Sunday 15 March 2026: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

Sharing in the Scriptures

In verses 16 and 17 of our Bible passage, Paul writes this: ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work’.

He may have written this some 2,000 years ago, but like many passages in the New Testament, it could have been written yesterday!

We now live in times where ‘fake news’ receives as much of a credible hearing as truth itself. We live in an age in which so many leaders across the world are seeking power through populism. They shape their political or spiritual pitches to the public according to what they know will be popular and win them power and influence, often at the expense of what may be more wise, or more truthful, or more helpful.

These are difficult days to attempt to proclaim the truth – and the voice of the Church is just one more voice amongst a cacophony of competing opinions.

But as Christians, we want to pursue the truth about God. We want to know who Jesus is and we want to understand what having a relationship with Jesus means for our lives. And we believe that God has given us the Bible as the way of knowing Him and coming into a relationship with Jesus.

We want to read the Scriptures to be affirmed and comforted, but we also must not be afraid to read the Scriptures and find ourselves being challenged by God. And we must not be afraid to be changed and transformed by God the more we read and understand the Bible.

The Bible is not some populist manifesto. It is God’s Word to us, inspiring us to change and be transformed ever closer into the likeness of Jesus.

But what does Paul mean when he writes that ‘all Scripture is God-breathed’? Well, let’s start off by saying what it doesn’t mean! We don’t believe as Christians that the Bible is a record of God’s Words literally dictated and written down by human beings.

The Bible is comprised of 66 individual books, written by about 70 or more individual people, and it contains songs, poems, history, laws and even humour and riddles. And we believe that God was inspiring these people as they wrote, and that they were being inspired by their relationship with God, but the words they wrote are very human words.

So, the Bible is a book of words written by human beings who were inspired by God as they wrote. And it’s for that reason that we take the teachings in the Bible seriously. We view it as being created through the power of God and that everything we need to know about God is in the Bible. And we don’t need to take it all literally. Some parts of it are historically and literally true, but other parts are metaphorical. We can help one another to understand the difference when we read, learn and develop our understanding together.

Although the Bible is inspired by God, it also contains all the messiness of human life. There are stories of wars and battles, there is physical violence and murder, there is betrayal, and there is human failure and weakness. There are stories about lying to God, running away from God, and ignoring God. There are stories about human love and devotion, there are stories of courage, stories of shame, stories of hope, and stories of despair. The list goes on.

The whole of human experience is contained in the Bible – for good and for bad.

And that’s what makes it such a wonderful book, because as we read the words of Scripture, we see ourselves mirrored in its pages: our own failures, weaknesses, shame and despair; our own beauty, courage, hope and love. The Bible is a mirror in which we see ourselves reflected before God.

And having seen ourselves in this mirror, and also having read some of the incredible stories in the Bible about how God can use ordinary people to do extraordinary things, we are then inspired to go beyond our imagined limitations and become available to God to be used by Him for His extraordinary purposes.

Let us then be thankful for the opportunity to share in the Scriptures, and may that shared knowledge guide us as the servants of God, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

Sunday 8 March 2026: John 6:47-59

Sharing in Communion

Today, we are considering the theme of ‘sharing in Communion’. It is an act of remembrance that Jesus gave to us when He shared a final meal with His disciples on the evening before His death. Communion enables us to reflect on the perfect love that Jesus has for us that He should lay down His life that we might be saved from our sins, and live!

Communion is a simple act, but one that has, at times, become perhaps unnecessarily complicated or confusing and, dare I say it, even divisive.

There are many differing views as to what we should do when we share in Communion. So, it is quite sad that something so remarkable as this great gift from our Lord should be the subject of any argument about what is the right or wrong way to remember Him. Rules and regulations have been introduced which divide us according to the denomination of the church we find ourselves in.

Some of the arguments concern: whether children are too young to receive Communion; should those who are not baptised or confirmed take part; are some too sinful?

Then there are the elements themselves which represent the body and blood of Jesus. Should we use only real bread and real wine; are wafers and juice acceptable; should we share one chalice; is it okay to use individual cups?

What about frequency? Should we share in Communion daily; should it be weekly; twice per month; twice a year?

And then, who can lead the act of Communion? Should it only be a priest, or a learned person with a degree in theology? Or can it be someone like you and me who may not have particular qualifications, but nonetheless accepts Jesus as their Lord and Saviour?

The debate, and any accompanying division it brings, carry the potential for the Devil to gain a foothold in our churches if we are not careful. So, whilst there are different practices applied, we might be well-advised to respect each alternative approach and be happy with the one we adopt for ourselves.

Personally, I think what is important in our approach to Communion is the way our hearts are set. No one is able to judge our hearts except God Himself. So, in that sense, it doesn’t matter to me whether an individual is baptised or confirmed, young or old, learned or simple. It is more a personal inward reflection about our belief in Jesus. If we are comfortable about who Jesus is to us, and why Communion matters, then we are ready to take part.

Important aspects of that personal inward reflection should concern confession of our sins, remembering that Jesus died for us, and renewing our commitment to serve Him.

We might also want to guard against complacency. I am sure we have all heard the phrase ‘familiarity breeds contempt’, but maybe in respect of Communion, could it be that ‘familiarity breeds complacency’? Could it be true for all of us, to some extent, that we receive Communion so often that we become complacent about it? Perhaps, all too easily, we become distracted or lack focus, and we fail to recognise its true value and meaning?

Maybe, we disrespect Communion when we do not eat and drink in accordance with its value, which is to say, when we participate with complacency. Let us then keep in mind the words of the Apostle Paul, who writes in 1 Corinthians 11:28, ‘Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup’. This verse calls us to a lifestyle of self-examination so that we follow Jesus in a right manner and share in Communion with respectful hearts.

So, with those thoughts about Communion in mind, let us turn to some of the detail of our Bible passage from John’s Gospel. And, straight away, we might conclude that what Jesus was saying to those who were following Him at that time, could have been very difficult to understand. Imagine being there and hearing things like, “I am the bread of life . . . which anyone may eat and not die.” And, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”

Hearing these kinds of words for the first time might have sounded quite bewildering, if it was not obvious that they were intended metaphorically. It takes me back to a time when I was very young and hearing Communion prayers in church that frightened me. The priest would say, “Lift up your hearts,” and the congregation would reply, “We lift them to the Lord.”

My infant mind could not process the real intention of those words, and they made me think, quite literally, that my heart would be taken out of my body and lifted to the Lord. And that frightened me.

Looking back now, I can see with hindsight that the literal sense was wrong, and that the words were symbolic of a loving commitment to God. And now we have the benefit of hindsight in reading John’s Gospel and the time to study it in order to understand more accurately, we can see its meaning. Those standing in the presence of Jesus when He spoke had to process His words instantly – and that may have led some to a literal interpretation, in the same way that I had done as a very young boy.

So, whilst this is a potentially difficult passage to get to grips with, it is worth our attention and study because, when we see its meaning, it strengthens the living hope that we cling to. It reinforces our understanding that those who believe in Jesus have eternal life, and that, in Jesus, we have everything and all we need to sustain us in this life and the next.

The first verse of our reading, verse 47, starts with the words, “Very truly,” or, “I tell you the truth.” These words place emphasis on taking Jesus seriously for they represent reality and what God requires of us. Jesus requires us, not only to believe in Him, but to also believe all He taught and to follow Him accordingly.

Next, as the Son of God, Jesus said He is the Bread of Life that must be eaten if someone is to have eternal life. Just as we eat physical food daily to sustain our bodies, so we eat of Jesus daily to sustain our spirit. In other words, we take Jesus and His words into our lives, minds, and hearts daily, so we can continue to live spiritually forever in relationship with Him and our heavenly Father.

The Jews expected the Messiah to feed them daily with physical food, in the way God had fed their ancestors with manna in the wilderness. Jesus gave a sign that He could do that when He fed a large crowd using only a few loaves of bread and fish, because He was the Messiah that God had promised to send.

But Jesus did not come to feed people physical food and then have them die. Jesus wants us to look beyond our earthly expectations to what He came to give spiritually. Jesus came to give us eternal life, a life of peace and joy in relationship with God that would begin here and now and last forever.

Before Jesus comes again, our human bodies will live and die, but those of us who believe in Jesus will live as recipients of eternal life, and on the last day, Jesus will raise us up in new bodies. 

When Jesus said the bread from heaven was His flesh to eat, some of the Jews argued among themselves because they took His words literally. But Jesus was not talking about cannibalism! In a similar incident recorded earlier in John’s Gospel at chapter 3, verse 4, you might recall how Nicodemus took Jesus literally and asked Him, “How can someone be born again when they are old?

But Jesus would give His life, give His flesh, shed His blood and die in the flesh as an atonement for our sins.

In John 3:16, we learn that God expresses His love for us when Jesus died on the cross. As the perfect sacrifice for our sins, Jesus made possible God’s merciful forgiveness of our sins. In this sense, Jesus’ death on the cross is true spiritual food and drink, and because of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, we can have fellowship with God through Jesus every day.

As true spiritual food and true spiritual drink, remembering Jesus’ broken body and the blood He shed for us, gives all believers assurance of forgiveness. This is the means by which God can ultimately grant eternal joy, peace, love, and life to those who believe in Jesus. 

Verse 56 says, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” To ‘remain’ means maintaining a close and personal relationship with Jesus that involves continually taking the Word of God into our hearts. If we allow Jesus to remain in us, He will become a part of everything we say and do.

The Jews in the wilderness had to eat God-given manna daily to live. If they had not eaten the food and drank the water that the Father provided to them, they would have quickly died. For us, it is the words, commands, example, and leadership of Jesus that sustain us.

