To enjoy any of the 25 series we’ve produced over the last five years, please check out our back catalogue. There are series from all across the bible, and you can either view the PDF files online or download at your leisure.
New Year 2026 – The Gospel of John
To begin the New Year, we return to the wonderful Gospel of John, starting at the beginning of chapter 11…
- Saturday 24th January: John 17:15-23 ‘That they may be one’
This week is the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Today, we skip forward a few chapters in John to honour the importance of this week, and what it means for us.
This is a subject dear to our hearts, since our team of churches in Walton is an ecumenical one: that is, we are a united community representing several Christian traditions, all committed to each other, for the glory of God. It is not an easy path: for churches like ours to function well requires a lot of grace and understanding. But the price is worth it, as I believe – and still believe! – that churches like ours are a true reflection of God’s heart, of his longing for a renewed people who truly live as one global family. This is, after all, what Jesus prays for us in today’s iconic passage.
It is tempting to join a church where people are ‘all like us’: but true discipleship calls us to go beyond our naturally limited ambitions. Christ came for all of us, and all of our sisters and brothers are precious. To be one is not to be the same, but rather to celebrate our uniqueness and diversity within a common vision that what unites us is always more than what divides us.
This is the path we have chosen. It probably won’t ever look ‘successful’, but it is precious and beautiful, and we pray that God will be merciful to us and continue to bless us.
So, let’s pray today for our church, that we might continue to celebrate our oneness, for the glory of God. But let’s also pray for our team, for churches across Milton Keynes and ultimately for churches across the world, that unity would grow. As our world seems to be ever more divided, it has never been more important for the church to be a prophetic sign of loving unity, of seeing human barriers broken down and covered over by the grace of God.
And may God grant us grace to be one, that ‘the world might know that you sent me, and have loved them, even as you have loved me’ (v23). Amen.
- Friday 23rd January – John 12:19-24 ‘The hour has come’Read more...
If you like watching thrillers, you’ll know the moment in the story when the tables turn. The heroes have their backs against the wall – but suddenly the very thing that their captors or enemies thought they had under their control is turned against them, and the heroes prevail. The idea repeats itself so often that we more or less take ...
- Thursday 22nd January – John 12:1-19 (reprise) ‘Collateral damage’Read more...
Some years ago I watched a fascinating programme about child behaviour. Ten boys and ten girls (none of whom knew each other) were each invited to a location to live under the same roof for a limited time. Their behaviour was observed by psychologists, and the aim of the programme was to show how they formed relationships and interacted.
Palm Sunday is such a familiar story to many of us; we celebrate it every year, on the Sunday before Easter Day. The image of Jesus riding on a donkey into Jerusalem is one etched into our minds, and we usually approach the day with a mixture of excitement and awe. Excitement that privations of Lent are nearly over, that the ...
- Tuesday 20th January – John 12:1-11 ‘A preparation for burial’Read more...
The beautiful story of the anointing at Bethany is also one of the most debated – at least, John’s version is. Why does he change the details? And does this cast doubt on the reliability of the bible?
Let’s tackle this head-on today. And we have to start by acknowledging that this account does appear to be a ...
- Monday 19th January – John 11:54-12:2 ‘He withdrew to the wilderness’Read more...
Today’s passage is one that can be read on two levels. In narrative terms, it forms a ‘quiet moment’ between the two emotional peaks of the dramatic raising of Lazarus (ch11) and the even more dramatic return to Jerusalem, which ultimately led to his arrest, trial, death and resurrection (ch12 onwards). Knowing that a very powerful group now wants to kill ...