents a different “truth,” and each leads to different consequences. The leaders' choice led to the destruction of the temple. Rome’s path of violence ultimately collapsed. But Jesus’ way, vindicated in resurrection, leads to transformation—a new kind of humanity.

The sermon concludes by challenging us: Whose truth are you living by? Where are your choices leading you? Jesus invites us to build our lives on solid ground—a foundation of wisdom, love, and eternal hope.

*43 Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.

44 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” 45 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. 46 The men seized Jesus and arrested him. 47 Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

48 “Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? 49 Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” 50 Then everyone deserted him and fled.

51 A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, 52 he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.*

Mark 14:43–52

This passage explores one of the most poignant and painful moments in the life of Jesus—his betrayal by a friend, his refusal to retaliate, and the abandonment he experienced from those closest to him. We see Jesus receive Judas’ kiss, endure Peter’s misguided attempt at violence, and watch as all his disciples flee into the night.

It’s a story that still speaks powerfully today. Many of us know the sting of betrayal, or the urge to take control when things fall apart. Some of us are carrying shame for the times we’ve run from responsibility, distanced ourselves from faith, or let fear dictate our choices. This passage invites us to see ourselves in the story—and more importantly, to see Jesus’ response.

Jesus does not lash out. He does not abandon his mission. He chooses the path of surrender, even when it costs everything. In doing so, he opens the door to forgiveness—not just for those in the garden that night, but for each of us.

Wherever you are in your journey—wounded, weary, or wandering—this message reminds us that grace is still extended. Jesus stayed so we could come home. Whether you’ve been betrayed, wielded the sword, or fled in fear, the invitation remains: come back to the One who never left.

They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
- Mark 14:32-38

There are two cups in Mark 14: the cup that all the disciples drink from—the cup of the new covenant—and the cup that Jesus will drink from. The latter is an Old Testament image representing God's judgment:

"Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger." (Isaiah 51:17)

The idea of judgment as a cup to be drunk originates from the rebellion of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai. While Moses is on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments—which begin with the commands not to worship other gods or make idols—the people below are doing exactly that: making an idol and worshipping it. In response, Moses grinds up the idol, sprinkles the powder into the water, and makes them drink it. Symbolically, they are forced to consume the consequences of their idolatry.

Will we experience the consequences of our sin? No. At the heart of the Christian faith is the belief that Jesus takes upon himself the consequences of human rebellion. He drinks the cup of wrath so that those who trust in him do not have to. Instead, we are given the cup of grace—a gift that combines not receiving what we deserve (judgment) with receiving what we do not deserve (eternal life in the love of God).

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
- Mark 14:22-25

The seder feast dating back to the first Passover involved unleavened bread and wine. The bread reminded them of the haste they had to leave Egypt, the wine reminding them of the joy of liberation. Jesus made connections between his new Christian ceremony and the whole of the Hebrew past. Jesus lifted up something from their past (the Exodus) and extended it. He set up something new, something for the future (for the new community).

Even briefly looking at a few of the many themes that Jesus packed densely into this feast can be overwhelming. These things are there not with the expectation we will all understand everything immediately. It is a call to meditate on these words during the week, meditate on Easter, think of Jesus' passion so that as we come to the table our experience will become richer. This table is a place we can come back to again and again for a lifetime knowing that in every weekly cycle there will be another beauty to see, more depths to gaze at.

Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’

We must stop and make ourselves aware of a sense of sacredness at this point, of something that must be treated with utmost respect, we must position ourselves properly to be in the presence of a holy God.

‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he said to them.

Here we have a link to a core theme of the Hebrew bible: covenant. This goes all the way back to the first pages of the bible, to Noah and Abraham, the people at Mt. Sinai and King David - a formal partnership between God and humanity.

The first Passover feast was celebrated before the Exodus, before the liberation of the people because their identity was to be the people who were liberated from slavery by Yahweh. This table is to form our identity. We become the people who participate in the feast. It must form our past and become our future.

Many years ago I read a Jewish saying and ever since it has stuck with me and become a formative part of my life. It goes “The Jews didn't keep the Sabbath, the Sabbath kept the Jews.” In other words the Sabbath formed their identity as the people who kept God’s Sabbath. And through this formation they endured. It is the same with this table. We need the table. It is through the table we are formed. We don't do God a favour by keeping this table. But the table forms Christ in us and keeps us.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

Mark 13:32-37

Jesus offers us a warning to be watchful for his return and being ready—not in a paranoid way, but in a way that keeps us spiritually awake and prepared.

He does this by comparing it to a master who goes away and could come back at any time. The point? No one knows when—not even the angels or Jesus Himself while He was on Earth. That means we shouldn’t get caught up in predicting dates or listening to people who claim they have secret knowledge. Instead, Jesus calls us to stay faithful, live with purpose, and focus on what really matters—prayer, repentance, loving others, and sharing His message.

Being watchful doesn’t mean living in fear, but rather staying spiritually aware, like keeping your house in order before a surprise visit. It’s easy to put things off, but if we truly believe in Jesus' return, our lives should reflect that—right now, not just someday. And if we ever find ourselves getting lost in distractions, Bonhoeffer’s words are a great reminder: Don’t wake up one day and realize you’ve lost your soul in the busyness of life.

So, the takeaway? Don’t worry about predicting the future—just stay awake, stay faithful, and live as people of the Day.

Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Mark 13:5-7

Mark 13 begins with the disciples marvelling at the grandeur of the Jerusalem temple. Yet Jesus had already condemned it: “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” Now, he prophesies its destruction—not one stone will be left upon another. When the disciples ask when this will happen, Jesus answers.

The imagery in Mark 13 refers to the fall of the Temple, not the end of the world. Yet it prompts us to consider how disciples should endure upheaval. We may not be witnessing the world’s end, but we may be seeing the collapse of familiar structures.

Some of what we admire may be what God is dismantling—or allowing to fall. Yet this is no call to despair or withdrawal. Christians are called to pray for leaders, seek reform, and work for the common good, even when the church appears not to prevail. Jesus warned of trials and persecution; faithfulness comes at a cost. To declare “Jesus is Lord” is to reject false messiahs and worldly systems that demand our ultimate allegiance.

But faithfulness is not isolation. The church does not exist for its own sake but to bring life to the world, as Jesus did. Every community is surrounded by deep needs—addiction, loneliness, broken families. The church must engage, listen, and respond with meaningful action.

At the end of a world, we are still called to love—our neighbours and our enemies. Like the exiles in Babylon, we build, plant, and live with hope. Nations will rise against nations, but the kingdom of God remains our true foundation.

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”
Mark 12: 43-44

This portrait of the poor widow can be alarming.

I love her radical trust in God, her radical generosity but also…

This lady is off her rocker!

I need my money. I’ve got kids. A mortgage. I need to eat. There are so many situations I have to take into account when it comes to how I spend my money.

And so, I dismiss her example as an impossible ideal.

Because if I don’t dismiss her story and do so quickly the gap between what I say and what I do might begin to trouble me.

The starting point of how we might begin to live into the radical freedom of the widow is that we realise we cannot.

And we encounter the God who can. A God who put his Spirit in us so that we can live in a manner worthy of all that he has done for us.

We are all called to be fully alive, full of trust and radically generous.

Avoid the temptation to water down the passage by making it abstract. It's an example of being radically different with how we use our money to the culture around us.

Draw near to the presence of God - at church with one another and through reading Scripture. Righten your perspective of your relationship with God whether for the first time or the hundredth time. Then IN right relationship with him, listen and obey.

Ask God and look for the simple next step you can take into a life of radical trust in the abundance and generosity of God.

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
- Mark 12:28-31

Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength means dedicating every aspect of our being to Him. Jesus, when asked about the greatest commandment, quoted the Shema from Deuteronomy, emphasizing that love for God must be complete and all-encompassing.

The heart represents our affections and desires, meaning our love for God should be supreme, guiding our emotions and priorities. The soul reflects our identity and spiritual devotion, calling us to surrender fully to God and live with an eternal perspective. The mind engages with truth and understanding, encouraging us to seek wisdom, wrestle with faith, and grow in discernment. Finally, our strength signifies our actions—how we serve, obey, and reflect God’s love in our daily lives. True love for God is not passive; it requires intentionality in worship, study, and service.

Loving God naturally leads to loving others, as emphasized in the second greatest commandment: to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our faith is demonstrated in how we treat people, reflecting God’s love through kindness, forgiveness, and service. C.S. Lewis noted that acting in love often leads to genuine love, reinforcing that love is not just a feeling but a practice.

To deepen our love for God, we must regularly reflect on whether we are devoting our whole being to Him—heart, soul, mind, and strength. This commitment transforms our relationships and daily actions, making our lives a testament to God’s love. As we grow in love for Him, we become better equipped to love others, fulfilling His greatest commandments.

Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”
Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you.” When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
“Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
His reply completely amazed them.
- Mark 12:13-17

Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's is a subtle but pointed way of implying Caesar wasn't Lord, Jesus was. Caesar had real power, he oversaw an amazing economic system that was greater than anything else in the world for hundreds perhaps a 1000 years afterwards. The denarius was a symbol of that system and the Jews and the Christians afterwards who lived in the empire were expected to participate by the rules of the system that Caesar set. Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's

But the Jews knew that God was the creator and sustainer of the universe. Everything belongs to God, so that anything that Caesar had, must only be Ceasar's in a secondary sense. Give to God what is God's. We owe all to God.

We regularly miss an important factor here. We think "Jesus is Lord" is just a private religious statement. But in those times there was no distinction between politics and religion. To say Jesus is Lord is just as unambiguously a political statement as saying "Keir Starmer is our Prime Minister". Without really thinking about it, how often do we descend into the de facto position that because the kingdom of God doesn't have the equivalent of HMRC the second half of these words don't apply anymore.

"Give to God what is God's" applies to every single tiny facet of life with no exceptions. Do we make the mistake to think that what we have is ours and not God's? We have to stop and force ourselves to ask what am I holding onto and insisting this is mine! What thing? What role? What right to do something? What segment of time do we say this is mine? When all the while these things are gifts from our Father in heaven who freely gives.

*Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

“He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’*

“But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do?
- Mark 12:1-9

In the Bible, the image of a vineyard represents Israel (see Isaiah 5). This parable of Jesus, then, is not difficult to grasp—it’s a direct and scathing indictment of Israel’s leaders. They are not the righteous shepherds of God’s people but stand in line with those before them who rejected God’s prophets, treating Israel as their own personal domain (recall Jesus’ actions in the Temple). As one commentator puts it: Jesus has already told his disciples that he will be killed by Israel’s leaders. Now, he tells Israel’s leaders that they are going to kill him.

But a parable like this should never be kept at arm’s length. I’ve heard it said that parables often behave like boomerangs—launch them high, fast, and far away, and before you know it, they’ve turned back towards you.

The vineyard represents Israel, but it also evokes another garden and another set of tenants. "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" (Genesis 2:15). Adam and Eve failed in this task, distracted and tempted away from this calling.

