Sunday before Lent: Eyes & Ears

The Transfiguration by Feofan Grek

15/2/26

Exodus 24:12-18
Matthew 17:1-9

We are entering the last week of the Epiphany season as this coming Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Over the past few weeks we have talked about Epiphany. As a reminder, an epiphany is a moment of awakening or coming to new knowledge. Sometimes they are dramatic affairs and other times they are quiet and we simply know that something has changed.

Matthew 17 describes one of the greatest epiphanies ever; the Transfiguration of Jesus before Peter, James, and John. It is complete with blinding light, clouds, a heavenly voice, and appearances by Old Testament prophets Moses and Elijah.
The event was so mind-boggling that many people dismissed it as a cleverly invented tale. This tale appears in Mark & Luke as well as Matthew so we know it is an important event.

Close your eyes just for a moment.

I would like you to consider: what does Jesus look like to you?

What colour is his hair, his eyes, teeth – crooked or straight? Ears – big or small? Tall or short? Hands – rough or smooth?

Create a picture of what you think He looks like.

Matthew’s Gospel presents a very human Jesus. He was born, he had parents who travelled with him to Egypt; Jesus had a childhood. He eats, drinks, sleeps, goes to a wedding, goes sailing, meets up with friends. He travels, he cries, he gets angry, he wants to be alone. All very normal and human activities.

Jesus also heals people, exercises demons, calls people to follow him and does supernatural things. As he teaches and preaches, the crowds are growing and the Pharisees are starting to close ranks. Then we have the Transfiguration. If there were hints that Jesus was something more than strictly human, here we have it.

The Transfiguration is the luminous story of a mystical encounter, not only between God and God’s Beloved but also between those at the centre of the story and those who watch. Those at the centre are Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Those who watch are Peter, James and John. And then, of course, there are all of us watching all of them.

I want to focus on the watching, the listening and the closeness to God that happens in this story.

Peter, James and John are invited to accompany Jesus up the mountain where he physically changes his appearance before them. The description is that of a heavenly being, dressed in white. We see a similar description of Jesus, the Son of Man, in Revelation.

These three probably had a better understanding of who Jesus was, beyond being only human, than any of the others. Right before the Transfiguration occurs, Jesus asks Peter ‘who do you say I am?’ and Peter replies ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’. Jesus blesses Peter for this answer.

Once this acknowledgment takes place, Jesus begins to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, to suffer and die at the hands of the chief priests and the elders, and on the third day rise again.

While this admission made no complete sense to Peter, James and John, they have already decided who Jesus is. He is the Messiah. They had stayed close to Jesus throughout his ministry being the first disciples called. They stayed with Jesus through to the end; even Peter who denied three times never really leaves Jesus.

If we want to see who Jesus is, if we want to listen to Him – we need to stay close to him.

Go back for another moment to your mental picture of Jesus. How far away is he from you? Three inches, three feet, across the room, a speck in the distance?

Where we place Jesus in our thinking and in our lives says something about how close we are to him. If we want to see his face then we need to stay close. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep your ears on Jesus too.

For the second time, the disciples hear a voice from the cloud saying ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased. They first heard this at Jesus’ baptism; but this time there is an addendum, ‘listen to him’.

If we want to hear Him; then we need to stay close to Him. Jesus does speak but we are not always ready to listen to his voice. People sometimes tell me that they don’t think they have ever heard from God or had any encounter with him.

I am always curious to know how people position themselves to hear from God. Closeness to God is a thread that runs through both the Old & New Testaments.

There is an intimacy to a relationship with God; we see this as he takes aside certain people – Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John for particular purposes. Sometimes we have to be taken out of our circumstances and situations to meet with God.

The Exodus story has Moses taken up to spend an extended amount of time in God’s presence: forty days and forty nights. Moses is given instructions for the building of the ark of the Covenant and laws and commandments for the people of Israel whom he was called to lead.

Moses reappears in the Transfiguration story as representing the Old Testament law that is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. Throughout the Old Testament God is hidden because he is too glorious to be seen by his people. They could not survive in all that glory.

I saw someone at the airport this past week after a few months. I knew she had left her job and was not well that last time I saw her. On Thursday I could not believe that change in her – she looked fantastic, different. Her opening line to me was ‘Sue, I found God again’ and she shared the most amazing story about her return to church after many years. She was recently baptised, is attending an Alpha Course and knows that she is in the process of being healed. She has been transformed, transfigured by meeting the risen Jesus.

It is through Jesus that we can stand in the glory of God, that we can be transformed. The God that is hidden in the Old Testament is revealed and exposed in the person of Jesus in the New.