Jesus called Himself “the bread of life,” because we are nourished by Him, we survive because of Him, and He satisfies us when everything else leaves us empty. There is a connection between our nearness to Jesus, believing in Him, and being fulfilled by Him.

Celebrating communion together enables us to remember how Jesus gave Himself completely to give us a better life, a new start, and a fresh relationship with God.

Communion is important because it is a command to remember. Jesus wants us to remember every time we eat the wafer and drink the juice, that He is the one who provides all we need. He gives us the physical food that we need to survive and the spiritual nourishment we need to keep taking our next steps with Him.

When we join together in Communion, we are sustained by a personal relationship with Jesus in our hearts that begins in this life and will continue forever.

Sunday 1 March 2026: Luke 11:1-10

Sharing in Prayer

When Christians pray it should be the most important thing that we do. It is the way we get to talk to God, to honour Him, worship Him, get to know Him better and listen to what He has to say to us.

There are lots of different models for prayer, some of which you may know. I think one of the most common ones is the ACTS model.

A = Adoration – Through this part of the prayer we focus on God’s character and attributes, praising Him for His greatness, love and wisdom.

C = Confession – Come to the Lord and admit your sins and shortcomings, seeking His forgiveness and your spiritual renewal.

T = Thanksgiving – What you have got to be grateful for and express that gratitude to God for blessings, your relationships or your daily provisions.

S = Supplication – This is the opportunity in prayer to present requests to God for yourself and others, asking for guidance, protection or for help in specific circumstances.

Notice in this model that the supplication part comes last. How often do we have a tendency to dive straight in with asking God for something and missing the other steps? Of course, we may want to do this in a crisis, when we are faced with something terrible or scary, but this should not be our normal pattern of prayer.

But, of course, there is the one method that we absolutely should look at today, and that is the method that our lord Jesus Christ taught His disciples.

1. Luke 11.2 begins with adoration. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He showed that prayer begins, not with us, but with God. This is the time when we focus exclusively on God’s character, His attributes, His power, His wisdom, etc. We begin the prayer, not with asking for anything, or with confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness, or with thanking God for what He has done for us; we are simply declaring our faith in God and who He is.

Revelation 4:11 says, ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.

David, in the Old Testament, mastered the art of adoration prayers through the Psalms which tell of God’s greatness, His majesty, His compassion, His faithfulness.

Within this part of the prayer that Jesus taught us, is also the importance of offering up our life to God for His purpose. When we say ‘your kingdom come, your will be done’ we are basically acknowledging to God that He is in control and we are willing to follow the plans He has for our life.

Then we tell God that we know how great He is that He can meet all of our needs: ‘Give us today our daily bread’. We tell God that we have faith that He is all we need and that we have total dependence on Him.

So, once we have told our heavenly Father that we love Him, that we have surrendered to His will, that is when we can start to move onto our prayer requests.

2. In Luke 11:4, Jesus teaches us the importance of confession. God loves to cleanse and renew us, for His grace is so deep and powerful. But in order for God to forgive us, we first need to seek that forgiveness. There is only one way that we can seek forgiveness; we first have to admit our faults. Tell God what we have done wrong, and that we are sorry. We are then promised that, when we do that, when we come to God on our bended knees, with sorrow for all our sins, we are promised that He will forgive us.

1 John 1:9 says, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’

God does not want us to feel guilty. God wants to set us free from guilt and from sin, and we can ask God for that forgiveness. But there something that we also need to do in return. Jesus tells us that we also need to forgive those who have done wrong to us.

Mark 11:25 says, ‘And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.’

Forgiveness is not about fairness; it is about grace and mercy. The first thing we need to remember when we are trying to forgive others is how much our Father has already forgiven us.

3. Luke 22:19 says, ‘Thankfulness is central to the prayerful life.’ It should be echoed in our praying and reflected in our living. Jesus taught us how to give thanks during the last supper.

In Luke 22:19 it says, ‘And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it.’ 

In John 6:11 it says ‘Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as must as they wanted.’

In John 11:41 Jesus said ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me.’

Through these examples we can see how important it is to thank God for the many blessings we receive from Him.

Psalm 107:15 says, ‘Give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.’

We give thanks to God because we recognise that, without God, we have nothing. God created us, He created the world in which we live and all things in it. He created our families and our friends, He created delicious food so we can be nourished, He created drink so we would not go thirsty, and He created love so that we would know and feel just how much we are loved by Him.

4. Luke 11:9-13, ACTS. Supplication is the last thing that we should be doing when we pray. This is about asking for all that we need in life, as Jesus told us to pray. We are told that, when we ask, it will be given to us. This is the promise that encourages us to be persistent in prayer. God actively listens to our prayers and provides to us what is good for us. He will not answer us and give us things that are not good for us or are asked for with the wrong motive in our hearts. God only wants good things for us, so if we are asking for things that are not right for us or things that will damage us, then God’s answer may be ‘no’. We need to trust in Him to provide for us according to His will.  

We are reminded that prayer is not about saying the right words, but about coming honestly before God. Jesus teaches us that prayer begins with God, honouring who He is, trusting His will, and recognising our daily dependence on Him.

Prayer is a place of confession and forgiveness, of thanksgiving and trust, and of bringing our needs before a loving Father who already knows us. Jesus shows us that prayer can happen anywhere and, in many ways, what matters most is the posture of our hearts.

May we continue to pray simply, consistently, and confidently, knowing that God listens, God cares, and God invites us to draw close to Him, not just during Lent, but every day.

Sunday 22 February 2026: Romans 12:1-8

Sharing in Worship



This is now the third Sunday in a row where the word ‘therefore’ has featured at the start of our Bible reading. And so, once again, we find ourselves looking back to see what it is there for!

Actually, this week’s ‘therefore’ could easily relate to the previous eleven chapters, since chapter 12 serves as a bit of a summary of all that has been written so far in this letter from the Apostle Paul to Christians in Rome.

But we will be here for some time if I read you all those chapters, so it is more likely to relate to the previous few verses at the end of chapter 11. Verses 33 to 36 are a prayer of praise doxology which mark out God’s perfect wisdom, justice and love.

This is what they say:

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and  knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
³⁴ ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counsellor?’
³⁵ ‘Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?’
³⁶ For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

Here, it is almost as if Paul is bursting into song at the wonder of what God has done. So, it is no surprise that our reading starts with ‘therefore’ because Paul’s prayer of praise is what it is there for.

As we move on to our main reading in chapter 12, Paul is relating the lifestyle we are now called to live to the way that the Jews had lived in the centuries before the time of Jesus. As a common practice, the Jewish people had offered sacrifices to God, but now the sacrifice we are to offer is ourselves.

Paul says that it is our ‘bodies’ that we are to offer as a sacrifice: not our physical bodies as such, but rather who we are in relation to the places where we live and the wider world. The discipline of worship that we are to offer as a sacrifice to God is worked out in how we relate to others and to the world in general.

And let us not be put off by that word ‘sacrifice’. Essentially, what it means is to share in worship in every aspect of our daily lives: when we are at home, in school, at work, in church, and everything in between. That’s the sacrifice that Paul is encouraging us to make.

By relating to other people and the world in a manner pleasing to God is our sacrifice of ‘spiritual worship’. And we do this in a rational way because that is what marks us out from other creatures. Our rationality is how we comprehend and experience God in our lives, and so we must be rational in our life of worship to make it pleasing to God. It is who we are – it is how we have been made – the worship of God is our rational response to His creation.

Paul suggests in verse 2 that we should not go along with how the world wants us to think and act. Instead, we are to be transformed by the renewal of our hearts and minds. And as we are transformed by this process of renewal, we don’t leave behind who we are, but our attitudes change, our character is reformed and renewed and the old becomes new.

We become transformed so that we are able to make assessments about our behaviour, our thoughts, or words: to work out whether we are living in a way that is pleasing to God or not. And then we can make our transformation accordingly.

Paul then moves on to describe what that transformation looks like in practice and it is no surprise that the first thing Paul deals with is how transformed and renewed hearts and minds change the way we relate to one another in our churches. As Christians, we are all called to a new life in community with each other. We cannot properly live out the Christian life without being rooted in the church, and so Paul has this as the first and primary point when he comes to consider the implications of renewed hearts and minds.

And what is interesting about Paul’s words of encouragement about the church is that he is concerned with the need for moderation, expressed as sober judgment. The moderating influence must be that we behave according to the measure of faith which God has given to us: no more and no less. Each one of us has a different measure of faith, and so how we live out our faith will be different for each one of us. But we must not pretend to be who we are not, or pretend to have more faith or less faith than we have been given.

And as we all have different measures of faith, we all have different gifts too. So, again, we can note just how important it is to Paul that we work out our faith in sharing with one another. Our faith is not a private matter; we are in relationship with each other and we work out our faith as a body; a community of believers.

All churches function through the gifts of the Spirit. That is a simple truth. For some, that will be what we call ‘charismatic worship’. For others, it will be quieter, more reserved and contemplative. Both approaches are valid because both are reliant on the gifts of the Spirit.

And so, in the broadest sense, Paul is calling us back to being a community which is reliant on the gifts of the Spirit in our church life together. And that community will inevitably be diverse because God has given a diversity of gifts. We are not one body despite our diversity; we are one body because of our diversity, and that is to be celebrated. With our diversity working in unity, the body of Christ is very beautiful indeed. So we celebrate our diversity and we thank God for it.

And then Paul goes on, in verses 6-8, to describe some of the functions of the body of the church.

Firstly, he mentions prophesy, but we need to be careful here in our understanding of what Paul means. It would be easy to conclude that this means predicting the future based on messages from God or the interpretation of dreams. Instead, scholars suggest the use of the word prophesy here means the gift of preaching the Word of God.

