In our Gospel reading from Luke this Sunday, Jesus tells a lawyer to obey the law, ‘love God and love your neighbour’ in order to inherit eternal life. The lawyer asks Jesus, ‘who is my neighbour?’ which prompts Jesus to tell the story of the good Samaritan. What the story illustrates is that our ‘neighbours’ aren’t just the people who live next door to us, or along the street, who we quite like, or the people we chat to in church. Our neighbours are sometimes hiding in plain sight. They are the people without homes living in tents around the town. They are the young people roaming around and getting into trouble because they have very little else in their lives. They are the lonely, isolated people who don’t venture from their homes because of illness or anxiety. Loving our neighbours can pose us something of a challenge, but it is the way we create flourishing communities and give people abundant life.Revd Liz
It’s a ridiculous idea to put your lambs in the middle of a load of wolves. They are not going to stand a chance and it’s an image which hardly makes sense in any culture.This is the vision Jesus sets out in our gospel reading today where the objective is to usher in the new ways of the kingdom into the madness and badness of the world. The forecast from the very start is for a rocky road so why does Jesus say this to his friends? Jesus knows himself to be totally vulnerable (even to death on a cross) yet protected by his Father, therefore Jesus suggests the same vulnerability to us!Friends, it appears that this journey of faith was always going to be a rough ride. Good news is that God‘s faithfulness rests with us and that the powers of darkness will flee. Whatever rough ride you may be having or have had through life, the reassurance for Christians is that God is with us at all times and in all situations.Fr Simon
This Sunday is the festival of Peter and Paul. Both men were apostles in the early church. Peter was called during Jesus’ ministry on earth, leaving a life of fishing and was given the ‘keys to the kingdom’. He was one of the twelve disciples who had walked with Jesus and continued to be the church’s main spokesperson. His ministry was to the Jews.Paul was called after Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Originally Paul persecuted the church but after his conversion became the most prominent apostle and wrote the majority of the New Testament. His ministry as an apostle was to the known gentile world (everyone who’s not Jewish).God took Peter and Paul out of their comfort zones to minister. How might God be calling you? Where can you bring hope and good news?Revd Jassica
This Sunday’s Gospel is the famous story where Jesus meets a man who is so afflicted by mental illness and demons that he lives naked among the tombs, in an area on the banks of Lake Galilee known as Gerasene. The scene is one of unutterable hopelessness and suffering: a fellow human so horrifically afflicted, maltreated, abandoned and neglected, that he is reduced to living like a wild animal in a place of death. And yet, into all this hopelessness Jesus steps in. The scene is transformed into one of beauty and hope as he offers the man love, compassion and healing. And so, it is that Jesus steps into all the hopelessness of the world. With Jesus at our side, we need not be afraid. We can have great hope and joy as we know that our Saviour is with us, even in the darkest times and places.Revd Richard
