Do you think that even if Jesus was seen as the “Son of God”, would he have been able to set aside the laws of nature whenever he liked to achieve his miracles of healing, walking on water or even today’s gospel reading about multiplying the loaves and fishes? Today’s story, at least taken at face-value, certainly sounds as if Jesus pulled off a miracle.  Yet if it were a miracle, I am far from wanting to be insisting Jesus “magic-ed” up some sort of trick whereby many hungry people were mysteriously fed. I also need to add from a purely personal point of view, I have to confess I don’t a ..read more

Don’t Talk of Love…Show Me! I once came across a quote which I remember went something like this: “I always load up with carbs each day – er –  just in case I have to run a marathon the next day. Of course, I never have never actually run a marathon, but it is good to have options” Perhaps that is almost as silly as someone who loads up on Christian teaching each Sunday in the weekly Church service but lives their life for the rest of the week without putting the teaching into practice? Good to have options? We need to think about that. Henry Ford once said, “you can’t build a reputation ..read more

On Action When It Counts The previous Chapter of Mark provides a context for today’s gospel reading. Jesus has demonstrated his wisdom and powers. Now his disciples have gone with him to see how he manages his message in front of his home crowd. The rejection that Jesus then suffers in his home village goes on to provide the backdrop for sending out the disciples.  The main theme from today’s message suggests a good message is not the same as making the message acceptable to the listeners.   In case anyone was to miss the point, in the next part of the reading, Mark talks of the ..read more

Is Jesus the cure we should turn to? Assuming some gospel accounts were intended as literal reporting, Jesus, popularly identified as miracle worker, is often associated with healing.  Knowing in the twenty first century that modern doctors now have more understanding of a range of illnesses that those in Jesus’ day leaves us wondering what exactly was going on in Jesus’ miracles.     More to the point,  Is Jesus the cure we should seek? ….If so  cures for what? – surely not stage four cancer? Or how about COVID-19?  Some here today might remember a ..read more

Believe it or Not Among the awkward questions for Church goers face about the Bible are two that seem to recur. The first seems almost comfortingly academic. Are the Bible accounts of the more unbelievable stories and events true in the sense that they happened as recorded?  Alternately, maybe the odd bits are just there to shape our thinking or to inspire us. There is however another question and one we may well wish was not raised. Assuming we are inspired by the Bible’s teaching, what are we then going to do that is different? The two stories that the lectionary challenge us to conside ..read more

WHO SHOULD I TREAT AS PART OF MY FAMILY? If we find ourselves taking sides on the angry arguments that divide many of today’s self-claimed champions of Christianity, perhaps we too need to learn from today’s gospel.  Amongst the helpful guidelines in Biblical teachings (as Bruce Epperly once pointed out), if we consider Jesus at work, we encounter times when human need sometimes supersedes religious prescription. In the section before today’s gospel passage Mark presented us with a story which has Jesus facing a man with a withered arm… and according to tradition Jesus should not hav ..read more

(In part, inspired by a commentary from the Bible scholar, Dr Bill Loader) In our own present age where rather too many versions of Christianity come across as strident, simplistic or even disconnected from reality, it is a shame that Paul’s teaching in his letters found in the New Testament are not read with more thought by many of today’s Church followers. To understand Paul’s take on what it means to be following Jesus, perhaps we need to start by reminding ourselves that Paul himself was something of a late-comer as a disciple of Jesus. Accordingly, his ideas were clearly not always well-r ..read more

Trinity: A Bible Inspired Idea in Need of a Second Look? How should the Trinity appear to the modern scientific mind? We live in an age when telescopes can probe the depths of space, looking back in time to many millions of galaxies, many with their million upon millions of stars. Many of these stars are hugely larger than our home Sun and each at mind numbing distances from where we live. In that setting, the notion of a kind of creative being which is somehow like a human Father, yet one sufficiently in control to be creator of the entire universe seems bewildering. Asserting that same ..read more

Challenged by Fire and Mystery Making sense of the strange accounts of Easter and its aftermath has long been a challenge for Christians in a scientific age. And if that wasn’t hard enough, before we can reflect on much of the history of the early Church, we must first come face-to-face with something which some might think even more unexpected or bizarre than a resurrected Christ. True the gospels tell of unusual and wonderful happenings associated with Jesus.   Don’t forget Pentecost introduces yet another story with features that risks might being interpreted as nothing to do with ..read more

Some mothers get a raw deal.   I feel inclined to start with reflecting back to the news bulletin images we have probably all seen of Mothers trying to protect their children from the shelling both in the Ukraine and in Gaza.   I guess if Luke has it right in today’s gospel reading, Jesus’ upbringing in his home in Roman occupied territory had a good deal to do with how his family environment helped shape his mind and personality.  Since the Christian faith is meant to make a difference to our relationships and since today (12 May) is on the nation’s calendar as Mother ..read more