And so the boomerang heads towards us. Each of us has something - our lives, if nothing more. These things are given to us by God, not for our satisfaction but for the glory of God. So what are you stewarding? How's that going?

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Buildhouses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
Jeremiah 29:4-7

We live in a world full of divides. Whether it's Pepsi vs. Coke, marvel vs DC, or bigger things like politics, we often end up picking sides. The Church isn't immune to division - some focus on personal salvation and the relationship between us and God, while others prioritise social justice and caring for the world. But just like white bread lacks the good stuff found in whole grain, a gospel that focuses only on one side of things is missing something. We need the "whole gospel.”

The whole gospel means not just praying for personal salvation but also caring for the world around us. We’re called to love our cities, and pray for peace and prosperity. We're not supposed to step back from society but engage with it, showing love to our neighbours, whether they’re like us or not. Jesus taught us to love even our enemies, and that’s not always easy, but it's what He did, all the way to dying for them, on the cross.

To live this out, we need to build real relationships. It's about sharing who we are, sharing how God has impacted our lives, showing love, and letting others see God's goodness through our lives. It's also about showing hospitality, especially to those who aren’t like us, and loving those might not agree with.

The whole gospel is about relationships—vertical with God and horizontal with people. It's not just about talking; it's about acting, loving, and demonstrating Jesus' heart in everything we do. We’re called to be light in a dark world, sharing God’s love and helping others see the hope He offers.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.

- Galatians 6:2-5

We all long for community. We made for it. It's not a weakness. It's designed in to humanity, and human beings bear the image of God - the Trinity where Father, Son and Spirit love and serve each other.

The joy and the challenge of Christian community is that we are called to bear each other's burdens. After telling the Galatians that they must resist all attempts to be bound by the Law of Moses, he now gives this as the way in which they can fulfil the Law of Christ. It's no good saying that the Christians should love one another - it needs to take practical shape. We need our diaries, our attention, and our wallets - as well as our mouths - to be directed by love.

There is, paradoxically, one burden that no-one else can carry. That is the way that you, yes specifically you, are being called to minister to the 'household of faith' - and indeed, those beyond it. When all is said and done, the only pride that we can have in ourselves is that we are doing what God is calling us to do. Each one should carry that load, and so bear each other's burdens.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?
- Genesis 3:8-11

Human beings—even in seemingly secular environments—are profoundly shaped by the longings that religion addresses. The desire for meaning, transcendence, and a connection to something greater plays out in diverse ways. We are like characters in a living novel, yearning to know the author, the plot, and the nature of the story in which we find ourselves.

We long to understand, yet we fear it may be unknowable. How can we discover what this "something greater" truly is? The unbeliever asks these questions, searching for clarity. The believer may think they hold an answer but still yearns for a deeper connection. At times, it feels as though God is hidden.

Genesis 3 offers an explanation for this pervasive sense of separation from our Creator. When Eve and Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they gained precisely that—knowledge. They became aware of God's goodness and humanity's brokenness. Overwhelmed by shame, they hid.

They hid from each other, covering themselves with garments of fig leaves. They hid from God's presence behind the trees. They even hid from themselves, offering excuses to deflect responsibility.

This impulse to hide stems from the unsettling awareness of being finite creatures in the presence of the Infinite.

Yet, the hope in this passage is profound: God was looking for them.

We often think we are seeking while God is elusive, but the truth is the opposite. We are the ones hiding, and God is always searching, calling, and waiting for us to return to Him. The entire story of the Bible is one of God seeking those who are hiding.

You don’t need to uncover a profound secret or achieve esoteric wisdom. The hidden thing is not a mystery to solve—it is you. And the searcher is God.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”

- Luke 2:25-32

Simeon, a devout and faithful man, had been waiting for the Messiah. The Holy Spirit led him to recognize Jesus as the Saviour. Simeon’s prophecy described Jesus as a light for the world, someone who would lift some people up and bring others down, revealing the true thoughts of their hearts. He also warned Mary about the deep sorrow she would face.

We’re encouraged to think about Simeon’s faith and how he actively waited for God’s promise to come true. God’s plans often don’t match what we expect. like sending a helpless baby instead of a mighty warrior as the Messiah. It’s a reminder that God works through the unexpected, using the humble and the weak to carry out His plans.

As we go through Advent, we’re reminded it’s a time of waiting. It’s a chance for us to stay open to how God might surprise us, instead of boxing Him into what we think He should do. Like Simeon, we’re invited to listen for the Holy Spirit’s nudges and to follow them, trusting that God knows what He’s doing.

We wait with hope, not based on what’s happening around us but on God’s love and faithfulness. We let go of our expectations, open our hearts, and let God work however He chooses. As we wait for Christmas and beyond, we’re reminded that Jesus came to bring light and hope to the whole world. Let’s keep our hearts and minds ready for whatever He has planned.

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

Luke 1:46-55

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.
- Luke 1:57-64

Christmas songs are essential to creating that perfect festive vibe. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire... deck the halls... All I want for Christmas... A whole genre which sets the seasonal mood.

This Advent, we’re leaning in with our own playlist—three Christmas songs from the Gospel of Luke: Zechariah’s song, Mary’s song, and Simeon’s song.

Let’s start with Zechariah. He’s a priest in the temple of Jerusalem, performing his sacred duties by offering incense on the altar. The rising smoke symbolizes the prayers of the people ascending to heaven. An angel appears, announcing that his prayers have been answered. What prayers? We aren’t told. Perhaps Zechariah had been praying for a child for himself and his wife Elizabeth, despite their old age. Or maybe his prayers were for the nation, for Israel’s healing and salvation.

The angel’s message reveals that God’s plan for salvation is unfolding through Zechariah’s family. His future son, John, will play a pivotal role in this divine story. Zechariah’s personal hopes have intersected with God’s grand narrative of redemption. Overwhelmed, he struggles to believe and asks for a sign. The angel responds by sealing Zechariah’s voice—and possibly his hearing—until the promise is fulfilled.

Why this response? Isn’t it natural for Zechariah to doubt that a couple beyond childbearing age could conceive? The angel’s action seems less like punishment and more like a sign of mystery. It strikes me that the promises given the Zechariah are sealed up in him in the same way that the prophetic promises of Israel are sealed up for hundreds of years. As the baby forms in Elizabeth's womb, so the promises of God come together in Zechariah's mind, and form his song of hope.

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick," the proverb says. This is wrong. Waiting can form us. Through it, we learn to wait for God and his marvellous designs, rather than the mere fulfilment of our often misguided desires. This doesn't always feel great at the time.

As Paul writes in his letter to the Romans: "Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.
- Mark 11:16-17

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus did more than just flip a few tables over, he turned the temple inside out.

He saw the injustice, the financial corruption and the racism and acted so that excluded are the included and the valueless are the invaluable.

Here what Jesus is showing us is that prayer apart from justice is incomplete and that his justice was fuelled by a compassion that was forged in prayer.

To follow Jesus. To embody our prayers. To work for justice, is to walk that knife edge between the world and religion.

How do we do that?

It is the default setting of humans to be drawn to sameness. But if not held in check this default drives tribalism and polarisation and even tells us that difference is a threat, something to be afraid of. We can get comfortable in church.

How do we go into the world and to a people who think “how things are” is life without God and present a better vision of meaning and purpose? How do we persuade them to put their lot in with the most beautiful man in history?

This is what I am grappling with for my community and my friends as I embody my grief, hold on to my prayers and then step into fun and hosting, inviting them around my table.

In our communities and friendships and workplaces there are going to be areas of hurt, brokenness, suffering, maybe even death.

These are places where, as followers of Jesus, we might find ourselves being called to go and suffer alongside the grieving rather than remaining comfortable rather than staying only where the fun is at. These are places where we might be called to go and pray. And then look at how we can embody our prayers and partner with Jesus to bring healing and bring justice.

Jesus called them together and said, 'You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
- Mark 10:42-45

If you're really lucky you'll be blessed at some point in your life with the kind of friend its just great to be around. Someone who doesn't demand much from you. Someone who 'gets' you. You have similar values and approaches to life. This person will really bring joy to your life and probably you'll bring great joy to theirs.

But sometimes, they'll be people in your life who you love dearly and loving them will mean sacrifice. Anyone who's cared for a young child, or an elderly friend or relative - even a pet! - will know this. You have to give up your comfort so they can be comfortable. You have to go without so that they can have. You have to give up your favourite pass-times so that they can have your time. They'll be holidays you won't get to go on, restaurants you won't get in to, treats you'll have to forgo. Though caring for them is a great burden your love will lead you to sacrifice these things, almost without thinking about it.

This is one way to think of God's love for us. But our need is so much greater. Jesus uses the picture of a ransom - the price needed to buy back a slave. Our life is not our own, and a life has to be given so it can be redeemed. And not just any life - the life of the Son of God, so valuable that it can be a ransom not just for one but for many. His love leads him to do it gladly.

James and John wanted positions of importance as if to prove their value. It caused such a fuss - and all for no need. Who needs to prove their value, when they've been bought at such an extraordinary price?

To the Pharisees it was a question of divorce, to Jesus it was a far deeper issue of covenant loyalty. 6 ‘But at the beginning of creation God “made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’

- Mark 10:5-9

This is a framework for a society to flourish. Divorce is not the centre but loyalty to our relationships is.

Loyalty in relationships is learned behaviour. We are made male and female for the purpose of learning covenantal loyalty. God’s covenantal loyalty to his people and our response of loyalty back is a deep wisdom we can only learn through modelling and practice. It is not an idea in our head but a lived practice. As we learn of God’s covenantal commitment to his people unto death our ability to commit to our relationships will grow. This flows out for the blessing of the whole of society and all of us learn more of God.

Through faithful marriages in society we see a glimpse of God's covenantal faithfulness to his people. Respecting how we are made as male and female and respecting the ideal of covenant loyalty is a way of making healthy communities. We need our church community to help us. This should make us aware of the importance of the church community and our individual responsibility to work to create a healthy church.

What are we doing to make TVC a healthy church? A place that is empowering people to build a better society? A place where we can become apprenticed to loyal relationships with each other and with God? A place of relationship where we can find healing? A place that is committed to bringing each other to God in prayer?

They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

- Mark 9:30-37

What is the Kingdom like? Who gets in? Who gets a blessing?

Well the kingdom belongs to those who can pass through a small door. Greatness in the Kingdom requires a reversal of values—being “last” rather than seeking personal fulfilment. The smallest children - those without value and prestige - represent the great, even God himself.

It also belongs to those who can get over a low bar. When the disciple John reports stopping someone casting out demons in Jesus' name, Jesus rebukes him. Those acting in Jesus name, for the sake of the little ones of Jesus, are on the Kingdom's side. The requirement for belonging is simple: not exclusivity or high qualifications, but solidarity with Jesus and his followers.

