'I see you' - Weekly Reflection 7th June 2026

Every morning Monday through to Thursday a small group of people from St Oswald’s meet online for a short time of prayer. This started during Covid and continued as it gives us an opportunity to pray for the Church’s activities and other issues in the nation and across the world. To help guide us in our prayers I have set up a simple PowerPoint slide. One of the items are for those who are in need for prayer because of some illness, sickness and allied issues.

In our ‘people in need’ section we had a lady for whom we have been praying for some wee while. I thought we were in danger of not seeing her there and so one day I dropped her of the list. I was really pleased when one of the regular ‘prayers’ said, you have missed off …..

It is so easy to see something so often that we then begin not to see it or notice it and it fades into the background. When I worked as a bartender in hotels I would encourage all the staff when they came in to work to ‘imagine’ that they hadn’t been there before and to notice things, to see as for the first time.

Yesterday I was on the FCN (www.fcn.org.uk)  stand at the Kenilworth Show (and got very wet!).  Once we had set up the stand I went and stood away and looked at it, to see how it looked. I find myself doing the same in Church. I find myself easily distracted and sometimes irritated when simple things have not been attended to, cloths on the Communion table at a slant, dead or dying flowers, chairs and other things left lying around. (And I must admit to being slightly irritated by people leading a Service looking like they have just come in from doing some gardening or have only just got out of bed – but that might an age thing!)  

Anyway, before I begin to move into moan mode I have been reflecting on seeing but not seeing.  This was one of things we discussed at a Bible Study group I belong to.

Last Thursday we were exploring the Gospel set for today, 1^st Sunday after Trinity. Matthew 9:9-13 the calling of Matthew and Matthew 9:18-26 the synagogue ruler and his daughter and the woman with an issue of blood.  

A question to begin with, ‘how many times had Jesus passed by Matthew’s tax booth? Probably set by the side of the road on a busy intersection, so that Matthew could exact taxes from travellers?

However, on this occasion, when Matthew is called from his life as tax collector into following Jesus, both see each other, maybe as for the first time.

The story in Matthew’s Gospel is very economical in the words used to tell the story, and we are left to use our imagination and complete the picture.

I have a picture of Matthew, head down, busy with his calculations, and maybe a tad bored and irritated by the task in-hand that had made him despised in the community.  Always ready for abuse or trouble and always with a few ‘heavies’ in his pay, hanging around his booth, just in case.

Then his name being spoken, taking a moment to register that someone was calling him by name. And then, slowly looking up and seeing Jesus. Most likely someone he heard about and maybe even heard preaching and teaching. But any rabbi worthy of the name wouldn’t have anything but opprobrium to pour out to a tax collector. But then the ‘seeing.’  ‘Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at his tax booth.’

 Jesus saw a man with a name – and invited him into a whole new way of seeing and living.

The next story picks up Jairus daughter and the woman suffering from ongoing haemorrhaging. (Both stories are given fuller treatment by Mark, (5:21-43) and Luke (8:40-56)

Again, we have a picture of ‘seeing’ – we see Jairus, a synagogue ruler, but not acting like a dignified synagogue ruler, but we see him as a desperate father, who has cast aside all of that as he reaches out to Jesus for help.

And the women, in the fuller accounts of Mark and Luke, the women is brought out of the shadows and into the light. This wasn’t Jesus wanting to cause her any more embarrassment, but he is wanting people to notice her, to see her, not as an unclean woman whom they should shun and avoid, but now healed and able to be restored back into the community.  

As for Jairus, we do know his daughter was restored to the family, brought back into the community, but we are left to conjecture what ongoing impact this had Jairus and his position as a synagogue leader. (And a Synagogue Leader would have had a legal and leadership role in the community, not simple someone who led a ‘congregation.’)   

 In our group discussion we began to think of the people we see but don’t see.

What about the person on the check-out at the supermarket. Or the barista serving your coffee, or maybe even the person cleaning the public toilets. I am sure you could add to this list, and in so doing ask yourself, am I seeing this person as a person, someone with a name, someone with a history, someone who loves, laughs, has fears and concerns.  

