Weekly Blog
Here our minister shares a weekly reflection:
Sunday, 03 August 2025 - Summer Vibes
We come across readings this week, from Ecclesiastes and the gospel of Luke, that both, in their own way, challenge some of assumptions that our consumerist society makes concerning what will make us happy.
Will we be happy when we have more money? More security? More status? Or more power and importance? The ‘teacher’ in Ecclesiastes suggests that all such things in the end are ‘vanity’. We cannot find happiness in these things alone. Jesus in the gospel of Luke points to the futility of building up our own wealth, when we might die at any moment and not have the chance to enjoy the fruits of our labour.
There is a common thread in both readings that points to the importance of living in the moment. Of course, planning for the future is important, just as looking back to the past can be helpful for us too. Yet, we are encouraged to ensure that neither the past or future overwhelms our capacity to share the love of God in the here and now.
Perhaps around the time of the summer holidays is a good opportunity for us to remember this call to be present in our relationships today. To spend time away from the pressures of work, volunteering, and worrying about the future is a helpful thing for us that helps keep things in perspective.
We also have a reminder that the kingdom of God, and the peace, justice and hope that Christ brings to us, is something that is realised in our lives today rather than it just being something that will be realised in the future.
May we have open hearts, minds, and hands, such that we can be free to live our lives participating in God’s mission today, freed from the past and not overwhelmed by potential needs of the future.
Sunday, 27 July 2025 — The Foundational Prayer
This week, in our Gospel reading we come across some familiar words, as Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray. In Luke’s account, this prayer is even shorter and to the point than the one which is used across the Christian tradition today:
Father, may your name be revered as holy.
May your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.
--Luke 11:2-4 NRSVUE
It’s a prayer that doesn’t give a magic formula (we all have to reckon with the challenge of unanswered prayer), but it gives a long-tested foundation and rootedness in the life of faith. It places us within a relationship as a child of God, with God the father. It invites us into the mission of God, as we seek after the presence of God’s kingdom, and asks for the fulfilment of basic needs. It places us in good relationship with others, as we remind ourselves in speaking this prayer that we are to forgive others as we ourselves have been forgiven. Finally, it seeks after God’s leading and
protection.
In a few short sentences, we express trust in our faithful and loving God, pledge ourselves to living restoratively, and recall the salvation that we know through living in relationship with God our loving parent. In a world that seems far removed from God’s kingdom, speaking this prayer, either alone or in a gathered church congregation, is an act of hopeful defiance, that looks for the kingdom of God to be revealed and made known today. These are only a few of the reasons why this prayer has stuck around through the centuries, providing the bedrock upon which many a life of faithful discipleship has been built. If you don’t consider yourself a good pray-er, then speaking the Lord’s prayer, even the short version in the Gospel of Luke, might be a great place from which to start.
Baptist Union statement on Gaza and Israel
As we pray for daily bread, we witness day by day the denial of daily bread and water to the Palestinian people, and a continual escalation of violence and oppression committed against them. Forgiveness and peace seem a long way off, but we shall continue to long for it day by day. The Baptist Union has issued a statement calling for an end to the horrific events that continue to unfold in Gaza. It is accessible here, and can be signed by individuals as well as churches.
Sunday, 20 July 2025 — Keeping Our Busy-ness in Perspective
In our gospel reading this week, we find Jesus receiving hospitality at the home of Mary and Martha. Mary is listening to Jesus as he speaks, whilst Martha is working away preparing the food and doing everything necessary for the comfort of her important guest.
It seems understandable then that Martha is annoyed by Mary’s inaction and lack of help. Yet Jesus once more turns our perception of a scene on its head when Martha drags him into this domestic dispute. Rather than praising Martha, he says that she is ‘worried and distracted by many things’, and that Mary has made the better choice to spend time in his presence. For those of us who take pride in offering good hospitality or seem to have the majority of household chores dumped on them, Jesus’ words are infuriating here, as Martha’s hard work appears to be unappreciated.
