Scripture & Reflection: Sunday 10th March (Mothering Sunday) and for the week ahead:ScriptureAnd the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too. (Luke 2.33-35)ReflectionSimeon could sense that this wasn’t just any baby. Other, stronger powers were at work here. This little person would shine a light by his very act of turning up. For some he would be a beacon. For others he would act as a torch, revealing things that they would rather have kept in the dark.But for Mary, his blessed mother, he would also be a particular source of pain and anguish. Every parent knows what Simeon was alluding to. Parenthood is a unique mixture of blessedness and pain, of anxiety and joy. No one can upset and worry us like our children. And no one can bring us joy and make us smile like they do.This week, on Mothering Sunday, we pause and give thanks for our mothers and for the lovely quality of ‘mothering’; something that all are capable of, and all are in need of.Revd Ylva
Scripture & Reflection: Sunday 3rd March and for the week ahead:ScriptureThe Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. (John 2:13-15)ReflectionThis is an account of Jesus clearing out The Temple; clearing out the things going on in his “Father’s house”. What about the Jesus in this story; the angry Jesus; the “over-turning the tables in the Temple” Jesus; the “making a whip of cords” Jesus? This doesn’t appear to be the gentle Jesus; the patient Jesus. How does this Jesus sit with you?The people were following The Law….making the sacrifices required of them. And other people were helping them do this…by supplying the animals required for the sacrifice. But over the centuries, greed takes over, and a profiteering business develops and mushrooms. This is what Jesus gets angry at. At people being treated unfairly. At some people’s greed, self-centredness, and exploitation of others. This is Jesus displaying righteous anger; there are some things it is right to be angry about.I wonder what Jesus would show righteous anger about today? What should we be rightly angry about, and do something about in our community or society?Revd David
Reflection for the week ahead: Sunday 25th February:Lent II: Prayer after Communion:‘Almighty God, you see that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord.’Reflection:Have we really no power to help ourselves? Bookshops have whole sections devoted to self help. An increasing number of self-help books are published each year. Some make statements which are so obvious that we wonder why they bother. Some contain one simple idea spun out over fifty or more pages. Some directly contradict others. In spite of our best efforts we can never have total control of our lives. As human beings we are vulnerable to accidents, natural disasters, illness, terrorism, random attacks; and also to our own weaknesses and ‘evil thoughts’. No books on self help can afford us protection against these. Jesus was as exposed as any of us to both physical and spiritual dangers. We pray in humility and faith for his protection against things that we in our own strength are unable to change or prevent.Revd Rosemary
