Today is Trinity Sunday and I provide a reflection on the notion of a triune God, drawing particularly on Proverbs 8, as well as Genesis 1 and Romans 5. The crux of it is that relationality is central to the being of God – the three-in-oneness of God. Therefore, the core of human life also is relationality. We need to invest in relationships, and we need to give particular attention to those relationships that are struggling or fragile.
Love is central to the being of God, so it is little wonder that Love infuses Jesus’ post-resurrection, post-crucifixion appearances, and also his post-ascension appearances. This message unpacks the details of Jesus’ infinite and irresistible love for his people in John 21, and also his demanding and liberating love for those who are not his people in Acts 9. Watch the 24-minute video message or read my notes below that.
I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: “What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help.” You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
Image by Kate Cosgrove, https://www.brethren.org/messenger/bible-study/breakfast-on-the-beach/
Watch the video below of this 42-minute message. Yes, much longer than usual! I’m sorry about that, but it is – I think – worth the time, as a close reading of John 20:19-29 sheds to much light on Jesus’ character, his relationship with the disciples and his work as the Son of God. My notes are available below the video
Verses 19, 26 Both times Jesus “stood right in the middle of them”
Christ is the centre – not the priest, Bible, APB – only the person Christ
Christ-centred church
1, 19, 26 Easter Sunday morning – Jesus appears to Mary
Easter Sunday evening – Jesus appears in the upper room
Following Sunday (today) – Jesus appears again, to Thomas
19, 21, 26 Peace be with you – Shalom alechem x3
Easter Sunday – Christ made peace between us and God
Forgiveness of sins – done, paid for, wiped clean, forgotten, cast the deep
Everything is good. It’s all okay
Easter is the Great Forgiveness!
20 He showed them his hands and side
Emphasis on bodily resurrection, reconnected to his people
Not just some spiritual, esoteric thing
He is fully embodied, albeit with some unusual capacities
20 He could have come back healed, but doesn’t. Why?
His identification with us, solidarity with our pain & suffering
He remains the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 (4-5):
He took up our pain and bore our suffering. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
20 The disciples were overjoyed – full of joy
Joy (chara) & grace/gift (charis) – joy is a gift of God – because Jesus is back
21 “As the father has sent me, I am sending you”
We are to continue God’s work. We are sent, just as Christ was sent
Jn 3:16/7 “God so loved the world that he gave [sent] his one and only Son … For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save it”
Every Christian is sent – not just clergy or evangelists
22 He breathed on them, “Receive the Holy Spirit”
Hebrew for spirit & breath are both? Ruach
Gen 1:2: Spirit of God hovering
22 Gen 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being”
To receive Jesus’ breath & Holy Spirit is to be made a new living being
22 To receive Jesus’ breath & Holy Spirit is a grace/gift (charis)
As the Spirit/breath was active in the creation of earth and humanity
2 Cor 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come.”
22 Holy Spirit poured out on Pentecost: Easter Season is from Easter Sunday to Pentecost
23 Forgive anyone’s sin
The gift of HS is not so much miraculous signs, etc.
Instead the central commission – sending – is to forgive
And to warn that to not repent = no forgiveness
The Great Forgiveness!
24 Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
Where was he? He should have been in church! We should be in church!
27 Touch, see
V20. Jesus showed them his hands and side.
Thomas wants what the others got – to see. But also to touch
Our Eucharist is a see and touch moment
– receive the body of Christ broken for you (not receive this bread)
– receive the blood of Christ (not receive this wine)
Not clear if Thomas did actually touch: “Thomas answered and said…”
Perhaps seeing and the invitation to touch was enough for him
27 Stop doubting and believe. Be a believer!!
Accept the small and periodic signs of God and believe into him
28 My Lord and my God!
Hebrew: Yahweh & Elohim – names for God
Greek: Kyrie & Theos – names for God
The only place in the Gospels where Jesus is referred to as God – A profound statement of faith – perhaps the most
Click below to watch the video of this message on Jesus’ style of leadership, preached on Maundy Thursday, 17 April 2025, drawing on the reading from John 13:1-17. Jesus’ leadership is all about partnerships, delegation, setting an example, serving, and humility. All this, terribly out of sync with most modern leadership styles.
Watch the video recording of last Sunday’s 18-minute message (23 February 2025) here at YouTube.
Jesus calls us to love our enemies, and goes on to give crazy examples of this, that almost no-one would follow. We are reminded that God loved us even while we were his enemies, and that he even died for us. That takes loving to a whole new level of abnormality. Not easy! Let’s be abnormal! Let’s love abnormally.
Watch the video of the sermon below. Or read the text summary that follows.
This message is best watched – it has quite a lot of content. But if you prefer, here are my notes that guided the sermon:
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 16-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts 27 minutes into the recording). Or read the text summary below.
Our readings today urge us to be mindful – to think about what we think about, and about what we feel, say and do. We are invited to not simply react instinctively, but to consider how we react. Our thoughts and reactions impact ourselves and others, whether we are mindful or thoughtless, whether we are grateful or thankless, whether we are kind or harmful. We are urged to be grateful and kind.