With that in mind, if there is no one with the gift of prophecy, that is preaching, then the church cannot function because it cannot hear the Word of God in its situation.

Next, Paul mentions ‘serving’ and this word has a wide range of meanings. But it is likely that Paul meant it here as meeting people’s needs as they arise, rather than dedicating ourselves to a ‘life of service’ as it were.

Then Paul refers to ‘teaching’, which, of course, can be closely aligned to prophecy in the sense that Paul has just mentioned. But as a gift of the Spirit, teaching is not just the passing on of information, but is instead a more interpretative role: the teacher gains the knowledge and then comes to understand how that knowledge should be passed on for the benefit of those they are teaching.

Next comes the gift of ‘encouragement’, which is a beautiful gift to have. And the church really needs people who are good at encouraging others! There is nothing more demoralising for all of us, particularly in our churches, than those who see it as their life’s work to complain and undermine. How much more beautiful to be an encourager? How much more Christlike it is to encourage and support, even if that does sometimes involve constructive criticism and occasional correction?

Then we come to ‘giving’ and there is something of the spirit of generosity here as these people share willingly of their own possessions and goods for the well-being of others. Again, there is something so beautiful about the person who doesn’t cling to their own possessions but sees everything as a gift from God to be shared with others.

The penultimate gift is that of leadership which is so important for good management and organisation. And so often, a good leader will set an example for others in conduct, responsibility and direction. There might also be a need to provide oversight and protection: someone in the Christian community who is able to look out for those who are vulnerable or on the margins or who need bringing back into the fold.

And then finally, we have those who ‘show mercy’. Perhaps Paul has in mind here people who actively work on behalf of the poor and needy?

So, this list isn’t complete by any means, but there are some beautiful ministries outlined here: speaking God’s word into a church community, meeting the needs of people as they arise, teaching and interpreting the word of God, encouraging others, sharing possessions with those in need, advocating on behalf of those who have no voice, and meeting the needs of the poor. All of these gifts are part of the way we worship, and when we use them for the benefit of others, then we are sharing in worship.

That is our calling as Christians: to share love with one another and with the community around us. That is our ultimate calling as a Church.

In this passage, Paul calls us to renewal and transformation. When we identify our own gifts, we should pray for guidance in using them to build-up God’s family. At the same time, we should understand that we can’t do everything alone. We should be thankful for those around us whose gifts are completely different, and complementary, to our own.

In recognising that we cannot do anything without the grace of God in blessing us for service, let us rely on the guidance and example of Jesus for sharing in worship, and let us put our whole selves into it. 

Sunday 8 February 2026: 1 Peter 4:1-11

Living for God

It is good to feel belonged to something. It makes us feel included, it gives us support, it may make us feel loved, it may make us feel that we have a purpose. Usually when we belong to something, we have a particular job or task to do. For example, someone who belongs to a football team may play in a particular position and their role to help the team win the match. Someone who belongs to an orchestra will play a particular role in forming the music.

When we belong to God, we have a profound relationship where we find our identity rooted in being known and loved by God. It brings us a sense of safety, comfort and peace in knowing that we are cared for by God. We have freedom from fear because God is in control. We have a purpose, recognising that life is a gift from God. But what does belonging to God really mean to us and mean for the direction of our lives? Belonging to God means trusting in Him and living according to His will and leading a life of service to God’s purpose.

Our reading today starts again with the word, ‘therefore’. Peter uses this phrase four times in his first letter, and each time this acts to connect his teaching to the previous verses. Preceding today’s reading is the reading we had last week, focusing on suffering for doing good. However, we did not read the whole passage last week, so it is worth us reading that today to help us put into context Peter’s purpose for starting this passage with ‘therefore’.

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. ¹⁹ After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits – ²⁰ to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, ²¹ and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

In this passage Peter focuses on the suffering of Christ, and our baptism that saves us through His resurrection.

Therefore, Peter says, because of this, because Christ suffered in body, we also must have the same attitude. So, what is this attitude that Peter talks about? Well let’s think about the attitude that Jesus had. He had a mindset that was steadfast. Jesus was totally committed to doing what God wanted Him to do. It didn’t matter what the cost was, it didn’t matter how much He had to suffer, it didn’t matter that He had to give up His life. Jesus was committed. He was beaten, whipped, ridiculed, spat at, nailed to a cross and eventually died. Jesus did all this in obedience to God’s plan so that we could receive salvation. Even when Jesus was suffering on the cross, He asked the Lord to forgive those who were killing Him. This steadfast mindset that Jesus had serves as an important example for us.

This is the kind of attitude that Peter calls us to have. An attitude that does not give up at the first sign of abuse we receive for being a Christian. An attitude that keeps us committed to doing the will of God even if others turn away. An attitude that keeps us strong when we are suffering. We should expect to suffer for God and be prepared to endure any persecution because we are Christians.

The attitude we need to adopt is shown through Christ, who remained obedient to God. We too need to be obedient to His will for our life, no matter what the cost may be. When we do this, Peter says that we are no longer controlled by the sinful desires of our old life, but we live for the will of God.

Now this may not be an easy thing to do. When we take a stand and stop doing the things we did in our old lives, we may lose friends or make enemies. People may ask us why we are acting differently or doing different things to the things we used to do. Maybe when you became a Christian you were ridiculed. But we are called to follow His will and not ours. Peter acknowledges this difficulty when he says in verse 4 ‘that they are surprised you do not join them and they heap abuse on you’. We will encounter persecution for loving God and following His ways.  

Living for God means that we need to be near to Him and build our relationship with Him. When we have a relationship with another person, we build this by talking with them. This enables us to learn more about the other person and share our stories, thoughts, feelings and troubles with them. The way in which we talk to God is through prayer and is one of the ways we can listen to what God wants to say to us. This is why our prayer life is so important. Without it, it can be very difficult to draw near to God. It would be like trying to get to know someone without talking to them. Obviously, you can write letters or text each other, but the real connection comes from conversing with others. But warns Peter, we need to be serious about it. It is no good going into our prayers half-heartedly or just reciting prayers without really thinking about the words and trying to get through them as quickly as possible. ‘No’ says Peter, when you pray you should be alert and sober. In other words, this is to be serious and watchful about what we pray for. Pray often, pray sincerely, pray for others, and don’t forget to pray for thanks, not just to ask God for things, like a shopping list. Simply tell God how grateful you are for the good things he has done, for the blessings in your life or the life of others.

Another thing that we are called to do if we want to live for God is to love others deeply. Really care for each other, protect each other and be hospitable to each other. Peter says that love covers a multitude of sins. Now there are two ways that we can look at this passage. One is obvious, that we should forgive others when they have sinned against us. Maybe forgive those who we would consider our enemies, and we know that this is not any easy thing to do. But what Peter also means here is that when we love others, we are able to overlook each other’s minor faults or failures. We do not need to keep score on who has made the most cups of tea, who never does the washing up, who has done the most jobs. When we keep score with those we love, this starts to fester and we start to bear grudges against each other. Peter says that this is about recognising in each other that we all have faults and loving the other person despite their faults is what we are called to do.

Peter also tells us that one way we can extend our love to one another is by offering hospitality to each other and doing this in a way that is not begrudging. To the early Christians this was very important, especially when people were being persecuted, perhaps in hiding, people offering their homes to others which in itself was a dangerous thing for them to do for fear of being arrested themselves.

We are taught that any kindness shown to another person, is showing kindness to God. Remember in Matthew 25 when Jesus was talking to His disciples about being given something to eat and drink, being clothed, looked after and being visited. In verse 40 Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

We are promised that no matter how small the hospitality we show to others, it will be rewarded. Matthew 10:40 says, ‘And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.’ But of course, we should not do it so that we will get a reward. We should not only offer hospitality to others on the understanding that they will offer the same hospitality to us in return. We should be willing to show kindness in the name of the Lord with no thought of being repaid. Our payment is knowing that we have helped others and lived according to God’s will. Through loving and helping others, we are loving and living for God.

I have said many times before that we all have gifts. Different kinds of gifts, some more visible than others. But it is no good having these gifts if we never use them. Imagine if we had the gift of a beautiful singing voice but never sang any hymns. Or if we had the gift of preaching but never spoke to others about Jesus. When we waste the gifts we have been given, we are turning our back on the Lord.

The gifts we have been given from God should be used for His glory. Not for selfish gain but for the good of others and to shine the light of God. Peter reminds us that our gifts should be used in the right way, and that is in service to God. When we serve God, we should do so humbly, recognising that it is God from whom we get our strength.

In our reading this morning, Peter really highlights how we can live for God and practically what this looks like. Having the right mindset and being prepared for suffering and persecution in the name of the Lord. Building our relationship with God by being diligent with our prayers, praying often and with a sincere heart. Loving and serving others in an unbegrudging way and using our gifts for God’s glory and not for selfish gain. What do we need to do or change in our lives that will enable us to live more for God? The end of our reading says, ‘so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ’. May the lives we live be such that God gets all the credit. 

Sunday 1 February 2026: 1 Peter 3:8-18

Our Bible reading for today begins with Peter giving instructions to us all about how to live in peace and harmony with others. In verse 8, he writes: “All of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.” The idea of us being ‘of one mind’ does not mean that we always have to agree with each other but that we are able to live in harmony together, even when we disagree.

So, having outlined the attitude that one believer should have for another, Peter goes on in verse 9 to describe our relationship with non-believers: “Do not repay evil for evil or insult for insult” – and this idea of non-retaliation is at the heart of the Gospel message and the teaching of Jesus in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, of course. There, it says, “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”

But more than that, not only are we not to retaliate, we are to bless – and that has two meanings in the Bible. The first is to speak well of someone; to only use words that are encouraging and positive. The second is to offer people the possibility of salvation. And, of course, there is a real challenge to us to give either of these forms of blessing to those who are insulting us or causing us pain. But, as Peter reminds us in verse 9: “this is what you are called to do, so that you may inherit a blessing”.

