Tag: Paul

Bible Sunday: The Surprising Power!

26/10/25
Romans 15:1-6
Luke 4:16-24

A couple of years ago I had an interesting encounter at the Slough Police Station over a Bible. An officer was cleaning out a locker when she found a Bible. She did not know what to do with it. She came into the workroom where I was sitting and asked rather loudly what she should do with it.

Some of the answers are not repeatable in polite company, let alone church! The less offensive answers were ‘bin it – it’s a fairy tale anyway’; ‘take it to a charity shop?’; recycle it?’ One officer said something I shan’t repeat, as he said it, he turned around and saw me sitting there. He was completely shocked; I was looking rather bemused! He quickly tried to backtrack and apologise but then decided not to apologise because he believed what he said. Fair enough. I told him he did not have to apologise to me. I also did not rescue the Bible either as I was not asked for an opinion or to intervene. It sat on a filing cabinet for many months.

What I came out of that situation with was a fresh appreciation that even in a very hard, secular environment such as the Slough police station, the Bible has power. The book itself, just its presence is enough to elicit responses from people.

What do we make of the Bible? Do we just know a few quiz-like facts about it? It is a dust-collector on a bookshelf? Do the contents make us nervous? Are we unsure of how to handle it?

It is in God’s word that we encounter Him, the creator and saviour of the world. So how do we respond to God when we read the Bible? How do we treasure God and his word?

Emmanuel: I looked around the church yesterday when we were setting up for the quiz last night. I noticed something. There are no Bibles around. I am really embarrassed about this.

St Nicholas: We have a few ratty copies of the Good News Bible at the back.

Is this good enough?
I am going to suggest it is not.

I am going to suggest that the PCC’s talk about this at the next meetings.

The Bible was inspired by God for our instruction and encouragement that we might have hope. This was Paul’s explanation to the Romans. How can we know what God wants if we do not read the instructions? How can we be encouraged and have hope if we have no idea what God might be saying to us?

Luke has Jesus returning to Nazareth after being away for an unknown amount of time; maybe months or even years. Jesus returns differently to when He left. Jesus comes back after being baptised and tempted in the wilderness for 40 days and stands at the cusp of his ministry which boldly begins in the synagogue in front of the home side. A bold start that gets even bolder. Jesus is handed the scroll that not coincidentally was Isaiah, the Old Testament book containing more prophecy about him than any other. He is about to begin fulfilling some prophecy.

The congregation in the synagogue was not looking for anything out of the ordinary that day. The Jewish people had long been waiting for the Messiah to come. The good people in the relative backwater of Nazareth were waiting for Messiah too; but not expecting him that day in their midst. Not only that, how could Messiah be from the family of a local poor carpenter?!
But He was and is.

If you replace me in verses 18 and 19 with Jesus, it is difficult to see how anyone else in all of history fills this position.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me (Jesus),
Because he has anointed me (Jesus)
To bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me (Jesus) to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

This is Jesus’ chosen description of his mission; this is what He came to do. When Jesus said, ‘today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’, the meaning of ‘fulfilled’ here is ‘to fill a vessel or hollow place’. How many of us know what it is to have that hollow place? He wants to fill it now; not tomorrow or next year or when we feel better or life is back to normal. Jesus means now.

Preach the good news to the poor. This is not referring to the financially poor. These poor are those in ‘utter helplessness, complete destitution, the afflicted and distressed.’ This has wider implications than finances alone. Jesus does not want us only to subsist but thrive. Until we let Him fill our cups daily, we will only subsist.

To heal the broken-hearted. Broken-hearted means ‘to break, strike against something, to break the strength or power of someone’. This is more than a little romance gone wrong or love unrequited. This is a big break; when everything appears to be taken and hope is dwindling.

The Hebrew translation of heal ‘to mend by stitching, repair thoroughly, make whole’. Total breakage needs total healing. One stitch follows another, it takes time and can be painful.

