Scripture for this Sunday (5th Sunday of Easter): Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:25-31; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8 It might be a slight overstatement to suggest that Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian in Acts 8 was a rescue, but in a way there was a rescue from uncertainty and confusion. Much more recently, a story in […]
Archive | Themes
Theme of each week.
Theme for the Week – 26 April 2015
Scripture for the week (“Good Shepherd” Sunday): Acts 4.5–12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3.16–24; John 10.11-18 At the beginning of the Camino de Santiago, we noticed that the sheep in the Pyrenees have bells around their neck – but not all of them. Supposedly, the ones with bells are the ones that the others follow, selected by the shepherds. […]
Theme for the Week – 19 April 2015
Readings for this Sunday: Acts 3.12–19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3.1–7; Luke 24.36b–48 Does anyone remember the film, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid? This passage from Luke’s gospel shouts a similar title within my head. Dead men don’t eat fish. Nor do they eat bread. Bread and fish ought to sound familiar. They point to an event in Jesus’ […]
Theme for the Week – 12 April 2015
Scripture for this Sunday: Acts 4.32–35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1.1-2.2; John 20.19-31 Unity is a challenging thing. We see it in successful sports teams: a collection of very talented individuals generally does not succeed without that sense of unity that we call team spirit. Today’s scriptures deal with different forms of unity. The psalm describes in graphic […]
Theme for the Week – 5 April 2015 – Easter
Easter Sunday readings: Isaiah 25.6-9; Psalm 118.14-24; Acts 10.34-43; Mark 16.1-8 The season of Lent, followed by Holy Week, gives us an opportunity to participate in a time of self-discipline, and to immerse ourselves in the flurry of events that lead up to the arrest, abandonment, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. No doubt the first disciples found it all […]
Theme for the Week – 29 March 2015
Palm Sunday – The Very Rev. Michael Higgins When a powerful Roman General entered the city after being triumphant in battle he came in a procession of great splendour, riding in a four horse chariot. When an English medieval king entered a city he had taken in war he did so heading a great procession, riding in […]
Theme for the Week – 22 March 2015
The fifth Sunday of Lent – beginning Passiontide Readings for this Sunday: Jeremiah 31.31–34; Psalm 119.9–16; Hebrews 5.5–10; John 12.20–33 Sometimes life’s moments of revelation can be a bittersweet conjunction of joy and sadness. We see hope, but we see mortality, for example. Jesus had such moments. Some Greeks – evidently Gentiles – came […]
Theme for the Week – 15 March 2015
The fourth Sunday of Lent – also Mothering Sunday Scripture for the week: 1 Samuel 1.20–28; Psalm 127.1–4; Colossians 3.12–17; John 19.25b–27 There are various stories and theories about the origin and meaning of Mothering Sunday. At the heart of many is the idea that children in service were allowed to go home to their mothers and their mother churches […]
Theme for the Week – 8 March 2015
Third Sunday of Lent Readings for this Sunday: Exodus 20.1–17; Psalm 19.7–end; 1 Corinthians 1.18–25; John 2.13–22 Friedrich Schleiermacher was an 18th century theologian/philosopher who described sin in terms of “distorted vision” – a weakness in our consciousness of God. On the face of it, sin seems an easy thing to define. After all, we have the Ten […]