I wonder if the illness that had befallen Jairus’ daughter had come upon her quickly, prompting Jairus to action. I wonder if Matthew went into work that day, setting up his booth and thinking mainly of the dinner gathering with others ‘like him’ later that day. I wonder if the lady with the issue of blood had got up and thought, another day just like all others, to be shunned and shamed as I have been for twelve years.

But then Jesus - but then Jesus – but then Jesus sees and these people see Jesus and everything changes.

And this is an ongoing story. It is too long a story to tell but in brief I was on a Spotlight Zoom Session last week, part of the Welcome Directory (The Welcome Directory) information sharing as they seek to equip faith communities to welcome released prisoners into their faith community. On this occasion we were exploring addictions, mainly drugs and alcohol. We had a lady on the call who had the most harrowing story of being gang raped and then getting deeper into a drug habit to blot out the pain and shame.  To feed her drug habit she would sleep with men and became involved in petty crime. It was the love and care of Christians who ‘saw’ her and reached out in a practical way that made the change. She was drawn back into the community, a Christian community. She saw Jesus and chose to follow him. Seeing her now you would never guess at this background. She is healthy, has a home and children and very much involved in helping others.  

Who are you going to see in the week ahead?

Are we ready to pray, ‘Lord, help me as I step out into this day, to be ready to be interrupted as Jesus was on the way to Jairus’ home, to offer a word of encouragement and hope, and offer of new life that reestablishes people back into the community.’

And remember it was one man, Matthew, it was one little girl, Jairus’ daughter, and it was one woman.

Who might be the ’one’ God will ask you to ‘see’ this week?  

 

    

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

'The Holy Trinity, AI and the future of the human race' - Weekly Reflection 31st May 2026

This weeks Reflection is an edited version of the sermon I presented this morning, Trinity Sunday, to St Oswald’s Church, Rugby.

In 1970, Canadian journalist turned futurologist, Alvin Toffler, wrote a seminal book called ‘Future Shock.’ He followed this up with ‘Third Wave’ in 1980 and then followed this up with ‘Previews and Premises’ in 1984.  

I never read ‘Future Shock’ but did read ‘Third Wave’ and then ‘Previews and Premises’ which is an update on ‘Third Wave.

(In "The Third Wave," Alvin Toffler explores the evolution of human civilization through three distinct waves: the Agrarian Society, the Industrial Society, and the emerging Information Age, highlighting the profound societal changes each wave brings.)

I was and continue to be deeply impacted by both books.  One of the things Toffler spoke of was the advent of the computer. He said that everyone would have one and that this would change the world of work and communication. The other key point I remember was the breakdown of community and the changing nature of families.  Toffler spoke of the ‘electronic cottage’ with people working from home.

And last night I watched a lecture from the charity, ‘Towards the Common Good.’

Staying Human Series EP#05 - AI, the Future of Work and Christian Discernment - with Matthew Sanders

What are the most common questions we ask someone upon meeting them for the first time, something you often see on Games Shows on TV. What is your name, where do you come and what do you do. That latter question most often relating to the ‘work role.’ Because, truth be told, we all do a lot of things in any given day. We have got used to being defined by our work.

The ‘technological revolution’ that Toffler mentioned has developed exponentially with the coming of A1. There are some who argue that we are fast heading towards a world and a society where any work as we have commonly known will become redundant as AI develops first from software, removing the need for humans, or at least many humans, from information services. Eventually moving into hard AI (robots as already present in many warehouses and manufacturing) and replacing virtually everything currently done by humans.

Recently published Pope Leo XIV presents "Magnifica Humanitas" as the Church’s response to the challenges posed by artificial intelligence, calling for AI to be “disarmed” from logics of domination, exclusion and war. Drawing parallels with Rerum Novarum, the Pope urges the global community to place technological progress at the service of human dignity, solidarity and the common good.

Pope Leo presents 'Magnifica humanitas’ calling for disarmament of AI - Vatican News

 Free online version of the Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Leo XIV Magnifica Humanitas (15 May 2026) https://share.google/E12YZh8gbP7WlbszF

I would argue that the Church, the people of God, is in the right place, with the right tools, to be the salvation of society.  

