Rev elations

The current debates about welfare got me thinking this week about how much we are all worth. Some of us it seems are much more valuable than others; some of us deserve vast sums of money, status and power, whilst others deserve nothing. At the heart of the Christian faith however is the Good News that God values each and every person exactly the same: we are all equally loved and valued by God. This radical aspect of the Christian faith can challenge us in all sorts of ways: God loves the multi-millionaire; God loves the person out of work struggling to keep their home; God loves the criminal in prison who murdered someone; God loves your average man or woman; God loves you and God loves me. God values each and every person and wants them to flourish; and human flourishing involves repentance and conversion. Each and everyone of us, whoever we are, needs to repent of ways and habits of life that devalue and diminish others. If one person has too much than another person doesn't...

‘He will call his sheep by name and they will follow him because they know his voice’ John10.27 Think about somebody you love who has died. Think about an action or gesture that you think captures something of their character. If you were writing their Eulogy, what one thing could you say so that everyone would think ah yes, that was? …. One of the defining elements of Jesus’ resurrection appearances was that at first his disciples and followers didn’t recognise him when he first appeared to them. It is so with Mary Magdalen; she was there at the tomb weeping, she turns round and sees a man she assumes is the gardener. But she does not know that it is Jesus. It is not until Jesus addresses her by name that she sees it is him. ‘Mary’ he says. And when he calls her, addresses her directly, only then does she know it is him.'Rabouni' she replies. Why?? Why might it be that people didn’t at first recognise Jesus? One thing it suggests to me is that seeing Jesus...

 Holy Week Reflection   The Jewish people had a framework for understanding the world and most importantly their relationship with God and with one another. They had the Law and the Prophets and yet at various points in their history they were radically challenged by the events that occurred in their communal history. The deliverance from the hands of the Egyptians became a foundational narrative for them about God’s ability to save. They were not a people unused to suffering, unused to war, unused to persecution and these experiences led them as a people to expect from their God – compassion, mercy and most importantly deliverance. They could understand their sufferings in various ways, they could attribute them to their own sin and waywardness, but at the centre of their faith was a belief that God had established a covenant with them and that he would be faithful even if they were faithless. Jesus came into this history as a possible Messiah, as the Anointed One w...