KNEC Sermons Podcast: Recent Episodes
KNEC Church of Scotland
Alistair and Elizabeth share from Joel 2:23-32 and Acts 1:14; 2:1-8, 14-18 and speak about The Hub Community Listening Project on Pentecost Sunday 2023.
Alistair shares from Proverbs 7:6-23 and Luke 18:1-8
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"Rachel, mourn no longer
I, mother Yahweh
large in loss,
assuage your tears
even as you
Comfort Me.
That son, the prodigal -
My heart stirs, I must
like Rachel
run headlong,
make of him -
(recusant,
slow returning,
against all chance
renewed)
firstborn of My love."
(Daniel Berrigan - translation of Jeremiah 31:15-20)
Alistair says something about compassion from the Scriptures on Compassion Sunday 2023
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Alistair shares from Esther 7:1-10; 9:20-22 and Luke 13:10-17
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God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up his bright designs
And works his sov’reign will.
(William Cowper)
Alistair shares from Esther 1:10-22 and Matthew 28:1-10
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“So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
(Acts 2:36 NLT)
Alistair shares from Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 and Matthew 27:11-23
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“Admitting our powerlessness frees us to allow the One who is Power to become active in our lives. We become more open to new ways of doing things as we allow God to love us and teach us how to give and receive love. We also begin to accept people and situations as they are.
Catherine Chapman, Step Spirit: The 12 Steps as a Spiritual Program
Alistair shares from John 8:1-11
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The Line In The Sand
They were ready to stone me.
Why would he want to save me— even if he could?
They had the law on their side.
Why would he break it— even if he dared?
They put to him an impossible question— any answer would catch him out.
Why would he outwit them, even if he knew how?
They used me to bring him down but he brought himself down.
Without a word,
without an answer,
without an escape,
down he stooped on his knees in the dirt, stretching out a hand,
trailing a finger through the dusty sand.
His head bowed,
his back bent,
his arm moving slowly, making lines...
They keep on badgering him, goading him into tripping himself up.
But without a stumble, he stood straight and made clear his line in the sand.
“Stone her then, whoever is without sin.”
Bending down once more, trailing fingers,
eyes lowered,
arm outstretched.
Silence.
Slowly, shuffling footsteps.
Accusers departing.
No-one left to condemn me.
“Go well now,” he said to me, “Be without sin.”
What a way to save a life.
Alistair reflects on Psalm 17:1-9 and Mark 12:38-44 on the First Sunday of Lent - www.knec4jesus.org,uk
Alistair shares from Hosea 11:1-11 and Mark 5:25-34
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"You don’t need a lot of faith or be very religious in order to show faith. I often meet people who say they are not very religious but that doesn’t mean they can’t show faith. Sometimes they just need to see something attractive."
Alistair shares from Ezekiel 16:1-22 and Mark 7:24-37
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In this kingdom, women and men, girls and boys are all treated with the same love and compassion, the outsider finds a place to call home, the deaf learn to hear words of life and the speechless learn to speak in the language of grace. Everyone feeds from the same Bread. And there’s more than enough to go around.
Alistair shares from Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 and Matthew 12:33-37, 46-50
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Alistair shares from Matthew 4:12-23 on why the ministry of Jesus began where it did and what it means for us today.
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“The church will need to be turned inside out in order to bring those outside in. It will not suffice simply to invite the seeker to come to us to hear the gospel on our own turf. Instead, the church will have to be the church in the world – gathering for worship in order to go out in mission. Its programmes must be geared to equip and support the people of God in the strategic locations where the Lord has already placed them to serve as his representatives.”
(Extracted from Church Next by Eddie Gibbs and Ian Coffey)
Alistair shares from Isaiah 60:1-6 and Luke 2:41-52
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“God is calling every one and every thing, not just a few chosen ones, to God’s self (Genesis 8:15–17; Ephesians 1:9–10; Colossians 1:15–20). To get every one and every thing there, God first needs models and images who are willing to be “conformed to the body of his death” and transformed into the body of his resurrection (Philippians 3:10). These are the “new creation” (Galatians 6:15), and their transformed state is still seeping into history and ever so slowly transforming it into “life and life more abundantly” (John 10:10).”
(Richard Rohr)
Alistair shares from Luke 2:22-38
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36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At that moment she came and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Alistair reflects on Matthew 1:18-25 as part of the nativity service on the Fourth Sunday of Advent 2022.
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Alistair shares from Ruth 3:1-18; 4:13-17 and Matthew 11:2-11 on the Third Sunday of Advent
@knecchurch
Alistair reflects on Genesis 38:13-19, 24-27 and Luke 1:26-38 on the First Sunday of Advent
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Alistair reflects on Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Luke 1:68-79 on the Reign of Christ Sunday.
“Jesus did not establish an institution, though institutions can serve his cause. He did not organise a political party, though his teachings have a profound impact on politics. Jesus did not even found a religion. No, Jesus began a movement, fuelled by his Spirit, a movement whose purpose was and is to change the face of the earth from the nightmare it often is into the dream that God intends. . . . there really is a movement of God in the world” (Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church).
