Walking the Way: A daily devotional

Opening Prayers Loving God, It's all in the touch, the touch of love, the touch of healing, the touch of compassion, the touch of reassurance, the touch that says, 'You are special, wanted, held in high regard'. It's all in that touch, that very special touch, the touch you give through us who reach out to those in need, to those who need to know. Help us to be channels of your touch in this dark world, to bring your love, healing, compassion, and reassurance, to a world that knows none of these   Bible verse (Amos 5:4-5) For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me and live; but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal   Thought for the day The perennial conversation in Church is what is the Church? The discussions will range from the Church as the bride of Christ, through to the Church being the people of God rather than the buildings. And yet as much as we like to think th...

Rest? What rest Bible verse (Ezekiel 20:12) I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy. Thought for the day How have you found being in lockdown, if you’re in lockdown? What has been the biggest challenge you have faced. For me, the challenge has been to make sure I have a day off. You see like many people, I have to work from home. No big difference there but when I look back over the last 6 weeks of lockdown in the UK, I can count on two fingers the number of actual days off I have had. When I haven’t had to answer the phone, or reply to an email, or prepare a service. I have to ask myself, how is that honoring God. Today’s verse in Ezekiel talks about the Sabbath day of rest as a sign. A sign that we have been made holy, put aside for God. In a way observing the Sabbath, whenever that may be, indicates our trust in God. The Sabbath requires us to trust God that the world won’t fall apart while we rest. My not tak...

Bible verse (1 Peter 2:13) For the sake of the Lord submit yourselves to every human authority: to the Emperor, who is the supreme authority, Thought for the day This isn’t what I had in mind for today’s episode of Walking the Way, but it’s something that has been on my mind for a few days now. I read an article over the Easter weekend about church ministers that were refusing to close their churches during this period of lockdown that we’re all experiencing. And I’ll admit as a church minister I was torn about closing when the COVID-19 crisis broke here in the UK. In the end that decision was taken away from by those higher up the liturgical candle than me. But there is still a part of me that wants to open my churchs not for worship but for sanctuary. Today’s verse from 1 Peter came to mind. ‘For the sake of the Lord submit yourself to every human authority…’ Our submission to the authorities over us is both for our ‘peaceful and quiet life’ to quote Paul and a sacrif...

1 Corinthians 2:1-16 Recently I did a preaching series here was about how we as Methodists do our theology or to put it more simple language how we understand God. I talked about the Wesley Quadrilateral and how we draw on four things – Scripture, Reason, tradition, and experience to help us understand God, the world and our place in that world. Just what parts of the Quadrilateral we prioritize is up to us. As someone who is more evangelical in their theology, I tend to prioritize Scripture followed by our tradition and then reason and finally experience. Others may rearrange things to fit their understanding of God. This is really helpful for those Christians who really want to think about how their faith relates to the world. It means very little to those who are happy to keep their faith simple. And both sides of the fence of valid. Sometimes those who have decided that a simple faith is enough, are those who have the strongest faith. In fact, the times when I wanted to jac...

Bible Verse (2 Chronicles 7:14) So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.   Thought for the day A common question that gets asked regularly in church circles is what is worship? And to some extent it’s the driving force behind this podcast and if you’ve been listening for a while you’ll have heard me talk about a regular rhythm of worship.   When I was growing up worship was something you did. We were active participants in worship. We went to church to worship. When I came to the UK and got back into a more mainstream church I came up against worship as something was attended. Worship for many people was something they attend rather than something we were active participants in. And I’ll be honest I find that model of worship…problematic.   It may be that it’s cultural or regional thing and certainly in the past, people went to worship because they were expected to. I live in an area with amazing histori...