Category Archives: Comments and Reflections

John 20:19-31 – Thoughts for the Second Sunday of Easter

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Doubting Thomas

How often have you sat in a room with a group of friends and realised that you’ve lost track of what they’re talking about? Like you’ve dozed off for a bit and the conversation has dramatically changed direction. How did you feel? It can be a quite lonely or confusing experience.

I don’t have many Manchester United memories, except perhaps the famous cup final in 1979. Being an Arsenal supporter, I remember the excitement of Arsenal’s 3-2 win in the FA Cup that year.

However, there is one United memory that sticks in the mind. An episode which I was reminded of recently on facebook when someone posted a clip about times not to leave the room to put the kettle on. I had been watching the Manchester United/Bayern Munich UEFA Champions League Final on TV. The match took place in the Nou Camp Stadium.

I had to go out to do a Baptism visit, there was perhaps only a minute or two to go and United were losing 1-0, they were on the rack and going nowhere. The result was a foregone conclusion – Bayern Munich had obviously won the cup.

I wasn’t out that long, but I missed the key last minutes of the match. When I got back, I couldn’t believe what people were saying. United had scored twice in the last minute – they’d won. I wasn’t there – and if there hadn’t been independent accreditation of the victory, I would not have believed what people were telling me!!!

Whether we wake after having dozed off in a crowded room, or we were just not there when a key event happened – we easily feel ostracized and left out. No matter what anyone says, it still feels that way.

We’re not told why Thomas wasn’t in the upper room that first Easter evening when Jesus visited his disciples. We could spend time trying to imagine where he was – but we won’t! Suffice to say, he missed the key event, the turning point, the moment that changed defeat into victory. And how did he respond? In exactly the same way as most of us would have done. …

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Thomas couldn’t believe what the others told him. I doubt any of us would have done under those same circumstances. … Seeing is believing – but so is sharing in an experience with others. Thomas not only didn’t see what happened, he was left out of the experience that everyone else shared. He was in a lonely place, wanting to believe, wanting to share in everyone else’s happiness, but unable to do so. He hadn’t been there, he hadn’t seen Jesus.

Thomas’ reactions and feelings are understandable. And as we read the story we can see that Jesus thought so too. he provided aa repeat of the same encounter – one in which Thomas could share. Jesus gently reminded Thomas of his outburst – no indignant rebuke, just words which drew Thomas back to faith. Thomas’ response is one of the clearest statements of Jesus’ divinity in the Bible. Having seen the truth of the resurrection he cannot but exclaim, “My Lord and my God!”

The next 3 verses are important, they are pivotal to John’s message:

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” ….  Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

John has led his readers through a story – a story which allows those readers to meet Jesus and begin to understand who he is. It’s a journey of discovery, one in which we can identify with the different characters, feel their emotions, struggle with them to understand what Jesus is doing and saying. Thomas’ words are the culmination, the pinnacle of the story – the point where even the strongest of doubters expresses faith. Jesus response is not just for Thomas’ ears, not just for the disciples, but for all who read John’s Gospel in coming generations. “Don’t think,” says Jesus, “that the disciples were in some way special because they saw all these events first hand. Rather, blessed are those who read the stories and encounter Christ through the work of his Spirit in their lives and the lives of those around them.”

“Blessed,” says Jesus,  “are all who read this Gospel, who struggle with doubts & come to believe that he is the Son of God.”

We’ve not missed out on the party, we can still be part of the events which changed defeat into victory. We too can own the risen Jesus as our Lord.

This is good news – particularly for those of us who struggle with doubt; for those of us who’d like to believe more strongly than we do; for those of us who see other people’s faith, or the joy they seem to experience in their Christian life, and feel that we are somehow missing out. The story of Thomas is important because it embraces doubt.

The story is also important because it embraces change. Everything is different, Jesus was dead and is now alive. This changes everything – nothing can now be the same. Thomas struggles to accept the new situation. For so many of us change is difficult to handle, yet it is happening all the time. We need to continue to engage with the communities around our churches, looking for new ways to serve, new ways to make Christ known and to bring hope where there is despair. We need to accept that the future for the Church of England is one with significantly less stipendiary clergy – perhaps one third less in numbers in ten years time – and we need to imagine new forms of ministry both lay and ordained, new ways of being church. Nothing is the same as it was, nothing will be the same as it was, and we want to shout out the loudest “No!” that we can manage.

There are two key things we need to take away from this passage.

First – it’s OK to be honest – don’t pretend that everything is OK when it isn’t,. Don’t manufacture faith if it isn’t there. We can express our fears and we can express our doubts. In fact expressing our fear and our doubt is often, like it was for Thomas, the first step to faith.

Second – this story of doubt and faith is made the crowning moment of John’s Gospel – the pinnacle – Jesus reaching out to his loyal but doubting and fearful follower, not in anger but in love. Thomas’ exclamation, “My Lord and my God!” is the point at which John choses to rest his case. Honest struggling with change, honest struggling through doubt towards faith is given the highest honour in John’s Gospel.

So, don’t be discouraged if the pace of change or the circumstances we face are a struggle. Don’t be discouraged if believing is a struggle.

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For many football fans, winning or losing is a life or death issue. But here we go beyond issues of life or death, we’re concerned with eternity.

Be encouraged as you struggle to be faithful in an ever changing context, when at times everything you hold dear seems threatened. Be encouraged as you struggle to believe, for the story of Thomas makes clear that God loves the open and honest doubter.

Luke 24:13-35 – The Emmaus Road

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How has Easter left you feeling? …

Easter – looking into the blackness of Good Friday – then the celebrations of Easter Sunday and the resurrection. Children off school for 2 weeks. The relief when they went back to school!

Then there’s all the personal issues that we each face day by day.

The issues that we face as churches … getting ready for the AGM, inviting people to stand for key church roles, asking people to join the electoral roll. … It can be a chaotic time. There’s enough of a cocktail of different things to leave us all exhausted, or confused.

In our Gospel reading two people are struggling to get on with their lives amid the confusion of that first few days after the first Easter.

Good Friday’s sense of despair has been turned on its head by strange rumours of resurrection. Women running from the tomb to the disciples, Peter and John running to the tomb. People running backwards and forwards, rumour and counter-rumour, no one sure just what to believe.

And as they walk on the road to Emmaus, weary, sad and confused; perhaps we can feel some sympathy for them. As they trudge along they are trying between them to make some sense of what has happened. … And then we read these words. “While they were talking Jesus himself came near and went with them.”

As the story unfolds and as their journey progresses we read that their hearts begin to burn within them as they listen to him talk. At first he is a stranger to them, they don’t recognise him, but then, just before he leaves them they see him break bread and in an instant their eyes are opened and they see the risen Lord Jesus for who he is.