Rael reads from Luke 18:1-8 and Alistair shares some thoughts on this and 2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5
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Alistair shares from 2 Timothy 2:8-15 and Luke 17:11-19
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11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’
14 When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 19 Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’ (Luke 17).
“This is what I want; this is what I desire with all my heart.” He renounced his patrimony, gave away all his possessions, and began the life of an itinerant preacher who dwelled among the lepers. Others followed, and the Franciscan way of life began (Murray Bodo, St. Francis of Assisi: The Practical Mystic)
Alistair shares from 1 Timothy 6:6-19 and Luke 16:19-31.
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“When you love people, you see all the good in them, all the Christ in them. God sees Christ, His Son, in us and loves us. And so we should see Christ in others, and nothing else, and love them. There can never be enough of it. There can never be enough thinking about it. St. John of the Cross said that where there was no love, put love and you would take out love”.
(Dorothy Day, On Pilgrimage (New York: Catholic Worker Books, 1948)
Alistair shares for Luke 16:1-13 and 1 Timothy 2:1-7
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How can we use worldly wealth to make friends? Can we see our everyday encounters with people as opportunities to build friendship? How can we be generous with the riches of faith that our generous master has given us?
Alistair shares from Luke 15:1-10 as part of KNEC Church Live Stream.
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“don’t wait until you feel as though you have met the conditions of being holy. Trust that Jesus knows what he is doing. You are already holy. Don't try and be it. Know that you already are it. And then, for the love of God, take that seriously. The world needs it. You need it.” (Nadia Bolz-Weber)
Alistair shares from Luke 14:25-33
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Search us, O God, and know our hearts;
test us and know our anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in us,
and lead us together in the way everlasting.
In Jesus name.
Alistair shares from Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 and Luke 14:1,7-14
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“The Spirit leads us downward. To the bottom, to the place of humility, to the position and posture of service . . . that’s where the Spirit, like water, flows. . . ."
Brian D. McLaren, We Make the Road by Walking: A Year-Long Quest for Spiritual Formation, Reorientation, and Activation (New York: Jericho Books, 2014).
Alistair and Havy share from Hebrews 12:18-29 and Luke 13:10-17 - a new take on an old way - Jesus bringing fresh fulfilling revelation to the concept of Shabbat - setting free, healing, doing good, resting.
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Alistair shares from Luke 12:49-56.
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“The pitfall of the religion of perfection is self-righteousness, that cancer of the soul that requires more of others than it demands of itself and so erodes its own fibre even more. It is an inner blindness that counts the sins of others but has no eye for itself. . . .
(On the other hand) Real contemplatives receive the other with the open arms of God because they have come to know that for all their emptiness God has received them.”
Joan Chittister, Illuminated Life: Monastic Wisdom for Seekers of Light (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000)
Alistair shares from Luke 11:1-13
There is no scarcity.
There is no shortage.
No lack of love,
of compassion, of joy in the world.
There is enough.
There is more than enough.
Only fear and greed make us think otherwise.
No one need starve.
There is enough land and enough food.
No one need die of thirst.
There is enough water. No one
need live without mercy.
There is no end to grace.
And we are all instruments of grace.
The more we give it, the more we share it, the more we use it,
the more God makes.
There is no scarcity of love.
There is plenty.
And always more.
(Rachel E. Harding)
Alistair shares from Luke 10:38-42
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“Sometimes what we need most is to remind one another of how the divine is all around us, calling us to see and taste it for ourselves.”
(Becca Stevens, Practically Divine, 2021).
Alistair shares from Galatians 3:23-29 and Luke 8:26-39 as part of the KNEC worship gathering on 19 June 2022.
The Acorn 5 step process developed by Michael Harvey"
Ask – ‘Lord, is there anyone beyond the church You want me to connect with today?’
When God Calls and reveals a person for us to get alongside,
we simply Obey and follow through by contacting them in any way appropriate.
We then just ask the person “How are you?” God is already there, with the other. Our job is to find out what God is doing and join God in that conversation. God then reveals deeper hurts, desires and opening for the Gospel.
Christians then frequently gather to disciple and encourage each other by;
Reporting what God has been doing in and through them, and by
Noticing together what God is up to and doing in the other person.
Christians are then encouraged to mentor other Christian friends in this way of life.
Alistair shares from Acts 16:16-34 and John 17:20-26 as part of KNEC Church 29/5/22.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
Welcome, welcome, welcome.
I welcome everything that comes to me today
because I know it’s for my healing.
I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons,
situations, and conditions.
I let go of my desire for power and control.
I let go of my desire for affection, esteem, approval, and pleasure.
I let go of my desire for survival and security.
I let go of my desire to change any situation,
condition, person, or myself.
I open to the love and presence of God
and God’s action within.
Amen.
Thomas Keating (1923–2018)
Alistair shares some thoughts from Acts 11:1-18 and John 13:31-35 recorded at the worship service on 15 May 2022.
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G.K Chesterton once wrote that "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried."
Alistair shares from John 21:19-31 on the 3rd Sunday of Easter 2022.
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“Peter’s shame meets Jesus’s grace, and Jesus’s grace wins. That’s the Gospel story in a nutshell” - Debbie Thomas
Alistair shares from John 20:19-31 and Acts 5:27-32 on the Second Sunday of Easter 2022 as part of KNEC Church Online.