Then in verses 10 and 11, Peter quotes from Psalm 34 when he writes: “For those who choose to love life and see good days must stop the tongue from evil and the lips from speaking deceit. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.” And the thing to note here, of course, is the link between speaking and doing: “stop the tongue from evil, the lips from speaking deceit . . . turn from evil and do good”.

And Peter gives us another thought to ponder in verse 12: “For the eyes of the Lord are on the just and his ears are open to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is set against those who do evil.”

Peter is teaching us a powerful lesson here that, ultimately, the Christian faith is lived out when we show respect and love to others. Christians are to respect and love fellow-believers. Christians are to respect and love even those who seek to do them harm. As we are discovering each week, through our study of the first letter of Peter, it is all about love; practical love worked out in the way we show respect and compassion to others.

As Christians, we are called to a life of love. Sometimes it is easy to love, sometimes it is hard. But in the end, love is all-important. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians: “And these three remain: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love”

The next verses in our reading consider our need to stay faithful to Jesus and loyal to the Christian faith, even when it is difficult for us to do so.

Staying faithful to Jesus can be tough when life gets difficult. Sometimes, life throws us a curve ball and we really can’t make sense of the Christian faith in the light of what has happened to us. Other people may give us a really hard time for being a Christian: friends, family, work colleagues, our employers may not make it easy for us – and sometimes the temptation is either to stay quiet about our faith or give up on it altogether.

But Peter’s letter gives us some real encouragement if that is how we feel. And he does that in verse 13 by giving hope to believers who are suffering for their faith. Here, he writes: “Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?” We are called to be eager for the right things rather than the wrong things: eager for truth and reverence; eager for justice and for what is good.

And Peter is anxious to encourage his readers as they pursue what is good and true and just. Verse 14 says: “But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats, and do not be frightened”.

As Christians, holding fast to our faith in Jesus, there may well be times when we feel frightened, intimidated and misunderstood, but Peter urges us to hold fast and stand for what we believe to be true. Despite the probability of being so misunderstood, as Peter says in verse 15, we are to, “in our hearts revere Christ as Lord”.

And not only are we to revere Christ even before those who misunderstand us but also, as he goes on to say, “always be ready to make our defence to anyone who demands from us an account of the hope that is in us.”

Here is the positive response that is asked of us as Christians; that we are to continue speaking about our faith, despite any opposition we might face, to declare Jesus to an unbelieving and sometimes hostile world.

And, of course, what is unique about our Christian faith, as Peter rightly notes here, is the hope that is ours. We are to speak out boldly about the hope we have as Christians; that God goes with us through our lives and will always be there for us.

We must try our best not to be shy about sharing the Gospel with others. But Peter is absolutely sure that the guiding principles for us in doing so must always be respect, compassion and love.

So, he goes on in verse 16 to say that when we give an account of this hope, we must do so, “with gentleness and reverence; keeping our consciences clear.” The sense here is that we must show respect to others as we speak to them, but always remember that we are in the presence of God and accountable to Him. Peter says, “keep a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

In this passage, we are urged to share the Good News of Jesus, even when we may be misunderstood, even when we may feel intimidated or fearful of the consequences. It is hard to do that – but we know that God understands how hard it is for us because He, too, has experienced misunderstanding in the person of Jesus.

And not only misunderstanding, but also suffering. Jesus suffered in order to bring us to God. In John’s Gospel, Jesus called himself the Gate. Here in Peter’s letter, the idea of Jesus as the Gate is made explicit: we go through Jesus to God the Father. Experiencing the fatherhood of God is the end destination. Our relationship with Jesus is the gate through which we travel to get to the Father.

If we see a relationship with Jesus as being the end result of our faith, then we miss the fullness of our Christian faith, which is being adopted as children of our Father God. Peter makes that clear: Jesus died for us so that He might bring us to God.

And, of course, that is not a once and for all act: we are spending a whole lifetime coming to God as we journey through our time on earth and continue to move into His glorious presence. That has been made possible for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus, as Peter points out in verse 18: “He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit”.

Those early Christians that Peter was addressing were facing the possibility of persecution. They needed to know that they were safe and secure in confessing their faith. They needed to know they were in the hands of an almighty and powerful God. In this passage, Peter gives them the assurance they need; and, by extension, he gives us the assurance we need.

Each one of us faces the possibility of being intimidated or being misunderstood as we share our faith with other people. But each one of us should do our best to stand firm and be prepared to give an account for our faith if it is demanded of us.

And if we do that, we can be assured that we will be safe and secure in the loving arms of our heavenly Father and in the strength of our Saviour, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, who has all power and authority in heaven and on earth.

I conclude this message on suffering for doing good by paraphrasing the thoughts of the apostle Paul from his epistle to the Romans:

If our enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, we will heap burning coals on their heads. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Sunday 25 January 2026: 1 Peter 2:11-17

In the world but not of the world

Peter in our passage gives us an alternative option – the faithful way that we can live among the world in light of all the brokenness in the world. Living like Christ and being holy in a hostile environment.

So firstly we need to remember that Peter had lots and lots of experience of this. Peter was one of Jesus’ apostles. He lived with Him, he spent time with Him, and he got to see how Jesus lived among sinners, tax collectors, etc, and how Jesus interacted with outsiders, or unclean sinners. Peter watched Jesus be filled with goodness, grace and truth at all times. Therefore, it is no surprise that Peter is now able to pass on that experience and knowledge to others which he does through this letter.

Peter says that we are called to live lives full of goodness in the midst of unbelievers who may persecute us. This reminds us of the words that Jesus said in the Sermon on Mount in Matthew 5:13: ‘You are the salt of the earth,’ and then in Matthew 5:14 He says, ‘You are the light of the world’. Being salt of the earth is a reference to believers who are good, honest, reliable and trustworthy. Much like salt that would have been used for preserving food and adding flavour, so too does it refer to people who have a strong moral fibre, who are valuable and incorruptible.

We have been called to live lives of goodness in the word around us. Verse 12 says, ‘Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’

In order to do this, we need to understand what our identity is. Peter continually refers to this in his letter and it is referred to in lots of other areas of the Bible such as the gospels. Our identity is shaped by our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter, in his letter, gives some really powerful instructions to our identity and behaviours.

1. The first message is that we are loved by God – God is our firm foundation even in the midst of all our troubles. The measure of God’s love is not based on our actions because it is never wavering. Some versions of the Bible start this passage with Peter addressing Christians as ‘beloved’ – because we are loved by God. This is an important part of knowing who we are – we are in God’s family, we belong to Him and He has gone to prepare a place for us. We have a new home waiting for us in heaven and we will receive that. That is the promise from God. Therefore, this world is not our home. We are simply visiting here, and our true home is in heaven with the Lord. How we live is an outpouring of what we believe about ourselves.

2. The second message is that we must resist all evil that is being hurled towards us day by day. We have to firstly be aware of the evil and sin that can take hold and rule in our lives. Peter is saying here that he acknowledges how difficult it is and tempting it is for us to be led astray by our sinful desires and things from the world around us. That is why he writes ‘I urge you’. When you urge someone, it means to earnestly or persistently persuade someone to do something. Peter is being persistent here in his persuasion for us to live holy lives.

It can be easy for us to allow our sinful passions or desires to rule in our lives and that then makes us just the same as the society around us. It is inconsistent with the will of God. We are no longer being the salt of the earth but can then be considered to have lost our saltiness.

Colossians 3:5, that I read a few weeks ago says, ‘Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.’

Peter is urging us to take action on this, not to sit by passively but to take action to get rid of our sinful desires. Peter talks about taking action against the war going on in our soul. I remember as a child and seeing cartoons where there is an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other shoulder, each speaking to the person to convince them to follow their ways. This is what Peter is taking about, when you give in to the evil thoughts raging war inside your mind and taking control. But he is urging us to take back control and to listen to God. Don’t ignore them, otherwise they may take control of our mind. We need to be mindful of our sinful thoughts, and deal with them so that we have control over them.

3. Then in verse 12 Peter turns to a positive command: live good lives. Do good. Do what is good, honest, right, faithful, honourable, etc. Living lives as the salt of the earth. Goodness is one of the fruits of the spirit we read about in Ephesians 5:8-9: ‘For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)’.
 
But of course it is easy to be good when everything is going right, but what Peter is saying is that others will see our goodness when we are being persecuted, when we are being downtrodden, when others are doing wrong to us, that is when they will see our good deeds. Christ is our example of this, one who showed the power of suffering and then receiving glory.
 
Following Christ is a calling to suffer and then receive glory. The New Testament gives us the expectation that, as Christians, we will be persecuted against. The question we need to ask is: are we living a life that is Christ-like such that persecution would be possible, or does that not happen because we are no different to the community in which we live and we do not stand out from the crowd? Is our faithful life enough? Is our life good enough to reflect the goodness of God such that others notice it in its difference? Or do we just blend in? Do we live no differently to those around us? We need to live our lives such that the light of Christ shines out from us.
 
4. In verses 13 and 14, Peter says that the goodness plays out by Christians being submissive to authority: ‘Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.’ 

This is God’s will for our lives that we need to be submissive, but this is very different to the culture in which we live. Our culture is such that we challenge authority which is the opposite to being submissive, and therefore to be submissive is not natural to us and it is an unpopular notion. But this is what Peter is saying in this passage, that we need to honour our authorities. Although this is unpopular, it is what God has called us to do. Do we as Christians honour our authorities? Do we pray for them regularly as a church and as individuals? When we pray for others, it changes our heart for them. When we pray for our enemies, our hearts soften so that we learn to love them.
 
