The love our God gives to each one of us, as witnessed to in the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a truly wonderful thing. Today’s Collect, for The Third Sunday before Lent, reminds us that, amazing as that love is, and as much as we might want to hang on to it, we are not to keep it for ourselves. But we’re to allow that love to transform each of us into the image of Christ, and then to show that same love to those around us. Sadly, that isn’t always the image individual Christians project to those around them.

And that isn’t something we should only be doing on a personal level. We should also, as a corporate body, that is the Church, be absorbing God’s love, and then passing it on to others too. Sadly, that isn’t always the image the Church projects to those around it.

The amazing thing is, the more we can become a channel for God’s love to others, the more we will appreciate it, and gain from it ourselves. Not that we will actually receive more, God already loves each and every one of us as much as if we were the only ones to love. But we will gain more from the love we are already receiving.

So let us, personally and corporately, become channels for God’s love to flow out to the world. That may mean letting go of the crutches of prejudice, judgementalism, and too many other negative viewpoints. And that may well be quite a scary place to go to. But our Lord Jesus Christ will walk that journey with us, and God’s love will sustain us, if we’ll let it.

Eternal God,
whose Son went among the crowds
and brought healing with his touch:
help us to show his love,
in your Church as we gather together,
and by our lives transformed
     into the image of Christ our Lord. Amen.

Additional Collect for The Third Sunday before Lent
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

Jesus’ baptism marks for him much the same as baptism does for anyone. It marks a new stage in life, a beginning — a launching into a new life and ministry. That’s what all baptism’s signify, mine, yours, and yes, Jesus’ too. When Jesus went into the water he was an unknown carpenters son. When he came out of the water, he was a man with a mission, a mission to save the world.

In many ways, this Collect for The Baptism of Christ encapsulates many of the essentials of what we believe the Christian faith is all about. Jesus is shown to be God’s Son; we recognize him as our Lord; and because of that we can know that we are loved as children of God.

I don’t actually remember my own baptism, I was only four months old at the time, so no surprise there. But it did mark the beginning of my public Christian journey, just as Jesus’ baptism did for him. However, my journey into a recognized public ministry came many years after my baptism, many years after my confirmation when I was thirteen years old even.

One thing that is different for me than for many Christian ministers, though, is that my church-based ministry doesn’t take place many miles away from where my baptism happened. For I was baptised, and confirmed, in Godmanchester Church, the same Church as, half a century later, I’m a Licensed Lay Minister (Reader) — it’s the only Church I’ve worshipped at regularly throughout my life.

In many ways, because of that lifetime connection with a single Church, I feel as though I am a child of that Church. There are people in the congregation who were there before me, who remember me as a baby, remember me as a rebellious teenager, missed me when I left the Church, and welcomed me back with open arms when I returned.

I’m very fortunate. I know myself as a beloved child of God through my faith in his Son Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour. But I also know myself as a beloved child of the Church that I love, too. And that means a lot, because, for me, the Church is an important part of my faith.

Heavenly Father,
at the Jordan you revealed Jesus as your Son:
may we recognize him as our Lord
and know ourselves to be your beloved children;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Additional Collect for The Baptism of Christ
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

There are, it seems, many people today who are searching for something, yet not really knowing what it is they seek — something spiritual, outside of themselves. It may not always seem so, but it looks to me as though we live in a very spiritual world, possibly more so than it has been for many years.

But that spirituality is largely unfocussed. Many people know they want and need something greater than themselves, but fail to find it. We don’t hear quite so much about it nowadays, but I think that’s what much of the New Age movement was all about. It’s still visible in many a High Street though. In lots of larger towns, and even some smaller ones, it’s easier to buy New Age crystals and the like, than it is to buy a Bible.

I must admit that I don’t really understand a great deal about the New Age movement. And the last thing I would want to do in this post is to criticize or denigrate anyone’s sincerely held beliefs; and hope that isn’t how this is coming across. I’m really only using the New Age movement as an example of people’s searching for a spirituality outside of themselves.

Our Collect for today, the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, shows where my own searching has taken me. I’ve been lucky enough that my search should be fulfilled so close to where I started. For me, the God of glory is the end of my searching; the God of glory is the pearl beyond all price. And even more importantly, it’s the Church I grew up attending that has helped me discover that.