However, we need to do some very serious rethinking of what it means to be the people of God locally placed, small-scale and with the smell and taste of the local, its history, its present and offering a hopeful future.

Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday. And the Trinity is not some obscure doctrine but rather the experiential reality for those who knew God as Father but then encountered Jesus and then experienced the infilling and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

A deep and profound and unfathomable mystery, but let’s not be afraid to embrace mystery.

Einstein said, “logic will get you from A to B, but imagination can take your everywhere.”

Logic, imagination and mystery – all these help us to encounter God.

And the Trinity is about a big of a mystery as we could get and yet a mystery we can embrace and step into albeit we may not have all the answers.

Consider this statement, one which I think most, if not all Christians would agree.

‘God is love.’

However, can there be love without the beloved – someone or something that is the object of that love. And isn’t it the case that if that love be genuine, in the best of circumstances that love will be reciprocated if the object of love has agency as a sentient being.  

Therefore, isn’t it plain logic that for love to be active there must be something or someone to love?

A further question then – If God is a single entity and if God is love, whom or what does God love?

We do have John 3.16 – ‘for God so loved the world…’

So, we have God loving the world…

But whom or what did God love before the world began – if God was a single entity?

The logical and satisfactory answer comes in the idea of God as three persons, what we know as the Trinity.

And this is exactly what we find in the opening pages of the Bible in the creation narrative of Gensis.

We have God calling out the Word, and we have the Spirit hovering over the chaos waters.

A picture that John picks up in the opening prologue to his Gospel. 

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the was with God and the Word was God.’

And in the ordinary course of things and in the best of all circumstances what is it that love does?   It creates, it gives new life, and it promotes flourishing.

Again, that is exactly what we read in Genesis and the creation story.

‘Let us create humankind in our own image.’

Think of it this way. When a human couple come together in love then in the best of all circumstances and in the ordinary course of things they will create new life.

That is what true love does, it creates, it brings new life, it produces a flourishing of the other, the beloved other.

In his book,‘The Divine Dance’ Father Richard Rhor focusses largely around Rublev’s famous Icon, ‘The Hospitality of Abraham’ with its popular alternative title of ‘The Holy Trinity.’

Rhor emphasises the Holy Community of the Trinity into which we are invited to participate in the lifegiving and outpouring love.

God is a community of equals operating out of reciprocal love.

One is lonely, two can become oppositional but three gives an opportunity for a dynamic symbiosis.  And this Holy Community as it operates out of reciprocal love births new life and creates flourishing.

And it here that we begin to grasp both the joy and the challenge of being God’s image bearers.

Remember, ‘let us create humankind in our image.’

Not in physical likeness, but in attributes, in our lives, in the way we live and love and foster flourishing.

Chapters 13-17 of John’s Gospel, known as Jesus’ final discourses, if they teach us anything, it is about the mutual abiding and dwelling of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

But moreover, that we are invited into that very same abiding presence.

As imagers bearers, as witnesses to the world, we are called to operate in like manner.

To be a community of equals operating out of reciprocal love. A community that births life, has an outpouring of love which produces a flourishing.

Paul writing to the Galatians emphasises that we are equal, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Gal 3.28.

Therefore, a question for us to answer as Communities of Faith locally placed and called to be image bearers is, does everything we do seek to do birth new life, demonstrate love and seeks the flourishing of the other.

Does it seek to bear witness to the Holy Trinity as a Community of reciprocal love?

How can we become more of a Faith Community, a Faith Community that is committed at the core, open at the edges, evangelized and naturally evangelizing. 

(1) see below for one way of enhancing and developing a Faith Community. 

Returning to Rublev’s Icon.

You notice the three figures, and you will notice a space.

There is always space for the other to come and be part of the Faith Community.  That’s what it means to have ‘open edges’ – making room for ‘the other.’  Offering a place for them to find love, a community, somewhere where they are defined first and foremost as a ‘human being’ not a ‘human doing,’  and as someone made in the image of God.   

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit is a community of equals operating out of reciprocal love bringing new life and flourishing.

