Scripture:'Then Jesus said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.”' (Luke 21. 10-11)Reflection:Do you, like me, see these terrible events predicted by Jesus, reflected in what we are confronted by on our television screens and in our newspapers day by day? The wars, the natural disasters, the famines and disease...And we feel so powerless in the face of so much suffering. So why not just get on with our own lives... Yes! Our own lives are the only place where we have power to make a change for the better.Let’s not be put off by the size of the problem, but believe that every one of us, old or young, weak or strong, rich or poor, sick or healthy, has a role to play in bringing about God’s longed for kingdom. Don’t underestimate your potential, or the power of God at work in you.‘And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them’Revd Rosemary Kobus van Wengen
Reflection: Remembrance Sunday, 9th November, and for the week ahead: Alternative Collect for Remembrance Sunday:God, our refuge and strength, bring near the day when wars shall cease and poverty and pain shall end, that earth may know the peace of heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord. AmenReflectionRemembrance matters. It is about community gathering, story telling, honouring those who have suffered and died in war and those who live with scars of mind and body because of what they have seen and experienced. The dead and the living are not forgotten by us because we come to remember, and neither has God forgotten.For God, outside of time, all history is now, which means God sees and knows all the stories of horror and all the stories of bravery and courage, all the time. Many of these stories are lost to us, but not to God who always sees.The dead are not forgotten, the suffering are not abandonded, there is hope in the here and now, through comradeship, the help of military charities, chaplains and aid agencies. And there is also hope in the Christian message that death is not the end - the promise of eternal life is there for all.Lyn Hayes ALM
Reflection for Bible Sunday and the week ahead: Scripture:Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15.3-4)Reflection: The shared prayers between the Pope and King Charles last week were a welcome marker of progress in Christian acceptance of differences. Before and after Jesus the interpretation of the words of sacred scriptures has been controversial. The Reformation was a particularly seismic moment but arguments about just how to apply the Bible to our lives are as lively and potentially divisive as ever.St Paul pleaded with the first Christians in Rome to be tolerant with one another, and to respect the views of those who seemed to be compromising the message of freedom from rules. ‘The scriptures’, he writes, exist to encourage in us ‘steadfastness’ and ‘hope’ . He quotes from Psalm 69 to remind us what Jesus himself put up with in the hope of saving us from despair and darkness.David Harmsworth
