On the eighth day of Christmas

Apple having put aside their Twelve Days of Christmas giveaway this year has given me the chance to get people thinking, praying, learning, listening (to some great music) and finding app's they might not have otherwise done: Day Eight...


The Church
Celebrates the 'Circumcision and naming of Jesus' - no, it's not just a feats for the Catholics and 'high church' types - an opportunity to reflect on the recognition of who Jesus (Yeshua) 'God saves' (more accurately '(in) God is salvation' is.

Today we reflect upon the invisible God make visible. Today, as we begin a New year! we remember that the Church too, like Jesus, exists to make the invisible visible!

That the circumcision would have started in anywhere other than the temple (as many sermons I have heard preached have claimed) is an important element - for it would have been carried out 'at home' (whatever that means when you've had your sprog in a stable!) just as the recognition and making God's salvation visible God's begins in our homes. There's no point in relying upon being welcoming if no one comes. It's nice, but regardless of the invites a church might issue, they won't come because they know our boring, killjoy, critical, hypocritical labels and so (generally) avoid us!

This new year we need to start salvation where we are if we are to see others saved; and that is what it is about, not numbers.

So 2015, a year of wondering why there aren't more people in relationship when we aren't building and engaging in the relationships where we are?

Another year where we wonder what those in leadership are doing to bing mor people in to our congregations (and ask where are they)?

Another year where those in leadership wonder why the congregations won't get stuck in to bring others to our buildings because they have developed a relationship with them?

Jesus - the God made visible - is celebrated today. Let's commit ourselves to making Him visible in us this year, what do you reckon?


The world
Used to be that when I was a child it was the New Year sales that drew the crowds.Every year (as I remember it) I would be dragged off to Knightsbridge to spend a day I. The retail temples that were Barkers, Derry and Toms and Pontings. This year, listening to my radio, I'm hearing that we are all spent out and the sales are pretty much done.

I'm hearing that 2015 will be a year where many firms will go to the wall with the result that many more will be unemployed.

The situation for those oppressed and threatened by the presence of the IS fighters remains relatively unchanged, but if the press don't report it people assume it has gone away.

The numbers of people in refugee camps is set to rise over the coming year and which this could be the year when we see Polio finally eradicated completely from the planet- a year when the remaining forms of malaria as conquered - we need to be engaged and involved.

This will be a year when there is a new government elected in the UK. With the rise of such parties as UKIP such that some are billing them to as having expanded the political scene to four parties now (Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dem being the other three), we need to be informing our churches of their policies and to be preparing NOW for hustings in our churches.

So a bright, hopeful and challenging new year for the world - now watch someone go out and spoil it - and when
they do, how will we respond? Like the world or like the Church?

A giveaway?
Now I was always taught that if something looks too good to be true then it probably is!

But there's always an exception to the rule and this is to be found in the Church of England's 'Daily Prayer' App which you will find here: http://bit.ly/1xlK90l 

It is a strange thing but I am often amazed to find that despite the apparent prayer, study and full-on worship that some groups present as a perception, I still find some of the deepest and more consistent stuff to be found within the Church of England. Makes me wonder why I ever bought into the 'vain repetitions and babbling' put down that I encountered within some of the more outwardly effective churches - all part of growing up in the faith I guess!


Something to listen to

Apparently 'the' song of 2014

Whilst 'the' hymn of the year is that Wesley great:

Almighty God,
whose blessed Son was circumcised in obedience to the law for our sake
and given the Name that is above every name:
give us grace faithfully to bear his Name, to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit,
and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world;
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Morning Prayer - Mar 19

Joseph of Nazareth

Psalm 25

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies triumph over me. Let none who look to you be put to shame, but let the treacherous be shamed and frustrated. Make me to know your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you have I hoped all the day long. Remember, Lord, your compassion and love, for they are from everlasting. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions, but think on me in your goodness, O Lord, according to your steadfast love. 

Gracious and upright is the Lord; therefore shall he teach sinners in the way. He will guide the humble in doing right and teach his way to the lowly. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. For your name’s sake, O Lord, be merciful to my sin, for it is great. 

