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Summer 2026: ‘Wildfires’ – The Holy Spirit, from Genesis to Revelation
This summer, we’ll immerse ourselves in the person and work of the Holy Spirit: from the first verses of Genesis, to the last verses of Revelation. Often the ‘forgotten’ part of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is there at Creation, and also at the climax of the New Creation, throughout history revealing the reality of God’s presence and power to the world. So, let’s celebrate the Wildfire of the Holy Spirit, and continue to welcome His presence in our lives today!
- Tuesday 11th August – Hebrews 9:11-15 ‘Spiritual cleansing’
I love meat. As it happens, I love fruit, nuts and vegetables too, and will happily live as a vegetarian for half the week. But I can’t go the whole hog – pardon the pun. Walk me down the meat aisle of the supermarket, past the speciality sausages and the cuts of beef, and I can’t help but be drawn to them.
But like most people today, I don’t really appreciate what it takes for me to eat the meat that’s on my plate. I don’t have to kill the animal myself, to watch its life blood drain away. I suspect if I did, I would feel very differently. Does that make me a hypocrite? Possibly!
As a culture we are now shielded from the true cost of what it means to eat flesh. Animals are ‘sacrificed’ in special places, far away from where we live, so what we experience is sanitised – an inanimate object packaged in cling film, like most of the other food we eat.
Such a removal of the reality of what it means to use animals in this way makes it much harder for us than it used to be to read the accounts of the Jewish sacrificial system. They feel strange to our ears now, even barbaric. And yet, it’s not so very far from how many of us relate to the same sorts of animals today.
And the system had a divine purpose. The life of the animals was given for ours. They won our forgiveness, our rightness with God. By their wounds, we are healed. The book of Hebrews takes this starting point and shows over 13 chapters how Jesus fulfilled and completed the whole system, so that it was no longer required. Christ was both a perfect priest (mediator between God and humans) and perfect sacrifice, winning through his one sacrificial death forgiveness and rightness with God for all people, for all time.
Or as this passage puts it: ‘he entered the most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, so obtaining eternal redemption’ (v12). What needed constant new sacrifices under the old system is now completed for all time – this is such a radical change that the author reminds us that this is a new covenant between God and humanity, which guarantees us an eternal inheritance (v15).
But how did this perfect transaction take place? Well, it involves the whole Trinity of God – Jesus offers himself to the Father ‘through the eternal Spirit’ (v14). The Spirit effected the offering of Christ to God – how amazing is that? We rightly praise Jesus for what he did for us, and God the Father for offering his only son, but very rarely do we give the Spirit any credit. And yet, Jesus’ sacrifice is offered to God through the Spirit. Wow!
Truthfully I’m not sure I’ve ever thought about that till today – which reminds us that with God there are always new treasures to find, new truths to inspire us. The Spirit’s task is to teach us all things (John 14:26): may God reveal a beautiful new truth to you today that captures your heart and fills you with joy.
- Thursday 15th January – John 11:43-48 ‘If we let him go on like this…’Read more...
Light attracts some creatures and repels others. We see this all through nature; and it’s not just the unappealing creatures who prefer the darkness: think of owls or leopards – beautiful animals, however deadly they are!
It’s easy to imagine that Jesus’ miracles must have been universally welcomed. After all, who could possibly be offended by bodies being ...
- Wednesday 14th January – John 11:40-44 ‘Lazarus, come out!’Read more...
Of all Jesus’ miracles, the raising of Lazarus is the most dramatic. The feeding of the 5,000 may have been on a larger scale, the walking on the water more terrifying – but the combination of extraordinary power and sheer pathos we see here gives this miracle a unique position in the gospels. John certainly gives it that kind of billing: ...
- Tuesday 13th January – John 11:38-40 ‘The glory of God’Read more...
‘If you believe, you will see the glory of God.’
It’s quite a promise, isn’t it?
When we talk about glory nowadays, we usually mean some great achievement, or something which merits great praise – this weekend we’ve had talk of FA Cup glory, for example, for the winning teams, especially those who registered shock ...
- Monday 12th January – John 11:28-37 ‘If you had been here…’Read more...
‘If only I’d been there…’ I wonder if you’ve ever found yourself thinking something like that? Sadly, many of us have, usually with a sense of loss at something we missed out on. It can also work the other way round: ‘if only you’d been here,’ someone might say to us – maybe an event we’d have enjoyed, or maybe because ...
- Saturday 10th January – Matthew 2:1-12 ‘They presented him with gifts’Read more...
One last reflection before we put our biblical crib scene away this year! Few characters in the bible grab people’s attention like the Magi. Who were they? Where did they live? What exactly was the star? And those gifts…?
Let’s start by reflecting that the Magi’s gifts of gold, incense and myrrh were all things they used in ...