Finally, it belongs to those with deep wounds. Jesus advises the disciples that they must not cause themselves to stumble. It is better to take radical action against those parts of us that lead away from the Kingdom. If we don't cut them off they will lead to spiritual ruin.

For these disciples, who argued about who is the greatest and had got into a habit of ordering people to turn away from Kingdom mission, there was work to do.

*Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”*

- Mark 9:21-25

In this story there's a happy ending. The boy is set free by Jesus. Praise God.

But, hypothetically, what if he wasn't? What if this man's story ended like Jesus' story? In his crisis Jesus prayed: Father, if it is at all possible... Possible, the same exact word as Jesus used her in Mark 9 to encourage the father’s faith.

Father, if it is at all possible, take this cup from me. And heaven was quiet.

And a few hours later, on the cross: my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the sky was dark.

You see, at the end of the faith of desperation. At the end of the cry of HELP ME comes the faith of surrender.

I think some of you will know the pain my family and I are going through right now. You may know that the plans I had made for the future, the prayers I had faithfully prayed for my friends and my community are in tatters, and a savage scar left behind in their place.

It has been a reminder that I am not ultimately in control, how fragile and precious life is, and how wrong death is. It was never a part of God’s plan. A small action, over so quickly, and yet the consequences have and will affect so many.

Who can I go to at this moment, in the full desperation of my realised fears? Who can I go to but to the one willing to pray: "not my will be done but yours". Who have I in heaven and earth but you oh God? The one who was willing to go to the cross for me. For my friends. For my community. The one willing to absorb the sting of death in his body and destroy its power.

I know I am not going to get the answers I crave. But I know the one whom I can bring all my questions to. The one who I can trust without reservation. I know that I can surrender my grief and my pain and my questions, my shattered plans and unmet expectations, all to him.

Even when the religious transaction seems to have failed, when it seems God isn’t holding up his side of the deal, I can ask him for more faith. I can let the man's prayer become my own: Lord, I believe. Help me overcome my unbelief.

Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
- Mark 9:2-7

Once or twice in life we might have a profound, powerful, even unsettling, experience of God. Peter, James and John went up an unidentified mountain with Jesus. The mountain - called the 'holy mountain' by Peter in one of his letters - turns out to be a Sinai-like mountain, and the meeting a Sinai-like meeting. Jesus, who Peter has acknowledged as Messiah in the previous chapter, is revealed as the Son of God.

Why? I think this is a moment for discouraged disciples. For every mountain top experience, there is time in the valley of the shadow. As Moses sat with God on the mountain, they people of Israel were going off the rails. Elijah defeated the Baal prophets, but then has to flee to the wilderness in fear for his life. And so on...

Meanwhile, Peter, James and John have been asked to 'take up their cross' and follow Jesus into conflict with evil. And on the way down the mountain they have an encouraging(?) discussion about John the Baptist's execution. What kind of movement are they part of?

The kind where, because of Jesus, they get a place in presence of God, and a glimpse into the very core of reality.

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will loose it, but whoever looses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his fathers glory with the Holy angels”
- Mark 8:34-37

There are no half measures. It’s not a nice hobby. Following Jesus is all or nothing.

Jesus says that if we want to follow him then we need to disown our values, cultural norms, expectations of our self, even some of our ideas about God. We are asked to lay down our ideas of how things should go. It is a call to self sacrifice and absolute surrender. On the cross are our own plans and desires.

C.S.Lewis summarises this so well in his book Mere Christianity. He says:

“The more we get what we now call ourselves our of the way and let him take us over the more truly ourselves we become. Our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. The more I resist and try and love on my own the more I become dominated by my own hereditary and upbringing and surroundings and drives, without Him, what I proudly call myself becomes merely the meeting place for chains of event which I never started and cannot stop. Most of what I call me can be very easily be explained by my physical drives or what others have said and done to me. It is only when I turn to Christ when I give myself up to his personalty that I finally begin to have a real personality all of my own.

Never the less you should never go to christ for the sake of a new self. As long as it is your own self you are concentrating on you haven’t really begun to go to him.”

Self denial and cross baring do not eradicate or repress the self, rather the Holy Spirit works through them, restoring the image of God in us as we grow in christlikeness and become more fully who we were created to be. Our real new self will not come when we are looking for it, only when we are looking for Him.

Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

“Twelve,” they replied.

“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

*They answered, “Seven.”

He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”*

- Mark 8:17-23

Everywhere Jesus went in the gospels, there was abundance.

There was leftover food, there was healing.

There was deliverance, provision, feasting.

There’s so much feasting that the Pharisees even get miffed that Jesus and his disciples aren’t fasting.

You just don't see lack around Jesus.

And everywhere Jesus went the Pharisees also went.

They were deeply faithful, religious people. People who knew their scriptures backwards.

People who were trying as hard as they could to follow the instructions God had given the Israelites that set out a way to live the good life.

People who were waiting for the Messiah, Israel’s king, to arrive as he had promised.

And because they were so faithful and patient and religious, they thought they would be first in line to be part of the Kingdom of God.

Except they looked at Jesus, looked at how he lived out from that place of trust in God, looked at his mindset of abundance, and still they couldn't see.

Jesus lived from a place of “there is enough” even when there objectively was literally not enough. They cannot break out of a mindset of lack and scarcity.

I mean, seven loaves is just not enough to feed 4000!

But in the real scarcity and lack, Jesus trusted in God. Trusted in his abundance and then he actually lived out of that truth.

The Pharisees who bought into the lie that we can be abundant without dependence on God. They lived out of a mindset where they tried, really tried to overcome human brokenness by their own effort.

They accumulated rules and regulations and ways of right behaviour and religion. The tragedy of course is instead of making themselves like God it set them against God.

It led to scarcity not abundance.

So instead, spend some time with the God of abundance and ask, what next?

What does it specifically look like in your life, while in the midst of scarcity, holding just seven loads with a hungry crowd of 4000 to feed…. What does it look like to step out trusting in the abundance of God?

Holding on to the lesson that there was more than enough to feed 4000. That there was an abundance of leftovers besides.

May we be good hear-ers and good see-ers.

May we trust what Jesus said and do what Jesus did.

*Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.’

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ‘Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean).

He went on: ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come*

- Mark 7:14-15

The Times once asked a selection of eminent writers and thinkers to reflect on the question, 'what is wrong with the world?' GK Chesterton wrote back:

"Dear Sirs,
I am".

We have met the Pharisees a few times in Mark. They were deeply devout people and - in some ways - had good intentions. They were aware of the great gulf between sinful humanity and a holy God, and wanted to help people to cross it.

To an extent, Jesus agreed. There was a gulf - a deep chasm between our broken fragmented lives and His pure goodness. But Jesus absolutely rejected their take on both the causes and the solutions. Incessant ritual washing, sprinkling food, pedantic observance of this and that tradition, while the thrust of the Law of Moses was ignored and evaded. The Pharisees would foist this 'outside-in' vision of holiness on anyone they could. Call it performative purity - a fake-it to make-it spirituality.

But that would never work - and nor will any of our efforts to clean the outside of the cup while ignoring the dirt inside. What's the source of the strife, conflict, greed, and violence? Our hearts.

What to do? Old religion points us to rigorous ritual observance. New-age philosophies point us to crystals, candles, and connecting with nature. None of these things go deep enough. And the truth is, nothing human is capable of dealing with the human heart.

Our hope is in the mercy of Jesus. Hebrews 10:22 says that faith in Jesus will see our hearts sprinkled and our bodies washed. But then that's the gospel itself - and 'inside-out' liberation that starts with our hearts and moves to every part of our lives: freedom from all our efforts to justify our existence, and a freedom then to serve, in love, God and our neighbour.

*Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.

Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
- Mark 6:47-52*

What is 'hardness of heart'? The Bible speaks about it quite a lot, and it seems like a deliberate disbelief. In Mark 6 the disciples are afraid and amazed when Jesus walks on the water. They could work it out, not because their brains were slow but because their hearts were hard.

I think it hardness of heart is the Bible's name for a combination of intellectual assumptions and ways of thinking, even habits, that tell us not just what we believe but what is believable. In other words, we have a framework about the world, our lives, and God. We draw a thick black line around what we think we know, a decide that it's a line that God just can't cross.

The disciples didn't understand the walking on the water because their framework didn't couldn't yet contain a man - Jesus - would did God things, like feeding a wandering people in the wilderness. And they couldn't see that Jesus was doing a God-thing on the lake: "He alone treads the waves of the sea" (Job 9:8).

A warning then, that even those who hang around with Jesus can make the mistake of thinking that he's going to stay within lines that we have drawn.

May the Spirit soften our hearts.

Jesus left there and went to his home town, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.
- Mark 6:1-6

Jesus provoked extreme reactions. If you read the gospels: there are no people who are merely warm about Jesus, no ambivalent “he’s a good guy, I guess” responses. People either oppose him, or they fall down on their knees and give their lives to him.

It wasn't always his healings, teachings, or pronouncements of forgiveness that offended people. In his hometown, it was his ordinariness that was the problem. The people of Nazareth liked the teachings and were open to healings, but not from him. He was too familiar. Isn't this the carpenter? He's just Mary's kid... We know the family!

Are you turned of by the ordinariness of Jesus? Would you like the gospel to be more esoteric than the simple offer of mercy for sinners? Do you think your brothers and sisters ought to be more intellectually, physically, or morally impressive? Do you wish that the church was more 'successful'? Would you like our experience to be more spiritually exhilarating, something other than the daily choosing to put one foot in front of the other - the long obedience in the same direction.

Really, there is nothing ordinary about Jesus. He is the extraordinary come to us in the ordinary. The theological word is incarnation - "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us". He is the meaning of everything, come to meet us. But day to day, it may be that our following of Jesus feels different, perhaps feels less, that the walk we expected.

... Life happens ...

Then, like John the Baptist in prison, we send up the question, "are you really the one"? Is there someone or something more? Jesus had an answer to that.

And he answers us, "blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me".

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*Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

-Mark 3: 31-35*

In the context of a King speaking to an inner group the meaning of this paragraph is astounding, truly astonishing. In the context of reading something inviting us to become wise, helping us grow in wisdom, it is something that should shake our worlds.

These are the words of the king, we are not being told about any old family here, we are getting to know about some dynamics of God's family. This is a member of the trinity saying this. Jesus was saying that allegiance to him, shown by making his priorities our priorities, leads to us being included as part of his crew. This inclusion is not slipping in at the bottom level but we are included as part of the royal family.

Take v34&35 in as a description of your reality, a statement about your position in this creation. When you give your allegiance to King Jesus you become part of his royal family. We are being invited to meditate on this and become wise. Making wise decisions about your life will become easier if you think often about this truth.

Let us remind ourselves that there's opposition out there but the victory Jesus won on the cross means that everything that needed to be done so that we can have victory over all that would oppress us has already been done.

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*Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.

