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Jesus invites us to follow him by stepping out onto the Way. A way of living and loving that will heal us, change us and prepare us for our return to God in the fullness of time - The Way of Love. Sentence: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ ” John 14:6 Collect: Gracious God, Source of all being, Lead us on the Way of Love that we may know ourselves and others Loved, forgiven and healed and that the j

How do we discern the voice of Jesus amid the clamour of competing claims? (Easter Four. John 10:1-10.) Sentence: “… and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” John 10:3 Collect: Creator God, you spoke and the world came into being. You sent your own son among us and he spoke in the language of the everyday words of healing and forgiveness. He listened to the cries from the margins of those often silenced. Help us to discern his voic

The risen Christ offers his disciples peace. And then immediately tells them that if they forgive anyone their sins are forgiven, if they retain anyone’s sins they are retained. It is worth noting that this is the newly risen Jesus who says this – the one who has much to forgive, including the feint hearted disciples in the room! (Easter Two. John 20:19-31.) I wonder if this means that when we pray for peace in the world, when we long for peace in our lives, that we are being

Every year we end up here, at the foot of the cross with all our sorrow, remorse, reluctance – all the myriad human responses to the death of Jesus, the one who was like us but more than. (Good Friday. John 18:1-19:42.) Why, we ask ourselves, death, and death on a cross? What does death on a cross mean – for the world, then and now, and for us? How does such a death make things different or better amongst such a litany of sufferings going back in time, and we fear, forward i

By tradition Maundy Thursday is the beginning of the Three Great Days of Easter. And yet we begin in quiet and darkness, with humble rituals, and intimate actions that recall the last loving actions and teachings of Jesus with his disciples before the events of history took hold. This week, all around the world, many of the faithful of the Christian tradition, are hastening to make space and time for this ancient ritual mystery of suffering love and the victory of life. For m

What a wonderful foretaste of the life that emerges in the midst of death – the hope that is stronger than fear and despair. (Lent Five. John 11:1-45; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; and Romans 8:6-11.) But these readings do not deny the depths of grief and loss that we endure. Rather resurrection emerges in the very midst of suffering. Sentence: “The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him

This week we are invited to explore how God sees us; how well or blindly we see; and how this process of being seen, of being exposed to the light, can transform us. (Lent Four. John 9:1-41; 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; and Ephesians 5:8-14.) Sentence: “ … for once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.” Ephesians 5:8-9 Collect: Gracious God, Long ago your Son

In the busyness of our world, especially in the long journey of Lent and Easter, it can be very hard to find the time, frame of mind, and openness of heart to enter into the spacious uncertainty, challenging encounters, and the harrowing story of our Lord’s passion for us. This year I am exploring with you a contemporary version of Novena – the discipline of praying for nine days the same prayer as a way of opening our hearts more fully to the Divine and to seek greater cla

We are a thirsty hungry people, hard to satisfy for long, and so many of us are prone to restless searching. One of the gifts of Lent is the invitation to sit, even in the midday sun, by a well and meet the one who offers more than we knew we needed or was possible. (Lent Three. John 4:5-42.) Sentence: “Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I wi

There are many stories about Jesus physically healing those who are blind and there are also many teaching moments about spiritual blindness – often aimed at the disciples or in this case the learned Pharisee, Nicodemus. (Lent Two. John 3:1-17) Sentence: “Jesus answered him. ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ ” John 3:3 Collect: You who made everything and everyone and saw that it was good. Your beloved Son knew our fl

At this precarious moment in history it is comforting and challenging to be reminded that we are called into partnership with Christ. (Second Sunday after Epiphany. John 1:29-42; Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; and 1 Corinthians 1:1-9.) So often we hear the story of being called as about beginnings, the moment we first hear our name called. Which for many of us was an exciting moment – and may generations to come also feel the excitement and respond – but now we find ourselves

To talk about God as Trinity is to accept an impossible challenge. And yet one worth doing for it reminds us how mysterious, beyond...