Some of us might recognise something of the story reflected in our own lives. We feel drawn to faith but at the same time it all seems a bit of a mystery. If so, then we are on the road with these two people. … Others of us might see the confusion and depression of the two travellers as part of our story. If so, we too are on the road with them. … … Some of us know the story of faith quite well, but the journey we’re on has become long and tedious and it is so hard to see the destination. If so, we too are on the road with those two disciples.

Others of us are struggling with what is happening around us, the pace of change, the seeming lack of real direction, trouble in our relationships, vandalism on our streets and roads, our fear which at times threatens to overwhelm us. If so, yes, we too are on that same road with those two disciples.

Whether because we are in this together or because it is true for us as an individual – all of us in some way are on this journey with the two friends going to Emmaus.

In the midst of everything – before we are even sure who it is, there is someone walking along the road with us – a seeming stranger – if we knew the end of our own story, perhaps we’d know who it is – but now we cannot recognise him. As we talk together or as we sit quietly; as we have coffee after our service; as we worship together; as we go out into the world or sit at home unable to go out; as we pray with faith or as we struggle to believe. Jesus himself comes near and goes with us.

And as we continue on our journey of life, unsure what the future holds, even if we don’t recognise him, Jesus himself walks with us.

Just as those friends on the road to Emmaus discovered him in the breaking of bread – so we have the opportunity each Sunday to encounter Jesus not only as the unknown friend on the road – but as the one who welcomes us with nail torn hands into the warm embrace of God’s love. And in the Communion in which we share, we take him, in some mysterious, unfathomable way, into our lives and he becomes one with us in soul and body.

I invite you to close your eyes, take a few moments now in silence to imagine yourself walking on a journey. It might be no more than walking to the shops with all that is on your mind, whatever is going on in your life at the moment. It might be a favourite walk, which allows you to breathe in the midst of a busy life, ……………………………….

In your mind’s eye, as you walk, see the stranger approach you and walk quietly alongside you on the road. …………………………..

Walk with him, enjoy in your imagination talking to them as you walk, and listening to them as they speak. ………………………………

And before you open your eyes and we move on with our service, say these words to that stranger. …………………

“Lord, make yourself known to me in the bread and the wine today.” Amen.

Psalm 127 – Christ Church, Bayston Hill – 8th March – Depending on God

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Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.

Songs of Ascent were usually sung by pilgrims travelling to visit the Temple in Jerusalem. Psalm 127, attributed to Solomon (the builder of the Temple), emphasises that all human efforts — building, security, and labour — are vain without God’s blessing. It highlights the importance of depending on God over self-reliance. It highlights too that children are a divine gift and a source of strength. God’s provision!

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain. … We can imagine the pilgrims heading for Jerusalem looking up from the valley floor, seeing the half-built temple and singing their hearts out. … Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain.

The psalm encourages a life of trust in God’s provision rather than anxious toil or even strident faith. There is a hymn written by Russell Kelso Carter (music by R.E. Hudson) which includes the words ‘Resting on the faithfulness of Christ our Lord’. … The first two verses of the hymn:

Resting on the faithfulness of Christ our Lord,
Resting on the fulness of His own sure word,
Resting on His wisdom, on His love and pow’r,
Resting on His covenant from hour to hour.

Resting ’neath His guiding hand for untrack’d days,
Resting ’neath His shadow from the noontide rays,
Resting at the eventide beneath His wing,
In the glorious presence of our Saviour King.

I guess that this hymn catches something of what the psalm is all about – striving, anxious toil and strident faith are not the same as trusting or resting in the faithfulness of Christ our Lord.

The bible contains plenty of encouragement to trust in God. … From the Old Testament:

We wait in hope for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice for we trust in his holy name. (Psalm 33: 20-21)

Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46: 10)

The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. (Psalm 147: 11)
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail. (Lamentations 3: 21-22)

Just one text from the Gospels:

Jesus said: ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’. (Matthew 11: 28-29)

But we seem to find it so very difficult to believe that if we rest on God’s promises, if we truly let God be God, then we will see God at work.

It can seem so often that we believe that it is our activity, our strength, our strategies that will bring in God’s kingdom. We seek to serve God’s kingdom by developing mission strategies. We make our plans and we ask God to bless them. We pray before we develop our strategies and we hope that in doing so God will bless our planning.

Don’t hear me wrong, we are called to serve faithfully, to pray in faith, and strategy and vision are important.

But, and it is a big but, our strategies and our vision can take on a life of their own. They can become the be all and end all, they can be seductive, making it feel like we are making progress when perhaps we are not. Our commitment can become first to our vision rather than to the God that we seek to serve.

Our values are permanent or should be. God’s call on our lives is to love as Christ has loved us. Paul, writing to the Philippians says: ‘Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, … he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross’. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. …… Humility, obedience and faithful service are our calling.

These values are permanent. Our strategies and our vision are transitory. Perhaps right for now, but not necessarily for ever. Mission and mission priorities are transitory, but our life in Christ and our faith in God are not.

The hymn again:-

Resting on the faithfulness of Christ our Lord,
Resting on the fulness of His own sure word,
Resting on His wisdom, on His love and pow’r,
Resting on His covenant from hour to hour.

We are called to rest, to place our full weight on, God’s faithfulness to us in Christ. The word used in the original Greek of the New Testament for ‘faithfulness’ and for ‘faith’ is ‘pisteo’. Every time we see the word ‘faith’ or ‘faithfulness’ in the New Testament it is that word ‘pisteo’ or a direct derivative.
We could think about ‘faith’ as something that can be measured. …

So we might say to someone, if only you had enough faith, you would be healed. … If we do so, we are seeing ‘faith’ as something that we might be able to generate ourselves. There is a bible verse which talks of faith moving mountains. I am sure that you will know it. So often this verse is taken to mean that strong belief and determination will allow us to overcome immense obstacles, achieving seemingly impossible things. I guess that if we think like that, we imagine ourselves generating faith, screwing ourselves up to believe.

Just a bit more faith, just a bit more, and we will see God work, we will have healing. … Perhaps we even try to demonstrate our faith by giving more generously, praying more earnestly, serving with greater commitment. But if we see faith this way, we have misunderstood what Jesus was talking about in the bible verse that we partially remembered.