It is in the Transfiguration that we are reminded of greatness and otherness of Jesus and of God which is helpful as we head into Lent. We need reminding that Jesus is more than our thoughts or images of Him.

I think that many Christians try to reduce him down, make him fit into our lives, constrain him to our view of the world. We easily dismiss Him when he doesn’t do or act how we want him to.

On Transfiguration Sunday we come to the end of another liturgical season. We have spent time with the people who experienced Epiphany (the wise men, Mary & Joseph, Simeon & Anna). We now prepare for the long darkness of Lent. We do not yet know what mountains and valleys lie ahead. We cannot predict how God will speak, and in what guise Jesus might appear.

We can trust in this: whether on the brightest mountain, or in the darkest valley, Jesus is with us. Even as he blazes with holy light, his hand remains warm and solid on our shoulders. Even when we’re on our knees in the wilderness, he whispers, “Do not be afraid.”
So listen to the ordinary. Scan the horizon. Keep listening. Keep looking. It is good for us to be here.

2nd before Lent: Worry?! What me?

8/2/26

2nd Sunday Before Lent 

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Matthew 6:25-34

Sometimes when I walk through the churchyard I think about all of the deceased who are resting in peace around us. I wonder about their worries and how they have now all come to an end. Nothing like a little chastening from the great beyond to give perspective to the current worries! 

A considerable worry is the way that people are being treated across the world. Today is ‘Racial Justice Sunday’ which marks the 32nd anniversary of the racially-motivated murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence in Eltham, south-east London. This is to be a time for all churches to remember, reflect and respond to the importance of racial justice, and an opportunity to give thanks for the gift of human diversity and commit to ending racial discrimination. I am worried I haven’t done anything about this and have not paid very much attention to this real and pressing need in our society.    

We live in a worried world and we always have; probably much more worried now than we have ever known. What can we do to combat our worldly worries? Hopefully this morning there are a few useful suggestions. 

How many of you worry about things that don’t ever happen? I think a lot of people tend to worry about things that won’t ever happen. Could not possibly happen – but it might. So worry about it! Let’s throw that on the pile too! 

The Old Testament reading for today is Genesis chapter 1 & 2 which tells the story of creation. I deliberately chose Genesis to help us take a grander view of the world. Whatever we make of the Genesis account of creation, we are given a view of God that is huge. 

God the creator of everything who made something out of nothing, brought order to chaos, called things into being and they were. God saw that everything he did was good. The big things like the wind and water, light and darkness, sea and sky right down to seeds to birds to the things that creep along the ground. God took his time to do all these things.

Seven times in the creation story we are told we come from a God who sees. God steps back from his work and he looks, he notices each tiny piece. We also come from a God who creates new things. On each of the six days in creation, God made something new. 

He still does today! We wake up every day and there are new things in the world. The snowdrops and daffodils, the tiny buds on the trees. Nothing goes unnoticed. God’s mercies are new every morning. God is also big enough to take on our worries, our cares. Cast your cares on him.

As Christians we need to continually learn and re-learn to trust in the providence of God. Jesus uses the birds of the air and the lilies of the field as an example. Birds and lilies cannot provide for themselves. Birds neither sow nor reap. Lilies cannot toil nor spin but are beautifully made. We are of more value to God than these.

Matthew 6 will hopefully soothe our worried souls. This is part of the wider Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is addressing a crowd of people for whom worry was evidently a part of life too. Jesus is speaking to the practical needs of food, drink, clothing and housing. Very real issues to an impoverished crowd. Very real issues to many people today.

Jesus is trying to give his listeners some perspective on their worries by giving them a bigger picture of life. Is life not more than food and the body more than clothing? We are of value to God; more than the birds are and he looks after them.

If we can believe in our great value to God, it frees us from much worry. I’m not sure many things compare to the challenge of ceasing to worry. Maybe one reason why it is hard to stop worrying is because we have so many prime opportunities to practise. Yet we will never overcome worry by eliminating reasons to worry. It does free up time and space to get on with living.

One of my Grandmothers was of Mennonite German descent and she had a saying that loosely and more politely translated from low-German to English was: ‘don’t wee before the water comes.’ What she meant is that we are not to get anxious before there is something to get anxious about.

Jesus would tell us that when these situations arise, and they will, we are to go to him. Jesus sums up the futility of worry in verses 25 & 26; we cannot add a minute to our life by worrying. The paradox is that there will always be something to worry about.  

