Pilgrim

Today is the second Sunday in Lent and we are preparing ourselves for the approaching passion of Jesus.   We are then pilgrims along a journey to our own meeting with Jesus at the cross.   The two readings chosen for today speak directly into the importance, the anchor of faith on our relationship with God.   Nearly everyone, Christian or not, is aware of Jesus’ apparent anguished cry “ My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”   A smaller number may know that it comes from Psalm 22.   A smaller number still will know that Psalm 22 ends with a confirmation of faith and praise.   It is possible, just possible, that some here may not have realized that when Jesus said “ I am thirsty” in John 19:28, he may have had in mind v 14 of Psalm 22 “ My life is poured out like water and all my ones are out of joint” v 15 “ My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth”.   He could have just been really thirsty from the blood loss of course.   Either way we a...

I attended a really good CPD event this morning hosted by North Kent Methodist Circuit led by Dr Simon Stocks.  We spoke about the dangers of familiarity with the Easter story, and reviewed 1st Century Jewish beliefs on resurrection and Messiah(s).  We discussed in groups what we believed would be assumptions from non-Christians if they heard us speaking about the Easter message and Jesus' resurrection' including our assumptions that God is real and that the Gospels are a reliable witness.  We discussed the difficulty that some people have in relating to the reliability of ancient documents and the literality of them In groups we looked at each of the Gospels, and noted common themes that in none of the Gospels is there an eye witness account of the resurrection itself.  No-one saw Jesus being raised; however all the Gospels confirm the existence of an empty tomb. The other main common factor is the lack of scriptural quotations related to the resurrection event, s...

I volunteered to lead one of our Sunday school classes this morning.  In fact it is a good thing for a local preacher to do, to meet with the youngest of our prospective church members and for the youngsters to get to know your face. We read the story of Martha and Mary, and despite the young age of my group @4 years, we were able to discuss the importance of listening to Jesus, to treat people fairly, and not to think boys and girls should be treated differently due to their gender.  The children drew pictures of Jesus, Martha or Mary and copied a prayer that I had created.  Some of them managed joining the dots of letters to make the prayer, one of the children copied the prayer by hand. At the end of the session we joined in a simple prayer. Often I hear that the Sunday School is a time for play, but today I was really pleased with the 3 young children in my class.  Instead of running around, they focussed on something and achieved something.  I wa...