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

Communications technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, and at the same time, become easier to use. As a result, the world appears to be becoming a much smaller place than it once was. And in many ways that is especially highlighted by the rise in popularity of the likes of twitter and other types of social media. Some amazing statistics about social media are available on the “econsultancy blog”. Nowadays we can pass on news and hear news from all around the world in an instant. When I think back, even to my childhood, there have been massive advances in the technology available. It makes you wonder what it will be like for the coming generations.

So, because of all those advances in communications technology, it has never been easier to send a message to the ends of the earth; never easier to “send the gospel to the ends of the earth”. And I’m left wondering if we take advantage enough of the technology available to us in talking about the “good news” of Jesus Christ. And especially if I am, personally, doing enough.

I know I write this blog, and while I don’t think of myself as evangelising in my writing — that isn’t the intention — I hope I am sharing the love of Christ, the love of God, with those who read my words on here. And I know that, in theory, this blog could be read by thousands, even millions, of people. In practise, of course, it isn’t; in fact it’s around about a thousand a week. I have had to accept, because of my ongoing health concerns, that this is frequently going to be my only viable opportunity to share God’s love with other people — even this wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other websites written by people who all want to share the love of God with others from around the world. And probably an equal, or greater, number that are about evangelising and conversion. So the reality is that a great deal is being done to “send the gospel to the ends of the earth”.

But there is one thing that all of these websites, including mine, have in common. They all rely on people being interested enough to make an effort to read what’s being written; the same as with any other kind of website available on the internet. I suspect the social networking sites, such as Twitter, will begin to play a part in changing that, but even with them there still is an element of people needing to make an effort to “follow” you, or your message will just be lost within the myriad of others being sent at the same time.

So, on this Fourth Sunday of Epiphany, I’m left once again with questions. Are we, am I, doing enough to help with sending the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, to the ends of the earth?

God of heaven,
you send the gospel to the ends of the earth
and your messengers to every nation:
send your Holy Spirit to transform us
by the good news of everlasting life
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect for The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

This phrase, “our beginning and our end”, from today’s Collect (The Second Sunday of Epiphany), always makes me think about the book of The Revelation — the last book in our Bibles, and probably one of the most confusing.

I’m not especially confident or knowledgeable about the book of The Revelation, but there are some wonderful passages in there that really resonate with me. One such is one of our recommended readings for use at funerals, Revelation 21:1-7. It’s a reading that gives a real message of hope for the future. The words that form the link in my mind are to be found in verse six, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end”.

This is God speaking to St John in his vision, that is the book of The Revelation. As I understand it, the word translated here as “beginning” doesn’t simply mean the first point in time, but first in the sense of source of all things. And the word translated here as “end” doesn’t simply mean the end point in time, but the very goal of time, what time and life is striving to achieve. So what’s being said here is that all life begins in God and ends in God.

It’s hard to think of anything more magnificent to say about God. And at first sight it might seem to remove God to such a distance that we’re no more to him than flies on a windowpane. But the rest of verse six goes on to say, “To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.” All God’s greatness is at the disposal of humanity. “God so loved the world that he gave…” (John 3:16). The splendour of God is used to satisfy the thirst of the longing heart.

That’s the love that God has for each and every one of us. That’s the love that we’re reminded of in this prayer on this Second Sunday of Epiphany.

Eternal Lord,
our beginning and our end:
bring us with the whole creation
to your glory, hidden through past ages
and made known
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect for The Second Sunday of Epiphany
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

Last week, in my reflection on the Collect, I talked about being prepared to meet God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and the somewhat confusing subject of God’s judgement. This week, the Second Sunday of Advent, we have a different emphasis, and we go beyond meeting, to receiving, into our hearts, him who is our Lord and our God.

For me, one of the important things about receiving our Lord and our God into our hearts is that it’s something we do by choice. We can choose to receive God/Jesus into our hearts. And we can choose not to. And the truly amazing thing is that whichever way we decide, it won’t make an iota of difference to the way God feels about us. His love for us isn’t dependent in any way on our love for him. His love for us is a gift, freely offered, with no strings attached.