To proclaim freedom for the captives. Notice that Jesus proclaims freedom, he did not impose it. The door of the cell may be opened but we have to walk through it. This is not just people in a physical prison; this is anything: addiction, behaviour, situation that prevents healing and captive to it.

Recovery of sight for the blind. There are many incidents of Jesus physically restoring the sight of many blind people. This is a different kind of blindness, a more serious kind of blindness. Blind here means ‘to envelop with smoke, be unable to see clearly.’ This is about clouded vision; not being able to see the light of gospel or the glory of God. Jesus came to clear our vision so we can see him clearly.

To release the oppressed. To be oppressed is to be treated harshly or unfairly by someone in authority. This release is about breaking the chains of unhealthy attachment.

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. That day in that year and at that time, those gathered in the Nazareth synagogue witnessed the embodiment of the Lord’s favour. His blessed gift of grace and love, Jesus. Year here means ‘any definite time’ and not a calendar year.

These are some of the instructions that we have been left with. They are in the book! We also find encouragement and hope, strength and wisdom to follow them. The question is: Are you curious enough to give reading the Bible a try that you would do something about it?

If we get more bibles in the churches would you take one home and start reading? There is a huge selection of books, apps, daily emails you can subscribe to and other resources to help guide you through. You do not have to do this on your own.

Like the surprised police officers in Slough and the synagogue-goers in Nazareth – there is power in the Word of God. We should want to discover it for ourselves.

Trinity 18: Attitude is Everything


19/10/25
Trinity 18

Psalm 119:97-104
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8

On Friday evening many of us attended the Farnham Maltings production of All For Your Delight at the Charlwood Village Hall. It is a charming and challenging story of three entertainers (Danny, Jojo and Yaz) on the resort-y, Butlins-y circuit who want to make it to television with their variety show of singing, dancing, games, skits, jokes, etc. Each character shares something of their story on how they got where they are. In the second act, a fourth character (Jude) appeared; a TV executive who held the power to make their dreams come true. Danny pleaded, persisted with Jude, tried to convince him to take this little show and make them stars.

In some ways it reminded me of the Gospel reading this morning, this odd little parable about faithful endurance. We have the judge with all the power and the woman, with no male relative to do her pleading at the bottom of the pecking order. By sheer persistence she gets what she wants. The judge, whose position is to administer justice, does not really care, he only wants her to go away.

Timothy needed a reminder to remain persistent. ‘Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it,’ says Paul.
Timothy has a sincere faith that has been handed down from his grandmother and mother. Yet it seems that Timothy needs a reminder to rekindle that faith that is inside him.

Timothy was to proclaim the message and ‘be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.’ Paul warns Timothy that a time is coming when people will not listen to sound doctrine but will have itching ears. Itchy ears are ears that only want to hear what they want to hear and always lead to trouble and separation. Timothy is to be faithful to the ministry he has been called to.

The thread in these readings is a call to persistence in the situations that we find ourselves. If you Google ‘persistence’ you can find a lot of catchy quotes such as:
‘Energy and persistence conquer all things’ – Benjamin Franklin
‘Persistence can grind an iron beam down into a needle’ – Chinese proverb
‘A river cuts through a rock not because of its power, but its persistence’
‘Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent’ – Steve Martin

Persistence sounds like hard work! And it is. It is not always comfortable; it does not feel good or nice much of the time either. Looking around this morning I know that we could all tell our own stories of persistence in various situations. Sometimes when persistence has paid off and sometimes when it has not. What do we do then?

Jesus asks the disciples listening to his parable a question at the very end. What faith will the Son of Man find on earth when he comes? Which sort of attitude will He find among his followers upon his return?

The judge is faithless and only wants a comfortable and convenient life. He does the right thing this time – but what about next time? Jesus told his listeners about their need to pray always and not lose heart. Maybe this judge has lost heart. For those who have experienced this maybe you lost focus, direction, care and attention. Do the least amount required to get to the finish.