-Mark 3: 13-14*

The four gospels aim to make us wise by helping us get up close to the life of Jesus and seeing how he lived his life. The gospels invite us to imagine ourselves into the stories that the characters in the story were faced with. Jesus’ actions as King during the time he was walking around on earth are intended as a template for us.

So when Jesus came preaching about God and putting right the evils of this present age, healing diseases and oppression, the bible fits this into the context of God coming to act as the ruling king. God was beginning a promised transformation of this earth. The phrases ‘the kingdom of God ‘ and ‘son of God’ have very similar connotations, the active working of God as King of the world in real time.

Jesus’ action as king involves others. Those who were being blessed by the transformation which had begun and they were being drawn in by this movement of God as king. There was a level of allegiance involved. But Jesus calls people closer, “Come be more involved with the work of the king.”

When we see our calling in the context of a King reclaiming a lost kingdom we can see what our response should be. If the true king of this world is coming to act within this world the correct response is our allegiance, our loyalty. If Jesus is the Son of God the promised King then my actions and purposes need to be aligned to the actions and purposes of the King. Not just for a moment but a set daily allegiance to the King.

If we see our relationship with Jesus in terms of being loyal subjects of the true King of the cosmos we can also realise that all aspects of our existence from the minutiae of life to the grand narrative of humanity can all come together as a coherent whole with Jesus.

Our calling comes from a king who knows who you are and knows your strengths and weaknesses. We can choose to become more wise by meditating on the fact that God has chosen us. We here are called to be TVC to be part of King Jesus’ ongoing transformation of Woolwich, of London, of this world.

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Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. - Mark 3:4-5

This amazing story of an unusual miracle service, bringing hope and healing to a man with a ‘withered’ hand says so much about Jesus the radical and courageous rabbi. His miracle ministry to the hurting and broken, acceptance of those rejected and evident relationship with the Father was truly remarkable and groundbreaking. Yet in other respects He was also orthodox, engaging fully in the Hebrew Scriptures, synagogue services, annual feasts and customs of the Jewish people.

His love and compassion for the hurting and courage to heal despite extreme opposition reveals a man on a mission. Jesus knew His calling, ‘to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives..’

At the same time this story in Mark’s Gospel also says much about the people who were opposing Him, the Pharisees.

Although they occupied a place of prominent spiritual leadership, the ministry of Jesus revealed a darker, more sinister side to the motivations of envy and jealousy that fuelled these religious leaders. Their thoughts and actions were of course extreme and seem distant to us, yet we can ask questions that may help us avoid missing Jesus and His works in our own time and context.

What is fuelling my spiritual journey?

Is it a love for God? Fear? A desire for acceptance or approval? Routine?

How can I make sure I don’t make the mistake of missing seeing Jesus at work?

How can I demonstrate the courage that Jesus did, reaching out to bring healing to others despite opposition and criticism?

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Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralysed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

- Mark 2: 8-13

Four men carried their paralysed friend to Jesus so that Jesus could heal their friend. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralysed man “Son, your sins are forgiven”. This is not what the four friends had expected, not what the paralysed man wanted. Yet, that is what he needed. That is what we all need.

We often equate sin with emotions/behaviours that aren’t nice or downright bad, like pride, jealousy, stealing dan murder. But sin goes much deeper. In Ezekiel 16, the author compared sin with prostitution.

In Jeremiah 2: 13 God said of his people: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

Sin is our soul’s desire to abandon God and rely on ourselves. That is why it requires Jesus’ life for us to be forgiven.

Which one is easier? For Jesus to heal, it doesn’t cost him. But for Jesus to forgive. He needs to give his whole life. When he says, your sins are forgiven, he is essentially saying, I love you so much that I’m willing to give up my life for you.

“Replacing “what if ” with “even if ” in our mental vocabulary is one of the most liberating exchanges we can ever make. We trade our irrational fears of an uncertain future for the loving assurance of an unchanging God.

We see that even if the very worst happens, God will carry us. He will still be good. And he will never leave us.” – Scars that have shaped me

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After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
- Mark 1:14-15

The beginning of Jesus' public ministry offers profound insights into how His actions and teachings remain incredibly relevant for us today. We are challenged to live with a sense of urgency and purpose, understanding what it means to repent and believe the good news in our contemporary context. Next, we are called to reflect on Jesus calling of ordinary fishermen to follow Him. It is ordinary people like us, not the wise or wealthy, that are called to action by the Good News of the Kingdom. Jesus calls each of us, regardless of our background, to prioritize our relationship with Him.

Jesus has authority and power over the evil and brokenness in this world. He invests that power into us. We are encouraged to rely on Jesus' authority to overcome our personal struggles. Jesus’ compassion and power to heal is unique in history. We too can seek healing in our own lives and become agents of Jesus' healing in our communities.

To draw on this healing power, to stay focused on the mission we are called upon in a distracting world we need to incorporate regular prayer and reflection into our lives and align our priorities with God’s purpose.

Finally, as the story of Jesus cleansing a leper shows us His willingness to make us whole. Not just in our body but in our relationships with those around us. We are encouraged to trust in Jesus’ power to transform our deepest issues and share our stories of transformation to inspire others.

Spend some time with Jesus and ask him what he wants to do in your life today. You may be surprised with what he has in store for you!

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

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As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
- Matthew 3:16-17

Last Sunday was Pentecost, when we celebrate the Spirit's coming to the church.

Someone once called the Holy Spirit 'the shy member of the Trinity'. One of the primary roles of the Spirit is to point away from himself, reminding the disciples of Jesus and his teaching.

Since you can't see the Spirit, the Bible gives a series of seven (or more) word pictures.

The Spirit is wind, air, or breath. The invisible but animating force behind creation itself. The Spirit is fire - the refining holiness of God's presence, and his power for every believer. The Spirit is water, the cleansing and restoring and refreshing goodness of God. The Spirit is a seal, a first-fruit, a guarantee - the first part of the fulness of life in God which is yet to come and the now of the not yet. The Holy Spirit is consecrating oil, the way in which we are set apart for works of service to God and our neighbour. The Holy Spirit is the wine of celebration and joy.

And the Holy Spirit is a dove, descending on Jesus after his baptism - such a rich image! The dove is a sacrificial animal. It's also the symbol of Noah's discovery of a new world after the flood. And it's gentle. "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased", is a reference to Isaiah 42, a prophecy of the 'Servant of the Lord'.

I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

The Servant will come - Jesus comes - to bring justice to broken people and to a broken world, but with incredible gentleness. So it is with the Spirit - not just a rushing wind, or a tongue of fire, but a gentle dove.

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“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.

- Acts 7:51-58

In Matthew's description of Jesus' trial, the high priest orders Jesus to say whether he is the Messiah. Jesus' response is fascinating, not least because he doesn't say, "Yes - I'm the Messiah".

First, he says - "that's what you say"! Why would you call a duck a duck? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, etc. Why would you call someone the Messiah?

Second, he says, "I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven". This tips the high priest over the edge, who considers the language blasphemous, and tears his holy robes.

In Stephen's trial, it's that same claim that finally ignites a volatile situation - "I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God". It is this kind of talk which condemns both Jesus and Stephen to death.

Why was Son of Man talk was worse even than Messiah talk? All over the Bible, 'Son of Man' is just a poetic way of saying 'human'. The answer lies in Daniel 7, where the prophet has a Son of Man vision. In that vision, the arrogant beast-kingdoms of the earth are judged and thrown down. A human figure is led into the presence of God and given an everlasting kingdom, and all the people of the earth serve him.

The Jews hoped for a King-Messiah, a human saviour from the line of David who would bring about national redemption through political and military means, but Son of Man vision takes things to a different level. This is not about any mere human, but The Human - sharing in 'Ancient of Day's' authority over all things. Jesus' claim was to be more-than-Messiah. And Stephen's vision was a confirmation that Jesus death, resurrection and ascension meant that he had been enthroned not as a human king, or the 'king of our hearts', as the songs say, but the Lord of everything.

Times of suffering come to us all. When they do, it is worth remembering it was this revelation of a reality more real than everything which he could see and hear around him - the stones, the fists, the curses - that sustained Stephen through fear and pain and into the presence of Jesus. It's not politicians, influencers, despots, bankers, generals, judges or tech-entrepreneurs that are in control. Jesus, Son of Man, is on the throne.

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Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
- John 5:4b-7

Let's get this straight... did Jesus have to go through Samaria? It was the shortest route, but it was not the only route. If Jesus 'has to', it is not a geographical imperative so much as missional necessity. Jesus had to go through Samaria because that is where the Samaritans were and that was where he would meet the Samaritan woman.

There's the first bit of scandal. For various reasons, and even though they shared a religious heritage, the Jews despised the Samaritans. They were seen as untouchable. Jesus readily crosses what at the time was thought to be an important barrier. But that's not the only code-breaking going on. Biblically, wells are places of betrothal. Wells are involved in the first meetings/betrothals of Rebekah and Isaac, Jacob and Rachel, and Moses and Zipporah. Oh, and one last thing. This is the area where Jacob's family had settled for a time. The story - which you can read in Genesis 34 - is one of deception, illicit sex, and a terrible massacre. At the centre of that story is Dinah, apparently unloved by her father, used or ignored by others.

This, then, is a very strange place for Jesus to find himself in. What was he up to?There is in fact a discussion of the woman’s marital status and a confrontation of her dubious past and present. After all of the betrothals in the Old Testament, hospitality is offered and received. In Exodus 2, Zipporah goes back to her father and reports she had been saved by an Egyptian shepherd. Jethro, although a priest of Midian, eventually recognises God’s power and becomes a worshiper of Yahweh. The Samaritan woman leaves her water jar and goes back to the settlement. She has been saved by the Good Shepherd, and many believe because of her testimony. Just as Moses ends up staying in the house of Jethro, Jesus stays with the Samaritans for two days. So, it is and it isn’t a betrothal scene - but the marriages in the Old Testament always are a moment where God's plan continues to unfold. That is the core of what is happening here.

But if the woman is like Zipporah, she is also like Dinah - an unloved daughter of Jacob. And just like Jacob himself, she is grasping for connection and satisfaction. And just like Jacob, this grasping has gone wrong in so many ways. And just like Jacob at Bethel, the meeting with Jesus convinces he that God has been closer to her than she could have imagined.

In Jesus words to the woman - "bring me your husband" - I hear a word to us. Bring me your plans, your dreams, your grasping. Tell me, did they work? If we're honest enough to admit that they have not, then a new opportunity opens for us - the living water of new life, flowing without end.

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Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt – to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

- Deuteronomy 34:10-12

In the Israelite understanding a prophet is not someone who predicts the future or someone who speaks truth to power. Prophets may do these things, but they're more than that. A prophet was someone who had a radical encounter with God’s presence, was invited into God's council to intercede on behalf of Israel, and then was commissioned to go and speak to Israel on God’s behalf.

