Reflection: Sunday 14th August and for the week ahead:Scripture:Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Letter to the Hebrews 12:1-2)Reflection:‘So great a cloud of witnesses’, what does the writer mean? Who are these witnesses? Why, they are the women and men of faith, the ‘saints’ who have gone before us. This is a text often read at All Souls and All Saints, when we remember those who have already ‘finished the race’. The thought that all around us is an unseen, unheard, but encouraging crowd of earlier believers and heroes of the faith cheering us on, is both comforting and gives us a strong imperative to carry on, to ‘run with perseverance the race that is set before us’, whatever that race looks like in our life. But the writer also makes sure that we understand that the one we are running towards, the one on whom our eyes must be fixed, is Jesus. Ponder this, as you run, walk, or slowly amble, this week. Revd Ylva Blid-Mackenzie
Reflection: Sunday 7th August and for the week ahead:Scripture:‘From those who have received much, much will be required, and from them that have been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.’ (Luke 12.48)Reflection:This is one of the sayings of Jesus that surely speaks for itself. But though its meaning is quite clear the implications for all of us are very challenging.We have received so much. We enjoy a degree of peace and prosperity unimaginable in many parts of the world, and even to many in our own. country.For Christians there can never be a sense of ‘entitlement’. We have what we have by the grace of God, gifts given to us to use in his service.It’s often said that ‘the more we have, the more we want’, but Jesus reminds us that the more we have the more we are able to give to others. And what we give to others, we give to God. ‘All things come from you, o Lord, and of your own do we give you’.Revd Rosemary Kobus van Wengen