Or will we have the attitude of the widow? She is determined that the right thing be done and will not give up until she gets it. She has purpose and clarity, she is alive and aware of her needs and they are urgent. She is not concerned with her low status, she ignores the rules on how to approach the judge, she just goes on and on and on.

What is it going to be? Convenient and lazy or faithfulness and persistence? The choice is ours! Will we remain faithful?

At the end of All For Your Delight, Jude the TV executive does not make Danny, Jojo and Yaz stars. He does not give them what they so dearly desire. Instead, Jude is the one who makes the change. He sees where he has gone wrong. The great executive returns to the stage at the invitation of the others. Attitudes have changed.

Like Timothy, we all need a reminder to be faithful and persist in the work we have been called to do and to remember who is faithful to us. Look back to the early examples of faithfulness. Beware of losing heart and gaining cynicism and disregard. Hang in and hang on your purpose and keep coming to God.

Trinity 6: The Lord’s Prayer

July 27th, 2025

Colossians 2:6–15, 16–19
Luke 11:1-13

School is finally out for summer! Yeah for the teachers, parents and children! However, the church is in a teaching season as we read and study the (hopefully) familiar gospel stories about Jesus. We are at summer school!

The lectionary spent the last three weeks in Luke 10. It started with Jesus sending out the 70 ahead of him to find labourers for the harvest. Next, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan which challenges us on what it is to give and receive mercy and consider who our neighbour is. Luke 10 ends with Martha and Mary; that great lesson in balancing work and activity with the need to sit and listen at Jesus’ feet. Each of these encounters give us examples of the activity and instructions needed to spread the kingdom and show God’s love.

The start of Luke 11 takes us deeper into spending time with God. It starts with Jesus at prayer. This is the first and best way to get to know God; spending time with Him. There is obviously a quality about Jesus’ prayers and praying that provoked curiosity in the disciples. They would have seen and heard Jesus pray many times before. Finally someone is brave enough to ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.

Jesus’ gracious response is to teach them a prayer which we now recognise as the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus teaches the disciples to talk to God and to bring the whole mess and muddle of our lives, the mundane, the exciting, the big and small, to God.

That is what prayer is; talking to God. Talking. Not begging, pleading, negotiating, bargaining, hiding, pretending all is well when it is not. We have been shown work and activity, sitting and listening, and now we have a guide for talking to God.

Who taught or told you to pray? I remember as little girls, my sister and I being taught to pray by our Nana and our parents. The first prayer that we learned was the classic 18th century children’s prayer – ‘Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep’.

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take
If in the morning light I wake
Lay down my feet
That I may take the path of love
for thy dear sake
God Bless Mommy, Daddy, Susie, Jenny, etc.
And it always ended with ‘God bless all the little children in the world. Amen.’

I realise this is a combination of the many versions (thanks to Google) but this is the one that I know. For many of us, the Lord’s Prayer might be our default prayer. Much like ‘Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep’, the wording can be different and we can use it at different times.

My version of the Lord’s Prayer is said with ‘thy’ and ‘thine’ and ‘trespasses’ not sins. Again, family influence comes into play: my Mom’s upbringing on the old Anglican Book of Common Prayer and my Dad’s love of the King James’ Bible. The language of the Lord’s Prayer is simple and intimate as it affirms the fatherhood of God. We are cared for as his children; we are reminded that God is holy and we must reflect this in our words and worship. It ends with addressing our physical, spiritual and safety needs.

The simplicity of the wording makes it easy to slide in our own needs and requests as there is a space for every plea, cry and desire; without need of particularly eloquent language. It is talking to God and bringing our concerns, which I may remind you, He already fully knows about. You are not fooling Him by withholding! I often think that God uses our prayers to bring needs and issues to our attention.

Luke 11 also reminds us of the need for persistence in prayer. I have always found the ‘Parable of the Friend at Night’ in verses 5-8 rather annoying. Just get up and give him a loaf of bread.

Jesus uses this story of the irritating friend to get the disciples to see prayer as something basic, day-to-day. Prayer does not need to be carefully sanitised or scripted. Nor do we have to worry about bringing to God only what we think he will accept. Back to: God already knows.