The salvation of society that has been obsessively focused on defining people by their work could be found in the life of the local Church, if we are bold enough to develop Faith Communities.

Faith Communities where everyone is treated as equals, that operates out of reciprocal love and brings new life and flourishing reflecting the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  

 

 (1) To foster intentionality it is helpful if a Faith Community develops an annual pattern of rehearsing five key stories across the year.

Story One, January - My Story.  Stories of how people came to Faith within the Faith Community and also read the stories of how other people throughout history came to Faith.

Story Two, February - Our Story. What is the story of our Faith Community/Church. That includes the building if you have one. Explore who are you are and your history as the People of God.

Story Three, Lent - The Jesus Story. Explore together what we really know about Jesus.

Story Four, Pentecost - Their Story. What is the story of our wider community, our village, town or area. What are the concerns and the joys. What are the demographics.

Story Five, Advent/Christmass - The God Story. What is God's metanarrative, where and to what end is all this leading. 

'Trinity Sunday 2026' - Transcript of Sermon St Oswalds Rugby 31st May 2026

 St Oswald’s Trinity Sunday 2026

(Sunday 31st May 2026 10.30am service)

John 16:5-15

Can I invite you to raise your hand if you agree with this statement.

‘God is love.’

Okay, let’s think a tad deeper.

Can there be love without the beloved – someone or something that is the object of that love. And isn’t it the case that if that love be genuine, in the best of circumstances that love will be reciprocated if the object of love has agency as a sentient being.  

Therefore, isn’t it plain logic that for love to be active there must be something or someone to love?

A further question then – if God is a single entity and if God is love, whom or what does God love?

Now you may want to quote John 3.16 – ‘for God so loved the world. So, okay we have God loving the world…

But whom or what did God love before the world began – if God was a single entity?

The logical and satisfactory answer comes in the idea of God as three persons, what we know as the Trinity.

And this is exactly what we find in the opening pages of our Bible in the creation narrative of Gensis.

We have God calling out the Word, and we have the Spirit hovering over the chaos waters. (Not hoovering, that’s something very different)

A picture that John picks up in the opening prologue to his Gospel. 

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the was with God and the Word was God.’

 And in the ordinary course of things and in the best of all circumstances what is it that love does?   It creates, it gives new life, and it promotes flourishing.

Again, that is exactly what we read in Genesis and the creation story.

‘Let us create humankind in our own image.’

Think of it this way. When a human couple come together in love then in the best of all circumstances and in the ordinary course of things they will create new life.

That is what true love does, it creates, it brings new life, it produces a flourishing of the other, the beloved other.

Thus, we may say that the Trinity is not some obscure doctrine but rather the experiential reality for those who knew God as Father but then encountered Jesus and then experienced the infilling and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

A deep and profound and unfathomable mystery, but let’s not be afraid to embrace mystery.

Einstein said, “logic will get you from A to B, but imagination can take your everywhere.”

Logic, imagination and mystery – all these help us to encounter God.

And the Trinity is about a big of a mystery as we could get and yet a mystery we can embrace and step into albeit we may not have all the answers.

The various Councils in the early Church tried to bring some definition of what was and what was not being said in the Doctrine of the Trinity. And one of those involved in this debate was Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria in the second century. (Feast Day at the beginning of May)

Amongst the many gifts he left to the Church was his very comprehensive Creed in defence of the Trinity.  You will find a copy in the BCP. However, it is a dense read, especially couched in the 17^th century language of the BCP.

A more accessible reflection on the Trinity and its importance in Christian thought is a book by Father Richard Rhor, ‘The Divine Dance’.  This focusses largely around Rublev’s famous Icon, ‘The Hospitality of Abraham’ with its popular alternative title of ‘The Holy Trinity.’

Rhor emphasises the Holy Community of the Trinity into which we are invited to participate in the lifegiving and outpouring love.

          God is a community of equals operating out of reciprocal love.

One is lonely, two can become oppositional but three gives an opportunity for a dynamic symbiosis.  And this Holy Community as it operates out of reciprocal love births new life and creates flourishing.