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Quotations used:
1) Desmond Tutu wrote this, “Dear Child of God, it is often difficult for us to recognise the presence of God in our lives and in our world. In the clamour of the tragedy that fills the headlines we forget about the majesty that is present all around us. We feel vulnerable and often helpless. . . . But we are not helpless and with God’s love we are ultimately invincible. Our God does not forget those who are suffering and oppressed”.
2) Richard Rohr puts it like this, ”We’re finally indestructible when we recognise that the thing which could destroy us is the very thing that could enlighten us….God’s one and only job description is to turn death into life”.
3) Brian McLaren writes that, “Resurrection has begun. We are part of something rare, something precious, something utterly revolutionary. It feels like an uprising. An uprising of hope, not hate. An uprising armed with love, not weapons. An uprising that shouts a joyful promise of life and peace, not angry threats of hostility and death. It’s an uprising of outstretched hands, not clenched fists. It’s the “someday” we have always dreamed of, emerging in the present, rising up among us and within us. It’s so different from what we expected—so much better. This is what it means to be alive, truly alive. This is what it means to be en route, walking the road to a new and better day. Let’s tell the others: the Lord is risen!” [Brian D. McLaren, We Make the Road by Walking (New York: Jericho Books, 2014)]
Alistair shares from Luke 13:1-9 as part of KNEC Church Online
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*On my kitchen window
sits an orchid plant.
Its flowers have long dropped.
It is not the prettiest of things
without its magnificent yet delicate flowers.*
*What do I do with it now?
It looks like a twig in a pot
with a few leaves hinting at life.*
Ach, it really is an ugly thing.
Who wants to look at that?
*And yet with so little effort on my part, a little water now and again,
(and I mean now and again)
I start to see some buds appear.*
A bit more time then.
*And my is it worth the wait!
Those flowerheads are triumphant!
What if I had just given up?
What if that twig had landed in the compost bin?*
What if, at my lowest moment, people gave up on me?
(Spill the Beans, 42)
Alistair shares from Luke 13:31-35 on the Second Sunday of Lent 2022 as part of KNEC Church Online.
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Alistair shares from Luke 4:1-13 on the First Sunday of Lent 2022 as part of KNEC Church Online.
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With thanks to Debie Thomas and Journey with Jesus.
Alistair shares more from Luke 6:27-38 as part of KNEC Church Online
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Forgive and you will be forgiven. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Love your enemies.
- Jesus of Nazareth
Alistair shares from Luke 6:17-26 and 1 Corinthians 15:12-20
KNEC Church Online 2022
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Alistair shares from Luke 4:21-30 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
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“I think we need to look beyond ‘inclusion’ (an intellectually problematic term) and ‘welcoming’ (which doesn’t go far enough) and become a radical movement that challenges the status quo, accepts and affirms people who are different, goes the ‘extra mile’, shows its love for those who are hurting, values diversity, and has a vision for serving humanity. If we were able to do that, rather than being pre-occupied by arguments with the conservatives among us, more people from our local communities may begin poking their heads into church once in a while. I don’t object to churches trying to be inclusive, but I think there is a calling to something beyond that ... (to) a responsibility to safeguard its community from harmful values and destructive intentions. The question is whether that is excluding, or simply protecting?”
-Andi, Open Table, Warrington
Alistair shares from Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 and Luke 4:14-21 as part of KNEC Church online - www.knec4jesus.org.uk
“It is common for us to refer to the work of pastors, priests and missionaries as “sacred,” and that of lawyers, farmers and engineers as “secular.” It is wrong. Work, by its very nature, is holy. The biblical story is dominated by people who have jobs in gardening, shepherding, the military, politics, carpentry, tent making, homemaking, fishing and more.”
- Eugene Peterson
Alistair shares from John 2:1-11 as part of KNEC Church Online
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There’s a sense in that with God there is always the best and it is always now and just as the wedding celebration ended up with the best so the end of all will be the best. That’s our hope isn’t it?
Alistair shares from Luke 3:15-17, 21-23 and Acts 8:14-17 as part of KNEC Church Online on 9 January 2022.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
“If you want to know what love looks like, Rabbi Jesus is saying, here it is: Love crosses borders and boundaries; it makes new cultural rules; it cares for the stranger. Love turns strangers into friends. Fierce love is rule-breaking, border-crossing, ferocious, and extravagant kindness that increases our tribe. . . .
In any relationship, fierce love causes us to cross boundaries and borders to discover one another, to support one another, to heal one another. When we do this, when we go crazy with affection, and offer wild kindness to our neighbour across the street or across the globe, we make a new kind of space between us. We make space for discovery and curiosity, for learning and growing. We make space for sharing stories and being changed by what we share.”
[Jacqui Lewis, Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World (New York: Harmony Books, 2021)]
Alistair reflects on John 1:10-18 and Ephesians 1:3-14 on the first Sunday of 2022.
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“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”
― Desmond Tutu
Alistair speaks of God's purpose to bring all things together in Christ centred unity. Christmas is all about the Oneness of God with us and God within us.
Recorded on the last Sunday of 2021 as part of KNEC Church.