The Church, as a whole, hasn’t been especially good at self-promotion over the years. Had it been, maybe many who are still searching, or not found fulfilment where they have finished up — whether that be within the New Age movement, or anywhere else — would have been less quick to dismiss it as a possibility.

But there is a responsibility for each of us who carry God in our hearts to build bridges, or at least begin to, between ourselves and those searching. Not necessarily to convert everyone to our own particular brand of theology, but to open the channels for God’s love to flow through — and who knows what might happen then. And I think it’s important that we build those bridges, open those channels, between ourselves too, across the various denominations within the Church.

I wish I could say that I always take every opportunity that presents itself to start building bridges myself, but I fall far short of that ideal. I am trying though, and will keep on trying. I really do want other people to find what I’ve found.

God of glory,
the end of our searching,
help us to lay aside
all that prevents us from seeking your kingdom,
and to give all that we have
to gain the pearl beyond all price,
through our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Additional Collect for The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

I am in the middle of a really busy, for me, spell at Godmanchester. It was the early service for me on Sunday, and will be again next week, all being well. We generally have a shorter sermon at the 8.00 service. It doesn’t always end up that way, but this week it did — and they seemed happy enough. Here it is, more or less:

Are you a ‘Terry’, or an ‘Alfie’? I guess we’d all like to think we’re more like ‘Alfie’ in this story: but I wonder how often bit of ‘Terry’ creeps in? It’s so easy to find ourselves criticising, rather than enjoying, what’s being offered. Whenever I catch myself doing it, I try to change quickly; but I wonder how often I’ve done it, and not even realized?

What masks do you wear in everyday life? This is a video from the folks at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas. It’s really quite clever, and so very true. So often we do hide behind a mask of some sort; but they’re not needed with God.

When you look at the churches around about — certainly here in England, and much of Europe, not sure the same would be true for all of the world — it’s very often relatively easy to see something of the power they have enjoyed over the centuries. We have a magnificent legacy in the buildings that are our churches and cathedrals.

The picture above is of Ely Cathedral, our diocesan cathedral. It dominates the fenland skyline for miles around and is a truly wonderful building, both inside and out. Find out more about the cathedral by clicking this link: Ely Cathedral.

Buildings like these don’t spring up from weak Churches. No it needs power to build them. And, while the purpose of building such magnificent buildings is more about God than an overt display of power, power is, nevertheless, one image that is projected by them.

Our Churches aren’t so good at displaying their compassion however. Perhaps that’s because compassion isn’t so easy to picture in something physical. Sometimes you can’t help but wonder if it even exists when you look around at all of the arguing and disagreements between the Churches, both of the same denomination and different ones. It must give a poor image of God at times when you see some of the pettiness that causes untold misery to people everywhere.

But there is compassion in our Churches; both institutional and individual. At Godmanchester, I think, we’re very good with pastoral care. There’s a whole team of people who’s role it is to care for others in the congregation and the town: and a whole lot more people who do the same in an informal, and, too often, unrecognised way. With the other Churches in Godmanchester that is expanding all the time. We’re in exciting times; made more so because the care and compassion is about care and compassion, and not about bringing more people into Church.

And when you read Church websites and magazines, you can see the same kind of things happening all over. The compassion and care is there within our Churches, it’s just that it happens quietly, less visibly.

So, while I would want to pray that our Churches here on earth will be filled with power and compassion: I would also want to pray that they, particularly the compassion, could become more visible; so that more of those who need it can access it. It’s one sure way of sharing God’s love with those around us.

Risen, ascended Lord,
as we rejoice at your triumph,
fill your Church on earth with power and compassion,
that all who are estranged by sin
may find forgiveness and know your peace,
to the glory of God the father.

Additional Collect for The Seventh Sunday of Easter
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

We were in St Neots earlier this week; it isn’t far from Huntingdon, although we rarely visit. I did manage to get a picture of the splendid church there, though didn’t have much time for exploring.

This is a view of Godmanchester church that I particularly like, even the small tree in the middle. But it does highlight the difference between the non-conformist burial ground, and the rest of the churchyard. I was standing in the non-conformist area, and you can clearly see that the gravestones are set at 90°’s to the rest — all carefully aligned of course.

This week’s Friday Foto is another one I took in Godmanchester Church recently. This one is of a small display of Easter Lilies on one of the window sills. I particularly liked the way the sun was shining through the petals of these beautiful flowers.