Simply put, worry is not particularly helpful. Even when we seem to worry about ‘important things’; even when we worry in the name of love it will accomplish nothing. 

Well then, what are we supposed to do?! It seems that we need to change our perspective by seeking the kingdom of God. How do you do that? A starting point may be to learn to turn our worry effort into prayer. Have a conversation with God; that is what prayer effectively is. He already knows what we need. Prayer is the way to access those needs, to build a relationship with the one who created us. 

Is it possible to reframe our worries into hopeful waiting by seeking the kingdom of God? I hope so! There are endless things to worry about, no question. Worrying will not eliminate the things we worry about. It will not add any hours to our lives. Seeking God and his kingdom, remembering we are part of something bigger that also waits to be free gives hope. This will add eternity to our lives and that is well worth waiting for. 

I am going to end with a poem by American poet Mary Oliver… 

I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?

Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?

Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And I gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.

Epiphany 3: Conversion of St Paul

Tintoretto’s Conversion of St Paul

25/1/26

Conversion of St Paul
Acts 9:1-22
Galatians 1:11-16
Matthew 19:27-30

I don’t know about you, but I love a good conversion story! For a few years I attended Holy Trinity Brompton in London, the home of the Alpha Course. It was my sending parish for ordination; I am deeply grateful for the time that I spent there. After an Alpha Course finished, Nicky Gumbel would interview people who’d just taken the course during a church service. I heard some fantastic and shocking stories about the lives of ordinary people being changed through encountering Jesus. Nicky would inevitably ask each person, ‘What difference has Jesus made to your life?’

At this point voices would begin to shake, eyes would well up, the insides of the mouth would be sucked in. Some of the most common answers were ‘I know that I am loved’, ‘I am a more peaceful person’, ‘My perspective on life has changed’.

Some of these stories were extreme: addictions being broken in an instant, physical healings were witnessed, relationships long thought broken were restored. Some people prayed the ‘God if you are real, show me’ prayer and immediately received confirmation that He is indeed real and very much present with them.

This included experiences from the most violent of men and women. People in the prison system encountering Jesus, having very dramatic encounters with the Holy Spirit and being totally changed and turned around. Many of whom have gone on to do amazing things with their lives only by the grace and power of God.

It is so reassuring to know that Jesus is not only for the quite ordinary ‘good people’ but also the violent offenders. Many of whom are so broken and damaged. It should give us hope!

Paul, then-known-as-Saul would fall into the latter category; he was not a good man. Saul’s religiousness did not make him good as he and his other religious friends were attempting to eliminate the newly established church. They did not manage that but had success in dispersing it. The dispersion meant that the gospel was spread far beyond Jerusalem. This is why Saul was travelling to Damascus that particular day. The Christian presence was growing in Damascus and Saul was going to make sure he stopped it.

Religion and faith are not the same thing! Sometimes it helps to clarify that in our thinking, certainly I need to. People can be very hostile to religion and in some cases, quite rightly so. When I talk to people about the Christian faith I try to focus on the relational aspect of it. The love of God and Jesus, His creation of us rather than the rules and facts. What I notice is that many people, including Christians, speak in a language of religion. ‘My religion believes this or that, these are the rules/expectations.’ Nothing about love or relationship or knowing God.

This is where I struggle with other religions; the lack of personal relationships. Worshipping something or someone that I do not know nor am even encouraged to understand, does not do much for me. Neither does following a set of rules or trying to live to some expectation without knowing who is behind it or what it leads to.

This is the kind of religion that Saul was living out. Following rules rather than relationships. Rules without relationships make us hard, unloving, unkind and inconsiderate. In the extremes it leads to violence and murder as in the case of Saul.

This might not have been Paul’s original intent; it is certainly not the intent of the Jewish faith. But left to human devices this is where it can end up. I think that God is horrified and deeply saddened by what has been done in his name. I know that I have contributed to that in my sin and shortcomings.

Saul did not like Jesus at the beginning; but he did not know Jesus! He had never met him…but he soon would. The most amazing, unbelievably confounding thing is that God still wants to know us and wants for us to know him. He loves us. Loves me, you, the most violent of offenders, the most ordinary of people.

‘Saul, why don’t you like me?’ What a haunting question! I have read the ‘Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?’ as read this morning many times. But ‘Saul, why don’t you like me?’ gives this a whole different feel.

Maybe it comes from my desire to be liked? Does anyone else like to be liked?

Think about a person that you don’t like for a moment. What is it about them that you don’t like? What if they came up to you and said ‘Helen, why don’t you like me?’ Could you answer them? Would you?

