Dear Friends,
When the Word is silent
I know there is a God somewhere!
The verse of an African American spiritual came into my head as I was walking yesterday afternoon as a timely reminder that when the Word is silent I hear music in the air and I know that there must be a God somewhere!
Dear Friends,
Is the Church falling apart or still being put together….? That’s a question I want to ask after speaking to Shellie last week and then seeing her article in the Broadway Newson Friday, “Save our Churches!”
I believe God is still putting us together as Church, but I invite you to help us reflect on this on Friday evening from 6pm. It would be great if some friends who don’t normally join us could do so this week
Dear Friends,
The Kingdom of God is so near
it is almost here…
Matthew 4: 17
We start Lent in the wilderness, but the good news, if we dare to believe it, is that the kingdom of God is near and if we repent it could soon be HERE!
Yes, it is near, but so far because so many of us must repent before it can be seen here through the will of God being done on earth as in heaven. YOU, and me, are just the beginning, but change will start from the grass roots growing up so our voices produce the words that can be scattered like seeds that find fertile soil and produce the harvest of hope for the future. That’s one of the parables that Jesus tells to describe the Kingdom of God so if your faith has been trampled into the ground, choked by the worries of life or withered in the heat of the challenging days if we repent we will find the Kingdom is near. That’s good news, isn’t it! It is near and will be here if we repent!
Dear Friends,
The Truth is written in stone!
Matthew 4: 1-4
One day, sometime in the future, a space ship will land on Planet Earth and scientists in a far away world will be excited at the possibility of finding out whether there was ever life on this dot of light in the wilderness of space.
TO SAVE THE PLANET FROM THE WILDERNESS!
READ: Mark 1: 9-15
On this first Sunday in Lent the message we get from the gospel reading is that the “Time has Come” or, to apply a bit more urgency, “The time is Now” to act and make a difference and save the planet. If humanity is to survive we’ve got to do that unless we’re all going to move to Mars!
Dear Friends,
YOUR little makes miracles happen
John 6: 5-13
I was about seven years old when I was given a clip round the ear and sent to my bedroom when I came home from the corner shop without the bread and milk I had been sent to buy. I would like to say I had given the shopping to someone in need, but I had lost the money I had been given and as a family we couldn’t afford to lose it!
Dear Friends,
“Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near”
Matthew 4: 17
The best stories are those that keep you gripped until the last paragraph when it is finally revealed ‘who did it!’ I read a long story last week and at the end found out that I DID IT!
RACIAL JUSTICE WITH LOVE…
This is Racial Justice Sunday in the church calendar, but with a Valentine celebration so is delivered with a message that LOVE is justice in action. The gospels are the unfolding story of Love that invites people to belong to the Kingdom of God as one family regardless of race, faith or culture. It is Love beyond our understanding because it embraces differences we don’t understand into one diverse family. So you are invited to meet God of the rainbow where colours merge as one in the sky and to meet the Artist who paints flowers of many colours into the beauty of our gardens. Different colours bring energy and vibrancy to the world so that we can celebrate the beauty in our differences.
Dear Friends,
Many boats, one storm on the same sea!
Mark 4: 35-41
I am a little uncomfortable with the thought of us all being in the same boat. It has become a much heard phrase during the pandemic, but I think there are too many of us to be in one boat. It will sink and I can’t swim!
Dear Friends,
Welcome the Chinese New Year
in the right spirit…!
It’s the 40th anniversary of my first and last taste of whiskey! I remember because it was Chinese New Year and it was offered to me with a warm smile from a Vietnamese woman in a joyful songful voice: