Thought for the Day 2026

27th January 2026

Luke 21:12 But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 

When your heart is broken because your family has rejected you, when they are complicit with putting you on the road towards death, God is with you. When we stand firm, endure, instead of caving to what is popular or the way those in power want us to be, when we know what we believe, and trust God’s work in us…we will stand firm, endure, in His strength. For the disciples to do this, for us to do this, we will need to return to the foundations of our faith. We need to check our beliefs and actions against the way of righteousness that Jesus gave us. We need to walk the life of faith with Jesus, following Him through the valley of the shadow of death. By not giving up, by sticking with it through thick and thin we will experience good times and bad times and our faith should be strong enough, real enough, to keep us going even through the tough times.

26th January 2026

Colossians 3:14 And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity.

Love for our fellow humans which makes us compassionate, caring and considerate. Love allows us to be at peace with ourselves and the decisions we make. We search for wisdom seek to be wise enough not to try and make ourselves more important than we are. Love gives us hope for a world that sometimes seems daunting, angry, aggressive, inhospitable and very selfish. Love makes us part of that future hope, that we can make the world a better place by what we do and say, how we behave, react, treat one another and grow as people. That God given love binds it all together.

25th January 2026

Psalm 63:1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You.

As Christians, we believe that everyone in this world is looking for a relationship with the God who created them. And we believe that this God has been revealed to us most completely and fully through God’s only Son, Jesus. St. Augustine said “You made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Another Christian, Blaise Pascal, put it this way; “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.” Nothing else can fill that God shaped hole, in our hearts, in the way that Jesus can. We believe that. It is why we are Christians.

John 1:38a Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What are you looking for?”

The very first words Jesus says in John’s Gospel are “What are you looking for?” It’s a very simple question. But an important one. A question that Jesus asks two of John the Baptist’s disciples, who have begun following Jesus. But it’s also a question He asks us. What are you looking for? This question has been asked in every age, by philosophers, poets, psychologists, and people lying awake at night. As humans we are looking for meaning, that our life matters. We look for Belonging. Wanting to be known and loved without having to pretend. We want security, freedom from fear, chaos, and loss. We want identity. To know who we are. Beneath all of these is a longing for hope, that pain is not the final word, that love outlasts loss, that brokenness can be healed, and that death is not the end. If we know what we are looking for, Jesus will be the answer.

24th January 2026

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

So often life seems as if it is on iPod shuffle mode where random stuff happens and it all seems to be out of our control. Something we least expect pops up and we have to deal with it no matter how unprepared we are. This is the resilience we have developed through our young life which enables us to cope and often operate really effectively. Teaching our children how to deal with the unexpected is one of the most valuable skills we can give them. It stems from not doing everything for them, giving them responsibility and allowing them to make mistakes. I remember the quote I was told as a child that variety is the spice of life. Life is unpredictable, life is messy, but life is also wonderful, a truly rich gift from God for us to grab hold of and make the best of in every circumstance.

23rd January 2026

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

When life is hard, when people challenge my belief, my calling sometimes all I can reply is with what I know. The things in life which are indisputably God at work, Jesus blessing and working in my life. Security is always returning to what we know! What do we know? We know that Jesus alone can offer us what we are truly looking for, what we are truly living for. That’s why we read our Bibles, go to church and pray. This reminds us that what we are really looking for in this life is Jesus, The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

22nd January 2026

Micah 7:7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Saviour; my God will hear me.

At times we feel like hope is lost and yet the hope we must have for our world is not so much the “let’s get social conditions better for everyone” sort of hope, although that is vitally important too. But it is the sure and certain hope of resurrection that sustains us through all the other hopes and fears, all the other successes and failures. Sometimes we can and will make things better, but sometimes we will fail. Our hope of social improvement will have varying results. Even so we must keep trying. We need to get our true Hope in Jesus resurrection right first, then, and only then, can we attempt to change society. Jesus walks side by side with us in this life so we can walk together with him in eternity.

21st January 2026

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though they die, yet shall they live”

I really enjoy baptising children, celebrating with a family as they give thanks to God for their child. When I send the newly baptised out, anointed and with their lighted candle at the end of the service, it isn’t an end, it’s the beginning of a life-long journey with God which only ends, in this world, when we are laid to rest. Jesus was baptised because He shares that life journey with us. He too, experienced the daily issues of life and that human death. Except Jesus rose again, His resurrection is our hope, sure and certain. Death is an end, but not the end. It is our hope, sure and certain of resurrection. From Baptism we walk with Jesus, wearing that sign upon us, living as children of God until that time when we are called to live in Heaven, in perfection as it was always meant to be.

20th January 2026

Matthew 3:14 John would have prevented Jesus, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’

We often forget that Jesus was Baptised before He began His ministry. He came to John the Baptist who could not understand why… surely it should be the other way round because of who Jesus was. But Jesus reminds John that this is what needs to be done. The symbolic rising from the waters of Baptism to new life. Jesus simply wants to be where we are. He hasn’t come like superman to save the day. He isn’t the dispassionate leader living above all the problems. He’s here in the middle of it all. He walks and lives side by side with us each and every day. He knows our worries and fears, our hopes and joys. He loves us unconditionally and stands with us no matter what.

19th January 2026

Proverbs 3:7-8 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”

Recently someone came to me and said you look really sad at the moment. Another came and said you look as if you are carrying the weight of the world. I really did not know that my demeanour was different. I thought I was covering everything really well in my attempt to carry on. Apparently not. It is not really surprising that our bodies betray us when life is hard. That what is going on in our minds and hearts gets played out on our faces and in our physical activities. God made us as Spirit, body and soul. We are interwoven, the physical affects the Spiritual, the spiritual affects the physical. It is not good for us to hide our situations, certainly not from God. God is interested in exactly how we feel, what ails us and how we are coping. In Him lies our health and happiness.

18th January 2026

1 peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

As a youngster in a cold war world, at times all I had was Hope. Hope in Jesus and the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. “Hope” is a big word in the Church of England. It became very popular during the Pandemic. But we rather easily use the word “hope” to simply mean that with a bit of effort, a following wind and everybody’s good will, things can get better. That’s fair enough. Except that’s not what Christian faith means by hope. For Christians hope is what we have in the face of death. It is the hope of the resurrection, sure and certain. It is always, for me, the most profound moment at a funeral when I say those words at the committal of the body…. in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

17th January 2026

Luke 5: 5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

Each day we make choices, when we get up, what clothes to wear, where we go, what we do, if we eat properly. We decide whether to be helpful or rude to people. We decide whether to be patient and kind or not. We make a choice. The first disciples had a choice to make. Listen to Jesus, do as He asked, or ignore Him. They chose to listen, acted and their lives changed forever. They left everything to follow Him. We may not be called to leave everything when we follow Jesus but we are called to make changes for the better, wise and good choices about how we behave, how we act and speak. We are called to be kind, generous, helpful. We are not called to be rude or hurtful. We are human, we will get it wrong sometimes but that is not an excuse to make the wrong choices, to not try and be better. We can and do make a difference. May we think about the choices we make and ask for God’s help to make the right ones.

16th January 2026

Matthew 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

Jesus reminded us that “The poor are always with you”. And again, “There will be wars and rumours of wars.” We still have the poor and they increase and get poorer. There are wars and rumours of wars, more now than since the last world war. I spent my youth fearing nuclear war, being told we were on the brink, waiting on an American or Russian leader pushing the button. Somehow, we rowed back from that but once again times are uncertain and supposed friends are now enemies and bullies once more decimate democracy, take from the poor, while gorging themselves and their rich friends. Once again life seems more fragile than before but once again our only hope is Jesus. He is our true hope, our only real hope, in His defeat of death and our promise of eternal life.

15th January 2026

Colossians 3:16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly, as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

Sometimes I am asked how we meet God? My answer is that we can encounter God through our Bibles, the living word of God, the eternal Christ through whom God reveals himself to us. We get to see the story God has written from creation onwards in the Bible. We get to see the prophecies, the promises. We get to see Jesus, who He was, what He did, how He changed people’s lives. We get to see how He is put on a cross, dies but then rises again and changes history. We get to encounter the living Lord Jesus as we read the Bible, as we learn what it means for us, now, today. God speaks to us right now, every day through His living word, the Bible and His living Word Jesus. It is up to us if we want to read, listen, learn and meet the living Jesus. 

14th January 2026

Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

How do you find taking quiet time each day to spend with God? Sometimes when we try to quiet ourselves for prayer, life comes at us with everything it has to try and distract us. Our minds become very noisy. Every little sound interrupts us; and when there are no sounds, the silence is just as distracting. And when we quiet down, we immediately think of ten other things that we almost forgot about, that are really, really important. So, we put off our prayers, and eventually fall out of the habit of prayer. Paul reminds us that God's own Spirit intercedes for us. Even if we do not know what to pray, God will help us, prompt us. We don't even need to use words.

13th January 2026

Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

There are still, I am glad to say, places where cake and biscuits arrive to celebrate a birthday. I have heard it said in so many ways that cake and cuppa means we can cope with anything. Having just tucked into a piece of home made Victoria Sandwich I can definitely relate to that. Sweet treats are not the answer to everything but they can help change perspective, make one feel a little better and appreciated. So, they are not overly healthy but now and again they help us feel better. God is described as sweeter than honey, His words which bring healing to us. There is a definite link between sweetness and goodness, making us feel better. There is also that lovely old saying that a little of what we fancy does you good. If you fancy a bit of cake, go for it, it will make you feel better, it is a gift of God’s sweetness to us.

12th January 2026

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we shall see face to face, Now I know only in part, then I will know fully, even as I am fully known.

As we move away from another Christmas we put away the trimmings and the traditions. We all have differing family traditions of who goes where, when presents are opened, who cooks and cuts the turkey, games that are played and films to be watched. These traditions are all part of each family and they will differ. Neighbours will do it differently and none of us a completely right or wrong. We can never know everything, we are only looking into a dim mirror and we only know partially. We can never know it all so perhaps a good new years resolution would be to accept each other’s differences, traditions, and not to tell others they are wrong.

11th January 2026

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

In recent days the United States removed the president of Venezuela. Over New Year 40 young people died with over 100 injured in a Swiss bar on New Year’s Eve. This week, an innocent woman shot by supposed law enforcement. Several folk have drowned in the seas around the UK in the past months. New tragedies and challenges abound whilst others continue- Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, North and South Sudan… and on and on, they stay with us and never seem to end or heal. Jesus tells us that He understands, He knows how we feel and our worries and that we face none of this alone. He stands with us and strengthens us even in these difficult times. Early in this year we may need to just hang on in there with God by our side.

10th January 2026

Psalm 72:6 May he come down like rain upon the mown grass

I love plenty of gravy on my dinner and plenty of custard on my sweet. I have been known to request extra gravy and custard in a restaurant when food arrives with the tiniest “rue” or sauce. I love to pour the rich gravy or custard upon my meal, over the food, making it succulent. Pouring things offers us a picture of abundance. There is plenty here, enough to pour over and enjoy. This is the picture being offered here in Psalms. God pouring down upon us with abundance. His love is abundant, His forgiveness is abundant, His care and compassion abundant. Just as rain refreshes the ground, brings new life, new richness, so God’s love, forgiveness, care and compassion do the same for us. Don’t be satisfied with a little from God, instead revel in His abundance. 

9th January 2026

Luke 21:8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.

It seems our desire to avoid or ignore pain fools us into believing that as Christian’s things are supposed to be good for us, easy for us, acceptable to us. And Yet nations continue to pick fights that have no point except the petty egos of their leaders. Natural disasters continue to happen, including those caused by human action and inaction. People continue to suffer. Stephen and James had already died for their faith in Jesus Christ, bad things are going to continue to come. And when they do, Jesus says, don’t look to someone claiming to be God for support. Look inside for the God already living in you. Stand up for right, for God, and know Jesus will give you the words

8th January 2026

Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.

As a youngster I was deeply affected by the possibility of nuclear war. They used to measure how close we were to nuclear war by the number of minutes to midnight. For a time, we were at 1 minute to midnight. Nuclear war was a reality. By some miracle we reigned it back. Have we learned nothing? Now we have three white men over 70 on the verge of destroying the free world. They support each other, they trample on democracy and declare war on anyone who disagrees with them. How can we have been foolish enough to allow this to happen again. We talk of learned lessons but never actually learn. God has given us history to help us not repeat the mistakes of the past. Problem is we are so full of selfishness that we would rather allow wicked people to lie and lead us instead of challenging wrong and standing up for God’s world. The choice is ours. God’s way or the world’s way. I know which I choose.