1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, ‘I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.’
 
Peter does not say here that those in authority will have God’s definition of what is good and evil, right or wrong. In fact, Peter says the opposite as he says that they may act ignorantly or foolishly, but we are called to live godly and submissive lives to those in authority. What Peter means by this is to avoid being full of hatred and malice, avoid the tendency to turn away from being holy, in the spirit of freedom of speech. We still need to obey God and live holy lives.

5. In verse 17 Peter then gives us four quick fire commands: ‘Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honour the emperor.’

Respect everyone – in our life, who can we respect this week, maybe someone who could least expect it?

Love our Christian family – how can we show love to those who are in our immediate church family and extended church family. What does that look like? Do those around us see the love pour out of us?

Fear God – we talked about this in our Bible study a few weeks ago. What does it mean when we fear God? It does not mean that we are fearful of God, but that we do not want to displease God, and that we want to live as a servant of God and live by His reign. To follow the word of God and His commands.

Honour the emperor – which in today’s society this may be the same as honour the government, those in authority. This means that we may not necessarily agree with everything that those in authority do, but we need to be on guard if our actions and words prompted by those in authority mean that we are not living holy lives.

All of these are to the praise and glory of God as verses 12 and 13 say, ‘They may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. We do this not for our benefit, but for God’s sake. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake.’ What we do is not to protect our own reputation, but it is for God’s sake, for His glory. Our actions reflect on God and therefore our deeds and how we live and how we act reflect on how God is viewed. We are called to live as servants of God, and it is important for us to show God’s goodness.

In conclusion, Peter calls us to live distinctively in a world that may be indifferent or even hostile to our faith. But rather than withdrawing from society, conforming to its values, or responding with hostility, believers are urged to follow the example of Christ – living as “foreigners and exiles” who abstain from sinful desires, do good even under scrutiny, and submit to authorities for the Lord’s sake. Our identity is rooted in being loved by God and belonging to His family, which shapes both our behaviour and purpose. We are encouraged to resist evil, actively pursue goodness, and let our lives reflect the light of Christ, and be the salt of the earth, especially in challenging circumstances. Ultimately, the call is to respect everyone, love fellow believers, fear God, and honour those in authority – not for personal gain, but so that God may be glorified through our actions. This faithful way of living stands as a powerful witness to the world and fulfils God’s will for His people. 

Sunday 18 January 2026: 1 Peter 2:4-10

Living Stones



It is quite likely that we have all passed by a building site where it appears very little is happening. Machinery is standing idle, mud and puddles are everywhere, the building materials are piled-up unused, and we might struggle to spot a worker on site.

But in our Bible reading today, we heard about a building site where construction is in full swing. Peter writes in verse 4, “As you come to the Lord, the living Stone . . . you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.”

It’s a marvellous picture. Notice that God’s people are not described as a fine, finished project; an impressive temple with all the towers and pillars, the decorations and facilities in place. No, we’re God’s building site; His ‘work in progress’. Building the church is God’s work, not ours.

A building site is messy, and not always an easy place to be; but it’s also a place of great energy and creativity, a place where things are changing, growing, and taking shape. What is God building, changing, creating in our current life as a church?

Let’s go back to that image of those building materials, stacked up, waiting for the work to start. A familiar feature of a building site is huge pallets of bricks, or concrete blocks. The uniformity of modern bricks, in size and shape, makes it much easier to build a wall which is true, straight and stable. God, however, doesn’t have regular, straight, uniform blocks to build with. The Living Stones – you and me – which He has to hand are all kinds of awkward shapes, sizes and types. We get a bit nearer to it if we think of an older type of church, built from stones none of which were exactly the same as another.

The Church is built from people whose awkward shapes do not make it an easy task – either for God, the master builder, or for you and me who are called to work together with Him. We might hear that as bad news; wouldn’t it be so much easier to build the Church if those living stones, you and me, were less awkward; if we were more perfect? How are we ever going to get anywhere with such an odd set of building blocks?

But, instead, we should hear it as good news. Because the truth is that most of us are only too aware of our faults and flaws, our imperfections – and a bit too aware of one another’s, too. We know that we are, so to speak, very oddly-shaped stones. We might even have the idea that God couldn’t use someone like us. To be part of His Church, we might need to be a certain type – and we’re not that type.

Well, maybe we are all the wrong type, and that’s why we need God in our lives. But the amazing thing is that He needs us too. He can indeed use us, odd shaped stones that we are, to build His amazing, spiritual temple, to build His Church. Of course, He may well have to chip off a corner here, or smooth a jagged edge there – He is, after all, the master builder, and we have to let Him do His work in us, if we are to be the way He wants us. That process may on occasion be painful. But make no mistake, He specialises in working with people like you and me.

So, when God calls us to a task, we should remember that He is also calling others to work with us. Together, our individual efforts will be multiplied. Because that’s the secret to this amazing spiritual temple that God is building; that’s why He can build it using such unpromising building blocks as you and me. It’s built on Christ – the cornerstone, as Peter says; He is the one who holds the whole building together.

But Peter also tells us that, if we are not careful, stone can cause us to stumble, and rock can make us fall. He has taken those words from Isaiah 8:14 and placed them in his letter to describe what Jesus is to those who do not believe in Him. Most, if not all of us, will have at some time or another, tripped on a stone or bruised ourselves on a rock. Those who reject Jesus will stumble because they disobey the message.

As believers, we have been chosen by God as His very own and Peter reminds us, towards the end of our reading, that we have been called to represent Him to others. We should, therefore, remember that our value comes from being one of His children.

Just as stones are stronger when bound together with mortar, so we too are stronger together when joined with Jesus as His Church.

So, let’s make sure that our lives are built on Him. And, together, let’s make sure our Church is built on Him, too. 

Sunday 11 January 2026: 1 Peter 1:13-25

Be Holy

Peter now shifts the emphasis from dealing with the glories of our salvation to urging believers in how they can prepare themselves and be holy. The passage starts with the word ‘therefore’, and this marks the transition in what Peter is telling his readers, going from talking about the future hope, to the present and the action needed by all Christians. Peter wants Christians to understand that, since God has promised a living hope, salvation and eternal life, there is a certain manner with which he expects us to live and conduct ourselves. God expects us to change from our old ways, getting rid of our old self.

Ephesians 4:22 says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

But how do we live a holy life and live up to the expectations that God wants from us? Peter in his letter gives us three things to look at that are the key to holy living.

The first is to prepare our minds. Verse 13 says, “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.”

In some Bible versions this passage states, ‘gird up the loins of your mind’. A girded mind is one that is strong, composed, cool and ready for action. We need to stay alert and focused. Peter is urging us to think soberly about the daily things we deal with in light of the future glory that is promised. To have a sober mind means to have self-control and to be mentally ready to live for God. The sober spirit is poised and stable ready for action.

We should not set our hope on earthly things such as success or pleasure, instead our hope should be focused on the ultimate hope of the grace that will be revealed at Jesus’ return. We are encouraged to be forward looking, and not set our hope on the things of the here and now, but to set our hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to us at the second coming of Christ.

To be holy is to have a mind focused on Christ, and a mind that is ready to act for God.

The second key to holy living is to be obedient. Verse 14 says, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.”

As obedient children of God, we should not indulge in sins which may have characterised our old life. Now that we are Christians, we should model our life on Jesus who was sinless and without fault. Peter was explaining here that before we followed Jesus, we did not recognise our sins and we lived in ignorance. We considered it to be ok to do certain things, to say certain things, or to behave in a certain way. Now that we are walking in the light, the light shines into our lives and that helps us to see our blemishes more easily. We now accept that those things we once did in our ignorance are not acceptable for the life of a Christian.

So, what might such sins look like? Well, Colossians 3:5-14 gives us some really good examples of these, along with what obedience also looks like:

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

I wonder how many of those we have all been guilty of? When we talk about being sinful, maybe we tend to think more about The 10 Commandments, such as ‘do not lie’, ‘do not steal’, ‘do not commit adultery’, etc. But what about these sins that Paul was talking about; anger and rage, or using bad language? Paul then goes on to explain the type of characteristics we should have as Christians:

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

These are the characteristics that God expects of His people. That’s what it means to be obedient and to live a holy life. To abide by these characteristics and not behave in a manner that is not considered to be in the likeness of God. Since God is holy, we must also be holy by being obedient and not going back to our old sinful ways.

Thirdly, in order to be truly holy, it is no good to just prepare our minds and to turn away from sin, we also need to fix our eyes on Jesus.

Verses 17 to 19 say: “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

When Peter talks about a reverent fear, he is not saying that we should be afraid of God, he is saying that we should live with a healthy respect for God who judges us impartially. It especially means that we need to realise that the God who we address as our Father is the same God who judges us impartially. The fear then is not a fear of God, but a healthy fear that we do not want to displease Him. We need to be serious about our commitment to God. Be serious about a life being obedient to Him and a life that is serious about attempting at least to be holy.

Peter reminds us that our lives were not redeemed with payment, with silver or gold, but that it was the precious blood of Christ, who was slain on the cross for our sins. Therefore, when we bow at his throne of grace, we should do so with a true heart, in full confession of our sins, and be truly repentant of the things we have done wrong.

To become holy is less about ‘do’s and don’ts’ and more about who we are in Christ. Leviticus 20:25 says, “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.”