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Richard Rohr says, “separation is the sadness of the human race. When we feel separate, when we feel disconnected, when we feel split from our self, from our family, from reality, from the Earth, from God, we will be angry and depressed people. Because we know we weren’t created for that separateness; we were created for union”.
Alistair reflects on Micah 5:2-5a and Luke 1:39-55 on the Fourth Sunday of Advent 2021 as part of KNEC Church Online.
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“God doesn’t need [reminders from us] to be merciful; [God] is merciful all the time, even when we don’t ask. But unless we make a habit of asking for mercy, we forget that we need it. . . .”
Frederica Mathewes-Green, The Jesus Prayer: The Ancient Desert Prayer That Tunes the Heart to God (Paraclete Press: 2009)
Alistair reflects on Zephaniah 3:14-20 and Philippians 4:4-7 as part of KNEC Church online.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
"Shame is a focus on self, guilt is a focus on behaviour. Shame is “I am bad.” Guilt is “I did something bad.” Guilt says I’m sorry. I made a mistake. Shame says, I’m sorry. I am a mistake."
(Brené Brown, I thought it was just me: Making the Journey from “What Will People Think?” to “I Am Enough”, 2007)
Alistair shares from Malachi 3:1-4 and Luke 1:68-79, 3:1-6 as part of KNEC Church Online.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
“Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be
made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
(Luke 3:5-6)
“We are in a world pregnant with hope, and we live in the expectation of the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. As we wait, we also work, cry, pray, ache; we are the midwives of another world”.
(Shane Claiborne, Common Prayer)
Alistair shares from Luke 21:25-36 and Jeremiah 33:14-16 on the First Sunday of Advent 2021
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“It is not that we are waiting for God, but that God is waiting for us”.
“The Second Coming of Christ is what will happen when we Christians finally accept that the First Coming was the Only Coming and start to cooperate with its divine presence”.
John Dominic Crossan, God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now (2007)
Alistair shares from Mark 13:1-8 on Remembrance Sunday 2021
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“In (any) troubling context, it’s easy to despair. Or to grow numb. Or to let exhaustion win. But it’s precisely now, now when the world around us feels the most apocalyptic, that we have to respond with resilient, healing love. It’s precisely now, when systemic evil and age old brokenness threaten to bring us to ruin that we have to “hold each other tight” and allow the veil to part, the walls to fall. What’s happening, Jesus promises at the end of this week’s Gospel reading, is not death, but birth. Something is struggling to be born. Yes, the birth pangs hurt. They hurt so appallingly much. But God is our midwife, and what God births will never lead to desolation. Yes, we are called to bear witness in the ruins, but rest assured: these birth pangs will end in joy.”
Debie Thomas - https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2010-not-one-stone
Alistair shares from the Book of Ruth and Mark 12:38-44.
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O God, loving Father of all
You care for the poor, the widow and the orphan
You have given us a wonderful home in which to live
Help us all to find that home
And to be willing to make it home for all.
In Jesus name
Amen.
Alistair shares from Hebrews 5:1-10 and Mark 10:35-45 as part of KNEC Church Online.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
O Lord
You came not to be served but to serve.
You came to reveal love in all its fullness.
Raise us up in your love we pray.
Show us how to receive your love and service.
And where led to, show us how to serve in response to your great love.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Alistair shares from Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 and Mark 10:17-31 as part of KNEC Church Online 2021.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
Jesus said, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age ….. and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30).
Alistair shares from Matthew 9:38-50 on Harvest Sunday 2021 as part of KNEC Church Online.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
Can we?:
Recycle more and landfill less
Compost organic materials
Use less fossil fuels especially petrol and gas
Use renewable energy like solar and wind
Walk or cycle and drive less
Reduce water waste
Only buy the food we need
Eat less meat and dairy
Use energy efficient light bulbs and appliances
Not leave appliances on ‘standby’
Air dry washing
Fly less or not at all
Buy pre-loved items
Share items
Plant more trees
Affirmation
We join with the earth and with each other
To bring new life to the land
To restore the waters
To refresh the air.
We join with the earth and with each other
To celebrate the seas
To rejoice in the sunlight
To sing the song of the stars.
We join with the earth and with each other
To recreate the human community
To promote justice and peace
To remember our children.
We join with the earth and with each other
We join together as expressions
Of one loving mystery: for the healing
Of the earth and the renewal of all Life.
(UN Environmental Sabbath Programme )
Alistair shares from Mark 9:38-50 as part of KNEC Church Online 2021
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
QUESTION:
What are the stumbling blocks that we might put in the way of people on the journey of faith?
It might be the rules we put in place.
It might be our lack of welcome to others.
It might be our refusal to include outsiders.
PRAYER:
Let us pray
God of infinite and unfailing love,
Forgive us for the times we’ve prevented ourselves and other people from discovering your boundless grace and mercy.
Show us the way, the way to open up your reign to more and more of the people you already love and have forgiven.
In Jesus name. Amen.
