The freedoms of time and the wonder of people The past week will have felt very different, depending on whether children are back at school, or still on holiday, whether we have seen new people or old friends after a long time, how our health has been, what happened...

Faith and / or doubt Easter is not a single day, but the Easter Season continues till Pentecost, which is 50 days on the day of Resurrection. Easter should also be a life-style, living in the knowledge of the Resurrection and living out the joy, peace and witness of...

Alleluia – Christ is risen: He is risen indeed, Alleluia! The four gospels have four different accounts of the Resurrection – four different ways of describing some of what happened would be a more accurate way to word it. Mark, which is almost certainly the earliest...

A National Day of Remembrance – A Reflection Today we are asked to remember, remember all who have died in this past year – particularly those who have died from the corona-virus and its impact. The numbers in this country alone are huge, but each one is a person...

Dates and Time March 25th is Lady Day. It has a strange twinning – for the church, it is the celebration of the Annunciation - the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary announcing that she would have a baby and he would be Jesus; for the English, it was a “Quarter Day”...

Reflection on the Gospel Reading – John 2: 13-22 In John’s Gospel the clearing / cleansing of the Temple is put near the beginning of the gospel, whereas in the other gospels it happens in the final week of Jesus’ life, as Jesus enters Jerusalem. In John’s Gospel it...

If you are listening to Morning Prayer through Lent you will know that the Old Testament readings are from Jeremiah. These “prophecies”, these proclamations, speeches, sermons, whatever we try and call them, are grouped together with very little narrative to join...

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple Forty days after birth, Jesus is brought by his parents to the temple, as the Law required. The 40 days falls on Feb 2nd, traditionally known as Candlemas, but we remember and celebrate this event this Sunday. Only Luke records...

Walk with me Lord, and may I know your presence, Be with me Lord, in all I have to do: Walk with me Lord, and guide me on the journey, Walk with me Lord, and may I walk with you. Walk with me Lord, in times of joy and laughter, When life is good and I enjoy the day:...

John 1: 43-51  -  The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also...

Reading Mark 1 4-11 8 days after his birth Jesus is circumcised, as Luke reminds us. This is celebrated on Jan 1st but tends to get overlooked in the excitement of New Year. This Sunday we are 30 or so years later, and, as an adult, at the start of his public...

A Reflection for after Epiphany “They returned by a different way..” The Magi, having given their gifts and worshipped Jesus, left and returned by a different way. For us, as Christmas ends, we also have to learn to do things in a ‘different way’, to keep going...

Mary, mother of Jesus, is the focus for this the final week of Advent. We have heard the prophets speak of the coming of God; we have heard John the Baptist testify to the “light”; now we meet Mary, this remarkable, but utterly ordinary woman, who became mother to...

The focus for this week in Advent is on John the Baptist – Jesus’ cousin – who proclaimed the imminent coming of the Messiah. This is how John’s Gospel introduces him (John 1 6-8, 19-23) There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness to...

The reading from the prophets for this week is also from Isaiah, from Isaiah 40 and they are words which are picked up by John the Baptist in his ministry. Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to herthat she has served her...

Traditionally in Advent, we begin with the prophets and then reflect on the message of John the Baptist before ending Advent thinking about Mary, called by God to be the mother of God’s Son. The reading for the first Sunday this year is from Isaiah – chapter 64...

Reflection on today’s Reading – Matthew 25: 31-46 This passage is normally known as the “sheep and the goats” but this is just a simple analogy – at night the shepherd would separate out the sheep from the goats in his mixed flock. The vivid image is simply to tell us...