The moment we become saved, we are born again. This is when we are declared righteous, become justified, and sanctified and made holy by God. But we need to be persistent and become progressively holy in our daily walk with the Lord. We need to work at it, we need to continually shine a light on the darkest areas of our lives to rid ourselves from anything sinful that is getting in the way of our holiness.

Ultimately, to be holy is to let God’s enduring word shape our lives, knowing that while everything else fades, the life God gives is eternal. Holiness is both a calling and a response to God’s love – a daily journey of becoming more like Him. As Peter said, the word of the Lord endures forever. Let it endure forever in our hearts and shape us to be holy as He is holy. 

Sunday 4 January 2026: 1 Peter 1:3-9

Living Hope

Our reading from the first letter of Peter gave wonderful encouragement to the new Christians he was writing to, but it is just as valid and encouraging for us as his modern-day readers. It is such a great celebration of the good news of the resurrection and the difference it should make to our hearts. Let me remind you of the first verse of our passage:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

But you might be thinking, ‘Really?’ How can we be joyful when life presents us with so many struggles?

Certainly, as Christians, we should not ignore the difficulties and struggles of life. Some of the Psalms are a great model of how to cry out to God when life seems tough. The Barnabas Aid prayer for today that we said earlier is a good example from Psalm 63. And during the recent Covid-19 pandemic, there were many verses from the Psalms that we used in our ’Thought for the Day’ as encouragement to us all. One such passage was from the first three verses of Psalm 61 which says:

“Hear my cry, O God;

listen to my prayer.

From the ends of the earth I call to you,

I call as my heart grows faint;

lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For you have been my refuge,

a strong tower against the foe.”

In terms of the difficulties and struggles of life, we will know that the whole focus of the crucifixion of Jesus tells of the reality of suffering head-on.

1 Peter is a letter written to people who are suffering. We do not know the details, but it is widely thought that Peter is writing to new Christians who were recently-converted Jews, or perhaps even gentiles. They were struggling with being small groups of isolated Christians who were often ill-treated by others because of their new Christian faith. Compared with our lives today, their life was tough. From the perspective of the Jews and the pagans around them, being a Christian made things worse. They had little from a worldly point of view to rejoice in, and Peter knew that. In verse 6 of our reading, he acknowledges their struggles:

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”

So how can we rejoice when we are suffering?

The answer lies in what we rejoice in and how that compares to the suffering. Peter’s claim is not that we should ignore the suffering, or that it is wrong to experience the emotions of grief and sadness that it may bring, but that even the depths of the suffering in this life cannot compare with the joy we have in Jesus.

If we are to have joy in the Christian life, then we need to have confidence in its start point, its end point and the journey between them. That is what Peter focuses on in this passage.

The start point is the resurrection. Peter had himself known Jesus, been through the tragedy and pain of seeing Him crucified, before experiencing the joy of meeting the risen Jesus and seeing death defeated. For Peter, the resurrection was a transformational moment; it changed his life completely.

Now, many years later, he writes with confidence to these struggling Christians to remind them of the new birth they have experienced when they came to believe in the reality of the resurrection.

Many would have previously been Jews. But some may have been gentiles, or even pagans who believed in a world controlled by fickle gods, with death being the gateway into a rather bleak afterlife. Life was tough and then you die, was their hopeless outlook.

Today, many in our world have the same outlook. They are distracted by momentary pleasures and short-term goals to improve their lives through more money, better relationships or fun activities, but they have nothing to look forward to in the long-term except the onset of old age and death itself. Hope is dead.

When we grasp that the resurrection actually happened; that the God of Jesus can, and has, raised the dead, and He did so to create a way to life and salvation for all who trust in Him, then hope comes alive and life is transformed.

It is a new birth. The resurrection is a reality that should seep into our hearts and change the way we think, feel and love. Quite simply, it brings us joy. The resurrection is the secure start point of the Christian life.

Peter makes clear that the resurrection shows us that we have the means to reach our end point, and that our end point is secure. We have an inheritance, a place in God’s eternal home that will always be there.

These days, we tend to look for guarantees. We want to be confident that, if we buy something, it won’t break straight away or fail us. The Bank of England guarantees the banking system, so that, if the banks fail, we can know that our savings – up to a certain amount – will not disappear.

Security is important, but things like the recent pandemic and the war in Ukraine have, perhaps, made us feel less secure. Where can we find a confident guarantee?

The answer comes from Jesus. Why? Because He proved His commitment and love for us by dying for us and demonstrated His power over death by rising again. In Jesus, our hope is completely secure. In Him, we can find true joy.

So, how are we held through time between the fixed points of the resurrection and our eternal home in heaven? How can we be held with confidence above the trials and tribulations of this life? It is with a genuine faith.

Peter tells us that such a faith is of greater worth than gold. We can’t take gold with us when we die, but genuine faith in Jesus is what brings us to the fixed point of that eternal inheritance.

But this illustration has another aspect to it. Gold is refined by fire. When gold is heated up, and the impurities are skimmed off, the true gold remains, the impurities disappear. The same is true of faith, when we are faced with the trials and suffering of life.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus speaks of the seed that falls on shallow ground as illustrating those whose faith is not genuine. When suffering and persecution come along, their faith wilts. Similarly, He speaks of the seed that falls amongst the weeds as illustrating a faith that is not genuine. When the worries of this life come along, the faith is choked.

True faith perseveres through these struggles, keeping us focused on the resurrection and fixed to the hope of our eternal inheritance. When this is the case, suffering creates a deeper confidence that our faith is genuine. Our struggles may be tough, but they have a positive purpose in refining and strengthening our faith. When that happens, we discover a deeper joy!

As Christians, we need to focus again and again on the fixed points of the resurrection and our eternal inheritance, and rejoice in the genuine faith that God has given us to keep us moving towards the ultimate goal, the salvation of our souls!

So, let us give thanks and praise to our heavenly Father for our living hope which is founded on our deep and abiding trust in His reliable plan for us, giving all believers a sure foundation for life and eternity.

Sunday 28 December 2025: Acts 2:42-47

Have you ever thought, “Is it really worth going to Church today, I might be the only one.” Well, you should be safe at Christmas and Easter, as these are the most important Christian festivals.

What is most important, Christmas or Easter? My mother told me it was Easter, because dying for someone's sins and then being resurrected for the same reason, and for ordinary people (the disciples) forming the Christian Church, is more important than just being born. Well, there is some truth in that. Would you die for someone's sins? Would you die for freedom as did the fighters in the World Wars?

If Jesus hadn't been born, He wouldn't have died for us so we should celebrate and be happy at His birth. For me, Christmas and Easter are equally as important as each other. If Jesus hadn't been born, He wouldn't have died to save us. It was a miracle that God planted a seed into Mary's womb for her to have Jesus.

So, why is it that some Christians do not go to church regularly? Would it surprise you that 88% in this country do not? In the USA it is 75%. I would assume that regularly means every week or every two weeks. I obviously can't answer for an individual, but there could be many reasons.

In countries where Christians are persecuted, many believers worship in private because, if they didn't, they could be arrested and put in jail. Some might even be tortured and put to death. Many believers invite other Christians to their houses so there is fellowship. Remember that Christ said that if two or three are gathered together in His name, He would be there with them [Matthew 18:20].

But where there is the freedom to do so, there are three other Biblical reasons why we should go to church.

First, mutual encouragement [Hebrews 10:24-25]: ‘And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Second, fellowship [Romans 12:4-5]: ‘Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.’

Third, spiritual growth [Colossians 3:16]: ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.’

Here is Jesus's example from Luke 4:16: ‘He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.’

My message is that, if you are out and about, or with someone else, or a number of other people, and they are thinking about going to a Church, but are undecided, whatever the Christian denomination, give them plenty of positive examples and encouragement.

Thursday 25 December 2025: Christmas Day

It is quite possible that we have all had the opportunity to pull a Christmas cracker as some point this festive season. If so, you will no doubt have let out a groan as you read the joke on the little card inside.

Jokes like: why couldn’t Santa sell Donner and Blitzen on eBay? Because they were two deer! Why was the snowman looking through a bag of carrots? Because he was picking his nose! And how does Good King Wenceslas like his pizzas? Deep pan, crisp and even.

Those corny puns work because they are mostly a surprise and a little unexpected. 

And that’s just how I imagine the birth of Jesus to be. The people of His time were expecting a King or a Messiah, but they wouldn’t have imagined him being born in a stable. It was a surprise. It was unexpected.

Imagine for a moment – and it shouldn’t be too hard because the events are well-known – Joseph and Mary on the road travelling to Bethlehem.

They were going to be registered as part of this great census of the Roman world that we have heard about so often in our Christmas readings, so it would have been a huge occasion and many others from the local area would have been making the same journey. Mary, by this time, was heavily pregnant and was riding on a donkey as Joseph led the way. 

When they arrived in Bethlehem, it was of course crowded. Even so, if royalty were expected, no doubt the roads would have been cleared and outriders would have ensured a quick and safe passage to the grandest hotel or more likely a palace. 

But No. That wasn’t God’s way. That wasn’t part of the plan. Instead, they went unnoticed, and Mary’s condition met with little sympathy. In the end, they had to make do with a draughty stable, and so began the enduring image of the nativity.

How inspiring, then, of our Heavenly Father to provide us with such an image which, year after year, is able to capture our imagination. All the ingredients are present to remind us of the power and perfection of God. 

The lowly stable housing the birth of the most-high. Right from the outset of Jesus's life on earth, the perfect message is given that God's own Son should receive no special treatment. Indeed, it is to the further glory of God that Jesus displayed great humility throughout His life on earth.

To local folk in Bethlehem, the birth may have been nothing out of the ordinary, since babies of course, were being born all the time.