And it here that we begin to grasp both the joy and the challenge of being God’s image bearers.

Remember, ‘let us create humankind in our image.’

Not in physical likeness, but in attributes, in our lives, in the way we live and love and foster flourishing.

Consider this as we come to our APCM this morning.

Consider this as we seek to live as faithful apprentice to Jesus.

 Reflecting on our Gospel reading this morning…

Jesus is going back to the Father and promises to send the Holy Spirit, which is what we celebrated last week, the Feast of Pentecost.

 If these chapters of John’s Gospel, known as Jesus’ final discourses, chapters 13 through to 17, if they teach us anything, it is about the mutual abiding and dwelling of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

But more over that we are invited into that very same abiding presence.

As imagers bearers, as witnesses to the world, we are called to operate in like manner.

To be a community of equals operating out of reciprocal love. A community that births life, has an outpouring of love which produces a flourishing.

Paul writing to the Galatians emphasises that we are equal, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Gal 3.28.

Therefore, a question for us to answer individually and as the Church Family called to be image bearers here and now and in this place, the question is, does everything we do seek to do birth new life, demonstrate love and seeks the flourishing of the other.

Does it seek to bear witness to the Holy Trinity as a Community of reciprocal love?

Are we becoming more of a Faith Community.

A Faith Community that is committed at the core, open at the edges, evangelized and naturally evangelizing.

And let me make one final point returning to Rublev’s Icon. 

You notice the three figures, and you will notice a space.

There is always space for the other to come and be part of the Faith Community.  Because you will either be playing a part or playing apart.

Should you choose to play apart, then that is your choice, but heed the words of Jesus…

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

Part of Jesus’ final discourse, John 15.4

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit is a community of equals operating out of reciprocal love bringing new life and flourishing.

I began with a question, so let me end with another question. Is this a fair descriptor of St Oswald’s Faith Community?

The Faith Community of St Oswald’s is a community of equals, operating out of reciprocal love that brings new life and flourishing reflecting the Holy Trinity out into the community and the wider world.

Let us pray…

Grant that what we say and sing with our lips,

we may believe in our hearts,

and what we believe in our hearts,

we may show forth in our lives.

To the praise and glory of the Holy Trinity,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

This I Believe....

https://youtu.be/QzT26YVEr24?si=QvE2B94Ic5rHdom-

'Hope for the Hopeless' - Weekly Reflection 24th May 2026

 Today at St Oswald’s, on this Pentecost Sunday, we sang a familiar worship song, 'My hope is built on nothing less,' (Cornerstone). This Hillsong rendition is a rewrite of an original hymn by Edward Mote in 1834.

I was amused and pleased because this song had been buzzing in my head since Tuesday last, and it certainly is a great song to have as ear worm!

Last week I was invited to say something about my birthday (16^th May) and invited to share something about what kept me ‘alive’ and what gave me 'hope.'

Well, of course my Christian faith gives me hope, and I was able to say that very clearly. And when speaking of hope to Christians in a Christian context I have often explained what hope is my using an acronym, HOPE - Holding Onto Past Experience.  For surely this is what we see written in the Scriptures. The Israelites rehearsed and remembered their past, told in story and song.  Remembering God’s faithfulness in the past gave them courage for the present and hope for the future.  

This is picked up in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. No more so than in the Eucharist, which is about remembering, 'do this in rememberance of me.' Recalling that Jesus gives ‘strength for today and a bright hope tomorrow’, to quote another hymn. (From ‘Great is thy faithfulness’ which was one of the hymns we had at our wedding 44 years ago. A hymn that has continued to pop up over those years, serving as good reminder of God’s faithfulness throughout the years)

However, I have been chewing over a comment I heard recently, ‘how can you have hope if all your past experiences have been rubbish.’ This has left me wondering just where do people find their hope outside of God. I have been trying to think hard about my life before I became a Christian and thinking about what gave me hope then. But there is nothing I can think of apart from being more optimistic by nature.

Before I became a Christian I think I might have said a whimsical phrase that I have on a mug, “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” This has been attributed to John Lennon. It is an okay quote, and I know it has inspired and continues to inspire many people.