How can you avoid it? Love. If we can love people it should matter less if we like them or not because love is greater than liking. Liking someone certainly makes loving easier. But Christian love is not always easy. Paul knew this and expressed it so beautifully in 1 Corinthians 13.

Do you always like Jesus? Sometimes it is hard when we don’t understand why things happen the way they do. Saul’s active dislike for Jesus is about to be rectified!

As God so often does, he uses other people to help fulfil his purposes. Ananias was that person for Saul. Ananias was one of the growing number of Christians in Damascus who received a vision in which Saul is identified and located. Ananias is asked to take care of Saul.
What a difficult task that must have been!
Have you ever been an Ananias to someone?

There will be times in our Christian journeys when we will be asked to do difficult if not impossible things. We have a choice to make: we can say yes or no. I think that if we know Jesus then we are more likely to say yes. It is our obedience that is required not our ability to predict the future and risk assess.

We can trust and take courage that He will be with us. Right beside us, to lead and guide. What is asked might be difficult or beyond what we think we are capable of. That’s okay!

Saul went on to live an extraordinary life and became known as Paul. Paul demonstrated and experienced reconciliation, seeking and showing Christ’s light, keeping up courage, trusting and not being afraid, keeping up his strength, hospitality, transformation and giving and receiving generously throughout his ministry. These are a few of the ways that Jesus made a difference in his life.

What difference has Jesus made in your life? That is the question for today. Whether your conversion was big (like Saul to Paul) or a more low-key affair (like many of us), Jesus meets with us in the way we need him to – he is very good at getting our attention! Whether we know it or not. Jesus should make a difference! He did for Paul.

Think again about why you might not like Jesus. Do I really know him? The Christian journey is very much about learning to know and love God. To recognize Him in the people we meet and the circumstances we find ourselves in. He is there!

Sometimes we will be asked to do difficult things by God. He will be with us. Jesus was with Ananias as he went to find Saul and restore his vision despite knowing the awful things he had done to Christians. As we celebrate the conversion of Paul today, let’s celebrate our conversions too and the difference that Jesus makes.

Epiphany 2: Who are you really?

Vaccaro, Andrea; The Infant Christ with the Infant Saint John the Baptist; The Bowes Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-infant-christ-with-the-infant-saint-john-the-baptist-45149

2nd Sunday of Epiphany
18/1/26

Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42

In the Epiphany season we are encouraged to look, see and find afresh. The wise men saw a star, followed it and found Jesus, King Herod saw a threat and tried to eliminate it.

In John’s Gospel this morning, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him – two days in a row! John called those around to look and see the Lamb of God. The Christian life is a continual cycle of looking, seeing and finding. It is part of what we are called to do.

It is rather fitting that the first recorded question Jesus asks his disciples is ‘what are you looking for?’ I think it is still a relevant question for us today too. In terms of your faith, what are you looking for? In those deep places within, what are the desires and drives of your faith?

As we move into a new year what are you hoping for, expecting, asking for, looking for in your Christian life? Anything? Nothing? Same Same? Something? Do you know? It is worth giving some time this week to ponder the question as though Jesus was sitting in front of you and asking ‘what are you looking for out of your faith?’

It is not an easy question. Fear not if it has thrown you already! The disciples gave a rather lame answer to Jesus. The best they could come up with was ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ As though Jesus was asking them if they had lost their keys or a jumper. Jesus’ question is much deeper than that. The disciples had just heard John the Baptist’s exclamation of ‘here is the Lamb of God!’ and had started to follow Jesus; at least physically follow Jesus if not yet spiritually.

‘Who are you really?’ is more likely the question the first disciples was trying to ask. The disciples, as followers of Judaism, would have been waiting for the Messiah.

The reading from Isaiah this morning is among the oldest and best known parts of the Old Testament. There are 4 passages in Isaiah known as the Servant Songs. These Songs introduce and share the profound idea of salvation through suffering. This was not how people thought about suffering or salvation at that time. If you suffered you had done something wrong; think the Book of Job.

The identity of the servant is revealed gradually from song to song but it is still concealed. In Isaiah 49, the servant speaks for the first time in his own voice and in a very individual way. He has been chosen by God to carry on the mission of Israel where Israel had failed.

The mission was to restore the people of God (the Jews). God is going to give the servant as a light to the nations, that salvation may reach to the end of the earth. This means to everyone – not only the Jews.

If the disciples recalled any of these passages, it would have been an overwhelming experience and would most certainly require something of them. Jesus’ answer also required something of the disciples as it was an invitation to ‘come and see’.