But three wise men, or kings, travelled a great distance to see this child of humble birth. Shepherds had already visited to offer their own worship. I wonder how many of those present at that time recognised the significance of the events they were witnessing?

All of us are children of our earthly parents and children of God. We too, just like Jesus, started life as a small, helpless, baby.

But even before that, the miracle of the birthing process had begun. From the tiniest seed, we grew inside our mother’s womb and developed into this complicated body of skin, bones, blood, organs and brains. How much more miraculous, then, is the Virgin Birth of Jesus – a demonstration of God's great power through the wonder of creation?

Over two thousand years on, we live in very different times from those Jesus experienced, although I'm sure temptation was just as testing and sin was just as prevalent.

We certainly live in an age where distractions from a life of faith are at every turn. Particularly here, in the so-called developed western world, I get the feeling that with every advancement in technology or added comfort to our lives, there comes another test of whether we really have any time for God, or indeed, whether we want to have any time for God.

We can send messages and images from one side of the world to the other in an instant. The eight or nine-day journey of the Three Wise Men would take perhaps an hour today by plane. Television, radio and the internet bring us news as it happens and entertainment for the slightly less exciting moments of our lives. Food, drink and clothing are now just a click away on a computer.

Pre-occupation with our self-importance, with our self-sufficiency, with our material world, makes it harder and harder for us to embrace the spiritual side to our lives. 

And yet it seems to me that a connection with our spiritual nature is often the one essential ingredient missing for so many of us today. I wonder if we have developed our material world at the expense of developing our spirituality?

There are distractions from our faith at every turn, but if we retain our focus upon what we believe in, then we can also find reminders of God's power and perfection at every turn.

Even at this time of year, we can see the wonder of God’s creation all around us. The sky, trees and plants, birds and animals, people.

That is the God we worship here every Sunday; the God that can create our world, its nature and weather; that can create us in our complex and wonderful human form. It is a God whose power and might is beyond our imagination and understanding.

What a privilege, then, that this great God – who created all things – loves and cares for every single one of us. What a privilege it is that we have the gift of prayer that enables us to communicate directly with Him. And what a privilege that He has blessed us with the gift of His dear son Jesus, so that we can love as He loves us.

And so with these reminders of God's great power and perfection, we can find new inspiration for our daily lives. I hope that, when things do not seem quite so bright as usual for us, at our next turn we might find a reminder of God's greatness.

It might be unexpected; it might come as a surprise. But when we do find that reminder, let’s be ready to accept God’s gift of His son Jesus into our hearts, and be thankful. 

Wednesday 24 December 2025: Carols by Candlelight

One evening, a wife came home to her husband and told him: "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" The husband replied: “The good news.” So his wife said, “The good news is that your car's airbag worked perfectly."

We have been singing carols about good news this evening, and we have been listening to readings from the Bible which tell about good news. It started with the Angel Gabriel visiting the Virgin Mary to tell her that she had found favour with God and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, she would conceive and bear a son. Then an angel visited Joseph with good news about the new circumstances he was facing and how to deal with them, and then another angel visited the shepherds to tell of the good news of Jesus’ birth.

These incidents are not the kind we come across every day in Basildon or in Britain. So, convincing others that these events are true and really did happen can be quite a challenging job. Although pretty much everyone loves to hear the Christmas story, believing it can be quite another matter.

But strange and incredible things do happen to us all from time-to-time, and I am going to give you an example in a story about my wife. As she sinks down into her chair with dread about what I am going to say, hopefully I can quickly ease her fears by telling you that everyone in our family thinks of her as a very competent and careful driver.

Unlike the wife who had good news and bad news for her husband, in over 40 years behind the wheel, she has only ever been involved in one significant accident – and even then, it wasn’t her fault.

Although that kind of driving record might be unusual, the story is probably still quite believable until I tell you that the car which crashed into her little Austin 1300 was a Rolls Royce. “Oh yeah?” I hear you say, “Pull the other one, it’s a Christmas cracker!”

But it really did happen, and I am willing to guess that all of us have stories like that which might sound incredible to others and which are difficult to accept as true without proof or evidence. Stories which always start with the phrase, “You’ll never believe it, but . . .” Stories which spawn phrases like: ‘you couldn’t make it up’; or, ‘truth is stranger than fiction’.

So, if ever we have any doubts about the reality of the Christmas story, just think of some of the almost unbelievable things that happen to us.

Recently, I read that someone once said that the Bible cannot be good news unless it is good news for everyone. It cannot be good news for Israelis and bad news for Palestinians. It cannot be good news for Russians and bad news for Ukrainians. It cannot be good news for men and bad news for women, or good news for the rich and bad news for the poor. The angel that visited the shepherds told about good news of great joy for all the people.

But thinking about that claim – that the Bible must be good news for everyone – I wondered how the news of Jesus’ birth would be good news for people who have been bereaved this year? How is it good news for people who have lost their job, or their financial security, or their health? How is it good news for a person who is homeless or in prison? How is it good news for anyone who is on their own today and wishing they were not?

What does the coming of Jesus at Christmas mean in a world currently so full of suffering and anxiety, fear and grief?

The world thinks of Christmas as a happy family holiday, a time for giving and receiving gifts and sharing festive meals with our nearest and dearest. Those are all good things if we can have them. But that is not what Christmas is fundamentally about. If Christmas is good news, if the birth of Jesus is good news, it must be good news for everyone and not just those with a warm home and a family and enough money to go shopping.

The angel brought news of great joy for all the people. The news that was proclaimed first of all to the shepherds on that hillside above Bethlehem, who were despised outsiders doing a dirty, lonely job, is that “to you is born this day a Saviour”.

But what makes absolute sense to me about this incredible story from the Gospel is that God is found, not in the sky, not in the great Temple, but wrapped in cloths lying in a manger. The one who spoke Creation into being cried for His mother’s milk and needed His nappy changed. God is shown, not in power, but in weakness and vulnerability.

That tells me nothing we experience or suffer is beneath God’s notice or dignity. Oppression, poverty, loneliness and fear are all things that Jesus knew by personal experience. When we find ourselves in a desperate situation, whether it is because of the death or illness of a loved one, or the loss of a job or relationship, or a mental health crisis or anything else, it is simply not true that the good news of Christmas is for the more fortunate and not for us.

The good news is most especially for us when we are in our greatest need, because God is on our side.

God, through His Son Jesus, has shared our skin. And not only for a single lifetime two thousand years ago, but forever, because we believe that He is eternal.

If Jesus had been born into this world with all the wealth and grandeur of an earthly king, and showed the pride and hate of some of our earthly leaders, then I think it would be much more difficult for me to believe in Him and to follow Him. But because our almighty and all-powerful God chose to humble himself and to love and serve others, then those are powerful and attractive characteristics that underpin my faith.

Paul’s letter to Titus says that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all. It’s a free gift. It’s not just for those whose lives are orderly and successful. As this beautiful passage in Isaiah 9:2 says, ‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.’

This year has felt for many people like walking in darkness, and we do not yet know how, or if, next year will be any better. But we can rely on this: God’s grace has appeared and God is faithful; God is for us and we are never alone. This is the heart of our faith and every Christmas we can remind ourselves again of the angel’s words: “Do not be afraid. I am bringing good news of great joy for all the people.”

Whether we have a happy Christmas, or a sad, lonely or anxious one, the presence of God is just as much with us, and for us, as anyone else. It may be hard to believe. I myself do not understand how the many Christians around the world living in unjust conditions manage to believe it so thoroughly, but they do. They shine a light telling us with joy that the good news of Jesus is good news for everyone.

My prayer is that we will all accept that good news into our hearts, and allow it to spread peace, goodwill and love to everyone we meet this Christmas. 

Sunday 21 December 2025: Luke 1:26-33

Advent – Love

This Advent we have been following an Advent series based on the Christmas Advent candles. In week one, we focused on the Prophecy candle, the candle symbolising hope, and remembered the prophecy of the birth of Christ and the promises in the Old Testament to be fulfilled.

In week two, we looked at the Bethlehem Candle, symbolising peace, which served as a reminder of the journey that Mary and Joseph took from Nazareth to Bethlehem and the promise of the peace that Jesus brings.

In week three, we were full of joy as we focused on the Shepherds candle and the message of great joy that the shepherds had in the anticipation of seeing Christ and their journey to the stable.

This week we come to our final outer candle. The Angels candle, the candle that symbolises love – the ultimate love of God when He sent his Son for us and invites us to eagerly await the New Kingdom of God on earth which is promised.

John 3:16 offers us some of the best-known words in the Bible. ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

This is the good news that the angels shared that first Christmas when they visited the shepherds in the field. The promise from God fulfilled that He gave us His Son, Jesus, Emmanuel, which means God with us.

Angels played such a key role in the story of the beginning of Jesus’ life on earth. It is clearly then no surprise that we often see angels on Christmas cards, we sing carols about angels, and many people have an angel that sits on top of the Christmas tree. I have an angel who has sat on top of our tree for many years. The angel has seen many Christmases and gifts unwrapped all from the top of the tree. But this angel is fragile, she fell off one year and got broken, but I managed to salvage the pieces together so she could once again be placed presiding over our Christmas.

The angels in God’s story get to see many generations come and go, and they get to watch and take part in the fulfilment of God’s plan. The angels are God’s messengers, but unlike the human messengers of God, who only get to see God’s work in their part of the world and for the time they are alive, the angels are able to reach all parts and have been watching God’s plans since the beginning.

In Luke 1:11 we see the first angel visit which was to Zechariah informing him about his wife’s pregnancy with John the Baptist. Then six months later, God sent an angel to Mary.

The angel told Mary how highly favoured she was and that the Lord was with her. She was loved by God so much that she was specially chosen to be the one who would conceive and give birth to the Son of God. Full of the love that God had poured out to Mary, she was obedient and did as the angel asked.

