The journey of Jesus through Holy Week is, among many things, a journey from crowds to loneliness. The great throng of Palm Sunday becomes the large crowd in the temple; then the smaller gathering at Bethany, moving on to the Last Supper with his disciples; then just Peter, James and John in Gethsemane, until finally … Read more
In our church, we’re blessed to be able to worship in a beautiful, inspiring building. Despite being made with wooden scaffolds, rudimentary tools and makeshift mortar, it has stood for hundreds of years, and is likely to for hundreds more. Most of us sucked in our breath and felt a sense of thrill when we … Read more
Our service for Palm Sunday.
Palm Sunday is tomorrow. We conclude our week with a reflection on that theme: There are lots of ways to describe Lent – but an important one is ‘journey’. It is a notable period of time – six and a half weeks – and each year we can get a real sense of that journey, … Read more
To be with Jesus. That’s the whole ball game, isn’t it? It’s what God made us for, it’s what was disrupted by the Fall (‘where are you?’), it’s what the prophets looked forward to (‘I myself will tend my sheep’), it’s what Jesus put at the heart of his relationship with his early followers: ‘that … Read more
Online Service for Palm Sunday
Many years ago I lived in a small town, which was blessed with numerous churches. In particular, there were three of the same denomination along the main street: one as you entered the town, one in the middle and one half a mile further along at the far end. It looked like effective mission had … Read more
In the world, but not of it. That brief summary – taken directly from vvv15-16 in today’s passage – is a great way to understand our lives as followers of Jesus. We do not withdraw from society – we live out our faith where we are, among the people God has brought us alongside. At … Read more
Our brief pause from John continues with a second reflection from the Psalms: Some years ago we tried to buy a house in Manchester. My sister lives there and the idea was that once we’d bought it, she would have the security of long-term tenancy and (reasonably) nice landlords. However, when we had the survey … Read more
To begin our week, a reflection from the Psalms: Some years ago we took out a subscription to Amazon Prime’s ‘Music Unlimited’. Generally our family are always late to any technological party – I still mourn the demise of beacons on hillsides as the primary means of communicating news. Admittedly, many of my peers had … Read more