However, for me it has the ring of  optimism about it, which is okay to a point.

As a Christian I have come to lean upon a simple quote from Mother Juian on Norwich.

“All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Julian of Norwich, (1342-c.1416) whose influence has grown steadily across the centuries, is now regarded as one of the most significant Christian mystics of the Middle Ages. She wrote Revelations of Divine Love, the earliest surviving book in the English language written by a woman. At the heart of her vision was a radical and tender truth: that divine love is the ultimate reality, holding all of creation together, even in the midst of suffering.

I find this quote to be more meaningful and grounded in divine love of the one who sang all creation into being and by whose Spirit continues to animate and sustain the cosmos.

The importance of hope is well explained and explored in a seminal book by Viktor E. Frankl Man's Search for Meaning. First published in 1946, it is a memoir and psychological exploration by Frankl, chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II and introducing his psychotherapeutic approach called logotherapy. 

I think it is one of those books that everyone should read at some time.

Some of this links in with a book I am reading currently which I have mentioned before. ‘The Devil You Know: Encounters in Forensic Psychiatry’ by Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne.

One of Britain’s leading forensic psychiatrists, Dr Gwen Adshead, shares the eye-opening insights that she has gained providing therapy to countless violent criminals and calls for greater compassion and shared humanity in the face of complex and emotive psychological issues.  

One of the common factors in therapy sessions is to try and get the patient back to their early and formative years.

For as it now well recognised, it is those early years that can lead to a person to develop from childhood into a dysfunctional adult.

‘How do have hope when all your past experiences have been rubbish.’

How would you answer that question, are  you even able to answer that question. 

I am still struggling to find an answer. But one thing is certain that life without hope soon leads to despair and can lead to death. That was one of Victor Frankl’s observations in the Concentration Camp. He said that he saw the light of hope go out of men’s eyes and knew that within days they would be dead.  

I got close to that once. When I was living in London and a set of circumstances and a letter I had received sent me into a deep despair. During the night I went out for a walk and found myself by the river Thames, along the Embankment. I looked at the dark swirling waters and the steps going down into the inky blackness. The thought did cross my mind to step down into the river and let all the pain and despair and my life be carried away into oblivion.  Fortunately, I was a Christian and fortunately it wasn’t anything other than a moment of thought. Even so, it was a scary moment.

Romans 15:13: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." 

 

https://youtu.be/QvLxZEU02uI?si=kvD63pXclebeWG7e

(“Sweetest frame” refers to the most pleasant or appealing human experiences, emotions, or foundations, which the hymn advises not to fully trust, instead placing ultimate trust in Christ.)

 

'So, just who is in control?' - Weekly Reflection 17th May 2026

The Titanic continues to fascinate people, and we recently watched the BBC docudrama, The Titanic Sinks Tonight. (BBC Two - Titanic Sinks Tonight, Series 1, The Unsinkable Ship)

In one of the scenes a lifeboat watching as the Titanic slipped beneath the waves. A man stood up and said, we ought to pray, is everyone okay if we say the Lord’s Prayer together.

Given the year, 1912, for the most part this would have been a normal thing to have done, and the Lord’s Prayer would have been familiar if not to everyone, then at least to the majority.

Of course, the Lord’s Prayer has been written about, and sung in a variety of ways, and so there is little I can add by way of reflection.  (I can highly recommend the Bible Project’s teaching on the Lord Prayer - The Meaning of the Lord’s Prayer Explained | Free Guide)

Today (Sunday 17^th May) we are on Day Four of the ‘Thy Kingdom Come' initiative based around praying the Lord’s Prayer allied with a specific prayer for five not yet Christians friends or family.

It is quite remarkable how this initiative has grown and spread across the world. This is from the ‘fronts page’ of the Thy Kingdom Come web page.

Since it began in May 2016, God has grown TKC from a dream of possibility into a movement which unites more than a million Christians in prayer, in nearly 90% of countries worldwide, across 85 different denominations and traditions- so that friends and family, neighbours and colleagues might come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Every person, household and church are encouraged to pray during the 11 days in their own way.