Prayer can come with a great sense of frustration. Has this been true in your prayer life and in the situations that have required persistence? There is always ‘work in the wait’ and a sweetness to both the prayers that have been answered through persistence and those that still await an answer. As uncomfortable as it may be we are to persist.

Jesus is encouraging the disciples to bombard God with requests, tell him everything, talk constantly to him, involve him in every part of life. We are not to limit God and prayer to Sunday mornings in a particular pew with particular words. The more we communicate with God, the more we learn about him and the more we learn about ourselves in relation to God.

In verse 9, ‘so I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.’
These verses are not about the prayers we pray for the stuff, the answers, the problems that we want God to respond to. Many people feel misled when they read these verses and then ask God to heal their loved one dying of _____ (and nothing short of that), or for a million dollars or a million other things.

When these prayers are not answered in the way that is expected, it is all God’s fault. They then give up on God or turn away from faith as they have created a vision of God as a genie in the sky waiting to grant wishes. Their view of God is fundamentally flawed.

The asking, seeking, knocking that Jesus is talking about is in relation to pursuing God, talking to God, learning more about God and who we are in relation to Him. It is about seeking God’s will and not solely our convenience.
Ask for God to come into your life and He will be given to you.
Search for God and you will find Him.
Knock on the door of heaven and it will be opened for you.

Paul, in Colossians, is imploring that young community to live their lives in Christ. Stay rooted and grounded to be built up and get established. We all have needs, wants, struggles and desires, both secretly and publicly, in all areas of our lives that we (I hope) would want God to be our ever present help in trouble.
Paul goes on to warn them of all the empty deceit happening around them. That hasn’t changed! There is so much deceit and empty philosophy in the world today and it is so attractive. Ultimately it will fail. Jesus is the only one who will ever fill us. We can be alive together with him.

Finally, Luke reminds us that our Father in heaven will give us good gifts, more than we can ask or imagine. It is all for the asking.

How is your prayer life at the moment? Do you?
How is it going? Need a change or boost?
If not – why not?

Do you want to do anything about it?
Maybe you need to want to want to do something about it!

Talk to God. It is not eloquent or fancy, not just an activity for Sunday.

I am going to leave some space for a few minutes to do just that. You are not bound to your seats – get up. For some people sitting in a pew is not conducive to prayers. Kneel if you’ve got the knees for it.

Trinity Sunday: Living in Relationship

Psalm 8

Romans 5:1-5

John 16:12-15

Today we are remembering Trinity Sunday. This is, of course, the first Sunday after Pentecost and we are meant to celebrate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. The three-person Godhead. Celebrating foundational Christian doctrine might not sound all that exciting, but it is!

The church year now opens up and rolls along until Advent as the big festivals are now complete. It is good, I think, to remind ourselves about the essence of our Christian faith after the events and activities of Lent, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. 

It has been good to remind myself of this after the events of this week at Gatwick with the crash of Air India 171. Where does our hope and help come from? 

Psalm 8 is set for today which we just sung (St Nicholas); read at Emmanuel. 

O Lord, our governor,
    how glorious is your name in all the world!

Your majesty above the heavens is praised;

2 Out of the mouths of babes at the breast. 

you have founded a stronghold against your foes, That you might still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have ordained,

4 what is man, that you should be mindful of him; The son of man, that you should seek him out? 

5 You have made him little lower than the angels, and crown him with glory and honour.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

7 all sheep and oxen, even the wild beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, And whatsoever moves in the paths of the sea.

9 O Lord, our governor,
    how glorious is your name in all the world!

Sadly for many people, the name of God is not exalted. Quite the opposite. Psalm 8 reminds us to consider the heavens, lift our eyes from our own small lives and issues, joys and sorrows. Consider the work of the moon and the stars, the work of God’s fingers. It is not a coincidence that Psalm 8 is the first hymn of praise in the Psalter (the book of Psalms).  