Alistair shares from James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a and Mark 9:30-37 as part of KNEC Church Online 19 September 2021
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
Submit yourselves, then, to God (James 3:7)
WHEN WE SAY YES:
Deeds done in humility
Pure Wisdom
Peace-loving
Considerate
Submissive
Full of mercy and good fruit
Impartial
Sincere
Takes last place
Serves all
Welcomes children
WHEN WE SAY NO:
Envy
Selfish Ambition
Earthly
Unspiritual
Demonic
Disorder
Every evil practice
Covetting
Quarrelling and fighting
Killing
In the first episode of a new season, Alistair shares from James 3:1-12 and Mark 8:27-38 as part of KNEC Church Online 2021.
Out of my not knowing comes the knowing
Out of my silence comes the speaking
Out of my stillness comes the action
Out of my emptiness comes the fullness
Out of my solitude comes the communion
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
Alistair shares from John 6:59-69 and Ephesians 6:10-20 as part of KNEC Church Online 22 August 2021.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
Why might people turn away from Jesus?
What happens to people who turn away?
How can someone begin to follow Jesus then choose to go in a different direction?
Why do followers need to wear protective armour? Is it, at least in part, to help resist the temptation to turn away?
Loving God,
Keep us strong in your holy power
Guard us from falling away
Hold us in your loving embrace
As we grow in faith in you
Fill our hearts with your love for others and all creation
In Jesus name
Amen.
Alistair shares from John 6:51-58 as part of KNEC Church Online 15 August 2021.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
"God is not a sky king who heads an empire; God is the love that gives itself away for the sake of more love." (Stephanie Spellers, The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline, and New Hope for Beloved Community (Church Publishing Incorporated: 2021))
“the trustees were of the view that success as a church was not only measured by bringing people into a church building on a Sunday morning but by creating the right conditions for people to meet God and become part of the work of the Church in that way” (Assembly Trustees Update July 2021)
Alistair shares from John 6:35, 41-51 as part of KNEC Church Online 2021
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6:41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
6:42 They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven’?"
6:43 Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves.
Alistair shares from John 6:24-35 as part of KNEC Church Online on 1 August 2021.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
All of your works will thank you, Lord,
and your faithful followers will praise you.
They will speak of the glory of your kingdom;
they will give examples of your power.
They will tell about your mighty deeds
and about the majesty and glory of your reign.
(Psalm 145:10-12)
Alistair shares from John 6:1-21 as part of KNEC Church Online 2021.
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Abundance in Community - Questions
**Is Jesus’ withdrawing to the mountain the secret of his success?
Is our world view one of scarcity or abundance?**
Why might faith need to be tested?
How might disciples respond?
All of your works will thank you, Lord,
and your faithful followers will praise you.
They will speak of the glory of your kingdom;
they will give examples of your power
They will tell about your mighty deeds
and about the majesty and glory of your reign.
For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
You rule throughout all generations.
(Psalm 145:10-13)
Now Go and Do the Same.
Alistair shares from Ephesians 2:11-22 and Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 as part of KNEC Church Online www.knec4jesus.org.uk
Is there someone we need to forgive?
Is there someone we need to speak to or write to?
Is there something we’ve left undone for too long and now it’s time to address it?
Good Shepherd,
Healer of all,
Destroyer of dividing walls,
Cornerstone,
Speak into our hearts and minds,
as we rejoice in your goodness and love for us,
and as we respond with hearts open before you.
Help us to have compassion for others, like you.
And help us to forgive,
as we have been forgiven.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
Alistair shares from Ephesians 1:3-14 and Mark 6:14-29 as part of KNEC Church Online.
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Brenda shares from Lamentation 3:17-33 and Mark 5:21-43as part of KNEC Church Online on the 5th Sunday of Pentecost 2021.
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Alistair shares from 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 and Mark 4:35-41 on the Fourth Sunday of Pentecost as part of KNEC Church Online.
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Today is the day of salvation.
May the God who is ready to help you right now, hear you
bless you, challenge you,
inspire and encourage you,
astonish and delight you,
this day, and always.
And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all,
now and for evermore.
Amen.
Alistair shares from Mark 4:26-34 and 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17 as part of KNEC Church Online 2021.
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Alistair shares from Mark 3:20-35 as part of KNEC Church Online 6 June 2021.
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Quotations:
“the Holy Spirit has been nudging and calling Christians to embrace a new imagination, but the other one had to unravel for us to see it for what it was. In this sense the malaise of our churches has been the work of God.” (Alan J. Roxburgh, Joining God, Remaking Church, and Changing the World: The New Shape of the Church in Our Time (Morehouse Publishing: 2015).
“A church that has been humbled by disruption and decline may be a less arrogant and presumptuous church. It may have fewer illusions about its own power and centrality. It may become curious. It may be less willing to ally with the empires and powers that have long defined it. It may finally admit how much it needs the true power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. That’s a church God can work with” (Richard Rohr).
Alistair shares from 1 Corinthians 12:1-12 and 14:26-33 on Trinity Sunday 2021 as part of KNEC Online.
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May the God of majesty and mystery,
fill you with awe and wonder;
may the God whom even angels worship,
guide you in the ways of holiness;
may the God who asks “who will go?”,
inspire you to cry, like the prophet:
“Here am I; send me!”
Alistair shares from John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15 and Romans 8:22-27 on 23 May 2021.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
I came across a lovely wee story this week about Jesus and God the Father chatting together.
Jesus looked across the table at God and asked ‘where have you been these last months?:
God replied, “I’ve been in Scotland”.
