Walking the Way: A daily devotional

Readings: Isaiah 2:3-5 Matthew 5:1-12 Sermon  Today is a solemn day. Today we remember those who have offered their lives in sacrifice for their country. This year the UK would have been at in some theatre or the other for over 12 years and in all the conflicts the United Kingdom armed forces would have suffered 1300 casualties. Since 1900 the UK armed forces have suffered just under 1.5 million casualties from all sections of the Armed Forces.  I have a strong link with the military and with war. My Father served in the Royal Navy, my Grandfather in the RAF, my uncle was a military policeman and my mother served as a nurse in the Rhodesian Army during the Rhodesian bush war. My brother served in the infantry.  We grew up in during the Rhodesian Bush War in a town near the Zambian Border. I remember when I was small being made to sleep in the passage of my house because Zanu PF (the party of Robert Mugabe) insurgents had a nasty habit of dropping mortar rounds into the ga...

Thought for the day – Forgiveness This morning, thousands of people in churches across the county will be saying the prayer that Jesus taught us. And in that prayer are some of the hardest words we could ever hope to pray. We pray these words every Sunday: Forgive our sins as we forgive those who would sin against us. I’ll be honest and say there are times when I go quiet because I may not have the resources to forgive or simply don’t want to. God calls us to make difficult choices sometimes and difficult choices require courage. Forgiveness is difficult. Indira Gandhi described it as the virtue of the brave. It takes courage to let go of the hurt we get thrown at us, as we go through life. Being able to forgive those who hurt us shows not only those who have caused us the pain (whatever that pain is) but also those who love and care for us that we have struggled with life and have, through the grace of God, started growing into the person God wants us to be. Forgiving s...

Sermon Reading 1: Isaiah 25: 1-9  Reading 2: Matthew 22: 1-14  I think we can all think of a feast we have been to. It may have been a wedding or Christmas or a birthday party. There was loads of food and people and laughter and joy. Someone I know was telling me how he had been to a restaurant and the smells of the food coming from the kitchens took him back to South Korea and the welcome feast he attended when he first started working there. If you have ever smelt Kimchi you’ll know what he meant.  And isn’t it always amazing that food and feasts usually go hand in hand with good emotions. It’s almost as if the food and company rule out negative feelings. The vast majority of get-togethers we go to are happy affairs.  The bible readings today mention 2 feasts. Jesus feast is a warning that God invites everyone to be part of the kingdom but there will be those who reject the invitation or try to enter on their own terms. Isaiah’s feast is part of God’s promise that ...

Sermon Isaiah 56: 1-8 Matthew 15: 10-28 The Long View As many of you know I have been selected by the Methodist Church for ministerial training. My training starts in September not all that far away now. But while I am beginning to panic about the work coming up I have also taken the time to stop and reflect on the journey I have been on. I was asked during my candidating about my call to ministry. More specifically I was asked why now? My answer went something along the lines of “The timing of my present calling followed a 20 year period of reflection”. I was being facetious of course but there was an element of truth in what I said. I originally felt God calling me to ministry when I was 17 but my minister at the time felt that I would best served if I got some life experience first. So I did. 20 years’ worth!    As I look back over that time I  realize  that all the effort and time that I will need to put into becoming a minister is onl...

Journeying Ruth 1: 1-22 Hebrews 12: 1-6 Ruth Any journey is daunting. Every journey involves risk and change. We are all on a journey. My journey as a student presbyter started about 2 weeks ago when the Methodist Conference recommended me for ministerial training. As a Church you have been on a journey as you move from being a LEP to a Church with its own identity. As Christians we are always on the journey towards our sanctification and the Kingdom of God. As Naomi contemplated what lay ahead for her I have no doubt she wondered about what she was leaving behind and heading off to. She was a Hebrew Widow in a foreign country where a woman’s status was measured by who she was married to and how many children she had. She was not a follower of the Moabite religion and so she really had no choice but to go back to Bethlehem. There was also no guarantee that there would be anyone in Bethlehem who would be able to help her. But she was not alone in her journey. Her ...

Acts 1: 9-26 I have this wonderful image that comes to me whenever I think about the Ascension. I imagine all the disciples standing there looking at the sky as Jesus goes to be with the Father. No one has noticed that they are joined by two extra people. I wonder how long they all stood there before the angels spoke to them. They would have been taken by surprise I’m sure. And then they go back to the upper room and start the process of being a Church. They start the process of becoming something completely new, in the world but not of it. They will become the greatest force for change in the world leaving a legacy that will still be standing the test of time nearly 2000 years after they have all been promoted to glory. Fast forward to 2014 and we stand on the eve of another Pentecost and I think we are still, like the early disciples, looking at the sky wondering what’s going to happen next. I often wonder where we went from being a world-changing group of people to pe...

Sermon: 06.04.14 We are quickly coming up to Easter and the most important festival in the Christian Church. The four days that make up Easter are the most pivotal in history. And in case you think I can’t count I’ve included Maundy Thursday in that as without the events before Good Friday, Easter wouldn’t exist. And it is because Easter is so important it often is called into question. The last 200 years have seen a huge assault on the authenticity of the Easter accounts with all sorts of alternatives being put forward because the Easter story is about a man who died and then rose from the dead. I have been asked if Easter really happened the way the Bible tells us it did. Was it not a legend spun out by the followers of Jesus? And so today I want to look at sharing some of the information I have learnt reading up about this very special time in the life of the Church. Before I start I am indebted to Lee Strobel and his book “The Case for Easter” in providing the starting point ...

Scripture is full of people who have taken a risk for God. In Exodus 1, we read of the Hebrew midwives who spared the lives of male Hebrew baby boys. We read of Hannah in Samuel and Esther in, well, the book of Esther. We read of Deborah, the judge, Mary Magdalene, who was the first to meet the resurrected Jesus. Lydia, the mother of Timothy. But in the 2 biblical passages (Exodus 2, Luke 2:33-35) I believe we have two of the most remarkable women in history. Both these women have helped shape the world as we know it. Both women were mothers to sons who would forever change the world. Jochebed was the name of the woman who gave birth to Moses and then in a twist of fate became his nanny. Mary was the name of the young Jewish girl who took the risk of believing God and becoming the mother of the saviour of the world: Jesus. I don’t think I need to mention what impact both men had on history. We know more about Mary than we do about Jochebed. History has been much kinder to moth...