God’s emotions?

Exodus 2:1-10 Luke 2:33-35 One night a wife found her husband standing over the baby’s cot. Silently she watched him. As he stood looking down at the sleeping infant, she saw on his face a mixture of emotions: disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, scepticism. Touched by this unusual display and the deep emotions it aroused,…

Taking God seriously

John 2:13-22 Exodus 20:1-17 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 There’s a picture of Jesus throwing the traders and money changers out of the Temple, and cracking his whip, and someone has added a caption: “when anyone asks you what would Jesus do, remind them that getting angry, throwing the furniture, and attacking people is a possibility.” This…

Holding onto one’s hope

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-22 Perhaps it was frustration. Perhaps it was more like mild hysteria. Abraham fell on his face and laughed. And who can blame him? All this talk about covenants and kings, offspring and ancestors, was nothing new. Abraham had been travelling with stars in his eyes and his hand in a pocketful of…

Joel 2:1-2,12-17 Matthew 6:1-6,16-21   I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s met people who’ve been damaged by low self-esteem.  Sometimes we don’t need a lot of help to see ourselves was worthless and bad, and sometimes, regrettably, the church hasn’t always helped that.  On Ash Wednesday, of all days, it’s not unreasonable for…

Transfiguration

Mark 9:2-13 2 Kings 2:1-12 Transformation and transfiguration are not experiences to be taken lightly or dismissed as religious nonsense. There are events in all our lives which do not have simple explanations; things that happen to us that we do not entirely comprehend. Sometimes they are good things, unforgettable, life-enhancing moments. Sometimes they are…

Authority

Mark 1:21-34 193 people died in Zeebrugge harbour on 6 March 1987 when the ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized because the bow doors had been left open. The water began to pour in; the boat began to sink, and panic set in. People were screaming as the happy, relaxed atmosphere of the ship turned…

Unity in everything

Philippians 2:1-11 One of things I like to collect is DVDs of the decent stuff they don’t make for television any more. The sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s are, I find, generally far superior to most of today’s offerings. So, I enjoyed reading a book about the making of Last of the Summer Wine….

Hope

Luke 2:22-40 Marc Chagall was described as “the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century”. He was born in Russia in 1887, and lived through difficult times, having fled Russia to Paris he then had to flee again during the Second World War. As an early modernist artist he drew on the Jewish insights of…

Discovering who we are

Malachi 3:1-5 Hebrews 2:10-18 Luke 2:22-40 When we heard the tragic news of thousands killed in Nigeria a couple of weeks ago, I know many people wondered how people could do something like that. At the same time we heard news of terrorist attacks in Paris, and of people born in Britain going to fight…

Come and follow me

1 Kings 19:19-21 Mark 1:14-20 That story of Jesus calling the disciples, as it appears in the Gospels, seems totally unreal and unbelievable. Walking beside the Sea of Galilee, Jesus sees two brothers casting a net into the sea. Jesus calls them, ‘Follow Me’ and, says Scripture, they leave their nets and follow Him. The…