Methodist Bishop

John 10.1-10 John has a rather fancy notion of what a sheepfold is like. He imagines a gatekeeper who opens the gate for the shepherd to go in and collect the flock, a bit like a bridegroom being welcomed to his wedding by the ushers, or a commissionaire letting a guest into a classy hotel. The sheep recognise his voice and trust him to lead them out from the safety of the fold.  And it’s certainly a dangerous world out there. Never mind the wolves, lions and bears lurking outside, there are thieves and robbers who are only too willing to sneak in. And there are strangers whose aim is to rustle the sheep and take them away from the good shepherd. When Jesus explains the parable it suddenly takes on a different meaning. Jesus is no longer just the shepherd, he’s also the gate. Those who come into the fold through him will be saved from harm. But it isn’t a prison; they will also be able to come and go freely so that they can find good pasture and enjoy a rich and satisfying l...

Psalm 116.1-4,12-19 ( https://www.biblegateway.com/ NRSVA) People are beginning to ask, ‘What comes after lockdown?’ In a sense, whatever measures are taken to relax the lockdown will only be the beginning of the end. First, they’re likely to be cautious and incremental, with those most at risk encouraged to go on isolating themselves as far as possible from contact with the outside world. And then, they’re likely to be provisional. A second, and maybe even a third, wave of the pandemic is expected. Severe lockdown measures may need to be reimposed, perhaps in specific places where the number of cases of coronavirus has suddenly risen. Nonetheless, there’s a growing hope that - if the right steps are taken - we might be able to move on from the present paralysis in our economy and our social lives. This is the place where we encounter the psalmist. He or she is getting over a serious illness. Things looked bad; it was a time of anguish and distress. ‘ The snares of death encompas...

1 Peter 1. 17-23 www.biblegateway.com NRSVA Last week we saw that the writer of this letter seems to have known John’s Gospel, so it comes as no surprise when he alludes to it again as he quotes the words of Jesus in John 13.34, ‘Love one another’. He also alludes to a passage in St Paul’s letter to the Romans, who also quotes those same words of Jesus and goes on to link them with ‘genuine mutual love’ in Romans 9.10. The fact that the two phrases occur side by side in 1 Peter 1.23 suggests that the writer may, on this occasion, be borrowing from Paul. This idea is further reinforced when he goes on to allude to 1 Timothy 1.5, when he says ‘love one another deeply from the heart’. But he is definitely referring to ideas gleaned from John’s Gospel when he talks about ‘being born anew of imperishable seed’ (John 1.13 and 3.3). What we’re discovering here is that the letter juxtaposes ideas from earlier Christian writers to show what a genuine Christian looks like. They’re someone ...

“The promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away...” Acts 2.14a, 26-41 ( https://www.biblegateway.com NRSVA) Someone sent me the Coronavirus Bingo Game. There are no prizes, but to relieve the tedium you have to get a line or - better still - a full house. Each square contains a lockdown activity or event such as ‘Ordered Food Delivery’ (you should be so lucky!), ‘Baked Bread’ (so that’s where all the yeast has gone!),  ‘Used Zoom’ (which straightaway rules some people out!), ‘Forgot What Day It Is’, ‘Online Shopping’, ‘Tried A New Hobby’, ‘Exercised More’, ‘Listened to a Podcast’, ‘Slept in Late’, ‘Binge Watched TV Series’, ‘Midday Nap’, ‘Cried’ and ‘Googled Symptoms’.   To get a full house you have to be able to cross off ‘Cleaned, Cleaned, Cleaned’ and ‘Started A Garden’, so even if there were prizes there would be few winners. Bald headed people are also precluded from winning the big prize because one square is ‘Gave Yourself Bangs’. I ...

Then their eyes were opened. (Luke 24.13-35, https://www.biblegateway.com NRSVA) I have been wondering what the walk to Emmaus would look like if Jesus and the two disciples had been forced to apply ‘social distancing’. If they were husband and wife, or siblings, or parent and child, they would still be allowed to walk together, but the stranger wouldn't be able to ‘draw near’ and go ‘with them’. They might cross the road when they see him approaching, or duck into a gateway to let him go past at a safe distance. At the very least they would have to walk on opposite sides of the road and call out to one another.  We do see people having a chat while standing, or sitting, two metres apart. We’ve done that with our neighbour. But social distancing limits the conversation somewhat. The stranger wouldn’t be able to ‘interpret to them… all the scriptures’. And why doesn’t the stranger ‘know the things that have taken place [in Jeru...

