Psalm 29 Isaiah 43:1-7 Luke 3:15-22 I wonder if you’ve noticed that the distinction between old and new is something which now troubles both the world we live in today and the church? Have you ever noticed, for example, that products can be advertised in quite contradictory ways? Sometimes we’re encouraged to buy something because […]
Romans 8:24-39 In wishing you a Happy New year, it would be very easy to do so with a heavy heart. As 2018 ended, it was very easy to feel that the world was falling apart. News from the United States has rarely been encouraging in recent years, and the new year has begun with […]
Any decent decorator will tell you that 90% of the work is the preparation, and actually putting the coat of paint on is but the culmination of all the work. It’s the preparation that matters. Looking at it from a very different angle, the idea for the Basingstoke Canal began as an economical means of […]
Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:1-10 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36 What a mess our world is in. Brexit, whatever your opinion on the topic, seems to be pleasing no-one just now, and our nation is just as divided as it was on 23 June 2016, if not more so. Turmoil in the Middle East is a […]
You may remember that Mr Mackay explained the rules of Slade Prison to a new prisoner in an episode of Porridge: “There are only two rules in this prison: 1 – do not write on the walls. 2 – You obey all the rules.” Fletcher explained the rules of Slade Prison rather differently: One: Bide […]
Mark 10:32-45 If ever there was a moment when the disciples didn’t get it, this is it. Jesus has just gone through yet another explanation about his death and all that that entails and he’s as graphic as he ever gets in describing his death. It’s as if all of that goes right over the […]
Mark 9:38-50 When I was young, I remember my mother’s painkiller of choice – I now realise that most mothers of small children have a painkiller of choice – was Anadin, which came in a striking yellow packet. You can still get them today, still yellow, design slightly less striking, for a mere £1.69 for […]
Matthew 13:18-23 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 A farmer turns up to evensong and discovers that he and the vicar are the only people there. “What shall we do?”, asks the vicar. “Well”, replies the farmer, “If I goes to feed my sheep and only one turns up, I feeds her.” So after four hymns, two […]
James 3:13–4:3, 7-8a Mabel prays fervently to win the lottery, but it doesn’t happen. Bert prays for a hard Brexit, while Fred prays for the whole thing to be cancelled. Both prayers cannot be answered. Gladys prays with all her heart that her son won’t die, but he does. Lizzie prays for her daughter […]
Mark 8:27-38 You may remember the 2001 film Iris, which told the life of novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch, particularly the tragic onset of dementia in her life. Or more recently the film The Iron Lady which depicts something similar of Margaret Thatcher, although more controversially released before she died. We all know […]