In John 6:41-51, the people who had just had the blessing of being part of the Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 (men, plus women and children) with fish and bread. You’d think they’d be grateful, but no, they were not. And then Jesus counsels them to not settle for bread that goes stale and moldy, but rather to seek after the Bread from heaven, that never spoils, but endures to eternal life (6:27). He even shares with them that God has sent him as the true bread from heaven and that he gives life to the world.
Still, they grumble and mutter. They remember him growing up in his family and cannot imagine that he could be the bread from heaven. “How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven?'” Thankless they are! And Jesus chastises them: “Stop grumbling among yourselves!” One senses Jesus’ growing frustration, not only with how earth-bound they are (bread is more valuable to them than God the Son), but also with their unwillingness to see him for who he is.
And so he repeats “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.” And, “I am the bread of life.” And, “Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.” And, “But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.” How much clearer can he be! You can hear his exasperation with these ungrateful and close-minded people. And so he repeats, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” And in case they still don’t get it (which they don’t!), he concludes, “This bread is my flesh! I will give it for the life of the world!”
And how do they respond? They “began to argue sharply among themselves.” Eish, the frustration of Jesus that we should be so mindless and so thankless. Here he is, offering us eternal life, right in our midst, and all we do is grumble, moan and argue.
Jesus calls us to a spirit of gratitude – to be grateful that the bread from heaven has come down into our midst, and to cast aside regular bread and instead feast on this heavenly bread that leads us to eternal life.
Paul, in the closing verses of Ephesians 4, similarly calls the Ephesians (whom he profoundly blessed in Ephesians 1 – you can catch my sermon on that here) to be kind to one another. Having been blessed with God’s greatest and most enduring and satisfying gifts (much as Jesus does in John 6), Paul calls us to be kind and considerate to each other. He calls us to set aside falsehood, anger, theft, laziness, unwholesome talk, grieving the Holy Spirit, bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander and malice. It’s quite a list!
And instead, Paul calls us to speak truthfully, not to let the sun go down without resolving our anger, to work, to do something useful, to share with those in need, to speak helpful words, to build other up according to their needs, to be kind, to be compassionate, to forgive others, to live a life of love, to follow God’s example.
Paul calls us to be kind – to be considerate, thoughtful, sensitive and helpful to other people, in just the same way that Jesus is with us – since Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
This message – be grateful, be kind – may seem twee and insincere and lefty. But it is core to Jesus’ message, and therefore core to the message of apostles, like Paul, and therefore core to my message as a pastor today, and should therefore be core to how you live your own life.
Of course, we fail. Some of you will have experience me being ungrateful and unkind. I and we can do better. Thankfully, though, we have a God who knows that we fail, and who has already been kind, loving and forgiving of us. We simply come back to him, say we’re sorry, ask for forgiveness, and pray for strength and grace to do better: to be grateful and to be kind. Amen.
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 20-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts 25 minutes into the recording). Or read the text summary below.
Today we celebrate St Stephen, after whom our church is named. It is our church’s patronal festival, our birthday.
Stephen was a young man, appointed a deacon in the early church. He appears only in Acts 6 and 7, but in those few pages, he makes a remarkable impression and impact. He is the first Christian martyr – stoned to death because he challenged the Jew people’s lack of faith in Jesus Christ.
While we walk primarily in the footsteps of Jesus Christ – he is God incarnate, our teacher and our Lord and saviour – we give heed also to the example of Stephen, and seek to continue his legacy in our parish community today.
Our readings centre on Acts, omitting Stephen’s long, but very impressive and persuasive sermon. This are supported by a reading from 2 Chronicles, where Zechariah (an earlier Zechariah – not the father of John the Baptist) is stoned to death for speaking God’s Word. Psalm 31, which includes the words that both Jesus and Stephen speak as they died. And John 6, which is the ordinary reading for today, from Jesus’ long sermon on the Bread of Life. I have tabulated these three people, because there are significant and meaningful similarities between them, that speak to all Christians, and especially those who are members of a church named after St Stephen:
| Topic | Zechariah | Jesus | Stephen |
| Reading | 2 Chronicles 24:17-22 | John 6:24-35 | Acts 6:8-10 & 7:54-60 |
| Holy Spirit | Spirit of God came on him | Baptised by John and the Holy Spirit descended on him | Full of Holy Spirit, faith, grace and power |
| Care for the poor | – | Fed 5000 men (plus women and children) with bread and fish | Oversaw the daily distribution of food |
| Challenges with the people | They were chasing after other Gods | They just wanted food and miracles | Wanted quiet conformity with the past |
| Challenging the people | Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? | Do not work for food that spoils | You stiff necked people! Your hearts are uncircumcised! You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? |
| Consequences for God’s messengers | Stoned to death | Crucified | Stoned to death |
| Their final words | May the Lord see this and call you to account. | Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. | Lord, do not hold this sin against them. |
| Final prayer | – | Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit (in Luke) | Lord Jesus, receive my spirit (Psalm 31:5) |
So, what do we take from this, and particularly from Stephen, into our daily lives?