In the Old Testament, Moses is THE archetypal prophet. More than anything else, Moses was a bridge between God and humanity. He was a man of two worlds. When he spoke, God spoke. To reject or criticize Moses was to reject or criticize God. And Moses’s primary objective was to reconcile humans and God. To carry his people’s burden and to be their bridge back to God. The Burning Bush and Horeb, Mount Sinai help us see major brush strokes when it comes to encounter with the terrifying and beautiful presence of God.

We then transpose these encounters with the encounter Peter, James and John had with the transfigured Jesus on a third mountain. The very thing that Moses longed for: "God, show me your glory". The very thing that Romans tells us all of creation is longing for. Peter, James and John are looking at the glory of God. Looking with an unveiled face, not at his back, not hidden in the cleft of the rock. They’re seeing Jesus - God - and they're not dead.

And after watching all of that up close and personal, Peter, James and John are sent first to Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, and to the ends of the earth to tell everybody what they’ve seen.

And to tell everyone what is to come.

Tell everyone that one day, just like the veil in the temple was ripped in half, the skies too will be split from east to west, as though with lightning. And all people will see Jesus as he truly is: the King of all creation, coming on the clouds of heaven, adiant with power and glory.
Beautiful. Terrifying.

The invitation is to surrender. To walk up the mountain. Into the presence of God. Even though it seems terrifying.

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The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1: 29

When it comes to animal sacrifices and the rituals of Leviticus, I think this is one of the genuine places in the Bible where we may get the sensation of approaching the text with a disorienting lack of experiences to underpin our expectations.

The real key to grasping this is a shift in our cultural understanding. Whereas we see animal sacrifice and think that somehow death appeases God.

To the Israelite. It wasn’t an animal’s death that would cover over sins—it was the blood of a blameless animal.

That’s why it's so important, why it is repeatedly stressed in the book of Leviticus that the animal used in the sacrifice must be without blemish. The Israelites were not to choose the worst of their flock for their sacrifices but a perfect, spotless animal.

And whereas when we think blood we are more likely to equate that with death. In the Israelite understanding, blood is representative of life.

Think of the phrase lifeblood maybe.

Put simply, the lifeblood of a perfect animal is put on an altar, because the whole animal must be burnt up, and symbolically this blameless animal goes up in smoke. Into the Heavens. Into the presence of God.

This animal goes through death into the presence of true life and there covers over the corruption and failures of the person making the sacrifice. Making a way for a human to enter back into God’s presence.

What the book of Leviticus provides, is a way for Israel to know with confidence that, despite their corruption, they are brought near and safe to live near to God’s presence.

All over the New Testament, we hear about how Jesus’ death was an atoning sacrifice for us.

His death has covered all the evil and death in this world. All the direct consequences of our injustices, our scheming, our failures.

And the New Testament authors talk about Jesus’ lifeblood, being able to wash away the vandalism that evil has caused in us and around us, the indirect consequences of our sin.

And so now we can now live in God’s presence.

The cross is the place where Jesus absorbs sin to create a clean space that is not limited, like animal sacrifices. Jesus’ sacrifice has the power to keep spreading and spreading and reuniting more and more of Heaven and Earth.

And now as Jesus’s followers we gather once a week and take the bread and the cup to remember and to participate in the power of Jesus’ death and in his life.

The very power that brought Jesus back from the dead is the same power that can deal with the brokenness and evil and vandalism in our own lives and transform us into people who live lives in God’s presence. Who partners with Jesus so that his presence keeps spreading and transforming more of creation and more people to live lives of love and peace.

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In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

- Luke 10:30-35

As the song says, everybody needs good neighbours. During the pandemic we remembered that we don't live in a bubble, but alongside others who sometimes might need us - or even alongside people who we might need. In the Old Testament - Deuteronomy 6:5 - God instructs his people to love their neighbours as they love themselves.

Hmmm... what does that mean? We can't face the expectation of having to love everyone, everywhere, at all times, and it's quite natural to want to narrow down the category. That's what the lawyer in Luke 10 wants to do. Maybe he is genuinely intrigued as to how Jesus will respond. Maybe he just enjoys the cut and thrust of debate. The text though, suggests another attempt to trap Jesus. He knew, as we know deep down, that there is no perfect answer to the question, "Who is my neighbour?".

But the story Jesus tells in response to the lawyers question changes the focus of attention. It's not about definitions and categories of deserving and underserving, but about the hearts of those that have the power to help. Will they help or won't they? The Priest and the Levite in the story weigh up the pros and cons, and decide that, on balance, it would be inconvenient to get down into the ditch and help this half-dead man. The Samaritan, of course, sees things differently. More importantly, he does differently.

The issue, in the end, is not how good you are at debating the ethics of this or that scenario, or finely slicing the categories of moral responsibility. It doesn't even matter whether you can fix the problem. The question is, are prepared to do something... anything. Who was they neighbour? The one who helped. Then, Jesus ends the philosophical debate with an abrupt command: go and do likewise.

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Then the Lord God said to the serpent…
"And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

Genesis 3:14-15

In the church year, my favourite service is Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas eve. The first of the Nine Lessons is from Genesis 3. The message is that the seed or offspring spoken about in Gen 3:15 is the baby in the manger. Jesus is the one who picks up the promise that the snake, who induced the chaos which resulted when the man and woman chose to define what is good and bad for themselves, will be overcome. The promise is there right from the beginning, that God in Jesus will undo the serpent's actions. In the battle, the ‘seed’ of the woman will crush the head of the snake. Though wounded in the struggle, the woman‘s ‘seed’, Jesus, will be victorious.

So there is a struggle between the forces of rebellion that carry on the legacy of the snake and the seed of the woman. God’s promise here is about the offspring of the woman: humans brought the problem into the world and humans have to be involved in undoing the trouble. Genesis 3:15 looks forward from the very beginning full of questions and mystery but equally full of hope. Jesus in the gospels picks up snake imagery. The final fatal blow to the head of the snake will come from one human, Jesus on the cross.

There are many seeds of the snake out there bringing chaos and misery into the lives of the people we meet. The snake brings chaos and pain to society. For people to gain freedom there must be a struggle. Our friends, family and neighbours will remain in their chains to the snake unless the people of God get out and join the struggle.

The snake is out to hurt us, he will strike at our heels. There will be pain when we seek to liberate people from the snake's grip. Expect liberating prisoners from the power of the snake to leave scars.

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On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 20:19-29

The church historian Jaroslav Pelikan once said: “If the resurrection of Jesus actually happened, then nothing else really matters. If the resurrection of Jesus did not actually happen, then nothing else really matters”.

Everybody wants to say that life and love and peace are stronger than death and oppression and hatred. On what basis could we think that is true? If Jesus walked out of the tomb, if he took the disciples' grief, fear and pain and exchanged them for joy and purpose, then we have a reason for hope. If it’s just made up, then Jesus is just another example of a good person being pulped because he dared to stand up to bad people with power.

That's all well and good, you might say - the disciples saw the risen Jesus face to face. They were there! 2000 years on, in our daily struggles, how do we sustain hope? As with Thomas, Jesus doesn't despise these questions - he knew we would ask them! There's a blessing for us too - blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

So our griefs, fears and pains can be overcome too, exchanged for something else. What do we get in return?

The presence of Jesus, wherever and whenever two or three are gathered.
The peace of Jesus, given "not as the world gives", which is to say an unconditional peace regardless of our circumstances.
The pattern of Jesus, a call to sacrificial love and solidarity with the weak.
The purpose of Jesus, as Jesus was sent by the Father, so we are sent by Jesus, that whoever believes in Jesus might have life.
The power of Jesus, the Holy Spirit that came when Jesus breathed on his disciples.

Blessed is the one … whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.
Psalm 1: 1-3

Not everything in your Bible is always easy to understand.

Not everything in your Bible is even comfortable to read.

However, you do not need umpteen theology degrees, nor do you need to be an unrepentant bible nerd to grasp what is necessary in the Bible to be formed into a resilient disciple - someone who delights in the word of the Lord and soaks it up day and night.

The Bible gives us wisdom for any situation across a lifetime by telling us the story of what it is to be human and who God is.

The aim of this story is to shape us into people who, as they read, mature spiritually. To mature spiritually is to begin to know what it feels like in any given situation to be more in line with the will of God instead of less.

We are invited to step into that story, to make it our own, to be shaped by its beauty and to live by its wisdom.

Yet, one of the challenges in accepting this invitation is the fact that to fully step into these texts we must train ourselves to see their wisdom and beauty. We have to spend time in the word of God. Even when we don’t understand. Even when we don’t find it comfortable.

The good news is our effort needn’t be a sprint.

We aren’t trying to download hundreds of pages into our heads in a single sitting. We should be working at developing a lifetime passion, developing consistency, bit by bit, little by little, day by day. No one gets the Bible in one reading. It is designed to be read again and again in community.

We should be feasting on God’s word, eating this honey so that no other book tastes as sweet.

Other stories may entertain us for a moment. But to be fed, to receive life for the deepest parts of us, we come back again and again to the Bible.

We come to encounter God’s wisdom. We come to be formed by the Spirit. We come to receive revelation of God’s goodness and beauty, particularly through the person of Jesus.

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you,but you will not always have me.”

John 12:3-8

True generosity has the power to change the world.

As the Roman Emperor Julian tried to turn the Empire back towards the ancient Roman religion, he found that one of the main barriers was the fact that “the impious Galileans [Christians] support not only their own poor but ours as well, everyone can see that our people lack aid from us". The extraordinary generosity of the community founded by Jesus was spilled beyond the boundaries of the church and saw the early Christians forming a prototype welfare state.

Or think of the way that John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, chose to live on a few percent of his actual income, giving the vast majority away. It has been said that “when John Wesley was carried to his grave, he left behind him a good library of books, a well-worn clergyman's gown... and the Methodist Church”. The legacy of his life - the inheritance he left - amounted to absolutely nothing financially speaking. Because of his generosity, and others, there are today perhaps 80 million Methodists worldwide.

We celebrate such generosity, but we never imagine that we could emulate it. The story of the anointing of Jesus shows us how we could. It presents us with three options - three patterns that could shape our lives.

We could be a religious opportunist, like Judas. However he had started out, by the end he was into Jesus for what he can get out of Jesus. He was a disciple on the cheap and on the take. He is a warning to us all: when we follow Jesus on a condition (this relationship, that promotion, success in this or that ministry) it's not Jesus we're really interested in - it's the condition.

We could be a bean-counter. These people are sold on the Kingdom ministry of Jesus, especially if its done in the right way. They want to protect Jesus reputation (read Luke's account of this story) and they want to protect his resources. It can come from a good place, but again we have to guard our hearts. We can talk the language of stewardship, when what we're really reaching for is control. "Give that bottle to me!", they shout. "We'll look after it!" Do you think that if one of them had got hold of the perfume that their story would have been told?

