Episodes

Back in 1995 Joan Osborne’s ‘What If God Was One of Us?’ was an instant hit. It was asking the question how we would react if God was identifiably walking amongst us as just one of us. It’s a good question to ask in every generation, for it awakens us to a time when it is claimed that divinity did walk amongst us – not as one of the elite but as one of us. In the opening lines of chapter 5 of Luke’s Gospel we read of a scene on the foreshores of Lake Gennesaret on Lake Galilee: … The crowd was ...

This week a friend sent me a copy of That Was The Church That Was – How the Church of England Lost the English People. Written by Andrew Brown, an English journalist, and Linda Woodhead, Professor of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University, England, it was published in 2016. Providing a harsh critique of the state of the Church of England over the last thirty years or so, it suggests that only a ‘Broad’ Church will slow the decline. While my purpose here is not to review the b...

Catastrophic events such as we have seen over this last year, give us pause and challenge us to see life with new eyes. While Covid has dominated the news, volcanoes and earthquakes, wild-fires and devastating tornadoes have also wrought havoc. Nations have looked to their leaders to chart a course to preserve life and secure livelihoods. Leaders who worked at this won our respect. Good and upright leaders are rare. That said, because no leader is perfect, most people – as every election shows ...

In this transition from one year to the next, we’re looking at Ecclesiastes, one of the wisdom books of the Bible. The wisdom books stand apart from the main narrative of the Bible, asking questions about our experiences of life. Job asks how do we make sense of suffering, especially the suffering of the seemingly innocent? The Song of Songs explores God’s gift of the joys of love and sex. Proverbs provides a framework for street-smart and successful godly living. Ecclesiastes asks, ‘What’s the...

Another troublesome year has passed. ‘About time,’ we might say. But what about the New Year? With the passing of the years and the seasons and our experiences of life, how do we make sense of it all? Back in the 1960s The Byrds and Pete Seeger with the song Turn, Turn, Turn brought the world’s attention to the words of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3. The chapter begins by focusing on the bookends of life: A time to be born, a time to die… It moves on to creative and destructive events: A time to pla...

Another uncertain and troublesome year with yet another Covid variation! Given that so much has become politicized, where can we find a certain hope for the future? The question of the future in a troubled world is surely felt by anyone who reflects on life. Consider the opening lines of Ecclesiastes: Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? (1:2,3) The Book of Ecclesiastes is a strange book...

Does Christmas hold out something special for you? A time to be with family, Covid permitting? A joyful celebration? Or is it nothing but fake news and a season of stress? Let me touch on two scenes in the biblical narrative in Luke chapter 2. But first, let’s remember who the writer is – Luke, the physician. Trained in medicine he understood the principles of research. Indeed, at the outset of his narrative he assures us that he has carefully researched his account of the Jesus story and verif...

We all like to think that there are areas in our life where we are in control. CS Lewis in Surprised by Joy wrote this of his pre-Christian phase: “… But, of course, what mattered most of all was my deep-seated hatred of authority, my monstrous individualism, my lawlessness. No word in my vocabulary expressed deeper hatred than the word INTERFERENCE. But Christianity placed at the centre what then seemed to me a transcendental Interferer. If its picture were true, then no sort of ‘treaty with r...

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord …” are the opening words of the Broadway musical Godspell, that was released in 1971. The lyrics pick up the theme of John the Baptist’s preaching some two millennia ago as he prepared people for the coming of God’s promised Messiah or King. All four Gospels record John’s ministry. John the Baptist was a great preacher. He drew thousands from the cities and towns to the wilderness region near the Jordan River. He may have been a member of the Qumran community whi...

From New Testament times anyone who has said that Jesus Christ will return one day has been considered crazy. Certainly, the idea of him bursting through the skies in a blazing display of power and glory, doesn’t come easily. And now centuries have passed and nothing has happened. The return of the king (21:25-33). There are times when unexpectedly, momentous upheavals occur – events that can impact the course of history. We saw this with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and with th...

King Lear, one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, tells the story of a king who voluntarily set aside his titles and property in favor of two of his three daughters, only to find himself reduced to poverty and homelessness because they reject him. “Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend,” King Lear sighs. “How sharper than the serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.” While some parents might identify with these sentiments let me ask, how often do we express our gratitude to the LORD?...

Last week we reflected on the reality of the depression many experience – and not least in these surreal times of the Covid pandemic. Psalms 42 and 43 testify to this very real experience. The psalms are an example of the timeless wisdom and counsel that we find in the Bible. They are a cry from the heart. The writer asks why he is depressed. ‘I believe’ he says, ‘Why then should I feel as I do? Why am I so inwardly disturbed? What’s happened to me?’ Three times he asks: Why are you cast down, ...