Twice in the Gospels, in Matthew 17:20 and Mark 11:23, Jesus talks about faith as small as a mustard seed being able to move mountains. Mustard seeds are tiny. The very point Jesus is making is that it isn’t the size of our faith that matters but where we place the little faith we have. The Greek word ‘pisteo’ – faith – always means ‘faithfulness’, ‘commitment’ and ‘steadfastness’ – faithfulness and commitment to God in Jesus. It is not focussed on what we can do, nor on how strongly we believe. pisteo-faith is all about the one we have faith in. Mountains in our lives are moved not by the strength of our faith but by the God in whom we trust.

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain.

Pisteo-faith is about faithfully following Jesus, but it is also about something more. It is about resting. …

A chair will illustrate this ………

What do you think of this chair? Is it a beautiful chair?

What is this chair for?

It does not matter so much where a chair comes from or how beautiful a chair is. It does not even matter whether we believe the chair works. … What matters is that we trust that it will hold our weight. It is no good just hovering over it, no good admiring as a beautiful chair, no good being tentative about it. We have to commit wholly to trusting in the chair and resting our weight on it. … Then it does its job.

New Testament pisteo-faith is just like this. We need to wholeheartedly, faithfully, follow Jesus and when we are faithful, when rest our weight on our faith, we will discover that it holds us secure. When we are still. When we let God be God. When we trust in God’s provision. Then figurative mountains will be moved.

Perhaps those pilgrims singing as they travelled to Jerusalem saw the temple under construction and in their songs they acknowledged that everything was in God’s hands, that unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it, that nothing worthwhile would be achieved without depending on God, … trusting, resting, faithful. ……

I want to finish with two stories which might encourage us to see that when we rest on God’s promises, when we wait to see what God is doing, when we wait for God to act miracles can occur. I have been in Uganda over the past few weeks. Both of these stories relate to my friends Revd John and Alice Tumusiime in Rukungiri.

A team of 7 of us were in Uganda for much of February 2026. We have had links there for close to 30 years.

We’ve watched what God has been doing in Rukungiri throughout that time. On my first trip there in 1997, I met John and Alice. They and their 4 children had opened their home to 7 or 8 children who were orphans because of the Aids epidemic which was sweeping through Uganda at the time.

The Bishop of North Kigezi had just given John a plot of land on which to build a school and technical centre. In faith, they built a small building on the land.

In those early years a good number of children started to attend the school. Within a few years there were classes with significant numbers of children in them. This picture is from 1997.

Resources were thin. Mission partners who knew John and Alice, funded a trip to the UK and with visits to a number of churches, there were suddenly a significant number of people offering to fund children’s education in Rukungiri. That small school (Rukungiri Modern Primary School) has developed onto three separate sites – Nursery, Primary and Gables (a technical school). We have had to set up a charity in the UK – Rukungiri Orphan Partnership to manage the sponsorship programme – at any one time we have about 300 children on our sponsorship lists and over the years we have supported at least 7000, probably more, children through their primary education and some through secondary education and university/college.

These are sponsored children from one primary class writing to their sponsors in February 2026.

The school has also provided education for around the same number of paying students. John and Alice will be the first to say that God did this.

Unless the lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.

My second story comes from our February 2026 trip to Uganda. …

One of our team had experienced dependence on alcohol and drugs. As of March 2026, she is 11 months sober after an encounter with Jesus. She knows the daily struggle that all alcoholics face to remain sober and her faith has made all the difference to her. She felt that God was saying that she should bring Alcoholics Anonymous materials to Rukungiri.

She gave her testimony in church on one Sunday morning.

While we were in Rukungiri she took one person through the 12 steps of the AA programme, she found a couple of people who elsewhere had been involved with the AA and set up the first AA meeting in Rukungiri which will provide a regular support to those seeking to be free of alcohol and drugs. She was able to talk at a mental health clinic and enable medical professionals to understand that drug and alcohol dependency is an illness. She found resources from elsewhere in Uganda in the Rukungiri’s local language (Runyankole-Rukiga) which will support the regular meetings going forward and she id staying in touch with the group via WhatsApp. … A young Christian has made a significant impact, through being faithful, trusting God, resting on God’s promises.

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain.

We are called to be those who depend on God, not on our own resources. We are called to trust in God’s faithfulness. Resting firmly on God’s promises. I am going to finish now with that hymn that I have referred to during this sermon.

Resting on the faithfulness of Christ our Lord,
Resting on the fulness of His own sure word,
Resting on His wisdom, on His love and pow’r,
Resting on His covenant from hour to hour.

Resting ’neath His guiding hand for untrack’d days,
Resting ’neath His shadow from the noontide rays,
Resting at the eventide beneath His wing,
In the glorious presence of our Saviour King.

Resting in the fortress while the foe is nigh,
Resting in the lifeboat while the waves roll high,
Resting in His chariot for the swift, glad race,
Resting, always resting, in His boundless grace.

Resting in the pastures and beneath the Rock,
Resting by the waters where He leads His flock,
Resting, while we listen, at His glorious feet,
Resting in His very arms, oh, rest complete!

Resting and believing, let us onward press;
Resting on Himself, the Lord our righteousness;
Resting and rejoicing, let His saved ones sing,
Glory, glory, glory be to Christ our King!

1 Corinthians 13: 13 – Faith, Hope and Love (Sunday 15th February 2026)

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And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Faith

Our ‘Faith’ can mean what we believe. … When we talk about the faith of the Church we often mean a list of things that a Christian needs to believe. Over time the church has developed creeds which are intended to help us remember or recall together the important beliefs that we share. Often Christians say ‘The Creed’ when they are in church together on Sundays. Doctrine is very important but it is not what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13:13.

Our ‘Faith’ can mean what we believe. … When we talk about the faith of the Church we often mean a list of things that a Christian needs to believe. Over time the church has developed creeds which are intended to help us remember or recall together the important beliefs that we share. Often Christians say ‘The Creed’ when they are in church together on Sundays. Doctrine is very important but it is not what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13:13.

Another way we use the word ‘faith’ is to talk about how much faith we have. …

So, perhaps, we say to someone, if only you had enough faith, you would be healed. … Faith, in this context, seems to be something that we might be able to generate ourselves. There is a bible verse which we often hear like this “faith can move mountains.” And we take it to mean that strong belief and determination will allow us to overcome immense obstacles, achieving seemingly impossible things. I guess we imagine ourselves generating faith, screwing ourselves up to believe.

Just a bit more faith, just a bit more and we will see God work, we will have healing. … Perhaps we even try to demonstrate our faith by giving more generously, praying more earnestly, serving with greater commitment. But if we see faith this way, we have misunderstood what Jesus was talking about in the bible verse that we partially remembered.

In Matthew 17:20 and Mark 11:23, Jesus talks about faith as small as a mustard seed being able to move mountains. Have you ever seen a mustard seed? Mustard seeds are tiny, smaller than a grain of millet. The very point Jesus is making is that it isn’t the size of our faith that matters but where we place the little faith we have.