Who are those who fear the Lord? Them will he teach in the way that they should choose. Their soul shall dwell at ease and their offspring shall inherit the land. The hidden purpose of the Lord is for those who fear him and he will show them his covenant. My eyes are ever looking to the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am alone and brought very low. The sorrows of my heart have increased; O bring me out of my distress. Look upon my adversity and misery and forgive me all my sin. Look upon my enemies, for they are many and they bear a violent hatred against me. O keep my soul and deliver me; let me not be put to shame, for I have put my trust in you. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for my hope has been in you. Deliver Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

Psalm 147.1-12

Alleluia.

How good it is to make music for our God, how joyful to honour him with praise.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem and gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up all their wounds.

He counts the number of the stars and calls them all by their names.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his wisdom is beyond all telling.

The Lord lifts up the poor, but casts down the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God upon the lyre; Who covers the heavens with clouds and prepares rain for the earth; Who makes grass to grow upon the mountains and green plants to serve our needs.

He gives the beasts their food and the young ravens when they cry.

He takes no pleasure in the power of a horse, no delight in human strength;

But the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their trust in his steadfast love.

Isaiah 11.1-10

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 

The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of counsel and might,

the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 

His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 

On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Matthew 13.54-58

He came to his home town and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?’ And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour except in their own country and in their own house.’ And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.

The Collect

God our Father,

who from the family of your servant David raised up Joseph the carpenter to be the guardian of your incarnate Son and husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

give us grace to follow him in faithful obedience to your commands;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Daily Office - July 30

William Wilberforce, Olaudah Equiano and Thomas Clarkson, Anti-Slavery Campaigners 1833, 1797 and 1846

Psalm 48
Great is the Lord and highly to be praised, in the city of our God.
His holy mountain is fair and lifted high,
the joy of all the earth.
On Mount Zion, the divine dwelling place,
stands the city of the great king.
In her palaces God has shown himself to be a sure refuge.
For behold, the kings of the earth assembled and swept forward together.
They saw, and were dumbfounded;
dismayed, they fled in terror.
Trembling seized them there;
they writhed like a woman in labour,
as when the east wind shatters the ships of Tarshish.
As we had heard, so have we seen
in the city of the Lord of hosts, the city of our God:
God has established her for ever.
We have waited on your loving-kindness, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
As with your name, O God,
so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;
your right hand is full of justice.
Let Mount Zion rejoice and the daughters of Judah be glad,
because of your judgements, O Lord.
Walk about Zion and go round about her;
count all her towers;
consider well her bulwarks; pass through her citadels,
That you may tell those who come after that such is our God for ever and ever.
It is he that shall be our guide for evermore.

Psalm 52
Why do you glory in evil, you tyrant,
while the goodness of God endures continually?
You plot destruction, you deceiver;
your tongue is like a sharpened razor.
You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than the word of truth.
You love all words that hurt,
O you deceitful tongue.
Therefore God shall utterly bring you down;
he shall take you and pluck you out of your tent
and root you out of the land of the living.
The righteous shall see this and tremble;
they shall laugh you to scorn, and say:

‘This is the one who did not take God for a refuge,
but trusted in great riches and relied upon wickedness.’

But I am like a spreading olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the goodness of God for ever and ever.
I will always give thanks to you for what you have done;
I will hope in your name,
for your faithful ones delight in it.

Ezekiel 37. 15-end
The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the Israelites associated with it’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it’; and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’ say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with it; and I will put the stick of Judah upon it, and make them one stick, in order that they may be one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms. They shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes. They shall live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your ancestors lived; they and their children and their children’s children shall live there for ever; and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary among them for evermore. My dwelling-place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations shall know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is among them for evermore.

Mark 1.14-20
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

The Collect
God our deliverer,
who sent your Son Jesus Christ
to set your people free from the slavery of sin:
grant that, as your servants William Wilberforce, Olaudah Equiano and Thomas Clarkson
      toiled against the sin of slavery,
so we may bring compassion to all
and work for the freedom of all the children of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.