Or we can be a worshiper - someone who discerns who Jesus is an prepares themselves to pour out everything for him. Mary senses something about Jesus and his love, and knows that extravagant worship is the only possible response. Her bottle broken and nothing kept back. Jesus body broken, and his life flowing out.

Generosity isn't about rules, but about hearts transformed by Jesus - people prepared to 'go big' for him. When this is you, there won’t be any part of your life that won’t be affected by the indescribable joy of knowing that – whatever troubles come – you’re living in exactly the way you were created to.

Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.

When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.

Psalm 32:1-5

Imagine a world without forgiveness - where a wrong just remains, lodged in our lives. Injuries suffered and inflicted by you, unable to heal.

In Christianity Rediscovered, the story of a missionaries work with the Masai tribes of Tanzania, the author writes of a strange encounter with a man who seemed to be on the fringes of the group.

It was a simple question but it mystified me. He asked, “Can you people bring forgiveness of sin?” I hadn’t gotten around to forgiveness yet (or confession). I was still trying to get across the consciousness and reality of sin. I thought the man was not paying attention. I did not answer his question. I told him I would get to that some other day. Then, afterwards, I found out who he was. He was a man who had committed a great sin against the taboos of the Masai tribe. So he had become an outcast, belonging to no community… The worst part of it was that the sin in question was unforgiveable. There was no forgiveness possible from God or man. He was destined to live his life as a despicable outcast. No wonder he had asked me if I and my people could bring forgiveness.

Psalm 32 shows the journey away from the psychological, spiritual and physical burden of undealt with sin, the result of the corruption of the human heart: incurvartus in se, curved in on itself, so that we pollute and misuse even the good gifts of God. When he confesses, he is forgiven - they are carried, covered and not counted.

To offer each other confession and forgiveness is to offer blessing. It is the only way for the wound to heal. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in Life Together,

It is the grace of the Gospel, which is so hard for the pious to understand, that it confronts us with the truth and says: You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come, as the sinner that you are, to God who loves you. He wants you as you are; He does not want anything from you, a sacrifice, a work; He wants you alone. ‘My son, give me thine heart’ (Prov. 23:26).
God has come to you to save the sinner. Be glad! This message is liberation through truth. You can hide nothing from God. The mask you wear before men will do you no good before Him. He wants to see you as you are, He wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to go on lying to yourself and your brothers, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner. Thank God for that.”

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
- Acts 13:1-3

Fasting is not a results orientated practice. It will not prove to God how serious you are about unanswered prayer or make God love you more. We fast to achieve greater intimacy with God. John Mark comer says that “Fasting is not eating food in order to feed on the Holy Spirit; being hungry for God with your whole body.”

How do we tend to respond to God moving in our lives, to God's forgiveness, or to tragedy? We often respond in our minds. But fasting is a whole body response. In the Bible people fast in response: in response to God moving in their lives; in response to God's grace, mercy and forgivingness; in response to tragedy

Fasting is not growing our will power muscle - it's about feeding on the Holy Spirit, drawing power from the Holy Spirit out of relational connection to God - or what Jesus called abiding. Fasting is not likely to be easy. When we fast those things that are opposed to the Spirit come to the surface - they become more obvious and we will begin to realise just how much power and authority they have over us. Richard Foster said that "fasting reveals the things that control us... if pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately.. anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear.. if they are within us, they will surface during fasting"

As you fast reflect on all that God has done for you. Spend some time reflecting on what is happening within your body, mind and spirit when you fast - what’s coming to the surface that you perhaps need to bring before the Lord as you feast on the Holy Spirit.

Fasting is a response to encountering God,
Fasting is a way to feast on the Spirit of God,
Fasting is about freedom.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Matthew 11:28

The image Jesus chooses to use to describe the life of a disciple - someone who follows his teaching - is a picture of a yoke: a heavy object that is put on animals for the purpose of carrying a burden.

And yet at the same time Jesus says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

It is even more extraordinary that Jesus explicitly calls those who are weary. He calls those who are already burdened and those who are already at the end of their rope. They are the ones specifically called to take on Jesus’ yoke so that in doing so they find rest.

How often do we tell ourselves: When I get my work life balance right find time to pray, that’s when I can approach God! Almost everyone carries some area of their lives that they insist on trying to sort out all on their own. But according to Jesus, your burden IS your qualification. Realising you are tired and weary, and that you can’t do it on your own, is what gets you in the door.

We’re all implicated in this massive human rebellion, the bent of our heart to prove our sufficiency apart from Jesus Christ whether that is through religious striving or some other metric we use to measure our worth. This striving, whether religious or secular, is a struggle under a crushing yoke. It is to labour under a burden we cannot bear and to ultimately miss out on rest - to miss out on life!

Jesus never says that this invitation to wear his yoke is without effort. I think the real question is not 'how do I take on a yoke without effort?', but 'how does taking on Jesus’s yoke and carrying his burden actually lighten my load?' Do we live out of the trust, coming to Jesus when we are in the middle of being weary and burdened? Tired and at the end of our ropes?

Taking on Jesus’s yoke is an invitation to step freely into his constant presence and to take it all in.

Jesus is not trying to teach you new spiritual techniques....

Give you a to-do list the length of your arm.

Give you new onerous burdens.

He's trying to help you recognize him in all the ways he's showing up in the ordinary life that you already have. At its heart, prayer is stepping into conscious relationship with God. It is about intimacy with God and it is about partnership with God.

He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.

“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

- Luke 6:17-23

Sometimes we think that the essence of Christianity is believing in God and being good. We celebrate when people experience a sense of connection with their Father, and the effect that has on their lives.

That’s not wrong. There is a deep sense of connection with God, and we do experience changed hearts and changed minds. But its not the whole thing either, not even nearly.

Jesus preached a new Kingdom, a new order, a new system of reality. We’ve just got to pay attention to where Jesus was preaching to catch a glimpse of the significance of this. Galilee is a mountainous region in the north of Israel. The area had a reputation for being a hotbed for rebels and revolutionaries. In the year 6 AD – around the time of Jesus’ birth – Judas of Galilee led resistance to the census imposed for Roman tax purposes by Quirinius in the Judaea Province. He warned people not to register, and burnt down the houses of those that did. He said that the people should have no King but God.

So if you have a Galilean preacher gathering crowds and teaching them about the Kingdom of God that’s not a new religious philosophy, it’s a revolution. Not like Judas the Galilean’s revolution, but a revolution all the same. In fact, more revolutionary than all revolutions. Other revolutions change the people in power. This revolution is a complete reversal in of what is valued and prioritised.

Blessed are the poor, woe to the rich! That's what God's Kingdom looks like - and that was Jesus' revolutionary manifesto. The question for us is: what manifesto does our life manifest?

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

- Mark 10:13-17

There are two events in the gospels that belong together. They're both about entering the Kingdom. Unless you receive the Kingdom like a child, you won't enter it versus how hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God. Those with social position are welcome but the sorted out, morally, financially, and religiously, will find it hard.

There's a deep challenge here. When we meet the real Jesus he will see us deeper than anyone else in the world, even more deeply than we see ourselves. We will have to let go of our means of self-justification. We can’t get into the Kingdom through the religion gate. We can't get in through the good behaviour gate. We can't get in by the winning-at-life gate. What does Jesus say in John 10? I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.

The encounter ends with the rich young man walking away grieved. It’s really important that we know that Jesus looked and loved him. Jesus feels exactly the same way about the man as he feels about the children! He is ready to receive and bless him. Readers of these verses have worried for centuries whether this actually means that a disciple has to give up everything - but that misses the point. The point is, are we ready to receive the everything he is giving up for us.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’

- Luke 10:1-11

I'm told that good leaders always start by sharing their vision. If they want to achieve something out of the ordinary, a leader should motivate people with a compelling image of the change they want to see.

Jesus obviously hadn't read the right leadership books. He sent out the 72 followers to share the good news of the Kingdom not with a vision but with discouragements: a) this task would be too much for these few; b) they'd be like lambs amongst wolves; and c) they would have to go without even basic provisions. On top of this, they're not the elite (the 12 had been sent in Luke 9). All who follow Jesus are sent somewhere or to someone in the end. There are some hands only you can hold.

As always, the Kingdom works in ways no-one would anticipate. It doesn't come when or because its representatives are competent, safe, and well-provisioned. It comes because God is really at work. So Kingdom-commissioned people don't go with expertise or stuff. Instead, they go with authority.

And then discouragement + danger + deprivation = joy for the 72. The demons submit to their authority. Jesus implies that so much more than that is happening: Luke 10:18 - “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven”. One commentator on this passage said this. Whenever the kingdom of God is truly proclaimed, the work of God is accomplished in ways that even its proclaimers are unaware of.

It seems that when faithful Kingdom servants following their orders, even in the most discouraging circumstances, they won't fail. They may never know the impact they have, but no labour in the Lord is ever wasted.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

- Romans 15:13

If someone asked you to tell the story of the 21st century, what would you include?

The new millennium dawned with an era defining attack on the twin towers. This heralded conflict in the Middle East which is still playing out more than two decades later. The crash of 2008 put breaks not just on the economy but on the capacity of the nation state to promote and protect the wellbeing of its citizens. Political turmoil is everywhere: formerly responsible powers have engaged in a race to the bottom, while those we perceive as a threat have grown stronger. The pandemic set out in stark terms how vulnerable we are, in spite of all our technological prowess. The natural world is brutally damaged, but we just can’t seem to hop off the consumerist train as it hurtles on to further environmental degradation. We’re learning that progress for us often looks like pain and deprivation for others.

This is the age of pessimism. The best people hope for is that they can cushion themselves from the world with a bubble of career, pleasure, distraction.

But Christians shouldn't be pessimists. Jesus is not only risen from the dead, but ascended. Acts 1:9 - After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

To understand the ascension, we should look at the vision in chapter 7 of Daniel. Four monsters come up out of the sea. The last great monster who has come up from the sea stands up in the courtroom, presided over by God himself, and boasts about its power. Like all human empires before and since the monster, which represents human evil, babbles on about all the things it can do. God silences the creature's boasts, and then...

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Daniel's vision and the ascension of Jesus are the same thing. That’s what the clouds are about… The the power of human and spiritual evil has been judged, and that the Son of Man has been given an authority that will never pass away. This is our faith. This is the Kingdom. Jesus is Lord – of my heart? Of the church? No, Jesus is Lord of everything. As Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”

So, we have hope.

The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.

Isaiah 9:2

It is the darkest time of year - and now Christmas is nearly over we'll have to face it without the happy twinkle of decorations. We're probably all feeling at least a little bit SAD.

But when the Bible references darkness, it's speaking about something more than the usual seasonal gloom. The Bible begins in darkness. It’s un-creation - the world formless and empty. The Bible ends in light, with a city where God's presence is so bright that the sun and moon are no longer necessary - God's plan fulfilled.