7th January 2026

Matthew 2:11b Opening their treasure chests they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

As we begin to pack away the Christmas decorations for another year we perhaps come across the odd gift from Christmas still sitting under the tree, opened but unused. Maybe easily forgotten about because we didn’t really like it or want it. We have so much that it is easy to push aside gifts that came from love. We never hear what happens to the gifts given by the Magi. I imagine the gold helped them in their escape to Egypt and hopefully beyond. We can only surmise that the myrrh was used for his death but we do not know. The frankincense may well have been used for religious observance. We do know Mary treasures all these things. We do know that Jesus is our King, our Priest and that He dies for our sins. All gifts have a value, even if we cannot use them at that moment they can come for the future, or for someone else in need. May we be thankful for all that we are given and use them wisely.

6th January 2026

Isaiah 60:6a All those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

At Epiphany we think about the Kings or Magi from the East. They were likely well-educated men from the East, possibly astronomers or scholars from Persia, Babylon, or Arabia, today called Iran and Iraq. Their study of the stars and ancient prophecies led them to interpret the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem as a divine sign of a new king's birth. There were established trade routes across the desert and lands towards Jerusalem. Looking for a King they stopped at the palace of King Herod. For a moment they lost sight of the star and let their logic take over. Sometimes we need to look at God and not go for the obvious.

5th January 2026

Matthew 2:11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The wise men did not have a map to guide them to Bethlehem, but they had something even better, they had a star to guide them. The wise men followed the information that the priests had given to Herod based on old prophecies, and the star that God had given to guide them, and it led them right to Jesus. When they found him, they gave him gifts and bowed down and worshiped him. Wise women and men, boys, and girls are still searching for Jesus. They are people who want to help others. The Bible is like a map and the star that will lead us to Jesus. All of us can read it every day to make sure we are headed in the right direction to find Jesus!

4th January 2026

Matthew 2:8 Then Herod sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’

Those at the pinnacle of society, with power and wealth, become very worried when someone or something threatens their position. They will do whatever it takes to maintain their advantage, even violence. When the Magi tell King Herod of a new king, he was very unhappy. Another King would be a threat to him. He called for a private meeting with the Magi, using knowledge of Old Testament prophecy to send them onto Bethlehem, to search for the child. He wanted them to return and tell him where this king was, not to worship him but to kill him. Thankfully the wise men are not fooled and do not return. We always need to be aware that people can have ulterior motives. It is God who will always be honest with us and it is He we must listen to.

3rd January 2026

Matthew 2:2 Where is the new-born king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.

If we are planning to go visit someone in another town, or if we are going on holiday, we might first ask someone who knew how to get there to give us directions or we might look on google maps. We might get general directions and learn the best roads to take. Personally, I love maps. They are really interesting. I used to love making treasure maps with my class. After Jesus was born, some wise men, also called Magi, saw a star in the sky which they believed announced the birth of a king. They travelled to Jerusalem. They had no map but a God given star to guide them. They saw, they believed and they went. A good example for us to follow.

2nd January 2026

John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The world we live in still knows darkness. We see it in fear, in loneliness, in division, in suffering. Many people over the Christmas period come to church carrying heavy burdens, grief that hasn’t healed, worries about the future, relationships that are strained, hearts that are tired. Christmas does not pretend that these things don’t exist. Instead, it proclaims something far more powerful: God has entered this darkness. The child in the manger is not distant from our struggles. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Not God above us only, or God watching from afar, but God who steps into our human story, into our weakness, into our need.

1st January 2026

Luke 2:20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Between Christmas and New Year we tend to think Christmas is over for another year and we move on. But Christmas does not end at midnight on 25th. It begins! We are sent from midnight Mass, from Christmas morning Mass, to carry the light we have received into a world that still needs it. Like the shepherds, we are called to move on from Christmas changed, filled with wonder, filled with praise, and ready to share what we have seen and heard. At Christmas heaven touches earth. Love takes flesh. God whispers to every human heart: You are not alone. May we receive that gift with gratitude, protect it with faith, and live it with joy every day. 

I wish you many blessings for the New Year.