That’s the God, the Jesus, that we’re praying we’ll be ready to receive in this Collect. And it’s that love that controls everything else. We don’t need to fear the scary things like “judgement”, because our Judge is also our Saviour, and he loves us, each and every one of us, as much as if we were the only ones too love.

For us to love God in the way that he would want us to, it has to be a free choice on our part. You can’t force someone to love you, it wouldn’t be love, it could never be love.

I came across a great quote by the theologian, Greg Boyd, which I’ll finish with:

To refuse to create a world where love was possible because the risk was too great seems to be beneath God. Love is really the only reason worth creating! It’s not freedom for the sake of freedom that God values — it’s love. Freedom is simply the only possible means to this end.

Greg Boyd

Love! It’s our raison d’être.

Almighty God,
purify our hearts and minds,
that when your Son Jesus Christ comes again as
 &bbsp;   judge and saviour
we may be ready to receive him,
who is our Lord and our God.

Additional Collect for The Second Sunday of Advent
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

Today is the First Sunday of Advent, or Advent Sunday, which is the first Sunday in the Church’s liturgical year. The season of Advent takes us from today, right up until Christmas Eve. It’s a penitential season of preparation and waiting. “Advent” means “coming”, and there’s a sense of eager expectancy, as we look forward to the coming of Christ into the world at Christmas.

In this season of Advent we also celebrate the coming of Jesus into our lives daily, at our death, and at the end of the world. And this thinking about the end of the world, especially, leads us to thinking about God’s judgement.

God’s judgement of us is a subject I’m never entirely comfortable with. The differences in theology between the conservative and liberal wings of the Church just confuses me. If I’m asked for an opinion, I usually just admit that I don’t know, but am happy to leave myself to the mercy of an all-loving God, a God who I know loves me far more than I ever will myself.

I heard a story a while ago, though, that just struck a chord for me. I gather it, or something very like it, has been used as an illustration about judgement in the more evangelical Churches for many years. But coming from a somewhat more catholic tradition I hadn’t heard it before.

As I said, this story really struck a chord for me. I’m not totally convinced by the idea of God sending Jesus to be punished in our place (penal substitution?). Although, once we remember that Jesus is in fact God in human form, it makes more sense. But if it helps us to feel less fearful of the judgement that must surely come — the Bible seems pretty clear on that — then it must be a good thing. Because if we’re less fearful, then perhaps we’ll be more ready to meet God in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Almighty God,
as your kingdom dawns,
turn us from the darkness of sin to the
light of holiness,
that we may be ready to meet you
in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Additional Collect for The First Sunday of Advent
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

Sometime around the middle of the nineteenth century, Frederick Faber wrote the hymn, “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy”. That would have been soon after he converted from Anglicism to Catholicism, and founded what was to become the Brompton Oratory in Kensington. Before that he’d spent a couple of years as Rector of the Parish of Elton, in Huntingdonshire, which isn’t far from where I live.

It’s a wonderful hymn. When you read the words you can understand the sentiment of William Wordsworth, when he wrote to Faber after he’d decided to take Holy Orders, “I do not say you are wrong, but England loses a poet”. It’s thought that he wrote this, along with others he wrote, to try and increase the importance of hymn singing in the Catholic Church; he’d always been impressed by the power of hymns in the Protestant tradition.

This hymn says, far better than I ever could, what I would want to say about today’s Collect — The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. Please, read the words, take them to heart, and trust in their truth.

You can discover much more about Frederick William Faber on the Diocese of Ely website.

Merciful God,
your Son came to save us
and bore our sins on the cross:
may we trust in your mercy
and know your love,
now and in all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

I really like the psalms. When we read them, and especially when we worship with them, we are connecting with people who have done the same since well before the time of Jesus. In fact, Jesus himself, would’ve used the psalms as a part of his worship experience in the synagogues. I have many favourites amongst the psalms, they’ll vary according to how I’m feeling at the time. But one that is always close to the top of the list, is Psalm 139. Here are the first six verses:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain it.

