Word in the Hand

Gospel John 6:51-58  Jesus said to the Jews: ‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me. This is the bread come down from heaven; not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.’ Ju liana of Liège, an Aug...

Gospel      John 3:16-18 Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son.’ One of the things I love most about Jesus is that he is just as tongue-tied as the rest of us about explaining mystery. Well, maybe somewhat better than some of us,  but the 50 parables of the Gospels are no more than metaphors and imagery as Jesus tries, over and over again,  to refine the statements - God is like....the Kingdom is like....Heaven is like... But most of all, the most indescribable of all, the Holy Trinity that is our God. St Anselm writes that 'faith seeks understan...

Gospel Matthew 6:7-15  Another Place - Anthony Gormley Jesus said to his disciples, ‘In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. And do not put us to the test, but save us from the evil one. ‘Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.’  Tradition Three - The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking I had intended to edit this tradition to create an apppropriate spiritual comparison. After all, the many hundreds of addi...

Gospel John 20:19-23  In the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ After saying this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’ Tradition Two; For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.  Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.  We live in a world that accepts hierarchy as a fact of life; a life that we often buy into. From the earliest of times we are encouraged to be aspirational; leaders are ...

Gospel John 16:29-33 His disciples said to Jesus, ‘Now you are speaking plainly and not using metaphors! Now we see that you know everything, and do not have to wait for questions to be put into words; because of this we believe that you came from God.’ Jesus answered them: ‘Do you believe at last? Listen; the time will come – in fact it has come already – when you will be scattered, each going his own way and leaving me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world.’ Tradition One: Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon Unit y Whilst most people may have heard of the Twelve Steps even if they don't know what they are- very few people outside a Twelve Step programme will have heard of the Twelve Traditions. The traditions are something like the Rule that is often followed in sp...