Pilgrim

After we finish our celebrations at Christmas and make our new year promises and plans there is a time called Epiphany where we celebrate the visit of the Kings to the babe.   We all know there were three of them don’t we. There must be because I have been to Cologne Cathedral and seen their relics. It’s obvious isn’t it? Except of course it isn’t. They are only mentioned in Matthew and don’t seem to be present in Luke at all, not to mention Mark or John who don’t actually mention the birth narrative.   Matthew doesn’t refer to them as Kings. He doesn’t even say how many there were. Actually, they appear to be magi, from which we get the modern word magicians. In Jesus’ time then there were court officials from another country who would have used the art of divination and astrology to determine the influence of the stars and thus look for political portents.  How does that sit with some of the more contemporary evangelical Christian discourses that seem all powerf

Mark 12:38-44 Today we have brought to mind the tragic loss of life in the two world wars and all subsequent conflict.   For many people today is a poignant and important day, especially so with today being the 100 th anniversary of the armistice, the event marking the end of the so-called Great War.   A war that was supposed to be the war that ended all wars.   Sadly, like Pandora’s box, it has proved to be extremely hard in subsequent generations to put away the thirst for vengeance or nationalism and to move towards a substantial peace. Those of you who are on social media will no doubt have seen a multitude of pictures of poppies of all colours; red, white, purple and so on.   You will have seen calls to remember young men shot by their own side due more often than not to a poor understanding of the effects of war on mental health.   Some of you will have seen pictures that are pushing an agenda, some pictures will have been peaceful, some less so. We have

What we you mean when you think of a harvest. What image forms in your mind. Today as we celebrate the annual Harvest Festival in the Christian Calendar, we have behind me a veritable selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, vines, hops etc. The reading today is taken though from Mark 9: 38-48 which on first glance doesn't have much to say about a Harvest. Or does it? Whenever we read the Gospels we need to take ourselves outside of our 21 st Century selves and try and put ourselves in the position of a 1 st Century Jewish person. That can be quite a task as I think you would agree. The other point we need to keep in mind is that the Gospel writers didn’t tell their story in order of time.   They chose events and ordered them so that the reader would get the message that this person Jesus was indeed the long waited for Messiah.   If we have any concerns about what Mark’s intentions are in writing the Gospel, we need only to go the very first sentence; “The