Pilgrim

When you read the Bible, what do you hear?   Do you hear the words of an angry and jealous God in what we call the Old Testament?   Do you hear a God biding his time until a day of Wrath and Judgement? Does God seem different to you, in our so-called New Testament?   If that’s the case, could it be that we have been led to believe in an interpretation that in fact sells itself short and leaves us confused and possible disenchanted?   There are lots of questions here, because I strongly believe we are in a time when we should be asking ourselves questions, as a church, as a family, as a community, as a country. The Gospel means “Good news”.   In the early days and years of the church, the message was clearly interpreted as Good News by the poor and scary to those in power.   When we preach the Gospel today, is that still the same?   Why doesn’t it seem to have the same power as back then?   Why would most people equate the Gospel with “B...

Notes on Luke 9:1-27 If we assume and accept the arguments put forward by NT Wright (ex-Bishop of Durham) are valid.   That the Gospels all speak of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus being the means by which the God of Israel physically came into his own creation to return that creation from the exile.   An exile produced by the breach in relationship between God and humanity as described in the Genesis creation myth.   It is really important that we read the Gospels with this underlying canvas or picture in mind.   It is hard but it can be very fruitful and I believe will help to keep the Gospels relevant and challenging to us today. Chapter 9 in Luke sees Jesus sending out his newly commissioned 12 apostles, (Chapter 6) on a mission that heralds in Luke the coming of the Kingdom of God.   In fact Luke has Jesus telling them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick, a marker itself of a new age.   Mark has repentance as his k...