It is our hope & prayer, that those who have not yet heard the Good News of Jesus Christ and His love for the world, will hear it for themselves and respond and follow Him.

Specifically, we again invite each and every Christian across the globe to pray that God’s Spirit might work in the lives of 5 people who have not responded with their ‘Yes’ to God’s call.

I was listening to a podcast the other day ‘Is Politics Dividing the Church? – Tom Wright and Preston Sprinkle.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3r6bvfkEkLwpgVtY1XXMrb?si=b7bff8a483964e24

Tom Wright is one amongst a growing number of Biblical scholars who have said that we have seriously misread the Gospel story, in particular that the ‘Gospel’ is focussed around our going to heaven when we die because we have said a prayer of accepting Jesus into our lives. He doesn’t say that this step is unimportant but focussing on our destiny as being ‘heaven’ needs adjusting and rethinking.

On Thursday last (14^th May) we celebrated 'The Feast of the Ascension’ which amongst other things points us towards the Great Commission of Matthew 28:16-20.

It is here that Jesus declares he has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

Tom Wright asks the question, ‘what does it mean to say that Jesus has all authority and rules on earth?’

This pushes us back to the Lord’s Prayer and what appears to have been missed or perhaps its full implication has remained a tad vague. For in truth there is a danger, rather like this in the lifeboat, the Lord’s Prayer can become a sort of catch all talisman, like it has some power when spoken out.  

‘Your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

I do hope you are among the many thousands across the world engaging with the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ initiative and praying for five not yet Christian’s to come to a living faith in Jesus.

But more than that can I invite you to really reflect on what it might mean if this prayer was to be realised in your life, in the life of your Church, in the life of your community, at work and across the world.

Those of you who have joined the Rugby Group of the Prison Fellowship for our monthly prayer gathering will know that I change the wording of the Lord’s Prayer.  Praying ‘on earth’ important as that is, can become a tad vague, and so to give it a bite I invite us to pray, ‘Your Kingdom come and your will be done in prisons as in heaven.’  

Can I invite you, nay challenge you, to say the Lord’s Prayer with this ‘bite.’.

‘Your Kingdom come in my life, in the life of my family, in the life of five people for whom I have a particular concern. Your Kingdom come in my local council as it meets this week, in parliament and across the world.

And then allow yourself to dream, to imagine and to reflect on what that might look like to see God’s Kingdom come upon earth and for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And then from praying to action, taking Saint Augustine’s words to heart who said: 'Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.'

And as you kneel in prayer and then rise to action let this song minister deep within your heart and soul...

https://youtu.be/1guKNXwbE2I?si=QXlIzoCmRa81ucCp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Fixing our eyes on King Jesus' - Transcript of sermon St Andrews Shilton 10th May 2026

 

St Andrews’ Shilton 6^th Sunday after Easter

Acts 17: 22-31 & John 14: 15-21

On 8 September 2022, King Charles III became the UK's monarch upon the death of Queen Elizabeth 11. The coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as king and queen of the United Kingdom took place eight months later Saturday, 6 May 2023,

Next Thursday, May 14^th is Ascension Day. Somewhat regrettably this Feast often suffers neglect and a misunderstanding of its importance.

Partly I think that is because we have taken and embraced a triple decker world view, heaven above, earth in the middle and hell below.

Jesus, having lived on earth, died, spent a very brief time in hell, before rising and then ascending into heaven.  Very often spatially located somewhere up above the sky and the clouds.

Ascension is often thought of as Jesus going up into the sky and often portrayed this way in art and sculpture.

But people have been in that space and there is no sign of what we might call heaven.

However, if we take the concept of Charles 111 ascending the throne and being crowned we might be getting closer to a better understanding and the importance of this event.

The predominant ruling power at the time of Jesus’ earthy ministry was Rome. And it was Rome’s representative that had Jesus crucified and placed above his head, ‘The King of the Jews.’

