Wrestling with God
Jacob wrestles with God as he waits to cross the Jabbok River. Sometimes God plants a vision in our hearts and we have to wrestle with God and with our own doubts when we consider how to respond.
Harvest 2019
Today marks the Harvest Festival and, while giving thanks for the changing of the seasons and God’s provision for our needs, it is also a time for looking outwards at the needs of the world around us. Today we focused on our CMS partners, Fiona and Joel Kelling in Jordan.
Angels on Earth
On the feast of St Michael, celebrated together as a whole ministry area in St Michael’s, Cwmdu, Revd Dr Mark Clavier talks about our sometimes unknowing interaction with angels.
God and Money
The parable of the shrewd (or dishonest) manager is one which is hard to understand, but the story ends with the warning “you cannot serve both God and money”. Barry looks at the priorities in our lives and asks “what would Jesus say?”
The Lost Coin
From our earliest moments as a baby playing peek-a-boo, being lost and found, losing and finding, is part of the very fabric of our lives. Janet explores the story of the lost sheep and the lost coin from different angles.
Racial Justice Sunday
John Newton wrote the hymn Amazing Grace after he realised the evils of the slave trade he was involved with and, together with William Wilberforce, worked tirelessly to restore justice. And yet today slavery is still present in our world, even in our own country. The challenge of racial justice and intolerance is ever with us and challenges us to act in accordance with God’s principles.
Take the Lower Place
Society in Jesus’ day was much concerned with status and guests at a meal were keen to sit at the places of honour on the table. ‘Don’t do that’, says Jesus, showing again the importance of humility in our lives.
Challenging the Mainstream
One of the reasons Jesus became unpopular with the religious authorities of the day was that he was always challenging their mainstream views and traditional stance. And yet, 2000 years later, Christianity is viewed by many as the mainstream. How could we think differently and view the world through God’s eyes today, rather than rely solely on the view handed down? We sang an old and perhaps less familiar hymn as part of this service, which has some challenging words… [Continue Reading]
Fire, not Peace
Although we refer to Jesus as Prince of Peace, in Luke’s Gospel (Luke 12:49-53) he says he has not come to bring peace but fire and division. How does this apparent contradiction stack up with what we know about Jesus?
Living by Faith
Abraham is commended for his faith in believing, in his old age, that God would provide him not just with an heir but with so many descendants that there would be too many to count.
We Are One
Today’s readings from Ecclesiastes “All is meaningless”, and the parable from Luke’s Gospel about the man who built more and bigger barns, help us to focus on the practical working out of the Gospel, which calls us to share our resources and our lives, and to live as one people. One of the items mentioned in Richard’s sermon was the Share The World’s Resources website, and in particular their call for article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,… [Continue Reading]
Hospitality in the Bible
The story of Abraham meeting with the angels shows the importance of hospitality expressing God’s welcome, not to friends and those we know well but to the stranger, the incomer.