In between there's the struggle between Dark and Light - and of course not merely physical darkness and light. The promise in Isaiah is that, even if the night seems total, a great light will come. Here, Isaiah is addressing the spiritual state of God's people. Israel – who elsewhere Isaiah calls ‘a light to the nations’ – is here no such thing. They've turned away from the clear word of God, and towards the hocus pocus of witches and spiritists, plunging the nation into chaos. Isaiah prophesies: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given...

We might not be in the same position as Israel, but we still need the light to push back the darkness inside and out. Our friends. families and neighbours need that too. And God didn't just throw a torch into the cave of human experience, the light came and took up residence in the darkness itself. That's the amazing, subversive, promise of Christmas. But thank God - literally - that the Light didn't stay long in his cozy manger.

And what can those that live in darkness do, other than head for the Light?

Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.

- Revelation 3:20

Hospitality is incredibly powerful. We know this is true in our lives.

Who we eat with, who we welcome close to us and who we celebrate with is incredibly powerful because it is a tangible demonstration that the person we eat with is accepted, they are worth being in the presence of, that they are valuable.

Jesus was always inviting himself to other people's homes to be hospitable with them.

We see the power of that hospitality in the gospels. We see how it shaped the lives of the people Jesus hangs out with and spends time with. He goes to have tea with Zaccheus and the guy does a complete 180. He’s a corrupt official when he meets Jesus and after Jesus comes into his house Zaccheaus promises to repay anything that he’s stolen and gives away half his wealth to the poor. And what does Jesus say? Today, salvation has come to this house!

Jesus even got in trouble with the Pharisees and religious leaders for having meals with people, partying and celebrating with people all the time.

The first miracle Jesus did was turning water into wine at a wedding party.

Jesus told his followers and hanger on-ers, and tells us through the Gospels, that the Kingdom of God. That is, to be following Jesus and to be experiencing his presence and experiencing God's rule and reign in our lives, is like a feast.

The idea that the God of the universe in Christ wants to come into that level of proximity and closeness to us is just, wow. Amazing.

He wants us to know: you are accepted, you are worth being in the presence of, you are valuable.

It is an invitation. An invitation To hear his voice and open the door. It’s not an invasion. He’s not about to kick the door down like some super cop. But he does want to be present with us, he wants to be intimate with us.
I want to invite us to stop waiting and respond. This is an invitation not a command.

An invitation to be satiated and satisfied with the real thing. The realest thing.

Say no to what they world is feasting on and say yes to feasting with Jesus.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

- Mark 13:32-37

CS Lewis once wrote an essay on the end things. It was called ‘The World’s Last Night’. Here is a flavour.

The doctrine of the Second Coming teaches us that we do not and cannot know when the world drama will end. The curtain may be wrung down at any moment—say, before you have finished reading this paragraph.

[Christian apocalyptic does] not even foretell, which would be more tolerable to our habits of thought, a gradual decay. It foretells a sudden violent end imposed from without. An extinguisher popped on to the candle, a brick flung at the gramophone, a curtain rung down on the play. HALT.

… This seems to some people intolerably frustrating. So many things would be interrupted. Perhaps you were going to get married next month. Perhaps you were going to get a raise next week. You may be on the verge of a great scientific discovery. You may be maturing great social and political reforms. Surely no good and wise God would be so very unreasonable as to cut all this short. Not now—of all moments.

But we think thus because we keep on assuming that we know the play. We do not know the play. We do not even know whether we are in Act I or Act V. We do not know who are the major and who are the minor characters. The author knows.

There are those who think very little about this part of Christian belief. Why? Probably because some think about it far too much, or at least think about it in the wrong way. They're full of passionate conviction that this is the time, these are the signs, and so on.

We need to resist both extremes. Without the prospect of Jesus' return, we're thinking of a King who never brings justice and judgement, a king who allows evil to grow for ever. If we're constantly trying to predict the moment of his return, then we're going straight up against Jesus' own teaching: only the Father knows the hour. Worse than that, we might lose sight of the fact that the servants are left with their assigned tasks - things like love your neighbours and your enemies, preaching the gospel, and so on.

Advent is a time to remember that, "This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven". We should watch and wait, but also do the things that the Master has asked of us.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
- Matthew 25:31-33

Were constantly fascinated by the idea that the world might one day end - disease, ecological disaster, asteroids, zombies etc etc.

The Bible agrees that the world will end, but it doesn't agree with how the end is often pictured. Instead of alien invasions or massive earthquakes, there is a judgement. A division between sheep and goats.

There's a children's song about the story of the Sheep and the Goats. It goes something like:

*I just wanna be a sheep
Baa, baa, baa, baa
I just wanna be a sheep
Baa, baa, baa, baa
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
I just wanna be a sheep
Baa, baa, baa, baa

Don't wanna be a goat…nope
Don't wanna be a goat…nope
Haven't got any hope…nope
Don't wanna be a goat…nope*

If you can bear it, it's here.

As much fun as the song is, it's wrong. The Bible's end of the world story doesn't predict that you or me will end up as a sheep or goats. Instead, it is the 'nations' that will be gathered and separated by the Son of Man (a title Jesus used of himself) according to whether they have helped "the least of these brothers and sisters of mine".

And who are Jesus brothers and sisters? He tells us in Matthew 12: "whoever does the will of the Father in heaven is my brother or my sister or my mother".

So... the end will be a time when those who have been kind or unkind will receive the judgement and consequences of their actions. But kind or unkind to who? Not people in general, to those that fear God and faithfully follow Jesus.

There's a snag. These brothers and sisters will be hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed, sometimes in prison, sometimes sick. At the least, these followers will not be those that have social prestige and wealth. Saying yes to Jesus means saying no to some other things, knowing that he will say the biggest 'yes' to us at the end.

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
- John 5:19-24

The Apostles' Creed ends with us accepting the promise given to us by Jesus that we will see a life everlasting. It is the ultimate hope that one day, not only will death be overcome, but that in our everyday lives we will draw closer to God, the creator of all things. Its not just about living forever. Its about the kind of lives we can start having right now - lives devoted to the worship of the one who made us.

Human beings have tried all kinds of things to fill us up. Power, money, fame, lust, knowledge, you name it. But each one of those leaves us empty. At best, we're distracted for a little while but hungry for more.

When we say Amen to God though, we taste eternity. When we praise the one who made us, we glimpse what we were made for. That is the everlasting life on offer to us through Jesus. And every day, we get a choice: do we choose more of that life?

Once we take on the hope of eternal life, once we make the conscious decision each day to live that life out, our perspective changes. Our greatest fear, that of death, can be overcome. How differently we might behave when we don't live in fear of death and scarcity! How differently the world we build around us might be!

We can live extravagantly generous lives, sure in the knowledge that God the Father has made a place for us by his Son. Waiting for us to come home. Waiting for us to say Amen.

To fully face the cost of the forgiveness of our sins is to allow Jesus’s healing love to transform us into a people who can handle offence when they come at us. People who can be a part of a deep, reconciled church community that can go the distance.

I think at its heart the issue of forgiveness comes down to an issue of control. We want to be able to say what is good and what is not for our own self interest.

We don’t want to give our forgiveness and we don’t want to accept forgiveness because to do so would be to let go of our desperate attempts to maintain the illusion of control we try to maintain for our own existence.

Remember the story of Jacob?

His name literally means “the manipulator”. Jacob is born hanging on to his brother’s heel and continues climbing over other people all along the way.

Jacob manipulates his brother Esau out of the birth right that belongs to him as the firstborn. He then manipulates his father to receive the blessing that traditionally went to the first born.

Jacob often gets as good as he gives. In his father-in-law Laban, Jacob meets his match with Laban first swindling him out of 7 years’ service to marry his daughter Leah instead of Rachel and then manipulating him out of another 7 years of service for his daughter Rachel.

Jacob and Laban continue to go at each other until eventually Jacob must flee again, having taken the best of his father-in-law’s flocks, herd and cattle. And Laban catches up with him and they make an agreement. They set up this marker, this boundary stone and agree, in essence: You stay on your side and I’ll stay on mine otherwise may God strike us dead.

Jacob can't go back and then who comes to meet him? Esau. Coming with an army of 400 men.

Jacob can’t go back; Laban is behind him.

What does Jacob do at this point?

He puts all that he has between himself and Esau: all his cattle, all his flocks, all of his herds, all of his servants, even his wives and his children. Everything and everyone is expendable to save his own skin.

Jacob is left alone, he has nothing more to manipulate with. He has lost it all now. It is all out there between him and his brother.

And then Jacob wrestles with God.

And as they wrestle God says to Jacob, “What is your name?”

Of course God knows Jacob’s name. What God is saying to Jacob is, “What kind of person are you, really?”

Jacob answers God, “I am Jacob. I am the manipulator”.

Jacob has come to the point of acknowledging before God the kind of person he really is and inherent in that action is a relinquishing of control. Of letting God be God.

And the outwork of that encounter can be seen immediately.

The next morning Jacob is out in front of everyone going to meet his brother.

No longer is he manipulating others for his own benefit.

No longer is he doing what seems best in his own eyes for his own self-preservation.

He has humbled and surrendered himself.

He has come to the end of himself and has put his trust in God and in doing so he is able to go out to restore the brokenness in his human relationships. To seek forgiveness and reconciliation with his brother.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47

The Apostles' Creed says, "We believe in the holy catholic Church". What does that mean?

The Church is Holy not because it is perfect, but because it is the work of the Holy Spirit and the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.

The Church is 'catholic' because it 'catholic' means universal. It has one source: God. It has one message: the gospel of the Kingdom of God, breaking in through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

And what do we mean by Church? Through a quirk of translation, we have a word there which primarily has come to mean a physical building or social institution. But the biblical word - ekklesia - means people. That doesn't mean that buildings or institutions are a bad thing, but biblically speaking the Church is that called people of God across the world, and across history.

And what does the Church do? Every local church is an expression of the universal catholic church. We shouldn't assume the early church was perfect, but in Acts we have a model of what local church should look like.

They met. In the temple for worship. In each others homes to eat together. And they did these things with joy - glad and sincere hearts.
They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching. Their desire to know about about Jesus drove them to those that knew him and followed him find the Apostle's teaching in the Bible. Our love for the Word should take us to the word, if you see what I mean.
They broke bread. For us this too often becomes a sort of optional extra, but the bread and the wine are the great articulation of the gospel. It speaks of our individual and collective dependence on God's grace.
They deepened their fellowship. Koinonia is the Greek term for a deep togetherness, a belonging to each other that churches often honour in theory but fall short of in practice.
They prayed. They prayed alone and they prayed together.

I sometimes hear people say, “if Jesus were around today he wouldn’t be in the church”.

I know what that person is trying to say, but it’s just not right. We can set Jesus and the church apart any more than we can set you and your body apart. Jesus loves the Church, in spite of all it's failings and mistakes, and in spite of the way it seems weak, peripheral, even silly. This is what the Scriptures say - (Ephesians 1.20-23 from Peterson's, The Message)

All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the centre of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”G
- Matthew 3:16-17

We believe in the Holy Spirit - the first line of the third article of the Apostles' Creed.