One of the consequences of the lockdowns associated with the spread of Covid-19 has been the alarming rise of emotional distress. Lacking community and the opportunity to work, many have experienced depression. And being isolated from family and friends they have had nowhere to turn. Depression is not something new, nor should it be lightly dismissed. Some people experience it more than others. Furthermore, it is not something that only people who have no religious faith experience. Great ones ...

Have you ever been resentful of people whose lives seem successful? They’ve achieved recognition; they have beautiful children, and they enjoy material riches. The very thought of them strips any sense of happiness from you. Now there’s nothing wrong with being successful, having a great family or having money. The question is how do we value them? Do they represent what life is about or is there more to life? Today we come to a second Reflection on Psalm 1. The Psalm is important for it lays ...

Happiness is something we long for. But how can we achieve it? It’s elusive: one moment we can be feeling happy, but the next we’re not. Like moonlight it has slipped through our fingers. In fact ‘happiness’ can’t be a goal in the strict sense of the word. For a goal is something that is within our power to achieve. Happiness isn’t like that. There are too many variables outside our control. We can think that being successful, having a good family and friends, material assets and comfort, will...

Introduction – John Mason Psalm 96 is set in a cluster of psalms that form a celebration of joyful praise to God. Announcing God’s reign over his creation, Psalm 96 alerts us to God’s justice and the mystery of his mercy, even in the face of our unfaithfulness. Nothing can stop the LORD from being himself: slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Dr. Jim Salladin, Senior Minister of Emmanuel Anglican Church, New York City, gave two Bible talks on Psalm 96 – morning and afternoon, at t...

Introduction – John Mason William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury during the Second World War, remarked: ‘The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.’ How often we put aside the missional nature of Christianity that bubbles throughout the Bible – and not least that we find in the Psalms. At the Anglican Connection February Conference, Dr. Jim Salladin, Senior Minister of Emmanuel Anglican Church, New York City, gave two Bible Reflections, mornin...

Introduction – John Mason In February this year the Anglican Connection held an online conference with the theme, ‘The Unchanging God in a World of Change’. As the Bible provides timeless answers to questions about life various speakers brought us reflections on the Scriptures to remind us or to help us learn of God and the world in which we live. Dr. John Yates, Senior Minister of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Raleigh, NC, gave us two meditations on Psalm 19. Now, in preparation for the Confere...

Introduction – John Mason In February this year the Anglican Connection held an online conference addressing the theme, ‘The Unchanging God in a World of Change’. As the Bible provides timeless answers to questions about life various speakers brought us reflections on the Scriptures to help us learn of God and the world in which we live. Dr. John Yates, Senior Minister of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Raleigh, NC, gave us two meditations on Psalm 19. Now, in preparation for the Conference follo...

Listening to a replay of the Last Night of the 2021 BBC Proms I recalled their origin. In 1894 Robert Newman, manager of the then new Queen’s Hall near Langham Place, London, initiated classical music concerts that would be available for everyone. It was not long before the concerts became known as the Proms. Despite financial challenges following the First World War, the concerts continued with BBC sponsorship and, after 1930 with the new BBC Symphony Orchestra. With television, radio, big scr...

With the geo-political upheavals the world is experiencing many fear what the future holds. The uncertainty today is exacerbated by the angry divisions within societies. Vindictiveness has replaced respectful and serious conversation. And we can feel utterly powerless when it comes to talking about our faith. In Perelandra, the second in CS Lewis’ science-fiction trilogy, Ransom, the main character, feels powerless in confronting an evil force at work on the untainted planet Venus. The crafty s...

Twenty years ago Judith and I were living three short blocks south of the Twin Towers in Downtown Manhattan. We had awakened that Tuesday morning to clear blue skies and the sparkling waters of New York Harbor. But it was not to last. We felt the shock when the first tower was hit from the north. We heard the scream of the second jet flying low overhead and what sounded like a sonic boom when the south tower was hit. We experienced the shaking of our apartment building, similar to that of an ea...

With the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the rise of ISIS-K and the prospect of renewed acts of terrorism, we wonder what the future holds. Judith and I were living in close proximity to the Twin Towers, Downtown Manhattan on September 11, 2001. Psalm 146:3 says: Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs he returns to the earth;… What a warning! Princes refers to people of influence and power. The psalm is telling us that hu...

In his Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis says that there are two equal and opposite errors that people fall into regarding the dark powers. One mistake is to disbelieve in their existence, the other is to believe in them to excess. In Ephesians 6:10-12, Paul the Apostle writes: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power… For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness,...