Throughout the whole New Testament there is only one root Greek word used for faith. It is the word PISTEO. Yes, it might be used in different contexts, tenses and verses. We can use it in many different ways but in the original language of the bible it has one meaning. PISTEO-faith always means ‘faithfulness’, ‘commitment’ and ‘steadfastness’ – faithfulness and commitment to God in Jesus. It is not focussed on what we can do, nor on how strongly we believe. PISTEO-faith is all about the one we have faith in. Mountains in our lives are moved not by the strength of our faith but by the God in whom we trust.

PISTEO-faith is about faithfully following Jesus but it is also about something more. …. I need a chair to illustrate this ……… What do you think of this chair? Is it a beautiful chair? …. What is this chair for? …. It does not matter so much where a chair comes from or how beautiful a chair is. …  What matters is that we trust that it will hold our weight. It is no good just hovering over it, no good admiring as a beautiful chair, no good being tentative about it. We have to commit wholly to trusting in the chair and put our weight on it. … Then it does its job.

New Testament PISTEO-faith is just like this. We need to wholeheartedly, faithfully, follow Jesus and when we are faithful, when we place our weight on our faith, we will discover that it holds us secure.

So, that is Paul’s first word FAITH. …..

Hope

In the UK, we sometimes do this … (cross fingers) and we say. “Cross our fingers and hope it works out.” When we do this, we are seeing hope more as ‘wishful thinking’.

Alternatively, we can talk about ‘the power of positive thinking’, as if by just hoping something will happen, we will see it happen.

Sometimes we say to people, “I hope you get better soon.” Then, hope seems to be about wishing something was true.

None of these is Christian Hope. The bible actually has a lot to say about Hope. But for now, here are just three verses.

Psalm 33:20-21: We wait in HOPE for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice for we trust in his holy name.


Isaiah 40:31: Those who HOPE in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.


Romans 8:25: We HOPE for what we do not have and we wait for it patiently.

Christian Hope is not wishful thinking. Nor is it positive thinking. Christian Hope is all about the one in whom we have Hopr. God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and God’s Spirit who dwells in us.

When we look forward with Hope, we see the future in God’s hands. We look forward with Hope because we have been made right with God through what Jesus has done for us at the cross. We look forward with HOPE because the Holy Spirit lives in us and leads us on into the future God has for us. … Because we hope in God, as Isaiah says, our strength is renewed. We will soar like eagles, we will have the stamina we need for the journey ahead.

So, FAITH, and HOPE.Paul’s third thing was LOVE. And, Paul says Love is the greatest of all three.

Love

The Apostle John, became the Bishop of Ephesus when he was an old man. We think that he wrote John’s Gospel, three short letters and the book of Revelation.

The first of John’s three letters is all about Love ….

“This is love, not that we loved God, but that God first loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin.” (1 John 4:10)

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16)

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.” (1 John 3:1)

The story is told of John as Bishop of Ephesus, in his old age with his powers failing, sitting in front of his congregation to preach. He began his sermon. … Little children, love one another. …. And he continued: Little children, love one another. … And again: Little children, love one another. Indeed, his whole sermon consisted of the repetition of just 5 words: Little children, love one another.

The following Sunday, Bishop John sat down to preach again. He began his sermon: Little children, love one another. Again, his sermon was just the repetition of those five words: Little children, love one another.

By the next Sunday, the congregation was getting a little restless. John sat down to preach once again. How do you think he started his sermon? Yes, with just those five words … Little children, love one another. At the end of this service a number of people came to speak to him. “Bishop John,” they said, “Why do you just keep repeating those five words. Isn’t it time to move on to something different?”

Bishop John looked quietly at them and said, “My sermon will change when I see evidence that you are loving one another.”

Ultimately, the Gospel is a Gospel of love, nothing significantly more. God is the source of all love. God’s love has made us God’s children. God’s love comes to us in many different forms: …

God’s LOVE comes to us in the New Testament story of Jesus. … Love first came down to us at Christmas. It was born and walked about among us as a human being. Love died for us, love was outpoured for us at the Cross. Love came as sacrifice and service. Love brought dignity and purpose for Jesus’ friends, his disciples. Love brought new roles, new tasks to perform, new gifts to develop and share. Love came in the healing hands of Jesus.

God’s LOVE comes to us now in many different forms. … In the people we know who follow Jesus. In acts of charity which brings real hope into places of despair. In the prayers of faithful friends who hold us up before God when we struggle to pray for ourselves. Surprisingly, love turns up in unexpectedly places. …

St. John as Bishop of Ephesus says: “Little children, love one another for love comes from God.”

The Apostle Paul says: “Faith, Hope and Love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love.”

FAITH-ful following of a faithful God will make mountains move.

HOPE in God will allow us all to soar on wings like eagles.

But most important of all, God’s LOVE has won our hearts and calls us all to LOVE as Jesus Christ has loved us.

25th January 2026 – Matthew 4:12-23

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There is a saying about leopards – I guess you know the one I mean … “Leopards never change their spots”. We use it to talk about someone who has been in prison, or someone who we have caught lying, or someone who has offended us. We can’t believe it when they seem to have changed. And we are convinced that their motives must be odd or that eventually their true base character will show through.

There are other similar phrases:

“Truth will out:” I guess this means that the truth will become known eventually, you can’t hide who you really are for ever. The phrase comes from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice – Launcelot says:

“it is a wise father that knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son: give me your blessing: truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man’s son may, but at the length truth will out.”

The hidden things we have done and the parts of who we are that we want to hide will always eventually come to the surface and become known.

“Once a thief, always a thief:” … or  Once a cheat, always a cheat. These suggest that once you have learned to behave in a particular way you will always revert to type!

I have heard the same formula used in a different way. … “Once a priest, always a priest,” and: “Once a bishop, always a bishop.” … I’ll leave you to decide whether those are positive or negative! … However, what they share is a conviction that a person who’s done a certain kind of job will always have the characteristics of people who do that job, even after he or she no longer does that kind of work.

Is this right? Are we defined by our past?

the-ugly-duckling-storyHans Christian Anderson tells a very familiar story whose main point is  that ugly ducklings can become beautiful swans. We know that ugly caterpillars can become amazing butterflies, tadpoles do become frogs and toads. Things do change.

In our Gospel reading today we hear the story of people being called by Jesus. He chooses them to follow him. James and John, Andrew and Simon Peter.

They encounter Jesus and in so doing are changed for ever.

We don’t know that much about Jesus disciples. We do know quite a bit about Peter. We know that, like James, John and Andrew, he was a fisherman. But we know more than that. What was Peter like?