Jesus, with a shocked look said, “So, there’s been a pandemic raging for the last year and you’ve been in Scotland. Doing what?”
God leaned over and whispered, “working from home Son, working from home”.
Full service recording from KNEC Online Church 18 April 2021 with sermon by Brenda Robson and conversation about Christians Against Poverty (CAP).
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Alistair shares on the Second Sunday of Easter 2021 from John 20:19-31 and 1 John 1:1-2:2 as part of KNEC Church Online.
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Alistair shares on Palm Sunday from John 12:12-19 and Psalm 118 as part of KNEC Church online 2021.
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“(Jesus) showed that he came, not to destroy, but to love; not to condemn, but to help; not in the might of arms, but in the strength of love”
(Willie Barclay)
O Great God and heavenly Father
Thank you that in Jesus your love was made complete.
Thank you for his selfless obedience to truth and justice.
Facing up to death, Christ has become our salvation.
And our hosannas are satisfied for good.
In the same Spirit, may we walk our journey of faith.
As you make us One in Christ.
Amen.
Alistair shares from Jeremiah 31:31-35 and John 12:20-33 on the Fifth Sunday in Lent 2021 as part of KNEC Church Online.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
"Christian life is a commitment to love, to give birth to God in one’s own life and to become midwives of divinity in this evolving cosmos. We are to be wholemakers of love in a world of change.
This is why we need to switch our thinking from “Jesus came to fulfill us” to “we have come to fulfill Christ.” We are a part of this ever-growing cosmic Christ that is coming to be in this one great big act of giving birth described in Romans 8:22."
(Richard Rohr, Christ, Cosmology & Consciousness)
Alistair shares from Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21 as part of KNEC Church online 2021 on the Fourth Sunday in Lent.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
“Rather than God simply removing the problem (instead it’s when we) look upon our wrongdoing, the pain and hurt we cause, we begin to heal. Facing the issue is often the starting point towards renewal and growth in our communities and individually.
In some bigger sense this passage, then, is a story about dealing with sin, hurt, pain in the world. You can’t avoid it. We are called to face it and grow from there”.
(Spill The Beans, Issue 38)
The Moderator of the General Assembly, the Right Rev Martin Fair shares from John 2 as part of KNEC Church Online on the 3rd Sunday of Lent 2021.
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Alistair shares from Genesis 17 and Mark 8 on the Second Sunday of Lent 2021 as part of KNEC Church online.
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Alistair shares from Genesis 9:8-17 and Mark 1:9-15 on the First Sunday of Lent 2021 as part of KNEC Church Online
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“Jesus didn’t want to go, and it is very possible he resisted. But the Spirit drove him, anyway.
Maybe it’s strange that I find this detail comforting, but I do. Why? Because it rings true to life. Most of the time, we don’t choose to enter the wilderness. We don’t volunteer for pain, loss, danger, or terror. But the wilderness happens, anyway. Whether it comes to us in the guise of a devastating pandemic, a frightening hospital stay, a broken relationship, a hurting child, or a loss of faith, the wilderness appears, unbidden and unwelcome, at our doorsteps. And sometimes it is God’s own Spirit who drives us there.”
(Blog - “Journey with Jesus”, Debie Thomas)
Brenda shares from Psalm 30, Mark 1:40-45 and 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 as part of KNEC Church online 14 February 2021
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Grace and peace everyone!
Alistair shares from 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 and Mark 1:29-39 as part of church online
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Thank you Jesus that you didn’t stay confined
To the one place
But you moved on
From synagogue to synagogue
Reaching many
Preaching grace
Expelling evil
So the Word spread
From village to village
Town to town
A flickering flame
Igniting bundles if dry grass
The holy spirit and fire
Fan into flame faith in our hearts
To walk in the paths of your amazing grace
In Jesus name
Amen.
Alistair shares from 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 and Mark 1:21-28 as part of KNEC Church Online 2021.
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Alistair shares on Mark 1:14-20 and Jonah 3:1-5, 10 on the call to follow Jesus as part of KNEC Church Online 24 January 2021.
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When day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must wade.
We’ve braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.
And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it.
(Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb)
Shane Claiborne’s The Irresistible Revolution
Rodney Stark The Triumph of Christianity (https://www.biola.edu/blogs/good-book-blog/2020/how-did-early-christians-respond-to-plagues).
Alistair shares from Mark 1:4-11 and Acts 19:1-7 as part of KNEC Church online 10/1/21
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Alistair shares from John 1:10-18 and Ephesians 1:3-14 as part of KNEC Church Online.
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Alistair shares from Luke 1:26-38 and 46-55 on the Fourth Sunday in Advent 2020 as part of KNEC Church Online.
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Alistair shares from John 1 and Isaiah 61 as part of KNEC Church Online 13 December 2020
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“We can read the history of our 13.7-billion-year-old universe as the rising up of Divine Love incarnate, which bursts forth in the person of Jesus, who reveals love’s urge toward wholeness through reconciliation, mercy, peace, and forgiveness.
Jesus is the love of God incarnate, the wholemaker who shows the way of evolution toward unity in love.