Psalm 16 ( https://www.biblegateway.com NRSVA) At the beginning of our journey through lockdown I quoted someone from the Bible Reading Fellowship who’d said that the psalms are a great resource for people going through difficult times and experiencing a ‘dark night of the soul’. Psalm 16 isn’t one of those resources! The psalmist is definitely a ‘glass half full’ person. He delights in those who take refuge in God instead of beginning to doubt or feel sad. Their faith never waivers. They’e the true ‘nobility’, the ‘Coronavirus heroes’ in his eyes.  But then perhaps the psalmist has had a more fortunate experience than others. He’s able to say, ‘The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.’ Or maybe not. He still lies awake! ‘In the night also,’ he says, ‘My heart instructs me.’ Is he anxious, or is he counting his blessings?  A researcher found that the real difference between people who felt they’d been fortunate in life an...

1 Peter 1:3-9 ( https://www.biblegateway.com NRSVA) This passage is one of the few places in the New Testament which seems to allude to another New Testament book. Verse 8, where the writer says, ‘Although you have not seen him, you love him,’ brings to mind Jesus’ parting words to Thomas in John’s Gospel (20.29). That’s why it’s included alongside the same Gospel passage in last Sunday’s lectionary. However, the relevance of this passage to our current situation is also striking. The readers are asked to ‘rejoice’ that they ‘are protected by the power of God… even if now for a little while [they] have had to suffer various trials.’ The writer doesn’t suggest that the readers will be protected from harm or from trials, only that they will be brought through the trials ‘into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ….ready to be revealed in the last time.’ So what is the guarantee that G...

God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. Acts 2.14a, 22-32 ( https://www.biblegateway.com NRSVA) Last week we looked at one of the passages in The Acts of the Apostles in which Luke sets out ‘The Kerygma’, the first proclamation of the Gospel by the Early Church. This is another of those passages. It comes from the section of Acts which describes the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the first Christians, and that’s where we normally focus our attention, but this is actually the first declaration of what the Early Christians believed about Jesus.  This sermon is very similar to the one we read on Easter Day, but two things stand out. Peter stresses that the betrayal and execution of Jesus wasn't an accident, or even a victory for evil over goodness. It happened ‘according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.’ It was intentional. Second, he zooms in on the r...

‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ (John 20.19-31 ( https://www.biblegateway.com NRSVA) This is my second reflection about today’s Gospel reading but I wanted to write something about meeting Jesus on Zoom. Zoom’s been very useful during the lockdown, but it’s also got a bad press. Various mischief makers have gatecrashed meetings on Zoom, either to eavesdrop or make inappropriate comments. That’s why worshippers needed permission to join our on-line service this week. If they managed to press all the right buttons, and entered all the right codes, they should've found themselves looking at a screen not unlike the cartoon picture below of the eleven apostles trying to meet on Zoom with the risen Jesus. Anyone who couldn't see the service on the screen would've been in good company. In the cartoon Jesus has done something wrong. Either he hasn’t enabled Zoom to t...

‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ (John 20.19-31 ( https://www.biblegateway.com NRSVA) The situation that the disciples find themselves in is strikingly similar to our own. They’re gathered behind locked doors because they’re afraid. But they’re not alone. Suddenly they realise Jesus has come to be with them. He breathes his Spirit on them and offers them the gift of peace. ‘Do not worry about tomorrow,’ he seems to say, ‘For tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.’ (Matt 6.34) And as Paul was later to say, ‘If God is on our side, who is against us?’* (Romans 8.31) Kevin Mayhew put it well when he wrote, ‘Peace, perfect peace, is the gift of Christ our Lord.’ But Thomas missed out on this encounter with Jesus and in consequence his nickname has been forever changed from ‘Thomas the Twin’ to ‘Doubting Thomas’. Yet his reaction isn’t unreaso...

Mark 3.7-15 This Bible study is based on a series of reflections about the meaning of discipleship by John Leach, an Anglican priest and discipleship adviser in the Diocese of Lincoln, which were first published in 2017 by the Bible Reading Fellowship. Where appropriate, I have given them a Methodist twist. In Mark’s Gospel people are called to be disciples. This pattern isn’t quite so obvious in John’s Gospel, where sometimes his existing disciples bring new ones to Jesus. But Mark likes to keep things uncomplicated. We become disciples because we are called by Jesus to follow him. This poses an awkward question. If we become disciples because Jesus calls us, why are there apparently so few of us? Is it because we can be disciples without going to church? Perhaps. Is it because we can become disciples without even realising that it’s happening? Maybe. It is tempting to say that Jesus only calls the people who have heard his call and joined the Church. This was what the Calv...