Kopfbereich

Luke 7:18-35

Is God for real?: Luke 7:18-35

What I love and hate about Jesus is that he is surprisingly surprising. I love the way he spins people out, he touches the untouchables, he has dinner with hardened criminals. But I hate the way he sometimes surprises me by allowing me to suffer far too much, as far as I’m concerned.

Not what you expected?

John the Baptist was a full on Prophet of God. No one in all of history can compare to his dedication to God. But even John asked Jesus whether he was the one he hoped for. So if John can have doubts how much more should we expect to sometimes struggle.

What is surprising is that Jesus assures John of who he is by doing a bunch of miracles. After that Jesus praises John, even though he had just questioned Christ as to his true identity. So it is ok for us to struggle with doubt. Perhaps Jesus wasn’t ministering in the way John expected. After all he was in prison, and Jesus seemed to be gathering to himself a large crowd of no hopers instead of overthrowing their nations enemies or cleansing the Church of religious hypocrites.

Sometimes Jesus doesn’t work the way we expect him to in our lives. He can allow some pretty hard stuff to happen. The trick then is to learn to recognise Christ in our lives, to see and hear Jesus working despite painful circumstances, people or experiences. Today I hope to encourage you to learn to see and hear Jesus within John’s story, your own story and our community’s story. the Rev

Go in peace

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Luke 7:36-50

Immoral Woman Kisses Jesus: Luke 7:16-50

This happened when Jesus was having dinner with some religious leaders. They couldn’t believe their eyes. What they saw made them seriously doubt Jesus’ teaching and claims about himself. After all any prophet from God would have known what kind of woman she was, so why was Jesus allowing her to kiss him? (see the Gospel of Luke 7:36-50).

Go in peace

The woman who came to Jesus showed incredible courage and humility. She endured the condemning stares and murmurs of the dinner guests while she washed Christ’s feet with her tears, dried them with her hair and then continued to kiss them in gratitude. She believed Jesus was both human and divine, sent to earth to rescue her from the mess she had made of her relationship with God and her life. There was no way she could pretend or cover up what she had done and who she had become. She came as she was with all her shame and guilt. However, when she left she was forgiven, made whole, made clean, and set free. She left a new person with a new life, a new hope and a renewed faith in God.

As a Pastor I meet a lot of people who don’t realise who God is really like. A lot of people think of him as being like the religious leaders who looked down on the woman, who condemned her in their minds. But God isn’t like that, he sent Jesus to do exactly what we see him doing for the immoral woman, setting her free of judgement, of guilt and of shame. the Rev

This article was published in the Western Echo and is on our Church Website.

Be touched

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Luke 7:11-17

From funeral to celebration: Luke 7:11-17

Does your life feel like a funeral? Are you weeping on the inside not just because your hurting but because you are so afraid. I know that feeling. As a boy I hid under the blankets of my bed trying not to hear my mum and dad yelling at each other. I’ve sat on my father’s knee as he told me he was leaving and was never coming back. Up until then I had lived within the ever escalating tension of a couple who had come to hate each other. But on my Dad’s knee God shattered my world completely. I stopped living, I stopped hoping.

Christ's compassion

My most present emotions where incredible loneliness and white rage. I turned my back on God, I hated him for taking my dad out of my life. So I fled into the arms of whatever would destroy me, drugs, alcohol, violence. My only dream was to take my own life.

In the funeral that was my life Jesus was never far. He pursued me and kept me in his tight embrace, I know this now but I didn’t then. Jesus touched me as he did the widow’s son. He made me breath again, hope was kindled like the flame of a candle.

Christ surrounded me with people who had also been touched, whose funeral had been changed to celebration. And so I grew in hope, love, joy and peace. Loneliness was replaced by Christ himself.

Christ transformed the widow’s funeral into a celebration. I share her story. May Christ turn your funeral into celebration. the Rev

Be comforted by God's Power and Faithfulness

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Psalm 46

Safety, Care and Victory

Rev Roger Marsh filled in for me this Sunday so I could have a study week. Roger is a full time Army Chaplain so this sermon bristles with great military illustrations. There are many storms in our lives which can make us feel battered, God can be your refuge. In times of great need God can be your care and when you are being attacked God can be your victory. Thanks Roger

God is our refuge

Produce Fruit not Thorns

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