In Jesus, God breaks through and points us in a new direction; not one of chance or blindness but one of ever-deepening wholeness in love.
In Jesus, God comes to us from the future to be our future. Those who follow Jesus are to become wholemakers, uniting what is scattered, creating a deeper unity in love.
Christian life is a commitment to love, to give birth to God in one’s own life and to become midwives of divinity in this evolving cosmos. We are to be wholemakers of love in a world of change.”
Ilia Delio “Love at the Heart of the Universe” (2013)
Alistair reflects on Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 and Matthew 25:31-46 as part of KNEC Church Online on 22 November 2020.
There are some things we can safely take from this story of the sheep and goats:
- The separation of sheep and goats takes place when the Son of Man comes in glory with the angels - End time? Post calvary?
- Until then, both sheep and goats live together.
- In the Middle East, then and now, it’s not so easy to tell the difference between a sheep and a goat but the shepherd knows.
- The story teaches that the sheep on the right are commended by the King on the Throne for serving Christ through their care of the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick or imprisoned whereas the goats on the left are condemned for failing to do so.
Barbara Brown-Taylor wrote that, “by entering into the experience of the cross, God took the man-made wreckage of the world inside himself and laboured with it - a long labour, almost three days - and he did not let go of it until he could transform it and return it to us as life. That is the power of a suffering God, not to prevent pain but to redeem it, by going through it with us”.
(Barbara Brown-Taylor, God in Pain (1998).
“To live our lives based on the principles of a love ethic (showing care, respect, knowledge, integrity, and the will to cooperate), we have to be courageous. Learning how to face our fears is one way we embrace love. Our fear may not go away, but it will not stand in the way.”
(bell hooks)
O God, you reign in Christ
Let your kingdom come
And your will be done
On earth as in heaven.
As you have found us
Move us with your compassion
To find you in the other.
Alistair shares thoughts on Psalm 80, Isaiah 64 and Mark 13 on the First Sunday of Advent 2020 as part of KNEC Church Online.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
Alistair shares from Matthew 25:1-13 on the parable of the ten virgins as part of KNEC Online on Remembrance Sunday 2020.
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“Saints are those who wake up while in this world, instead of waiting for the next one”.
(Richard Rohr, For the Good of the World, 6/11/20)
“I totally get the “foolish” bridesmaids in this narrative moment. I get how hard it is to stick around when my “light” is fading and my reserves are low. I get what it’s like to scramble for perfection, to insist on having my ducks in a row before I show up in front of God, or the church, or the world. After all, it’s scary and vulnerable-making to linger in the dark when my pitiful little lamp is flickering, my once-robust faith is evaporating, and my measly, leaky flask is filled with nothing but doubt and pain and grief and weariness. Only a bridesmaid who trusts in the groom’s deep and unconditional compassion, only a bridesmaid who knows that the groom has light and oil to spare, only a bridesmaid who understands that her presence — messy and imperfect though it might be — is of intrinsic value to the groom, will find the honesty and the courage to stay.”
(Debie Thomas)
(https://www.journeywithjesus.net/lectionary-essays/current-essay?id=2503)
Alistair shares from Matthew 23:1-12 on All Saint's Day 2020 as part of KNEC Church Online.
www.knec4jesus.org.uk
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Alistair shares from Matthew 22:34-46 and Deuteronomy 34:1-12 as part of KNEC Church Online 25 October 2020
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Alistair shares from Exodus 3 and 12 as part of KNEC Online 6 September 2020.
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IT’S GOOD TO BE ALERT TO THE CURIOUS WONDERS IN OUR WORLD AS GOD’S WAY OF GETTING PEOPLE’S ATTENTION
IT’S GOOD TO HAVE A HEALTHY HUMILITY OF OUR OWN SMALL SELF AND THE COURAGE TO EMBRACE OUR TRUE SELF
IT’S GOOD TO PRACTISE THE PRESENCE OF GOD WITH US
IT’S GOOD TO KNOW THAT GOD’S PROMISE OF DELIVERANCE HAS BEGUN
IT’S GOOD TO BE ALIVE IN UNION WITH GOD AND ALL CREATION - WE STAND ON HOLY GROUND
Alistair shares from Genesis 29 as part of KNEC Online 26 July 2020
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Alistair shares from Genesis 24 as part of KNEC Church Online on 5 July 2020
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Alistair shares from Genesis 22:1-14 as part of KNEC Church Online 28 June 2020
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Alistair shares from Genesis 21:8-21 - the story of Hagar and Ishmael - as part of KNEC Church Online 21 June 2020.
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Alistair and Brenda chat about Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7 and Romans 5:1-8 as part of KNEC Church Online.
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Thanks to Janice and Rosemary for reading the passages from the Bible.
Alistair shares from 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 and Matthew 28:16-20 on being the church in a time of crisis.
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Brenda and Alistair chat about Acts 2:1-21 in this week of Pentecost 2020.
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Alistair shares from Acts 1:1-14 and John 17:1-11 on the Sunday before Pentecost as part of church online during lockdown.
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Alistair shares from John 14:1-14 as part of KNEC Church Online for Sunday 10 May 2020
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Alistair shares from Luke 24 and the walk to Emmaus on the third Sunday of Easter 2020.
