Word in the Hand

Sunday Gospel Mark 6:1-6 Jesus went to his home town and his disciples accompanied him. With the coming of the sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and most of them were astonished when they heard him. They said, ‘Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him? This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us?’ And they would not accept him. And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country, among his own relations and in his own house’; and he could work no miracle there, though he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. 'when your heart gets broken you begin to see the cracks in everything. Tragedy may want to harden us but the mission is to never let it' This Sunday we are hosting the Annual Shrewsbury Diocese A...

Gospel Mark 1:1-8  Another Place - Anthony Gormley The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah: Look, I am going to send my messenger before you; he will prepare your way. A voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight. and so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. In the course of his preaching he said, ‘Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’ Nearly two years ago now our Scripture group began stu...

Gospel Luke 2:36-40  There was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.   When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him. In Advent we recognised John the Baptist, in all his wildness and righteousness,  as the last of the Old Testament prophets. As chosen and as driven as he is by the Holy Spirit, there is still something of that tradition that calls him to look for reassurance from this man who has not ...

Luke 4:21-30 Jesus began to speak in the synagogue: ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’ But he replied, ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself” and tell me, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own countryside.”’ And he went on, ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country. ‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’ When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They spran...

Opening Prayer Here I am Lord, Listening Speak to me within my heart and soul. I am listening. Mark6:3 (The Message) He's just a carpenter—Mary's boy Reflection I didn’t ask for this, you know. Well, maybe I did, in one of my prayers I might have asked God what he wanted me to do; what was the point of my life. Trouble is, so often, when we pray, we don’t really think he’s listening. After all, how many prayers do you think he gets, every day, every minute, every second? But I did ask him, and, it seems, he was listening and now - here I am- speaking to you. Words coming from nowhere; pouring out of a tiny bit of scripture that I had read and heard over and over again without comment, until today. This is what it is like, every day. Words; not my words – his. That’s why you hear them. That’s why they mean something to you too. I’m just the messenger. But for people who don’t want to listen; who am I? No even a member of the clergy; just a person in the pew; Joe Public; unquali...