News and messages archive for 2011
The Passion Part 4 - The Crucifixion 19:17-30
Posted on December 18th 2011 in Weekly messages
The kingship of Jesus lay at the heart of His trial in front of Pilate, and now becomes the centre piece of the Crucifixion. Jesus dies the death of a criminal, but as a king, a title given originally to…
We should celebrate Christmas on God’s terms and not our own
Posted on December 18th 2011 in Weekly messages
The Archbishop of Canterbury in his recent radio talk on ‘Pause for thought’ contrasted the vision of the perfect Christmas of our imagination, both from our own past and from the images presented by advertising, to the messy reality of…
The Passion Part 3 - Jesus before Pilate c18: 28-19:16.
Posted on December 11th 2011 in St. John's Gospel
The action quickly changes from the House of Caiaphas to which Jesus has been led, where Peter has just denied knowing Jesus again, to the Praetorium, the Roman fortress in Jerusalem. The brief note of Peter denying Jesus a third…
The response to anger, communal and personal, is the Good News of Jesus Christ
Posted on December 11th 2011 in Weekly messages
The tidal wave of anger seems unstoppable, whether it be the summer riots, the outpourings of anger on public transport, the evidence of road rage and the ‘days of rage’ proclaimed by extremists. It is hard to discern any meaningful…
The Passion: Part 2: The trial before Annas and Caiaphas c18:12-27
Posted on December 4th 2011 in St. John's Gospel
The individual scenes that make up the Passion Narratives in the four Gospels differ in many ways between themselves that it becomes impossible to write just one detailed account. The basic narrative is the same but the details differ with…
The call of John the Baptist to prepare a way can so easily fall on deaf ears.
Posted on December 4th 2011 in Weekly messages
The relentlessly depressing news over the economy and the ramifications of crisis over the single currency looks to have blunted many peoples’ celebrations this Christmas. It is hard to discern that Christmas Day is only three weeks away. Perhaps these…
The Passion: Part 1: The Arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane c18:1-12
Posted on November 27th 2011 in St. John's Gospel
The Passion Narrative in St John’s Gospel is very similar in its main outline to those of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). The basic outline was well known through the earliest professions of faith that Jesus had died…
Advent waiting is a purposeful activity combined with real dialogue
Posted on November 27th 2011 in Weekly messages
Last week a head teacher was pleased to explain that the school’s unannounced Ofsted inspection went well, and that the inspectors had found a happy but purposeful school been run diligently by the staff. The head teacher explained, to my…
The Farewell Discourse: The Priestly Prayer of Jesus: Part 3 (17:20-26)
Posted on November 6th 2011 in St. John's Gospel
The final section of the Priestly Prayer of Jesus is a prayer that draws the disciples into the love that the Father and the Son share. The mention of Jesus’ love for the disciples reminds the reader of the opening…
Praying for the dead has been the immemorial tradition of the Church
Posted on November 6th 2011 in Weekly messages
Solidarity and its polish original, Solidarność, become a byword for a coherent response to the violence and degradations of communism. The word finds a weak translation in the ‘Big Society’, but the original concept looked to a key Catholic idea…
The Farewell Discourse: The Priestly Prayer of Jesus: Part 2 (17:9-19)
Posted on October 23rd 2011 in St. John's Gospel
The second section of Jesus’ prayer to His Father, the so-called Priestly Prayer that occupies c17 of the Gospel, has the apostles as its main focus. The apostles occupy an ambiguous position, being simultaneously both in and out of the…
The unity of the love of God and of humanity is the way to understand the world
Posted on October 23rd 2011 in Weekly messages
The occupation of the forecourts of St Paul’s by the anti-capitalist demonstrators is more by good luck than by design. The London Stock Exchange moved to Paternoster Square only recently having been located near to the Bank of England for…