He’s least tangible, the least talked of. God the Father – we get that. God the Son - Jesus, a man who went round and did stuff. But the Holy Spirit…? It's sometimes hard to have clarity and the Spirit and his identity.

The Bible helps us by giving seven (or more) word pictures to describe the Spirit.

The Spirit is wind, air, or breath. The invisible but animating force behind creation itself (see Job 32:8). The Spirit is fire - the refining holiness of God's presence, and his power for every believer (Matthew 3:11). The Spirit is water, the cleansing and restoring and refreshing goodness of God (John 7:37). The Spirit is a seal, a first-fruit, a guarantee - the first part of the fulness of life in God which is yet to come and the now of the not yet (Ephesians 1:13). The Holy Spirit is consecrating oil, the way in which we are set apart for works of service to God and our neighbour (Zechariah 4:6). The Holy Spirit is the wine of celebration and joy.

And the Holy Spirit is a dove, descending on Jesus after his baptism - such a rich image! The dove is a sacrificial animal. It's also the symbol of Noah's discovery of a new world after the flood. And it's gentle. "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased", is a reference to Isaiah 42, a prophecy of the 'Servant of the Lord'.

I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

The Servant will come - Jesus comes - to bring justice to broken people and to a broken world, but with incredible gentleness. So it is with the Spirit - not just a rushing wind, or a tongue of fire, but a gentle dove.

Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed ears, then the weeds also appeared.

‘The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?”

‘“An enemy did this,” he replied.

‘The servants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?”

‘“No,” he answered, “because while you are pulling up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”’

- Matthew 13:24-30

I recently read what is probably the most famous sermon ever preached. 'Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God' was delivered by the theologian Jonathan Edwards on 8 July 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. Historians of religion think it was catalytic for the First Great Awakening.

It is an incredible piece of rhetoric, and such was the panic and intensity in the congregation that Edwards had to pause for people to calm down. But it doesn’t feel like good news. It's the opposite - the most terrible news imaginable. In Edward’s view, God exists, he’s personal and he is furious with our sin. Cast yourself on his mercy, and hope that he will save you from the flames!

This isn't really a biblical way of understanding the way Jesus will judge the living and the dead. Look at how Jesus teaches in the parable. There are four stages even in this short story - 1) the action of the farmer, 2) the action of an enemy, 3) the patience of the farmer, and 4) the sorting.

The action of the farmer a picture of the work of God and the people of God. But the plan is disrupted by an enemy in such a way that it is hard to tell the good from the bad - the wheat from the weeds. Therefore, there's a time of patient wait for the fruit to become clear, and then a judgment and a sorting.

Whenever we look at the evil of the world, and we think to ourselves that some action, word, or pattern is destructive, and that it doesn't belong, we exercise judgement. The ultimate judgement of Jesus is of the same kind - there are words, or actions, or behaviours that do not belong in God's kingdom. They will and cannot be allowed to roll on into eternity, so they will be separated.

But we could never doubt that the judgement will be merciful. It's will be the judgement we should expect from a kind of judge who has climbed down from his bench and stood alongside the accused.

"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

- Hebrews 12:2

We believe that Jesus rose again and went to take his place at the righthand of the Father, sharing the authority of God the Creator over all. The right hand is a place of honour throughout the Bible. All things in creation are under the authority of the throne of God. The throne is where Father and Son rule. It is also where we are called to bow down and worship. The Bible makes it clear this is where Jesus is, forever reigning.

But its not enough to read the words and hear them on a Sunday morning. We have to feel it. We have to receive it. We have to know it at a fundamental level. To help us know who Jesus is, the Father and Son work through the Spirit. Since Pentecost we all have access to the Spirit, the Breath of God, that has been at work throughout Creation since the Beginning. So that we can know both from the Word and through the Spirit that Jesus has authority.

What does Jesus do with this authority? What is Jesus's role in our world today? What Jesus is doing at the right hand of God is he is interceding on our behalf… as he did on the Cross.

"Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."
- Romans 8:34

Jesus protects us from the judgement that might otherwise be rightfully ours. But he does not let us go blindly on in sin either! He asks us to repent. Just as he protects us and forgives us and takes pity on us.

Jesus’s death on the Cross means our debts have been paid. Our sins forgiven. Jesus is the bridge between our falling short and God’s perfection.

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”’

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
- Acts 2:29-36

The Apostles' Creed states Jesus' crucifixion, death, and burial. Strangely, it (seems to) repeat itself: "He descended to the dead".

This statement partly exists to remind us that Jesus really was a human being, and not just a celestial being hiding in a human body. Body, mind and soul, he followed the human journey all the way to its conclusion. And that conclusion is death.

But then something happened that has happened to hardly anyone else, and no-one else in the same way. In John's vision of Jesus in Revelation 1 Jesus says, "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." Jesus overcame death - it is itself under his authority.

Why? Because when it comes to the Scriptures death is more than a biological process. It is spiritual separation from God, the source of true life. It is also a weapon in the hands of evil (Hebrews 2:14). On the cross, both these things are dealt with. We are invited into God's family, and into deep relationship with Him, and Satan is disarmed (Colossians 2:15).

We have a hope that is greater than death. "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, o death, is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55).

Being God’s chosen King is not linked to exercising authority for self interest or for the accumulation of wealth and military power. It wasn’t a human display of kingship.

Being God’s chosen King means that Jesus suffered, was crucified, died and was buried. And that model of ruling has huge ramifications for all of us who desire to be shaped by the story of Jesus.

The invitation to you and me is to follow Jesus’ example, to absorb a measure of suffering out of our communities, to fill up in our flesh suffering for Christ’s body the church, as Paul says in his letter to the Colossians.

We believe in Jesus ChristSing, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labour;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,”
says the Lord.
“Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.
- Isaiah 54:1-3

The premise of the film Children of Men is that at some point in the future humanity has become completely infertile. As the maternity wards and primary schools empty society becomes chronically hopeless, violent, and oppressive. Britain is an authoritarian dictatorship which, while relatively benevolent for citizens, is completely inhumane for the thousands upon thousands of refugees who have fled as other states have completely collapsed.

Theo - a jaded civil servant - is contacted by his estranged wife. She draws him into the murky world of a terrorist group called the Fishers, who are have stumbled upon something incredible - the first pregnant woman in 18 years. He ends up becoming a companion and protector to the expectant refugee mother Kee. She eventually gives birth in the middle of a pitched battle in the refugee camp the town of Bexhill.

As the baby's cries are heard, the shooting stops. Theo and Kee walk with the baby through the front lines. Everyone recognises that they are in the presence of something sacred, a new hope.

In the Apostles' Creed, we read the line 'I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary'. The Virgin Birth doesn't seem central to the Christian faith - it seems odd. But in key moments in the story of the people of Israel, a miraculous birth is a sign of a new hope: Isaac, Moses, Samuel, John the Baptist.

When we think that when the story is over, that everything has been run into the ground, when evil and darkness and human power are the fixed realities which we have to work around – these are God moments. The Spirit overshadowed Mary, just as the Spirit hovered over the waters of the uncreated word, and new creation began. That's the meaning of the virgin birth.

God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and EarthIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
- Genesis 1:1

What do you think of when I say the word ‘power’? Perhaps the phrase, “abuse of power”? Perhaps the phrase, “absolute power corrupts absolutely”?

It is hardly possible to think of any institution which has not been shown to misuse power. Police, NHS, media, the Royal Family, charities, businesses, politics... and of course, the Church. The whole world seems full of abuse of power… and when not misused it is often not used at all. You had the power to help, but you didn’t. We are deeply suspicious of power.

Yet the first line of the Apostles’ Creed speaks of the power of God: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. The image we have of God is a big bossy guy in the sky, laying down the rules, and punishing those who do wrong. This is actually rooted in a view of power... we see it as the ability to force, compel and coerce.

But that's not how God exercises power. He is both a Father and a Creator. His first expression of power was to bring the world into being, giving it freedom to grow and develop, and calling humans to rule as his stewards. It is only in our rebellion that God's power begins to seem coercive.

In fact, we see that God's power sometimes doesn't look like power at all. We see most clearly in Jesus. He is God who self-empties, who becomes human, and his power is used not for the sake of his own mastery but for the flourishing and liberation of others. Jesus says, “because I lay down my life in order to take it up again”, and “have the power to lay it down, and... the power to take it up” (John 10.17-18). What we think of as weakness and vulnerability is power. 1 Corinthians 1:18: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The invitation is that we allow the almighty Father to redefine our ideas, and our use, of power.

Abby asks if the thing we desire most is intimacy with Jesus - understanding Jesus - and being changed by Him - shouldn't that be the work of our lives?

Yoma and Paul conclude our series on Habakkuk by speaking about being the disciple Jesus loves even when our faith is rocked.

Abby continues our series on Habakkuk by looking at what it means to be people of praise even though the chaotic waters rage all around us.

Syd continues our series on Habakkuk by examining what God reveals to us about his love of justice and how we can wait for the Lord to deliver us.

Due to some technical difficulties some of the beginning of this talk is missing.

Paul continues our series on Habakkuk by encouraging us to build our foundations on faith in the Lord our God.

Paul begins a new series on the prophet Habakkuk - being prayerful in the face of adversity and grief.

Abby concludes our series on Worship by inviting us to spend time with the Spirit in a practice of worship.

Paul continues our series on Worship with a look at the Lord's Supper.

Paul continues our series on Worship by asking what place Sabbath has in a Christian life of worship.

Paul continues our series on Worship with a reminder that we cannot avoid worshipping something and its up to us to Choose Our Alter.

Paul continues our series on Worship with a talk on how Grace is a Circuit.

Becca continues our series on worship with how Jesus shows us that serving others is a form of worship.

Paul begins a new season of talks on the practice of worship and its place in the Christian life.

Paul concludes our series on Jesus's I AM statements with the promise of life and resurrection in the face of death in the world.

Paul continues our series on Jesus's I AM statements teaching on Jesus with the declaration that He is the True Vine representing God's promise.

Abby continues our series on Jesus's I AM statements teaching on Jesus the way and the truth and the life.

Paul continues our series on Jesus's I AM statements teaching on the role of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

Paul continues our series on Jesus's I AM statements teaching on the role of Jesus as the gate through which we are saved and on whom we are dependent.

Abby continues our series on Jesus's I AM statements teaching on the invitation to follow His light out of the darkness.

Paul starts our new series on Jesus's I AM statements with the provocative declaration that he is I AM.

Paul concludes our series on the invitation of Jesus and the paradox of taking up your own cross if you wish to follow Him.

Syd talks about Jesus's invitation to rest, to get away from the distractions of this world and abide in Him.

Paul continues our series on Jesus's invitation, this time to come and eat and drink of Him for He is the bread of life.

Paul talks about Jesus' invitation to come and see; to come closer to Him.