… Hot-tempered, always making mistakes, a rough diamond, not someone to suffer fools gladly, someone who lived a hard life, a no-nonsense kind of guy. … Perhaps a typical country fisherman.

And then Peter meets Jesus. Something in this person, Jesus, changes Peter for ever. It doesn’t all happen in an instant, but it starts to happen as Peter listens to Jesus speak and when he sees Jesus’ miracles. He is changed as he follows Jesus.

“Peter, I have a job for you, follow me,” Jesus says. Peter I can see the potential in you, I can see who you will become. Peter I want you to be my fisherman now – only you’ll be catching not fish but men and women to be my followers.

And we know how the story ends – this ugly ducking of a man becomes a Swan – he becomes one of Jesus most faithful followers and eventual becomes the leader of the church.

In our Gospel, Jesus does not just call Peter – he calls Andrew, James and John to be his followers. And in just the same way he calls each of us to follow him. Rough diamonds that we are, self-deprecating or over confident, angry or depressed, rude and negative, fearful or fearless, strong or weak, trapped in difficult relationships. All of us called to be his followers, his ambassadors.

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And you know, just like Peter, there is potential for change in each of us. Jesus can take me, he can take you, and he can transform us. We no longer need to feel that we are no good – just like Peter we can admit to God our weakness and our failings and then God takes us as we are and makes something special.

Please forgive all the mixed metaphors. … We no longer need to feel like the Ugly Ducking, for God in Jesus sees the Swan that we really are – and as we give ourselves to God – God draws out all the good that is in us. It really is a case for us that a leopard’s spots can change!

18th January 2026 – John 1:29-42

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Over the last few weeks, our lectionary readings have contained a series of revelations about Jesus.

On Christmas Day, we heard John’s revelation of Jesus as “the Word, who from the very beginning was with God and was God but also the Word made flesh living among us.”

At Epiphany, we heard of the wise men and their gifts, showing Jesus to be a king, worthy of worship and one destined to die.

Last week, at Christ’s Baptism we heard God’s revelation: “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

These revelations actually took place over a period of thirty years. But for us, heard in the space of four weeks, they are rather more intense. Each week, we learn more of Jesus’ being and purpose. Today is no different.

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Today John announces to the crowd gathered around him at the Jordan “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” A few sentences later he says that Jesus is “the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit.” And he goes on to remind everyone that Jesus is God’s son. Then Andrew tells his brother that the Messiah, the Anointed has been found.

Jesus’ appearances seem to come thick and fast, quicker and quicker. Chapters 1 and 2 of John’s Gospel seem to emphasise this. So, in today’s reading: v29: the next day John saw Jesus coming; v35: the next day John watched Jesus walk by; then v43: the next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee; and Chapter 2 v 1: On the next day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee!

It is almost as though John, the writer of the Gospel is feeling a great deal of intensity as he writes. “I must get this across,” he says to himself, “I must.” He seems desperate to make sure that his readers know Jesus’ credentials as fully and as quickly as he can relay them.

Indeed, after the opening of the gospel it seems to markedly slow down, the intensity drops and the reader has more time to reflect on who Jesus is – through stories and accounts of Jesus’ conversations.

Next week, we return to Matthew’s gospel for a number of weeks and get chance to see how Jesus’s ministry progresses. It’s also an opportunity to see whether he actually lives up to the titles that have been revealed to us over the last few weeks. So it is almost as though our Gospel reading is asking us to take stock of the names, and roles, that have been showered on Jesus. We are invited to take all this information that we have been given about Jesus, make sure we understand what it means and then use this in the coming weeks to help us understand the unfolding story of the next three years of Jesus= life.

In this article, we can only scratch the surface of what John, the Gospel writer, hopes we will understand about Jesus.

“Lamb of God.” John the Baptist expected his listeners to recall pictures from the Old Testament; the lamb provided by God for Abraham to slaughter, the lamb of Isaiah 53, led to the slaughter for the sins of God’s people; the Passover Lamb from Exodus. The word ‘lamb’, for John’s listeners connected strongly with words like ‘sin’ or ‘atonement’ – the way in which we can be reconciled with God despite our wrongdoing.

This Lamb is given by God – a gift from him. We can’t provide for our own atonement, instead God reaches out to us to draw us back to him.

“The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the whole world,” says John the Baptist. Jesus will take away all sin, everyone’s sin. There is nothing exclusive or limited. Nothing narrow. No sin too heinous, no wickedness too terrible! Listen to the words of Isaac Watts’ hymn:

Not all the blood of beasts, on Jewish altars slain,

Could give the guilty conscience peace

Or wash away its stain.

But Christ the heavenly Lamb, Takes all our sin away;

A sacrifice of nobler name, And richer blood than they

Believing, we rejoice, To see the curse remove;

We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice, And sing his wondrous love.

“Baptiser with the Spirit.” John the Baptist baptised people into a readiness for the coming of the Messiah. In the early church, baptism initiated people into the family of God. Jesus, however, welcomes us into God’s kingdom by giving the Holy Spirit. Jesus gives us the same gift as he received at his baptism – God’s spirit to guide us and lead us. And this is particularly important every time we baptise someone in our churches. When we baptise we incorporate people into the same family as Jesus, they become children of God, children of the Holy Spirit.

“Son of God.” Jesus’ relationship with God was made explicit at his Baptism. He is loved by God – he is ‘the beloved’. At Jesus baptism we are shown something of the closeness and intimacy between God and Jesus. It is only the one loved by God, the one who was with God, who was God. Only that one can secure salvation – no other.

“Messiah.” At the beginning of the first century, there was intense speculation about the Messiah, the ‘anointed one’. In the Old Testament, anointing was used to describe the way in which people were appointed for special tasks, and given God’s spirit to enable them to carry out this task. People were waiting for a Messiah – a kingly figure embodying God’s rule. Andrew calls Jesus, ‘Messiah’. He recognises Jesus as the long awaited king who would fulfil the Old Testament prophecies and bring about God’s reign on earth.

Lamb of God, Baptiser with the Spirit, Son of God, Messiah – John, the Gospel writer’s names for Jesus. John wants us to carry these names with us as we read his Gospel. It is as though he says to us, “You will only understand my message fully if you realise that this is what I want to show you. Here is the one who by his life and death fulfils these roles and in doing so brings hope.”

As we read the Gospels let’s use these names to inform our reading and to help us understand for ourselves just who Jesus is: Lamb of God, Baptiser with the Spirit, Son of God, Messiah.

