shotleyfieldsforever

 This second Sunday of Advent we are called to think about forerunners. These first verses of Marks Gospel are almost staccato, rapid fire, urgently proclaimed, none of the long drawn out genealogies of Matthew and Luke or the cosmic theology of St John. It's almost as if we are receiving the Gospel by telegram or twitter. Here we have it: The beginning of the good news   of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. No apologies, no dissimulation, no reservation. Right from the get go we are told, this news is GOOD NEWS, and it is good because this Jesus is the Son of God. I was confirmed in the parish church in Stoke on Trent when I was 16.  The dedication of that Church was "St Peter ad Vincula" I have over the years been told, and been reminded, that Mark was in all probability Peter's amanuensis, he visited Peter in Jail, he wrote down much of what he learned about Jesus and his life from Peter and all of this testimony from the Apostle in Chains and there is here almost an e...

 So the liturgical year ends and we begin to prepare for the Nativity. There is a circular, yearly pattern to this procession throughout the Christian Year and note that it is a procession and not a parade. But this year, whilst the same, is also completely different in almost every which way. As a child I used to love the parades that passed through our little town of Droylsden on the edge of Manchester, brass bands, clowns, Donkeys and jugglers on their way to the fair at Daisy Nook. If I was lucky we would return home with a goldfish in a plastic bag, guaranteed to last a week, and a Coconut, my Mother and Father would sometime give me pennies to spend and occasionally I was able to lift a duck out of a pond on a string, the duck had to be given back of course. I have had to wait some years before acquiring real live ducks of my  own. On other occasions I would be invited by my Aunt Mary and my Cousins Rita and Celia to attend a procession at the local Catholic Church they ...

 An article in the Guardian this week explained how the unpaid Chair of a Government task force leading on the development of a vaccine or vaccines to control Covid 19 stands to make a considerable bonus from the profits generated by her investment company. It could be interpreted from today's Gospel that rather than criticism the response should be: "Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' ? But I suspect that is to miss the point of the story which is not a rather simplistic justification of venture capitalism but rather a more profound illustration of what the Gospel means by Grace and Judgement.  It has been difficult over these past months of lockdown and limitations on our freedom of movement to not read into the Gospels, the Epistles and the Psalms which we have been invited by the Lectionary to consider, a certain reflection on the impact of ...

  I find that increasingly as this Covid pandemic continues and now forces us into another national lockdown with Churches open only for private prayer that the psalms have become a particular part of our worship that has spoken eloquently to our situation. I am aware that both Alec and I have both focussed our thoughts and sermon notes on the psalm for the day which we continue to be able to say together both in Church and on Whypay. The psalms can be separated into five types. Psalms of praise. Psalms of wisdom. Psalms of Kingship (Royal Psalms), Psalms of thanksgiving and Psalms of lament. I rather feel that as we journey through this unprecedented and strange time of half shadow and fear it is the psalms of lament that speak to out emotional needs. Today's psalm. Psalm 70, is such a psalm of lament and it provides us with a voice to express our grief and anger as we express the deep hope that divine help will be forthcoming. As we read the Psalm we are asking that God will ...