In some ways it can be quite a disconcerting thought, to think that God knows each of us so intimately. We can’t lie to God; he already knows the truth. He does, in fact, know us far better than we will ever know ourselves. He knows all about our daily lives, when we sit, and when we rise. He knows all our ways, our mannerisms and character traits, our motives and goals. He even knows what we’re going to say and think, even before we do. That can be a disconcerting thought indeed.

But it can be a comforting thought too. We don’t have to put on airs and graces or pretend with God; he already knows us. We don’t have to try and be the person we think others want us to be; he already knows who we really are. It’s the real person deep down inside that God wants, and calls into his service.

Despite him knowing us so intimately, knowing all the bad things in our lives and character as well as the good, already knowing the things about us that we’re ashamed of, as well as those we’re proud of, he still loves us. God loves the real us, the real me — warts and all!

It’s because of that love that we can rely on him in strength, and rest on him in weakness.

Almighty God,
you search us and know us:
may we rely on you in strength
and rest on you in weakness,
now and in all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

Today is the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. The phrase I want to reflect on this week is, “Increase your grace within us”. I tend to think the terms, “God’s grace” and “God’s love”, are more or less interchangeable. So when I pray for God’s grace to be increased within me, I’m praying for God’s love to be increased within me.

I think there’s one particularly special way we can all experience an increase of God’s grace, his love, within each one of us. Give it away! Give it all away! And keep on giving as much of it away as you possibly can. And the amazing thing is, it won’t diminish what you yourself receive. Just the opposite in fact, it will increase it. The more you give God’s love away, the more you yourself will experience it. And the more you experience it, the more it will change you into the person God calls each of us to be.

The picture above is one that used to be in the header of the blog, so some of you may recognize it. It’s a picture taken of what is usually quite a mundane scene, looking out over the rooftops of the Oxmoor Estate in Huntingdon, where I live — I took it in our back garden. That mundane scene of a few rooftops, a few trees, some clouds and a bit of sunlight, have been transformed by coming together in just the right conditions into something really quite staggering. I’d never seen colours so vibrant in the sky before.

God’s grace and love are a little like those “just right” conditions, and can transform our lives from the mundane into something really quite amazing. When we allow God’s love to shine in our lives, like the sun is shining in that picture, it can transform them into something amazing. And one of the best, and easiest, ways to allow God’s love to shine in and through us is by giving it away, sharing it with everyone we meet. In that way, God’s love and grace will transform us into the amazing people he always meant us to be … even me. Not a bad ideal to be aiming for.

God of constant mercy,
who sent your Son to save us:
remind us of your goodness,
increase your grace within us,
that our thankfulness may grow,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect for The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity
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

Today is the Fifth Sunday after Trinity. Our Collect today reminds me of the awesome responsibility we each hold as ministers of the gospel. Everything we do should show the grace that we have been fortunate enough to receive, and to share that grace with all whom we minister to.

To help me in this, I try to base my preaching and ministry on two truths. The first is that God loves each and every one of us. And the second is that the gospel is good news (which is what ‘gospel’ means).

I always try to consider how, what I want to say, fits with the God of love, the God who loves each of us as much as if we were the only ones too love. If it doesn’t, then I have to seriously consider whether it’s the right thing to be saying.

And then I consider whether what I want to say is good news for those who will hear it. If it isn’t, again I would need to seriously consider whether I’m saying the right thing.

I hope, and pray, that trying to base all of what I do as a minister of the gospel on those two truths is the right thing to do — fire and brimstone really is not my style. As ministers of the gospel I don’t think it’s a bad gauge for us to be measuring ourselves against, the Love of God. And even though I know I will frequently fall woefully short, it doesn’t mean I should stop striving towards that goal.

I appreciate that people from varying traditions will have differing emphases than me. I don’t think they’re wrong and I’m right, nor vice versa, I just think we’re different, and that’s a part of the countless gifts of grace that the God of love gives us.

Almighty God,
send down upon your Church
the riches of your Spirit,
and kindle in all who minister the gospel
your countless gifts of grace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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