Even in the deepest trauma and tragedy, we can praise God. When we are confused and lack understanding – praise God. Consider his works. To understand the Trinity, praise is a right place to start. 

The Church has marked Trinity Sunday since the mid 800’s. It was instituted to speak against the heresies of the early church as they worked out how to understand the concept of one God in three elements. Three does in fact equal one! 

Reference to the Trinity is woven through our services, every time I or we say ‘in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; the entire Christian story is retold in the Eucharist prayer before Communion, we repeat it each week in the Creeds. 

Central to the Christian faith that God is Father, Son and Spirit; all in one. It is difficult to understand and at some point needs to be believed as part of the mystery of God. But don’t simply jump to that conclusion as tempting as it is!

In our Gospel reading this week, Jesus tells his disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. Read and understand this sentence with the utmost kindness and patience from Jesus. He knows what we do and do not understand. The Spirit was sent to guide us slowly, in forbearance to come to understand the deeper truth of all that Jesus said. 

This is a safe place to start. God never burdens us with more than we can understand nor does He push us into belief or faith. The Spirit was sent to guide us as long as we are wanting to be led in seeking the truth. 

The late Pope Francis wrote, “The Holy Spirit will never tell you that on your journey everything is going just fine. He will never tell you this, because it isn’t true. No, he corrects you; he makes you weep for your sins; he pushes you to change, to fight against your lies and deceptions, even when that calls for hard work, interior struggle and sacrifice… The Holy Spirit, correcting you along the way, never leaves you lying on the ground: He takes you by the hand, comforts you and constantly encourages you.”

In the work of the Trinity, we see that God is fluid, dynamic, never sitting still. Many people, young and old, believe and live like God is some distant and dusty old Man sitting on a cloud or living in a box or in a church building. There is something comforting in the idea that God is sitting still, containable but yet desperately boring. 

God is on the move, always surprising and wanting us to join in with what he is doing. Unity is at the heart of the Trinity, but unity does not mean rigidity. Many Christians get it so wrong with holding on to ideas that God is mean or distant or it is just about the rules or even worse – irrelevant to life in this time and season. 

God is diverse and thankfully not limited to our imaginations. We are all created in the image of God yet express ourselves differently. It follows then that God’s nature is diverse too. Jesus is the beloved Son, born of Mary and sent to us in human form. He consistently points to the Father who sent him to be with us. We see that the Holy Spirit was sent to journey with us, move with us every day and in every way.   

Finally, we see that God is communal. We were made for relationships, for community. We were not hatched from eggs, like separate entities. We were born into families (for better or for worse), hopefully we have made friends along the way, got married or not, had children or not and have found community along the way and built relationships.

For those of you who are or have been married, imagine for a moment that after your marriage service, you went off on your separate ways. 

You would still be married but you would never know the fullness of your marriage relationship while apart. If you want a full relationship with your spouse, then you need to be together, live in community with each other. The same goes for God, if you want a full relationship then you need to live together with him, He needs to be invited in. God also comes with roommates, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It is a full and glorious house.

St Paul wrote his letter to the Romans before he ever visited Rome. In this letter, Paul laid out the basic elements of Christian teaching. Paul had a dramatic encounter with Jesus after the resurrection and was blinded for a time. Through his blindness he came to see the Risen Jesus and was forever changed. Paul wants the Christians in Rome to know and believe they have everything they need in the grace and love of God through the Holy Spirit. 

Endure, Paul says, go the distance, it is worth it. Often endurance means we need to forgo the right of convenience, the right to give up when it gets too much. At the centre of this endurance is love. God is love. At the heart of the Trinity is love; deep, unflinching, unfaltering, life-long and life-giving love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that is extended to us. 

Do not worry about what you cannot bear right now. Work at understanding that you are simply loved by God as you are. The Trinity tells us that there is more love and life to come, we are part of a bigger story. We are children of the Trinity, always invited and deeply loved. The power of the Trinity will change our lives, lead and guide us to become the people we were created to be, guide us to unity and community. May our lives reflect the beauty and truth of the Trinity.   

