Scripture & Reflection: Sunday 23rd March and for the week ahead:Scripture:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;7 let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts;let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:6-9)Reflection:Do you think prayer is difficult, or just for ‘religious types’? Do you feel that maybe you are just not good enough, and God can’t possibly hear you?Then know the truth, that God is very near, nearer than you are to yourself, and that he is always ready to hear you, willing you to turn to him so that he can lift off your heavy burden and comfort you.Happily, God doesn’t think like people, he doesn’t have the same narrow outlook and small-minded concerns. God sees life on Earth and all Creation from a cosmic and timeless point of view, inviting us into a freedom and an abundant love that is larger and more generous than anything we can imagine. Welcome to God’s world and life in all its fulness!Revd Ylva
Scripture & Reflection: Sunday 16th March - the First Sunday of Lent - and for the week ahead:Scripture:At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Luke 13:31-end)Reflection:There is a verse of scripture in 2 Timothy that says, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” So, how does the scripture you’ve just read do that for you?!The focus of this encounter between the Pharisees and Jesus is Jerusalem; the “city of God”; Israel’s largest city; its political and spiritual capital. But Jerusalem had a long history of rejecting God’s messengers. And just as they rejected his forerunners, the leaders in Jerusalem were rejecting Jesus - the Messiah - living in their very presence! Jesus says to them, “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”What about us; are we willing? Or do we hear and read about the Messiah – the Christ - and then ignore it and just go on leading the lives we want? If so, we too are rejecting the Good News message, just as the Pharisees did!Revd DavidRevd David