So they went and saw where Jesus was staying and spent the whole day with him. What a day that would have been! The disciples obviously saw something that day that changed them forever. If the answer to ‘what are you looking for?’ ends up being ‘come and see’, will you be willing to go and see?

What about this year?

How about you as a person? Are you looking for more life? Time? Money? Health? Belonging? Certainty? Affirmation? Consolation?

Jesus’ invitation to come and see is an invitation to leave our comfortable places, an invitation to challenge what we think we know and change our perspectives. Come and see is an approach to life that is expansive, dynamic and exposes us to new experiences and ideas. When Jesus offers this invitation it is to be fully seen and fully loved by the one who created us.

Like all invitations that come to us, we have the option to turn it down. To stay where we are and not see anything new. We have a choice of what we look for, what we prioritise.

When Jesus looks at us, He sees our deepest desires, hungers, curiosities, needs and wants. He saw it in those first disciples and called out to them. Jesus is still calling us now. As followers of Jesus we are to take the braver path, the follow where He is leading us.


Baptism of Christ

11/1/2026
Isaiah 42:1-9
Matthew 3:13-end

Happy New Year! Christmas is officially over. It is not just because Easter Creme Eggs have appeared in the shops! I find the transition from Christmas to Epiphany a bit jarring. One minute, we’re gazing at a swaddled baby. Next, we’re whizzing past a toddler, an array of gift-bearing Magi, a young family fleeing to Egypt, a twelve-year-old boy in a temple, and a mother, pondering all these things in her heart. And today we are standing on the banks of the Jordan River, waiting in line with Jesus watching John the Baptist baptise people who believed his message.

Epiphany starts with the visitation of the Wise Men to Joseph, Mary and Jesus. The significance is that this visit sent the clear message that Jesus came for everyone – not only the Jewish people. The revelation, this epiphany, was a life changing event for them and for us.

Over the next few weeks we will look at the epiphany moments of significant Biblical characters. Today we look at Jesus’ baptism.

Three of the four Gospels recounts the baptism of Jesus with varying degrees of detail. Matthew 3 begins with John calling for repentance with urgency and harshness; accusing the religious elite of being a brood of vipers and hypocrites before Jesus appears.

Mark has a shortened version of Matthew.

Luke has an even shorter version with no mention of John doing his baptism.

John’s gospel alludes to Jesus’ baptism but rather strongly alludes to it.

Up to this point, John has been calling people to prepare themselves to meet the Messiah when he comes. This involved confession and repentance of sin through the water of baptism. This was also a temporary measure and John knows it. When Jesus arrived at the river that day, the baton was passed.

Jesus was not being baptised for repentance or salvation; he was being baptised into ministry. See the picture for a moment – the crowd of people having confessed their sins and then standing in the river to be baptised. Then Jesus comes along after they’ve made their confession.

Jesus and John standing in the Jordan. Jesus is baptised; he was drenched in the same waters where they had confessed their sins. This is all about symbolism but do you see Jesus almost wearing the sins they had confessed in those waters?

In the waters of baptism our sin is washed away through the work of the Holy Spirit – this is the baptism that Jesus offers us. The crowd who were listening to John that day were full of expectation. They had heard John preaching about a baptism of repentance, probably not easy to listen to. John had previously referred to his listeners as a brood of vipers!

He was not preaching a message of fluff and ‘just be a good person’, or ‘as long as you don’t hurt anyone else’. John was preparing them not for salvation but for repentance, he was preparing them to encounter Jesus, the only one who could bring them salvation.

Sin is significant. It has a significant impact on your life and those around you.

Beth Moore: I believe they (the people being baptised that day) were quite specific confessing their sins. In all likelihood they were crying out these confessions, maybe even wailing them. They may have been weeping over their sins. Then came Christ. We know He was not coming to be baptised unto repentance. He was the spotless Lamb of God. Complete perfection. The only One who had no confession to do that day in those waters. He came for John to baptise Him.

There is power in the water of baptism. Do we live like there is? What an amazing privilege it is to be baptised. We never have to feel insignificant again. We are called by name into the deep waters of baptism where He is always with us. He took on our sin and paid the price for us.

After Jesus was baptised, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. The voice of God ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ This little glimpse of heaven! Jesus was about to be taken into the wilderness for his 40 days of temptation. I would like to believe that the sound of that voice stayed with him.

The voice that called down from heaven is the same voice that calls our name. He is with us when we pass through the waters and the rivers and in the deep waters of baptism, we are significant; and we should be expectant.

Happy New Year!