Easter 6: Loved to Action & Obedience

“St Paul Meeting Lydia of Thyatira” by Edward Irvine Halliday. (1902-84)

Acts 16:9-15

John 5:1-9 

Easter 6 

25/5/25

If you can remember back to last week, I ended my sermon with, ‘The old commandment is to love one another. The new commandment is to love one another as Jesus has loved you. It is by this that everyone will know that we are disciples. It is stunning to think that if the first disciples had not bothered to do this, then the church likely would have shrivelled and died on the vine 2000 years ago. This love came to make all things new.

The task remains the same – we are to love as we have been loved. Go into the world, into work or families and to neighbours and show them God’s love.’

In this week’s readings we see how love is shown by Paul and his companions to Lydia in the city of Philippi and by Jesus to the man laying at the Pool of Bethesda. We also see how these people respond to God’s love. Lydia and her family were baptised and the man picked up his mat and began to walk. This is the focus for today; how we respond to God’s love.

Lydia, the merchant from Thyratira, was on a business trip 300 miles from home. It is not clear if she sold purple dye or purple cloth or what exactly she did. Whatever it was, she was marketing a luxury product to the wealthy elite. Lydia was clearly a woman of means, agency and authority. There are no men in this story — no husband, father, son, or brother, for example. Maybe she was divorced or widowed. After her own conversion and baptism, Lydia commandeered her entire household to be baptised, meaning she employed servants. Perhaps her “household” also included extended family members.

Lydia had all the trappings of success. Yet she was found outside the city gate next to the river for a prayer meeting with a group of other women. She listened to what Paul was saying and the Lord opened her heart. The Lord only opens hearts that are ready to receive.

She then opened her home, a sign of wealth, as it was big enough to accommodate Paul and his companions (at least three are named). Immediately after Lydia’s conversion, Paul mentions other prominent women who came to believe. Lydia is honoured by being the first European convert to Christianity and her house was the first church in Europe.

What looks like a chance encounter on the river bank was a divine appointment between a woman with an open and seeking heart meeting a man whose life had been turned upside down by the resurrected Jesus.

In contrast to Lydia’s story, we have the man at the Pool. He is unnamed and of no significance to anyone. No family, no friends and this has taken a psychological and social toll as well as physical.

This is reflected in his non-answer to Jesus’ question; do you want to get well? I think the more pointed question that Jesus is asking is: do you really want to get well. Or are you happy with the way things are; sitting pool-side with the feeble excuse that someone always gets in before you.

We know that to be in any way physically or mentally flawed in 1st century Jerusalem was a bad thing. In the absence of family to care for you would be destitute and assigned to a life of poverty. Notice that Jesus does not wait for an improved answer from the man. He tells him to ‘stand up, take your mat and walk.’ He does and begins to walk.

There is no further mention of him in the Gospel which leaves us hanging. What happened to him? Where did he walk to? Was there anyone waiting for him anywhere?

Life off the mat was likely going to be much harder for him. Literally no more lying around and waiting for others to help him out. He was going to have to learn to live in a whole new way.

Both of these stories demonstrate that no one is beyond the reach of God’s love and healing. There is no one He will not go to and/but there needs to be a response. Lydia’s heart was open and she used her gifts and talents of hospitality to help Paul. The man was obedient to Jesus’ instruction to get up and off the mat. Both their lives were changed in their encounters.

How do we respond to God’s love? We are to have faith, belief that Jesus is the Risen Christ, the Son of God and that salvation comes through Him alone. We are also called to a life of service, of action and obedience that reflects that love. It might be a public life like Lydia with influence, wealth and authority; or maybe in obscurity like the man formerly of the Pool of Bethesda.

Either way, we are found and loved to action and obedience.

Eternal God, who gives good gifts to all people, and who grants the spirit of generosity: Give us, we pray you, hearts always open to hear your word, that, following the example of your servant Lydia, we may show hospitality to those who are in any need or trouble; through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.