Methodist Bishop

Psalm 19, Nehemiah 8:1-10, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Luke 4:14-21 At the end of the Exile in Babylon the Jewish people who returned to Jerusalem underwent a religious revival. There had been a similar revival before the Exodus, during the reign of the young king Josiah, when the Book of Deuteronomy was suddenly 'discovered', hidden away and neglected in the Temple. The reform in Josiah's reign had prompted the closure of all the hill shrines in Judah and the centralisation of worship in the Temple. The new religious revival expanded the Law of Moses to include new books which seem to have been gathered together from earlier traditions during and immediately after the Exile, when scholars were striving to protect and preserve what was important in the Jewish heritage. The people who returned from exile certainly took Bible study seriously. They spent six hours listening attentively to the reading of the Law, that is from sunrise to midday. When Ezra blessed the Torah they stoo...

Isaiah 60.1-6, Psalm 72.1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 3.1-12, Matthew 2.1-12 The beginning of Isaiah chapter 60 is the origin of a lot of the myth and fable surrounding the story of the magi, astrologers or wise men. Isaiah is probably talking about a spotlight shining on the renewed nation of Israel, lighting up the darkness of sin and ignorance around her and making her a beacon of God's glory for the whole world to see, to which peoples and their rulers will naturally be drawn like moths to a flame. But it was a rather optimistic view, wasn't it, and Christians have naturally seen the passage's true fulfilment in Jesus. Once he becomes the focus of the prophecy everything falls into place and the origins of Matthew's famous birth narrative become clear. When Jesus is born the light of the Lord God will arise over the place where Jesus lies in his mother's arms and God's glory will appear over him. Nations and kings will journey towards his radiant light from farawa...

Isaiah 43.1-2, Luke 3.15-17, 21-22, Acts 8.14-17 Unlike our other lectionary readings, the beginning of Isaiah chapter 43 is not a passage that is directly about baptism, but it is redolent with themes that are linked to baptism. It talks about the idea that we belong to God, and are called by name to be part of his people. It talks about the idea that God redeems, or sets us free, from all that would hold us captive or enthralled and which would prevent us from realising our true potential. And it talks about us passing through rivers without being overwhelmed and fires without being scorched or consumed. This part of the passage has, perhaps, less to do with baptism and more to do with God being with us in times of hardship, suffering and adventure. But, of course, the mention of waters and rivers immediately conjures up baptismal imagery . And fire and flame might remind us of the Holy Spirit. More significantly, perhaps, the image of passing through deep waters is often assoc...

Jeremiah 31:7-14, Ephesians 1.3-14, John 1.10-18 These passages are about the nature of God's covenant. The covenant is not a promise to protect people from harm. It's not a magic bubble in which we can take refuge. But it is a promise that God will never forget his servants and that he will save them in spite of disaster. To whom is Jeremiah's promise addressed? Mention is made in verses 6 and 9 of Ephraim, one of the sons of Joseph and the ancestor of the most significant of the ten tribes which made up the northern kingdom of Israel before her people were defeated and exiled by the Assyrians, more than a hundred years before Jeremiah is prophesying. Is the promise meant for the descendants of those earlier exiles as well as for the people of the two southern tribes of Judah, who were now about to be defeated and exiled by the Babylonians? Repeated mention is also made of Jacob, the common ancestor of all the tribes, both from the north and the south. Legend had it that w...

John 1.1-14 Now that we've talked about our own presents, it's time to open another one - a present for everybody here today but, as I hope you can see, it's not a very big present. Someone helps me to open it and it turns out to be an empty box with the words 'Love' scrawled on each of it's six sides. Well, an empty box of love. That's a bit of a lightweight gift, isn't it? I'm reminded of the priest who went on holiday to Spain. He was a visiting a church one day and when the sexton discovered that he was a priest he said to him, 'Would you like to see our most holy treasure? Normally we only get it out on feast days, and then we parade it around the village, but - as you're a priest - I'll give you a special glimpse of it. And he led the priest down to the crypt under the church and there on a tiny stone niche under the high altar was a golden box with a glass lid. The sexton lifted it down carefully and the priest looked inside. As hi...

Isaiah 9.2-7, Luke 2.1-14, Titus 2.11-14 The zeal of the Lord of Hosts versus the boots of earth-shaking armies on the march. It's a slight over translation but it's a wonderfully evocative image and if you went to the cinema, to see Schindler's List or the Lord of the Rings trilogy, then you'll have a vivid idea of the sort of clash which Isaiah has in mind. In Schindler's List the confrontation is between an enterprising man and a group of Jewish prisoners on the one side, and the might of the Nazi war machine on the other, symbolised by a cohort of SS soldiers parading through the streets of Cracow. The whole street seems to shake as they march past the camera. In The Lord of the Rings the confrontation is between Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship of the Ring on one side, and the huge armies of the dark land of Mordor on the other. As the vast column of soldiers heads for the battlefield where they will confront the forces of goodness, the whole canyon through whi...