These few chapters of Matthew are fierce. In them we find Jesus kicking over tables in the Temple, cursing a fig tree for not bearing fruit, and in this parable today, attacking the Pharisees as ‘bad tenants.’ It’s hard to imagine tenants behaving so outrageously, or an absentee landowner dealing with his renters in the way … Read more
As I write, the signs that Spring has arrived are just outside my window. The sun is out, the sky is blue, the trees are full of blossom, and the days are starting to get warmer. After such a difficult and anxious winter, the signs of hope around us spring up. Although we can’t see into the future … Read more
Sometimes we need to be careful what we pray for. Every time we say the Lord’s Prayer, even if we rattle off the words glibly and thoughtlessly, we pray for the strength to forgive others. We know that we want God’s forgiveness – but do we realise that the caveat on that prayer is that we actually … Read more
Today we are eyewitnesses to a very interesting exchange between Jesus and a Canaanite woman. She was a despised foreigner, a Gentile, and a woman, a person a good Jew would not normally engage with in any way, or on any level. She would have known this, and she would probably have expected Jesus’ initial reaction to … Read more
Today’s Collect asks God for the strength to trust when all seems hopeless and lost, a theme we find in both the Old Testament story and in the Gospel. Peter’s faith is challenged when he steps out of the boat into the stormy waters. The story tells us that rather than recklessly jumping out, he’s called … Read more
Over the past few months many of us have come to secretly appreciate the slower pace of life. Working from home has made family life easier; caring for children and running a home have blended together, rather than racing into an office through peak hour traffic, and struggling to get home on time to manage family … Read more
On this fourth week after Pentecost, the theme of our Scripture readings is – welcome. ‘Welcome’ is a persistent theme throughout scripture, and welcome and hospitality for everyone, including the travelling stranger, was central to community life in ancient communities. One of the key hospitality stories is of the patriarch Abraham and his wife Sarah who welcomed … Read more
One of our most basic assumptions is that life will be good and that things will go well for us. So, when things are not going so well we tend to feel aggrieved, or even singled out by misfortune. It’s just not fair. And yet for so many of us, life is difficult, and things don’t follow … Read more
And so, this weekend, we arrive at Ordinary Time, that strange yet familiar part of the church calendar. But life has been far from ordinary over the past few months, and I think we are all longing for some real ordinary time, in daily life, when things return to normal! And yet, during this long period of … Read more