Yet we must place this story in context. It seems to me in some way to be a lived-out continuation of one of the themes present in the parable of the Good Samaritan. There, the priest and Levite hurry on by, seemingly blind to the important needs of the man by the side of the road as they follow the law too closely and rush to fulfil their duties in Jerusalem. Here, in the household, written in a patriarchal society, we find Martha blinkered by her worries and distractions in the home, so she misses the importance of spending time with Jesus.
There is a hyperbolic nature to the story, in that these jobs surely did need doing, but for Martha, they had become all-consuming. It seems to me that we can face similar challenges in church life. There are many jobs that need to be completed, often by volunteers, in facilitating community life, maintaining a church building, and ensuring good governance in our bureaucratic and charity law driven context. Often, this results in a few people taking on a lot of work and responsibility, for which we are very grateful, and give thanks for in our offering prayer each week in our service.
However, there is always a danger that such roles and demands on our time can become a distraction and worry, leaving us busily maintaining an organisation and its premises, whilst the presence of Christ is overlooked. It is necessary that, at times, we pause and reflect on what we are doing and ask the question of how we might most effectively serve Christ in this time and in this place. Of course, good governance, building maintenance, and the tasks of the day cannot be fully left behind, but they should be kept in perspective. We are to find our fulfilment and new identity not in our busy-ness, but through living our lives attentive to the presence of Christ and sharing in the new life that we are called into as children of God.
Sunday, 13 July 2025 — Seeking Peace for Our Neighbours in Palestine
This Sunday we encounter a familiar parable, the parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37. Jesus is approached by a lawyer, who has a good grasp of what he needs to do, in terms of loving God and loving neighbours. Yet he wants to know the limits of that love. Whom can he discount as not being his neighbour?
Jesus responds by telling the parable. The priest and the Levite hurry on by an injured man at the side of the road, leaving him for dead. A combination of a desire to keep the law (regarding purity and practice in the temple) and their desire to reach Jerusalem in effect blinkers them from the needs of the man who has been attacked. They are so focused on keeping the law that they miss this call to participate in the restorative mission of God and act compassionately to the one in need.
The Samaritan, in contrast, goes out of his way to help the injured man. He not only helps him to safety and dresses his wounds, but also ensures that ongoing care is provided for, potentially at great expense. Whereas the priest and Levite have not acted in a neighbourly fashion, the Samaritan has, and this subverts all pre-held expectations that the lawyer might have had about who is his neighbour. The neighbour is one who serves others, regardless of their ethnicity or social standing.
There are many ways in which we could apply this parable in modern day life. Perhaps you could pause in reading for a moment to think of some examples where you or others have been so focused on following the rules, upholding tradition, or on completing the task at hand, that it has led to someone in need being overlooked and left to fend for themselves.
Globally, the most pressing of such situations at present seems to be the ongoing genocidal acts of Israel in their occupation of Gaza. The international community, on the whole, has walked on by whilst over 50,000 Gazans have been slaughtered and over 2 million displaced in response to Hamas’ horrendous attack on 7 October 2023. This week the killing has continued, including a drone attack that led to with women and children being blown to pieces as they awaited medical care and food supplements outside a medical centre.
Our neighbours in Gaza may well be far removed from us, but they are in dire need of Christians the world over standing up and calling for an end to this ongoing horrific and unjustifiable slaughter and work towards a sustainable and just peace.
If the whole situation seems to complicated or difficult to engage with, then there is good news: Christian Aid have recently released a leaflet outlining the situation in Palestine and Israel, which will be available in church soon, but is also online here.
It not only explains the history and long lasting injustices, but also points to what is necessary for long term peace. As groups have done in recent times, it highlights how our government is complicit in such atrocities as it continues to fail to hold Israel to account, and still sells arms to Israel that are used to perpetuate these atrocious crimes against humanity.
Witnessing such suffering and walking on by has never been a valid option for us as followers of Jesus Christ. At a time when dissent and non-violent protest is being cracked down upon, it’s important that we speak up and join with the likes of Christian Aid as they sow seeds of hope and peace.