The Servant of the Lord – Isaiah 42:1-9 and Matthew 3:13-17

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The apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 1:27 – “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”

I want to invite you to travel with me in your imagination, back to another time and place. … If it is helpful, you might want to close your eyes. … It’s an unbelievable place. It has a sense of heavy quietness about it. You might know what I mean. I suppose, it’s like a cathedral. People are talking to each other in hushed tones. … Yet it still feels quiet.

Countless people from every nation under the sun are here. Some splendidly dressed in their finery, some carrying the tools of their trade – blacksmiths, … jewellers, … carpenters. Others, clearly with little money, have made every effort to look their best.

It is the 5th Century BC and as we scan the wide room we can see people of authority and power; Kings of Babylon, Media, Persia and Egypt stand erect and tall with their courtiers in attendance. Other kings and queens from unknown parts of the world are also here – Incas, Aztecs, Chinese, Indian and Ceylonese – everyone is here, with their monarchs standing proud in front of them.

This is no ordinary kind of cathedral, it’s too grand and large for that. The walls – too far away to see, the roof – higher and wider than anything we’ve ever seen. No columns hinder the view. The splendour of the room is beyond telling – it’s as though everything is covered in gold, silver, and precious jewels. … Yet despite all this beauty everything in the room seems to point to its centre.

On a raised platform is a magnificent throne. It’s like looking at the sun – seemingly all of the light in the room comes from that throne – … it is dazzlingly bright. It seems that wherever you are in the room the throne dominates your view.

Then, without any warning, everyone is suddenly aware of someone on that throne – the hushed conversation draws quiet. This is the moment we’re waiting for. … Our host stands up and as they move forward the brightness which had seemed to come from the throne moves too. No one needs to say anything – everyone around us just knows who this is. The whole room is first on its knees, and then flat on its face before God.

Our invitation to the heavenly court, said that God would be announcing his plans. Plans that mean declaring a chosen nation who will know God, and who’ll make God’s character known throughout the world. …

All of the kings and queens are ready – jealously wondering which of them God will choose. …………………. One word from God and everyone is standing once again; eagerly straining to see who it is. … Who has God chosen? …………..

From the back of the hall, somewhere behind the King of Babylon, a scruffy beggar stands and walks unsteadily forward to the throne. Some in the crowd look the other way as he passes, others try to stop him. It is only the voice of God which holds them still.

God welcomes the beggar at the centre of the throne-room and crowns him … ‘The Servant of the Lord‘. … It turns out that he is Israel, one of the small nations that have been conquered by Babylon. Insignificant, unimportant and of no consequence. What is God doing, choosing this non-entity, this tiny country, Israel? ……………..

As you think about that question, take a moment to adjust back to being here, wherever you are now, reading this blog …………….

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I have tried to help you to understand the picture that chapters 40 to 55 of Isaiah want us to see.

Israel was a nation on its knees. Its people were in exile, depressed, defeated and angry; … God must have deserted them for ever – or so it seemed. A once proud nation, they were now snivelling with self-pity, full of shame and guilt. … Yet, in Isaiah 40 and 41 it is almost as though God whispers words of encouragement to this beggar Israel as he walks forward through the jealous and condemning ranks of the nations. Listen to his words:

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for.

My people, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, “You are my servant”; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

In Isaiah 42, God presents Israel to the nations as his servant. God confirms his love and protection of Israel and commissions Israel to serve him again.

With hindsight, we know that Israel never lived up to its calling.

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As Christians we see these passages of Isaiah pointing forward to another Servant of the Lord, to Jesus. The one who through death and resurrection brings healing to the distressed, binds up the wounded and releases all sorts of captives from prison. In our Gospel reading Jesus receives the same kind of blessing from God:

“This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

But even with Jesus this passage has not been fully fulfilled. Jesus once said: “As the Father sent me so I send you.” Jesus passes on to us both the privileges and responsibilities of being the Servant of the Lord. We are called to bring justice, to be a light to the nations. Ultimately, it is us that God is speaking to in the Isaiah passage. He wants us to hear his encouragement as he picks us up, dusts us down and sets us on our way again.

God knows that we so easily see ourselves as Israel saw itself – depressed and defeated – often struggling with self-pity, and full of shame and guilt. Or at times we see ourselves as right when others are wrong, we seek to build ourselves up at others expense, we cannot hear God’s love for us because we are so busy trying to establish our own reputation against that of others.

And we are no different to Israel. Weak, mis-understood, seemingly at the end of ourselves, seemingly without answers to the problems of our day and if we are not very careful, seeing everyone else as the problems rather than ourselves. Whether it be our lack of numbers, the suffering and injustice of our world or the disregard of spiritual things by so many people, we have no overwhelmingly obvious, argument settling answers to the difficulties that life brings. Yet God speaks to us in the same way as he spoke to Israel. “You are my servants,” he says. God speaks to us in the same way that he spoke to Jesus ….

“My son, my daughter, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

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God wants us to hear his words of comfort, to hold onto them as our own. To listen to his challenge to bring justice, to bring his assurance and to shed his light into the lives of those outside of the church community. God wants us to be those who show love and compassion, who because we are loved by God give space for others to flourish, God wants us to be those who because we are loved do not need to compete for affection and status, a people who build others up rather than tear them down.

The truth is that it is our recognition of our own weakness that will mean that God can work through us to bring healing to our world.

I Corinthians 1:27 – But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Matthew 2:1-12 – Epiphany 2026

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Collect

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Sermon

Today we celebrate the Epiphany. The visit of the Wise Men bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. I’d like us to think about two different aspects of the story this morning.

Firstly, we are told that the Wise Men who came to Jesus were guided by a star.

Second, The Epiphany and the arrival of the Wise Men is the moment when the wider Gentile, non-Jewish, world first engages with the story of Christmas. It is the point at which the birth becomes good news for the whole world, Good news to be shared.

We are told that the Wise Men who came to Jesus were guided by a star throughout their long journey. We use maps to guide us – or at least we used to. Many of us now use some form of satellite navigation to help us find our destination when we are in the car. Jo and I tend to use the directions provided by Google Maps. If you do not have a satnav or a hands-free mobile phone, then you will still rely on a map when you are driving. And a map of some sort is still useful to those of us who enjoy walking. When walking you might also follow a guided route for a country walk – either one on paper or one that has signs, way-markers along the route.

