July 13 2025 – Luke 10:25-37

July 13 2025 – Luke 10:25-37

The parable of the Good Samaritan.  The parable of the Good Samaritan is oft retold. The Samaritans were northern neighbours of the Jews, and claimed descendancy from Israel’s northern tribes, but were regarded by the Jews as impure, with great hostility between the...
July 06  Pentecost 4  Luke 10:1-11, 16-20.

July 06 Pentecost 4 Luke 10:1-11, 16-20.

Jesus sends out the 70 (or 72) in pairs to spread the gospel and instructs them along the lines of  ‘Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, stay at the first house you are welcome’. Not my idea of travel instructions; is it a place where I will get a decent sleep, food...
29 June 2025   Pentecost 3   Galatians 5: 1, 13-29

29 June 2025 Pentecost 3 Galatians 5: 1, 13-29

Thinking of the Apostle Paul, I find I regard him in similar terms as Sir Winston Churchill’s description of Russia:  “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. On the one hand, Paul provides us with such wonderfully insightful statements as his hymn to love in...
22 June 2025   Pentecost 2  Galatians 3:23-29

22 June 2025 Pentecost 2 Galatians 3:23-29

I’m often uncomfortable attending services on the Sunday marking the anniversary of the inauguration of the UCA.  I often find them laden with an unhelpful sense of “God, we thank you that we are not like other churches …” (see Luke 18:11). I believe the lesson from...