Reading:
1 John 1:3-10

Reflection:
Today’s section from John’s first letter offers us a clear guideline for finding “fellowship” – connected relationship – with God and others. It may surprise you to see that John recommends repentance as a key foundational feature of strong relationships. The truth here is quite simple. If we claim to be living one way, but actually live another, it’s like living in darkness – we can’t connect with God, because we’re deceiving ourselves, and others can’t connect with us because they don’t know who we are. The time when we are most likely to do this is when there is something in us that we regret or are ashamed of, and so we hide our true selves. But, all that happens is that our relationships with God and others break down.

If we want real connection, we need to be real. We can...

Ultimately everything turns to ash. That’s the important reminder of today. All across the world people of faith will receive a cross of ash on their foreheads, with a prayer that goes something like this:

Dust you are and to dust you will return. Turn away from sin and follow Christ.

We do this, not because we have serious self-esteem issues, but because we have learned the value of recognising that we have a tendency to fill our lives with things that do not last, and that, in the big scheme of...

A Lectionary Reflection on Mark 9:2-9 for Epiphany 7B

Among the concerns I have about our world, there are two that I find myself returning to rather frequently. The first is that our world moves too fast. It’s not that I am worried about the rate of change, although I know of others who are. For me it’s that our decisions about values and measurements, about what is important and what deserves our attention and energy, are made too quickly, with too little consideration and reflection, and within a time frame that is too immediate. My second...

22 February 2012

Once again we move into the season of repentance, reflection and preparation for the journey to the cross and beyond. Like Advent, Lent was a season of preparation for baptismal candidates (who were baptised on Easter Sunday). For us now, although we may not be receiving baptism in a few weeks time, the disciplines of Lent remain a profound invitation to allow God’s life and values to direct our lives. As we receive...

26 February 2012

We often talk about God’s Reign in human terms – what it means for us, how it affects us. This first Sunday in Lent, though, at the start of our penitent journey of preparation for Holy Week and Easter, we are invited to expand our vision of God’s Reign and recognise that it embraces all of creation, and that it whispers of a connectedness between all things that, once we embrace it, is...

04 March 2012

This week the readings remind us of the toughest part of responding to the call of Jesus. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "When Jesus calls a person to follow him, he calls that person to come and die." The paradox of the Gospel that is highlighted this week, though, is that it is in dying that we find life.

May we, through our worship, receive the courage and the conviction to take up...

11 March 2012

In a world of seriousness and a Church of purity, the Lectionary calls us to a strange way of being this week – foolishness. The cross, which is God’s wisdom and God’s strength, is placed alongside the law in the readings this week, and as we examine these two themes side by side, we discover that they are actually both calling us to the same thing – as surprising as that may sound.

Come...