What matters most is that the guide we use is reliable. … We’ve all heard stories of lorries using satellite navigation getting stuck in country lanes or under bridges. … I’ve followed guided walks where either the written description is not good enough, or where someone has maliciously changed the waymarks and I have got lost. …

In life just as in driving or walking we need a reliable guide. A guide that we can trust. We have guides to follow in our Christian lives. The bibles that many of us own, are perhaps our clearest guide for the journey.  How familiar are we with our bibles. Do we keep them on the bookshelf and only take them out sporadically? Some of us are overwhelmed by the amazing language of the King James’ Bible and celebrate it as a wonderful work of literature. However, this was not quite God’s intention, when he gave us his word. The beauty of the language, or the excellence of the binding, while of great value, are not what really matters. … It is no good having a map, or guidebook or satellite navigation system and then putting them in view on the mantelpiece or on the dashboard of the car and never using them, never switching them on. They are only valuable if they are used as they were intended to be.

The Wise Men saw the star and chose to follow it. We don’t really know what it was, perhaps a comet that moved gradually across the night sky, night by night. The wise men studied the heavens and when they saw this particular star they knew what it spoke of. But knowing what it was about was not enough. They had to follow where it led. Otherwise, the Star would have been of little value. … So it is, with all that God promises in his word. We need to hear what the bible has to say to us about who we are and how we should relate to others. We need to make God’s word and promises our own. God is with us, and will be with us in the year ahead.

The poem “The Gate of the Year” by Minnie Louise Haskins, was famously quoted by King George VI in his 1939 Christmas broadcast in the early months of World War II: “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year. “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied. “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” May that Almighty hand guide and uphold us all in uncertain times, enabling us to trust in divine guidance as 2026 unfolds.

So, the Epiphany speaks of God’s guidance.

But it is also so much more! It is the moment when the curtain is drawn aside and the whole world looks in on the birth of the Jewish Messiah. The Epiphany is the point when the Christmas story makes it clear that the Christ-child is not just the Jewish Messiah, but is Saviour of the World. What was once known only to the Holy Family and shepherds at Christmas is made known to a greater and a wider audience in the group of wisemen who visit sometime after Jesus’ birth.

In this season of Epiphany, Jesus is ‘revealed’ as Son of God to the Wise Men who come to worship and give their tribute. Jesus’ Epiphany as Son of God reaches out to all the nations on earth. … So today we celebrate Jesus as our Saviour. As well as him being the Jewish Messiah.

“Come and see,” say the shepherds and the wise men. “Come and follow.” But perhaps most importantly of all; “Go and tell.” ……..

The season of Epiphany is all about mission.

Epiphany is our special season of being sent out as God’s people, guided by the grace and love of God. This season of the Epiphany gives direction to our lives as God’s missionary people. The scriptures call us on to follow Christ, in the way we choose to relate to each other, in living the lives God calls us to, in witnessing to the love of God which conquers all adversity. Epiphany reminds us that people should be able to see in us the life and love of the Christ-child.

Epiphany reminds us that if we follow God’s guidance, in seeking to welcome all. If we endeavour to offer God’s inclusive welcome – welcoming the stranger, welcoming those different from us, welcoming those we find challenging, and those we fundamentally disagree with. If we truly are a welcoming and loving community, quietly and faithfully getting on with the business of being God’s welcoming people, we will become so attractive that we will draw others to faith in Christ.

Sunday 14th December 2025 – Matthew 11: 2-11

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How are you doing with your presents? Bought them all yet?

Surprisingly we’ve bought nearly all of ours already – and don’t ask me how much we’ve spent! It is hard work though, isn’t it, trying to pick something that you think someone will appreciate. And then comes that exciting job of wrapping them up – trying to hold three different bits of paper together at the same time as cutting the sellotape; sticking the sellotape onto one finger and trying to fold everything back up, only to discover that a bit of the tape has stuck to the paper and ripped it! Then there’s the present which turns out to be just too big for the largest sheet or roll of wrapping paper you could find.

I find wrapping presents to be is a bind!

And then you sit back a look at your endeavours and it’s still pretty obvious what most things are – it isn’t easy to disguise the shirt with the collar which sticks up above the rest of the pack, a tennis racket is a tennis racket even inside Christmas wrapping, a bottle of wine is a bottle of wine however you try to wrap it – and a mountain bike – well what else could it be?

It is a wonder that anyone is surprised by the presents that they get.

And yet we are, aren’t we. There is always something that comes as a complete surprise – even if we’ve given everyone a list of what we want, we still get that present or presents which are impossible to guess from their wrapping. We look at them and wonder what they might be.

Sometimes the surprise is positive. I’ve had some wonderful unexpected presents. But the surprise can also be negative. … As a teenager in the 1970s, I set my sights on a lovely pair of cowboy boots that had good 3 inch high heels, and 1.5 inch platforms. They were bright orange in colour. I told my parents about them and they assured me that my boots would be waiting for me on Christmas morning.

As teenagers are wont to do, I slithered downstairs on Christmas morning, trying not to betray my excitement. Mum and Dad had always said “No!” to my choice in clothes before and they still held the purse strings!

When we started opening the presents, I was immediately aware that I was going to be disappointed. There were no presents large enough. Still I maintained a slim hope that perhaps the boot calves had been folded over to get them into a smaller box. But no, when I opened the present from Mum and Dad, there were a pair of boots, ankle height, elasticised slip-on boots with half inch heels – Chelsea Boots. How could they have got it so wrong? I thought. I don’t think I wore boots more than once. I was really disappointed!

John the Baptist believed that he was preparing the way for a Jewish Messiah. He had in mind what he wanted. The trouble was that when that Messiah arrived he did not fit John’s idea of a Messiah. God’s gift to Israel was not what it wanted. Not even John the Baptist, who did so much to prepare the way for Jesus had any confidence in what Jesus was doing now that His ministry had started.

I guess John the Baptist was sitting in prison wondering whether his life had been wasted!

In our reading, Jesus has to remind John of passages from Isaiah about the suffering servant.

 Israel, and John the Baptist, had ignored these prophecies about the Messiah and clung onto the one’s they preferred – those that foretold a military messiah, a powerful leader who would free them from the yoke of oppression.

‘No,’ says Jesus, ‘I am here to inaugurate a different kingdom, a kingdom built on justice for all, and peace and healing for the oppressed.’

The thing with God is … that we can never pin God down. We think we have listened. We form our ideas of what God wants, or what God is doing. And then, … well, God does something different. We’ve tried to understand what he wants and yet again we’ve been trapped by our own ideas and our limited understanding of God.

It is wonderful when God surprises us with something new, something different. The incarnation of Jesus, was one of those occasions: the most important of them. In Jesus’ life and death he turned convention on its head, he disturbed the status quo, and out of a shameful death brought new life and hope to the world.

Jesus is God’s present to us this Christmas. ……… But don’t go thinking that you’ll get the present you’ve asked for!

