Category: Benefice

Musing on Mark 7, 1 to 8 then 14 to 15 and 21 to 23 Facing the truth of our true selves I don’t know about you, but I know I can be really good at finding excuses for not challenging my less-than-perfect behaviour. I too find it easy to slip into doing, thinking, saying as everyone else does, fitting in to the culture of our social circle and times. It was no different in Jesus day. People thought that conforming to the religious practices and cultural norms of the times kept them in Gods favour (v8). In this weeks passage we have Jesus telling them (and us) that they were wrong. We all like to wear a metaphorical mask to hide who we truly are, so as not to reveal our inner thoughts – even from those with whom we are most intimate (the wearing of masks in Greek theatre is the origin of our word hypocrite). The hard truth is that...

Musing on John 6, 51 to 58 Off at a tangent….? So this is the third week focusing on Jesus ‘I am the Living Bread’ discourse, and I find I have little more to say about it except to note the repetition means that it’s all mega important, and also to note that he spoke it all in the Capernaum synagogue, which must have caused a few heart attacks amongst the traditional Jews there! In our passage today he reiterates that – He lives by the power of the Living Father and that ‘partakers’ in him live by his power, therefor they will live by Gods power. Eat me and you’ll live. Eat and drink and you’ll remain in me and I’ll remain in you. Again reminding us that receiving the bread and wine is a public declaration of our acceptance of him and accepting the Holy Spirit to work within us. I find the simple instructions of Jesus, here and elsewhere, to those who...

Musing on John 6, 35 and 41 to 51 We are what we eat. In 1826 the French author Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote his Physiologue du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie in which he said ‘Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are’ (in French, of course). Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life – eat me (v51).’ What did he mean? From the way they responded to him at the time, the people who heard him expected him to ‘do a Moses’ and provide manna like he had when their ancestors were in the wilderness for 40 years., but heavenly provision of food to sustain the physical body wasn’t what Jesus was offering. And they start complaining (v41) and pick up on his claim to have ‘come down from heaven’ (v38, 42). After all some of them grew up with him so how can this be? ‘I am the bread of life’ is one of several ‘I am’ sayings...

Message from Cathy about her greetings cards, helping to raise money for the Friends of St Marys Last year, during the first lockdown, I took my camera with me on my daily walk around the village and collected a series of images of Long Crendon. I was also asked to take photographs of the Open Gardens as part of a project for The National Garden Scheme to help the NGS continue fund-raising during financially challenging times. It occurred to me that I could produce a set of hand made greetings cards using some of the images, particularly since work opportunities were uncertain, and so Flashcat Cards was born! There are a couple of images in the range featuring St Mary’s Church - one of the church itself and another of the wonderful church door. The cards are £2.50 each or 4 for £8.00 and for each card sold featuring the church I will be making a donation to the Friends of St Mary’s....

Musing on John 6, 1 to 21 Is this just about showing through miracles that Jesus is divine? In contrast to the records of these events in other Gospel, John’s retelling is after a lifetimes reflection. Are there any significant differences? Observations: So the wind must have been against the disciples as they crossed the lake because the crowd could keep up. Mountains around the Sea of Galilee are more like an average hill. A days wages was one dinari, the Greek has Philip saying food would cost more than 200 dinari. The Greek doesn’t say ‘so they sat down’ but ‘the men sat down, so 5000 men, plus women and children (so more like 5000 dinari needed!) Bread was such an essential it was considered ‘sacred’ in the Middle East (still is), so it was unheard of not to pick up the pieces. They collected one basket full for each of the disciples -but no basket for Jesus. Jesus provides a meal - women’s work in his day. He...

Musing on Mark 6,30 to 34 and 53 to the end.4 The costs of following Jesus Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. You may find this weeks Gospel reading somewhat curious as it seems to miss out the best bits – no feeding of 5000, no walking on water. Instead we get what at first sight might seem to be...

Musing on Mark 6, 14 to 29 One question comes to mind when we read this passage – why did Mark, who is very selective in what he writes in his short Gospel, want to find space for this story? Why do you think it is important. What does he want us to learn from it? Herod Antipas, one of the 3 sons of Herod the Great (of ‘killing Bethlehem babies’ fame) was ‘king’, aka in charge, of the Roman administrative region of Galilee. He’d married his brother Philips ex-wife, Herodias, and John the Baptist had called him out on it in his preaching sessions in the wilderness (see Lev.18:15-16). Antipas couldn’t have his name disrespected like that so he had John arrested and brought to Machaerus, his hilltop fortress, presumably to ‘deal with him’. But then Antipas found that he liked listening to John. What he said coupled with his righteousness and holiness perplexed Antipas. Now I suspect that it was...

Musing on Mark 6, 1 to 13.           Do you believe and trust……..? Jesus returned to Nazareth, where he was brought up and worked, only to find that there was some truth in the saying ‘familiarity breeds contempt’. What’s your experience of ‘going back’ - to a school reunion, a former workplace, a ‘home town’? Was the expectation that you/people would still be exactly the same? Did you feel people didn’t want you to have ‘moved on’? As a good Jew Jesus went to the synagogue on the sabbath. Everyone went as it was a social time, a place to discuss civic matters as well as the scriptures and to share the gossip. There could be up to six readings, the leader of the synagogue picking the scroll to be read from and inviting people who could to read from it. As it was written in Hebrew there was also someone who translated it into Aramaic as it was read. Visitors were sometimes...

Musing on Mark 5, we to the end Shame overcome = faith? As a trustee of Thame Foodbank I’ve learnt that the main obstacle that people in need have to overcome in order to ask for help is shame - shame that they have failed to provide for their family, shame that they have to admit to it to strangers, shame that they have to admit to it to their children. Shame is a powerful force affecting our behaviour in society and it’s shame that the two people in our reading have to overcome to ask Jesus for help. Jairus was the leader of a synagogue, a public position of great honour and social standing. Synagogues we’re not necessarily buildings but could be just the village meeting place. Here people would discuss both scripture and village life – the blessings and difficulties of both. Social and religious life was inseparable. The leader of the synagogue would supervise public works, local laws,  the schooling...

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