Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.” Anyone unfamiliar with this story might assume that “this man” would be released. A few verses later, Pilate repeated his ruling, in verse 14 and added: “he has done nothing to deserve death.” Yet verse…
The Judas tree (Cercis Siliquastrum) is actually a beautiful tree when in bloom. There are two varieties, one with white flowers and the other with dark purple-pink flowers. It has gained its colloquial name from the myth that this is the species of tree that Judas hung himself from after betraying Jesus in the garden…
Easter Day Year A 5th April 2026 Lectionary readings: Jeremiah 31 v1-6, Psalm 118 v1-2, 14-24; Colossians 3 v1-4; Matthew 18 v1-10. God keeps his promises. The prophet Jeremiah was active before and during the time of the Babylonian invasion. Jeremiah wrote, Some time ago, the Lord appeared to me and told me to…
April 2026 Preaching Plan
I love travelling. I enjoyed every school trip and church youth camp. Even now I remember those days when I used to prepare for travel. Whenever I went for a trip, I used to pack the best things I had. Because of that, my luggage was always heavy. I wanted to take everything I liked.…
Way back in the early 1980’s we organised a trip from our Church to Blackpool for the young people and we learned in the process of preparation that when you take young people to Blackpool an important feature of the day had to include a visit to the pleasure beach. All these years on, I…
I was walking back from shopping the other day. As I’ve said before, I don’t drive and one advantage is the people I make contact with as I’m walking. On this particular occasion, I had three encounters. The first was a young beautiful Asian lady who asked for directions. The second was a middle aged…
Matthew 4:11b: ‘…and suddenly angels came and waited on him.’ Last week we reflected on the lull after the storm; the peace that descends when the raging is over. For Jesus, the temptations were over, the devil had gone and he was left but then, we read, ‘suddenly angels came and waited on him’. Jesus…
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I am writing this thought knowing that it will come out as we prepare to go into Holy Week. Some of you will already have planned to attend reflective services, where we aim to travel in remembrance with Jesus through this difficult and hugely testing period in his earthly life and others will be doing…