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 16-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts 32 minutes into the recording). Or read the text summary below.
Our First Testament readings today (2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 89) speak of the chosenness of King David and by extension of the Jewish people, the people of Israel. God affirms that he gives a place of safety to the people of Israel and that David’s throne and kingdom are forever.
Two days ago (19 July 2024), the UN’s International Court of Justice, declared Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip as illegal and called on Israel it withdraw its occupation and all settlers living there and to pay reparations for the harm done to Palestinian people. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded: “The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land — not in our eternal capital Jerusalem, not in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria. No false decision in The Hague will distort this historical truth, just as the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested.”
Netanyahu’s response harks back to these First Testament promises, though neglects several other important First Testament principles. First, a crucial First Testament theology and principle is hospitality. God is hospitable – inviting humanity to share in God’s work in the world and coming to meet with God’s people and journey with them. God expects Israel to be hospitable to other peoples. Deuteronomy is explicit that foreigners should be treated as if they were Israel’s own. There should be no discrimination.
Second, God uses other nations to discipline Israel through the First Testament. The people Israel turn away from God towards other gods; God sends enemy forces to disrupt Israel; Israel repents and turns back to God; peace between God and Israel is restored. This is a pattern repeated over and over in the historical books of the First Testament.
If Israel’s First Testament status as ‘chosen’ is still valid, surely all the other aspects of its relationship with God should be valid also.
Of course, there are many different views on Israel and Palestine. The situation is complex and feelings are hot!
And then, as we move into the Second Testament, there is a shift again. There is Jesus’ radical inclusivity, which I’ve spoken about frequently. Paul, in Ephesians 2, writes about the exclusion from Gentiles from Israel, but how Christ has destroyed the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles, and made us one person, through Christ’s body on the cross. There is now peace for us all. And in Galatians 3, Paul says that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female. For we are all one in Christ Jesus. God’s desire is for a united humanity, centred on Christ.
But the world is a messed-up place. Such conflicts all over – not just in the Middle East, but between Democrats and Republicans in the USA, ethnic groups in many countries in Africa, Muslims and Hindus in India, Europeans and refugees in Europe, and the list goes on. We are a fractured race, seriously out of step with God’s desire for humanity.
We can probably do little to nothing to solve the challenges in the Middle East and elsewhere, but there are some things we can do to contribute to a shift in the world. First, we can ensure that we are inclusive and diverse, that we treat every person as God’s creation, much loved and blessed, and ensure that racism, sexism and other -isms are wiped out of our interactions. Second, we can pray, and pray some more, because prayers for unity and harmony and mutual respect and love are fully aligned with God’s vision for humanity and so this surely must be a prayer that God will answer.
King David Playing the Harp (1622) by Gerard van Honthorst
Click here to listen to the audio recording of this 14-minute message. Or watch the video here on Facebook (the message starts 26 minutes into the recording). Or read the text summary below.
1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise,
in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in its loftiness,
the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion,
the city of the Great King.
3 God is in her citadels;
he has shown himself to be her fortress.
4 When the kings joined forces,
when they advanced together,
5 they saw her and were astounded;
they fled in terror.
6 Trembling seized them there,
pain like that of a woman in labor.
7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish
shattered by an east wind.
8 As we have heard,
so we have seen
in the city of the Lord Almighty,
in the city of our God:
God makes her secure
forever.
9 Within your temple, O God,
we meditate on your unfailing love.
10 Like your name, O God,
your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;
your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Mount Zion rejoices,
the villages of Judah are glad
because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, go around her,
count her towers,
13 consider well her ramparts,
view her citadels,
that you may tell of them
to the next generation.
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever;
he will be our guide even to the end.
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Psalm 48 centres on Zion – God’s sanctuary, the temple, the City of our God, the Holy Mountain, the fortress. I will refer to Zion as God’s sanctuary from here on.
God’s sanctuary is inhabited by God, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the Great King.
God’s sanctuary is a feminine space – the feminine pronoun ‘her’ is used eight times to emphasise the feminine character of the sanctuary. It is something like a womb – a safe, protective, nourishing and nurturing space. The enemies of God experienced pain like that of a woman in labour, but for those who dwell in the sanctuary, it is a womb.
God’s sanctuary is a place of refuge and safety – a sanctuary.
In God’s sanctuary, there is beauty, joy, security, meditation, unfailing love, God’s right hand, righteousness, rejoicing, gladness, our guide, God, for ever and ever.
God’s sanctuary is the place we are invited to enter: Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels.
God’s sanctuary is where we can retreat when things get on top of us, when we feel pressured or burdened, when we are worried or distressed, when we’re afraid, when we need replenishing, when our faith founders, when life’s adversities are too much, when we are alone. The sanctuary is God’s place, God’s grace.
Featured image of a labyrinth in a forest from: https://www.thedailyworld.com/life/creating-a-sanctuary-breathing-peace-into-this-challenged-world/
Reflections of God's Love 