05 February 2012

There is both comfort and challenge in the Lectionary for this week. On one hand there is the assurance of God’s care, and the particularity of grace as God meets each person at their point of need. On the other hand there is the call to extend a similar adaptive particularity to one another – willingly becoming what others need from us – in order to carry the Gospel’s grace and restoration to the world.

May we find the grace we need, and learn to become the grace others need as we worship this week.

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12 February 2012

The healing narratives continue this week – with a twist! The connection between the healing of the man with the skin disease on Mark’s Gospel and the healing of Naaman in the Old Testament is clear, but things get very interesting – and a little uncomfortable – when the Epistle reading about discipline and focus is added to the mix. Could it be that the nature and extent of the healing we receive differs according to our willingness to submit to Christ? This is the disturbing but life-giving question that the Lectionary asks this week.

I pray that our worship may lead us into a deeper commitment to the ways of God’s Reign this Sunday.

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19 February 2012

Once again Epiphany closes with the Transfiguration of Jesus – the turning point, the final affirmation before Jesus set his sights on Jerusalem and the coming confrontation and sacrifice. The challenge of this week is for us to learn to recognise God’s glory – in Christ, but also in all people and all things. It is this capacity for glory that can make a massive change to how we live in the world, and then through us, make a change to the world itself.

May God’s glory fill our eyes, our hearts and our lives as we worship this week.

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22 February 2012

Once again we move into the season of repentance, reflection and preparation for the journey to the cross and beyond. Like Advent, Lent was a season of preparation for baptismal candidates (who were baptised on Easter Sunday). For us now, although we may not be receiving baptism in a few weeks time, the disciplines of Lent remain a profound invitation to allow God’s life and values to direct our lives. As we receive the ash on our foreheads today, may it be more than just a ritual, but a reminder that all that is not rooted in God’s Reign ultimately becomes ash, but with God’s life at work within us, we are more than just dust – we are the children of God.

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