Joseph was considering breaking off his betrothal to Mary quietly after finding out she was pregnant. But an Angel appeared to him in a dream and explained all about this special baby and to not be afraid. Joseph, full of love for Mary and for God, did as the angel asked and took Mary home to be his wife and Jesus as his child.

Then on the night Jesus was born, an angel appeared to shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem. The angel announced “good news of great joy” about the birth of the Messiah to the shepherds. A multitude of angels then appeared, praising God saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace . . .”

Finally, after the visit of the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in another dream and warned him to flee to Egypt because King Herod planned to kill the child. Later, angels appeared again to tell Joseph when it was safe to return.

God used angels to send His message. The message of just how much He loves us and what He did to show His love. The sacrifice He was going to make all for our sakes. Not because we earnt it, or because we deserved it, but because simply He loves us. God did not wait until we were good enough to receive this gift, He acted out of pure, unconditional love.

Christmas is the season to give love. But thinking about the Angels in our story, are we showing our love to both God and to others by taking a leaf out of their book. We are messengers of God. God has called us to be His angels here on earth. To show the love of God through our acts, deeds, kind words, and through helping to spread His love to others. We have received the love of God into our hearts, but we were all called here in some way, through a prompt by someone else, maybe something someone said, maybe by something someone did. Will you be an angel of God this Christmas and spread the love of God with others? 

Sunday 14 December 2025: Luke 2:8-16

Advent – Joy

Our message today for the third Sunday in Advent is one of joy. In Luke’s Gospel, we can find three key aspects of joy which are delivered to us through the Angel’s visit to the shepherds. There is joy because of those who give and receive the message. There is joy because of the Good News of the message itself. And there is joy because of the grace and peace we receive from Jesus as our Saviour.

Let’s have a look at each of those aspects of joy in turn.

First, there is joy because of those who give and receive the message. God chose to send an angel as His messenger and, as the angel delivered the message, the Glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds.

Just imagine if we ourselves were on a lonely hillside at night and an angel visited us. The Bible tells us that the shepherds were terrified, and no wonder. I suspect that each and every one of us would be trembling too if that happened to us.

But then, the angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid.” I wonder if that helped? When friends or family tell us not to worry in times of trouble – as kind and caring as that is – we probably still continue to worry. But maybe this reassurance, which came as a message from God, really did help in this instance? For it was followed-up with those words I mentioned just now: “I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people.”

Surely, we’ve all experienced that moment where we feared the worst, but then things turned out unexpectedly well? A good exam result, perhaps, or encouraging news from a doctor? When that happens, our emotions somersault from gloom to joy. And so it must have been for the shepherds, who trembled with fear but then jumped for joy. 

And what about the shepherds as the ones who received the message. Far from being the soft and gentle characters that a modern nativity play might suggest, they had a reputation at that time as dishonest crooks. Being out in open country at all times of the day and night had, no doubt, made them rough, tough and mean. So, they were hardly the obvious choice to be the first to receive the good news of Jesus’ birth.

But have you noticed? God doesn’t always do ‘obvious’! The Prince of Peace and King of kings was born, not in a palace, but in a draughty stable. The Good News of His birth was given, not to rulers or leaders, but to lowly and despised herdsmen.

The second aspect is that there is joy because of the good news of the message itself. “Today,” the angel said, “In the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

The Jews had waited years, centuries in fact, for the promised Messiah. And here was an angel telling the shepherds that their Saviour was here now, right this moment, today! He had been born in the town, below the hillside. His name is Jesus which, in Hebrew, means ‘the Lord is Salvation’. Thankfully, Jesus means ‘Salvation’ to anyone the world over who greets Him in the way the shepherds greeted Him that happy morning!

The angel told the shepherds how to find Jesus. In their joy, they ran down the hillside to greet the new born baby and, when they did, Jesus received them into His presence with grace.

And that leads to the third aspect of joy, the grace that Jesus brings to those who accept Him as their Saviour and the forgiver of sins. That grace demands worship, and that great company of the heavenly host showed us what that means by praising God in the highest heaven. Praise is the proper response, not only of the heavenly host, but also of sinful humanity.

Listen to this extract from Isaiah 12:2-6:

‘Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation.’ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

In that day you will say: ‘Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.’

This is a hymn of praise among the prophecies of Isaiah concerning our joy when Jesus comes to reign over the earth. That is why we need to express our gratitude to God – thanking Him, praising Him and telling others about Him.

Our joy is that we can receive the reassurance of the angel as a source of comfort today when we consider it in the context of our hope in Jesus. Our joy is that the message of Good News is for everyone, not just the high and mighty, but also the lowly, the humble and the meek. Our joy is that Jesus our Saviour offers peace on earth to those on whom His favour rests.

We can experience joy this Christmas because of the message of Christmas: God desires to save the sinful by sending the sinless Saviour. That is the glory of God shining bright in the darkness and bringing joy. 

Sunday 7 December 2025: Luke 2:1-7

Advent – Peace

If we had to relate one word to the Christmas message, I wonder what it would be? There are quite a few possibilities. We might choose ‘excitement’, or ‘celebration’, or ‘wonder’. But probably high up the list for all of us would be the word ‘peace’.

Whatever else Christmas is about, we know that it is a message of peace. And that word comes up time and time again in the Bible readings we hear and in the carols we sing. Silent Night has the line ‘sleep in heavenly peace’. Hark the Herald Angels Sing has ‘peace on earth’. We read in the Bible from the prophet Isaiah that the Messiah will be ‘the Prince of Peace’, and so on.

Peace is at the heart of the Christmas message – and it is something that we all long for in our lives.

We come to church at Christmas for many different reasons. But on some level for all of us, there is still the hope and the belief that peace is an attainable goal, and we don’t want to lose touch with that possibility.

We might long to live in a world without pain, a world without fear, a world without war and hatred. We might hope for Basildon to be a place marked by friendship and mutual support, where any loneliness and pain is met by the care of concerned neighbours.

We might long for peace in our families, where there are no misunderstandings but only mutual respect, and love, care and compassion.

We might long for peace in our hearts, for a time when we have learnt to love ourselves and forgive ourselves for past mistakes, and are able to enjoy who we are with self-confidence and self-esteem.

We long for peace.

But the truth is that, for many of us, peace seems a long way off. For some of us, this may have been a very difficult year, far from peaceful, full of hurt and pain. As we look around our world, we may be forgiven for thinking that peace will never come when we consider places such as Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza, Iran, Lebanon and other middle-eastern states.

And Bethlehem in Israel: which one of us would seek a peaceful sanctuary there today?

There is a poet called Henry Longfellow who once wrote this:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day, their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat,

Peace on earth good will towards men.

In despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on earth I said,

But hate is strong and mocks the song

of peace on earth good will towards men.

We long for peace, but it is so hard to find.

We long for peace – but the truth is, no matter how hard we try, we can’t manufacture it ourselves. It doesn’t matter how many New Year Resolutions we make in a few weeks’ time, it doesn’t matter how determined we are in 2026 to be a peaceful people, we ourselves won’t be able to manufacture the peace we long for.

And the reason? Because the Christmas message is simply this: we cannot manufacture peace. Instead, peace comes to us.

If we want to know peace in our lives, we need to first allow peace to find us.

And who brings peace to us? The Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. The Christmas message is all about the Prince of Peace coming to us, coming to live amongst us, bringing us peace, teaching us to walk in the ways of peace.

If we want to live in a peaceful world; if we want to live in a peaceful community; if we want our families to be marked by peace; if we want to know peace in our hearts; we can’t manufacture that. We need to let the Prince of Peace come and dwell amongst us, full of grace and truth, and allow His presence in our lives, in our community, in our society, to bring all the peace we need.

When Jesus dwells amongst us, then we know peace. When the Spirit of Christ dwells in our hearts, then we know peace.

In one of our recommended readings for today, it says this in John 14:27:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Each one of us has an invitation from God to open the door of our heart and allow Him in. And, as we receive Jesus, so we will know His peace in our lives.

As we experience His peace and allow that to shape who we are, so our world will be transformed, because we will want to see that peace spread amongst those whom we love, and we will want to see that peace spread around the world.

Our concern will be for justice and truth: making sure there is adequate care for the poor, the vulnerable, the lonely, the homeless, the refugee, those on the margins of our society. And not just in our wider society – but the deepening of love in our families too; treating each member of our family with respect, compassion and care.

And as we experience the peace of Jesus in our hearts, we will see our own world transformed. We might come to know what it means to forgive those who have hurt us. We might see broken relationships being restored. We might discover within ourselves a renewed hope for the future.

So, Advent and Christmas are about peace. Not some fairy-tale type of peace, but a real, deep, meaningful peace that is brought to us by Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace. A type of peace that will transform our hearts.

And as we are transformed, so this peace will transform our families, our communities and our world.

A few minutes ago, I quoted this from Longfellow:

And in despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on earth I said,

For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth good will toward men.

Well, perhaps that is a depressing thought to have at this time of the year, but Longfellow doesn’t end there: he goes on to write this:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor doth he sleep,

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will toward all.

That is the hope we share for the world. That is the hope we share for our community and our families. That is the hope we share for ourselves: that wrong shall fail and right prevail. That is the Advent and Christmas hope we share today.

Our prayer could be that we know the peace of God today in a new and transformative way that re-energises us and brings glory to His name.

In Isaiah 52:7, another of the recommended verses for today, it says:

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”

If we can be the ones who bring Good News, proclaim peace, give good tidings and tell of the love of Jesus, then we will truly have engaged with the message of peace that comes at Advent and Christmas.