Sunday 8th September – The Kingdom of heaven is like… #5
Mustard seed and yeast. Some of Jesus’ parables are quite long, some are short, but virtually all of them were surprising, shocking even, to their first hearers. In just four verses that we read this morning, Jesus gives two illustrations of the Kingdom of heaven. Neither of them seems particularly surprising, but we’ll see. Often […]
Sunday 1st September – The kingdom of heaven is like … #4
… man who sowed good seed in his field, but… (Matt 13.24-30; 36-43) A couple of weeks ago (n° 2 in this series) we considered how we sometimes think God is unfair in the way he makes the last first and the first last. Here’s another parable that makes God seem unfair. Or have we misunderstood […]
Sunday 25th August – The Kingdom of heaven is like…#3
Today we look at the way Jesus explains how the value of the Kingdom of heaven compares with everything else in our lives. The Kingdom of heaven, he says, is like treasure hidden in a field – and like a merchant looking for fine pearls. (Matt 13.44-46)
Sunday 18th August – The Kingdom of Heaven is like… #2
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.” In order to challenge people’s preconceived ideas about God, the Kingdom, justice and salvation, Jesus was often provocative. This parable in Matt 20.1-16 is almost guaranteed to get people up in arms. What […]
Sunday 11th August – The Kingdom of Heaven is like… #1
How do you explain colour to someone born blind? How do you describe to someone a taste, or a smell? You have to compare it to something else. And this is how Jesus explained the Kingdom of Heaven. In this first of a series we look at how He compared it to a great big wedding!
Sunday 4th August – Salt & Light
Jan White brings us an eye-opener from Matt 5.13. Salt: cheap as chips. Really? Light: at the turn of a switch. Really?
Sunday 28th July – 1 Peter #8 – God’s flock
This morning we concluded our series on the First Epistle of Peter. Sorry if the above image had you excited about a history lesson in 1970s decorating fashions – Peter doesn’t even give flock wallpaper a mention! What he does talk about is spiritual leadership in the church – and then he goes on to […]
Sunday 21st July – 1 Peter #7 – The quick and the dead
The Gospel, and the salvation it brings to our lives, is not an optional extra like metallic paint or a tow-bar on your car. It’s more like the engine. Without salvation, your life is just a broken heap of metal on its way to the scrap heap. Which group are you part of: the Quick […]
Sunday 30th June – 1 Peter #6 – Doing good
As human beings, we tend to take a short-term view of most things. Well, of the good things, anyway. We don’t expect them to last. Peace and happiness – joy, even – we see as transitory. Whereas pain and suffering loom large in our minds. They not only seem to go on for a long […]
Sunday 23rd June – 1 Peter #5 – Wives & Husbands
“Wives, in the same way submit yourselves…” does not, at first glance, sound like a rallying cry for 21st century feminists! But when we look at 1 Peter 3.1-7 in context, we discover that – far for being down on wives, and on women in general – the Gospel is good news of liberation. And […]