Jesus at work in our lives is more disturbing, more exciting, more wonderful than we can anticipate. I was disappointed with my boots back in the 1970s, but I have never been disappointed with Jesus. Occasionally confused, sometimes disturbed, sometimes bewildered, sometimes wondering what I believe and why, but following Jesus’ lead has taken me all over the place – to University to study Civil Engineering, to different Councils to work as a bridge engineer, to Uganda for a time, into training for the ministry, marriage later in life, into ministry in the Church of England in and around Manchester, and most recently to retirement here in Shropshire! And God continues to change and challenge me – and I am still slow to learn and slow to trust!

Ultimately, John the Baptist died before he could see Jesus come in his glory.

In Jesus’ death, shame became glory. The Bible reminds us that the cross was itself Christ’s glory, Christ’s throne. It was the place where the love of God for the world was revealed.

As Christians, we can look back with gratitude to those days. … For those who lived through them, they were days full of hope …. then of deep disappointment … and then of hope once again. … Days full of shocks and surprises. Their world was truned on its head more than once.

Our God is a God of surprises. God asks for our loyalty and trust. God wants to surprise each of us with God’s presence in Christ this Christmas time. May we be those who are open to those surprises. Amen. 

The Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6: 20-31)

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Luke 6: 20-31 is known as “The Sermon on the Plain” and is parallel to Matthew Chapters 5 to 7, which are known as “The Sermon on the Mount”. It is known as ‘The Sermon on the Plain’ because Luke writes in Luke 6:17 “Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place”. …

There are four blessings in this passage, rather than the eight blessings in Matthew’s Gospel, and ‘woes’ follow quickly and starkly after the blessings. Whereas in Matthew’s Gospel the ‘woes’ are much more gently couched and hidden in the longer text.


Luke’s account of Jesus’ words is much more direct, more immediate, more pressing, and does not, obviously, carry a spiritual meaning. Here in Luke’s Gospel Jesus says, ‘Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God’. In Matthew he says, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. … We need to hear and heed both of these versions of Jesus’ sermon if we are not to misinterpret what he says. …

Recognising our spiritual poverty (as in Matthew’s Gospel) is important if we are to hear the gentle word of God’s love spoken to us in the bible. Spiritual poverty is the opposite of arrogantly assuming that we know God’s will and purposes, it encourages an enquiring mind, seeking out what God’s Holy Spirit is doing in our lives. It accepts that we will always have something to learn. It might even mean that we really do try to see things from the perspective of those with whom we disagree.

But what might it mean to say that the poor are blessed? …

Jesus uses the present tense. … The poor already have the Kingdom of Heaven. … They are blessed now. … This is hard to accept. It seems uncaring. How can those who have next to nothing be blessed? …… Perhaps Jesus means that for those who are poor there is nothing to distract them from their need for the love of God. Whereas for those of us who have resources and money, who are wealthier than so many, we can be distracted by our wealth. Rather than relying on God for our daily needs, our daily bread, we rely on own resources. Perhaps we are in danger of missing God’s blessing.

This seems to be borne out in human experience. It is when we are aware of our deepest needs that we are most prone to pray. … Even those of us who profess no faith in God.

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus goes on to say: ‘Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”

The parallel lines in Matthew’s Gospel say: ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled’, and ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted’.

Jesus, in Matthew’s Gospel, seems to be more concerned about some kind of spiritual intensity. … Jesus’ statements, in Luke, are more pithy and seemingly more concerned about physical things. It is those who do not have enough to eat now who will be satisfied; those who weep now will laugh. It is people’s immediate; substantive needs that Luke’s words focus on.

In each of these two cases in Luke’s Gospel, one part of the sentence is in the present and the other in the future. Jesus, in Luke, seems to be saying, ‘I know you are hungry, I know you weep and your tears exhaust you. But what you suffer now does not need to define you’.

The truth is that as Christians, we are defined by God’s perspective, God’s idea of who we are. We are defined by God’s love. We are defined by the Kingdom of Heaven. There is a place beyond our current situations when hunger will be satisfied, and tears will no longer fall. … While we are building the Kingdom of God on earth we can experience pain, suffering and persecution, but something is certain: the Kingdom will be attained, and you will have your fill and you will laugh! …

I don’t think this is meant to be just about a heavenly future, a hope of heaven; although it is certainly that. But it is more. It is about the land of the living, it is about living as people who have hope, who trust that the whole of their future is in God’s hands, who persevere because they believe, along with the psalmist who says (in Psalm 27:13): “I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” And along with Isaiah (in Isaiah 40: 31): “Those who wait on the lord will renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” With our future secure in God’s hands, we are free to love and to live with courage today.

Jesus’ first three blessings encourage us to live as those who are not distracted by all the things we have; to live as those who believe that the future is in God’s hands.

Jesus’ fourth blessing seems utterly absurd. How can those who experience hatred and abuse be blessed. How can those who are persecuted be blessed? Jesus seems to answer that question by explaining that when we experience difficulty for our faith we are identifying with the Old Testament prophets. We are identifying with myriad faithful saints of God.

We know that Jesus’ words spoke directly to the early church and were heard, not as absurd, but as an encouragement to see beyond their current circumstances – suffering and persecution were not the ultimate reality, but rather a sign of new life and hope.

I cannot imagine the things those who are persecuted face. I do know that it is not just Christians across the world who experience times of deep darkness, or hatred from neighbours and acquaintances. We repeatedly see them on our television screens. In Gaza, in Ukraine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Sudan and South Sudan. So often it is the weak and vulnerable who suffer most. There is little that I can do for them but pray and give.

To the question, ‘Where is God when the innocent die, or face persecution?’ The answer available to us, the only answer I can offer, seemingly the only one God offers us, is a story of God becoming human, living first as a refugee, then as an itinerant preacher, before dying in acute suffering, treated as a common criminal, on a cross.

The God we believe in has identified with human suffering, has felt the pain of rejection, has been persecuted. … This God points to the cross and says time and again, “I love you, this is my answer to your questions. This is how much I care. ”

The Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit torn apart as Jesus cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

It is as if God says to us, “This is where you will find the answers to all the questions you ask – in sitting at the foot of the cross and pondering on the depth of love that it demonstrates.”

As Paul says in our reading from Ephesians: “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints.”

This God, who loves us so much, welcomes us at his table to share in bread and wine. This God, calls on all his saints, you and me too, to live in the light of that loving welcome and acceptance. To live as those who are not distracted by all the things we have; to live as those who believe that the future is in God’s hands; and to love others with an all-inclusive, death-accepting love that knows no limit.

Prayer
God our Father, you redeem us and make us all your children in Christ. You extend a loving welcome to all. Look with favour upon us, give us true freedom and bring us to the inheritance you promise. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son our Lord. Amen.