The Ascension is Jesus coming in the clouds of glory, as spoken of in Daniel 7:13-14, to take his place and sit down at the right hand of God and receive all power and authority both in the earthly realm (our reality) and the heavenly realm. (God’s reality)

“Again, the high priest questioned Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

Mark 14.62

Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension are all part of a royal proclamation that Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, and the dawn of a new creation has begun.

Now it may not feel or even look like Jesus is Lord and that a new creation has begun. That is because it is both now and not yet. In technical terms that is called inaugural eschatology.

The people of Athen’s didn’t consider that a new creation had dawned and that Jesus was Lord of Heaven and earth. For them there was a whole panoply of gods, and just in case, they had an altar to an unknow god, to hedge their bets as you might say. Walking around the city Paul notices this amongst all the many other temples and shrines.

And listen to what Paul declares to them in verses 24 of our Acts reading..

 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.”

Remember the occasion when Jesus’ disciples were waxing lyrical about the marvel of the temple in Jerusalem, such big stones, they said. However, Jesus warned them that a time was coming when there wouldn’t be one stone left upon another.

Jesus then went on to say, ‘destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.’ It was only later that they realised this referenced Jesus personified the Temple in Jerusalem, the heaven and earth space.

When the first temple was built, under Solomon, during the dedication of that temple the Shekinah glory of God descended and filled the temple.

In our Gospel reading we hear of Jesus promising that if we abide in him, then we too will receive that very same Spirit.

That we will not be abandoned as orphans, that through the Spirit we will know God and know him as Lord of heaven and earth, the creator and sustainer of all things.

Know that despite all the crazy things going on in the world right now, or indeed all the crazy things in the world that have happened throughout history, that it is all leading to a new heaven and earth reality. A heaven and earth reality that has already broken into the world in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

A heaven and earth reality now manifest in God’s people, the Church, you and me. We are signposts pointing towards the reality of this new creation.

We are those who out of our love for God obey all the commands which Jesus summarised as loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself.

But how, you might ask, do I remain as a faithful signpost in a sea of trouble, a light in the darkness.

Remember the story of Jesus walking on the water whilst a storm raged. Remember the story of how Peter, wonderful impetuous Peter, takes that step of faith and steps out of the boat. And it is only when he takes his eyes of Jesus and looks at the storm that his faith falters and he begins to sink.

But notice, but notice, but notice - when he stepped out in faith the storm kept howling around his head, the storm didn’t stop.

And yes, we are facing some fearsome storms right now, and you might also be facing some of your own storms as well, personal storms raging in your life.

Anchoring our hearts and minds in the Scriptures in one good way of remaining steadfast in the storms that assail us.

Like these wonderful words from Hebrews 12.1-2, words that are very dear to me as someone who loves running.

‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’

Take especial note of the call to fix our eyes on Jesus – that was when Peter’s faith failed him and he began to sink.

One of the ways to help someone having a panic attack is to ask them to focus on you - “look at me, look at me, now breathe, in and out, in and out.”

Jesus says to us in our pain, hurt and confusion - "look at me, look at me, now breathe."

Let me ask this question, do you find yourself focussing on the storm, catastrophising, or are your eyes fixed upon Jesus?

From our Gospel this morning and verse 16 & 17;

Jesus said…

^“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

The world that lives in disobedience to God and certainly does not keep any of God’s commands, but lives to its own power and authority, will not be able to accept God because it means relinquishing their own power and grand ideas about how the world should be run and operated.

As God’s people, who are abiding in God and keeping our eyes firmly fixed upon Jesus, we will know the Spirit of truth, we will know God’s presence and not be left or abandoned as orphans.

We can be as a light in the darkness and hope in the despair, signpost to God’s new creation, carriers of God’s Kingdom come upon earth, filled with very presence of God through the promised Holy Spirit.

Let us pray;

O Saviour Christ, in whose way of love lays the secret of all life, and the hope of all people, we pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or live in such an age; but let its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, its possibilities inspire us, and its vigour renew us. Pour out upon us a fresh indwelling of the Holy Spirit; make us bold and courageous in sharing faith in both word and deed for your Kingdom’s sake we ask.

 

                https://youtu.be/E_nLERH27dM?si=WBcIPGffCI4YRPiL