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Alistair shares from John 20:19-31 on Jesus' appearance to the disciples on the First Day of Resurrection.
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Alistair shares from Ezekiel 37:1-14 on the 5th Sunday in Lent as part of a live broadcast from home during the Covid 19 pandemic
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Alistair leads and shares from 1 Samuel 16:1-13 on the 4th Sunday of Lent in a livestream episode from Kirknewton.
John 9:1-41 is also referred to.
www.facebook.com/kirknewtonandeastcalderchurch
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Alistair shares from John 4:5-42 on the Third Sunday of Lent 2020
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Alistair shares from Romans 4:1-5 and John 3:1-17 on the Second Sunday of Lent 2020
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Alistair shares thoughts on Matthew 5:1-20 at KNEC on Sunday 9 February 2020.
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Alistair reflects on Luke 24:13-35 and how we learn from how Jesus engaged with people on the road of life.
Alistair shares from Matthew 5:38-48 on Remembrance Sunday 2019
“Each of us must turn inwards and destroy in [ourselves] all that [we think we] ought to destroy in others. And remember that every atom of hate we add to this world makes it still more inhospitable.”
[Etty Hillesum, diary entry (September 23, 1942), An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941–1943, trans. Arno Pomerans (Pantheon Books: 1983)]
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Alistair shares some thoughts from Hosea 11:1-11 and Colossians 3:1-11 on the theme of home coming on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.
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Alistair shares from Genesis 18:20-32 and Luke 11:1-13 on Sunday 28th July 2019
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Alistair shares from Colossians 1:15-28 on the 6th Sunday after Pentecost
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Brenda shares from Colossians 1:1-14 on the 5th Sunday after Pentecost
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Alistair shares from 2 Kings 5 and Luke 10 on the 4th Sunday after Pentecost
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Alistair shares from 1 Kings 19:15-21 and Luke 9:51-62 on the Third Sunday after Pentecost
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Sarah Finegan shares form Proverbs 8 and John 16:12-15 on the First Sunday after Pentecost.
Alistair shares some thoughts on Pentecost Sunday referring to Genesis 11:1-9 and Acts 2:1-21
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Alistair shares from 2 Chronicles 15:1-15 and John 17:20-26 on the 7th Sunday of Easter
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Alistair shares from Acts 5:27-32 and John 20:19-31 on the Second Sunday of Easter.
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Alistair shares from 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 and John 20:1-18 on Easter Sunday 2019 - www.knec4jesus.org.uk
Alistair shares from Exodus 12:1-14 and John 13:1-17, 31b-35 on Maundy Thursday 2019.
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Sarah shares on Philippians 2:5-11 and Mark 11:1-9 on Palm Sunday and the theme of True Power in Christ.
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Alistair shares on Isaiah 43:16-21 and John 12:1-6 on the fifth Sunday in Lent 2019.
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Alistair shares from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 and Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32.
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Alistair shares from Psalm 63:1-8 and Luke 13:1-9 on the third Sunday in Lent at Kirknewton and East Calder Church
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Alistair shares thoughts on Luke 9:28-36 and 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 on Transfiguration Sunday.
Reference is made to the book by Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe (Convergent: 2019)
Read the sermon notes at http://www.knec4jesus.org.uk/SermonArchives/03March2019.pdf
Sarah Finegan shares from Luke 6:17-26 on the Beatitudes and Vulnerability at KNEC Church 17/2/19.
Alistair shares thoughts on the thorny question of why Jesus died. The readings are Luke 5:1-11 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, 10 February 2019.
Alistair shares from Luke 4:21-30 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 on the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
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Alistair shares on Colossians 3:12-17 and Luke 2:41-52 on the first Sunday after Christmas
Alistair shares on 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 and Luke 21:25-36 on the First Sunday in Advent.
Alistair shares a sermon for Remembrance Day 2018 based on Ephesians 4:25-5:2 and John 15:9-17.
God, our Father, send your Holy Spirit, to activate and enlarge our spirits, and bring healing to our wounded souls. May my words speak spirit to spirit. In the name of our loving, liberating and life-giving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
Brenda shares from Hebrews 9 a Spirit inspired sermon given on 4 November 2018 at Kirknewton and East Calder.
Alistair reflects on Job 42:1-6, 10-17 and Mark 10:46-52 in a sermon shared on 28 October 2018.
Alistair shares thoughts on Hebrews 5:1-10 and Mark 10:35-45. The way to greatness is the way of the cross and, like Jesus, we learn obedience through suffering.
Alistair reflects on Amos 5 and the story of the rich man from Mark 10:17-31, a sermon given at Kirknewton on Sunday 14 October 2018.
Alistair shares a few all age, children friendly reflections on the Harvest theme of Sabbath using Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 and Mark 19:17-31.
Brenda Robson shares from Mark 8:27-38 and who Jesus is. Choosing Jesus is not an end of the story but the start of a journey.
When Jesus encounters a foreign woman and a deaf mute, a deeper understanding of the Father's love for all is opened up to him and by him. Mark 7:24-37 and James 2:1-10, 14-17.
The Biblical Poem of Song of Songs shows us that God desires a passionate relationship with every human being. Entering into that Love enables life to be lived in freedom and joy.