May 10th - Influencers
Quoting from Acts Ch 17 where St Paul tells a crowd about the God they do not know, Maureen Simpson spoke this week about the Christian influencers we have might ourselves have had. Perhaps a family or another church member, a friend, a musician - someone in whom we can sense the love of God flowing through to us.
As children, few of us were taught about the Holy Spirit and many adults still don’t know or understand the meaning of the Jesus stories they heard. Through those stories Jesus trained his disciples, as He does us, to be influencers sharing His Good News via the medium of His Holy Spirit living within us.
Simply put, Jesus says that if anyone loves Him and does His bidding then God will be with them. Jesus’ repeated messages are all about love, taking us on a journey to love more, and in so doing, experience an inner peace that we can’t fully appreciate until we have felt it.
So how at peace are we and do we have God’s peace within? Part of that peace is the Biblical hope that if we walk His path we will be blessed with eternal life and be blessed with a close relationship, not a distant acquaintance, with God Himself.
God, who we can see in people, in nature and in quiet times, is with us at all times and as the hymn says, ‘Jesus calls us o’er the tumult.’ He is there for us in the violent storms of life and even through illness as well as when we are at peace.
So are we open to the influence of God’s Holy Spirit? Are we the people God made us to be - influencing others because of our love for Him?
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May 3rd - Living Stones
In the book of 1 Peter, Peter is writing a letter which he hopes will be an encouragement and an inspiration to a handful of disparate, worshipping Christian gatherings scattered over what is now part of modern-day Turkey. In it, he refers to the worshippers as ‘living stones’ and Rev Richard Bainbridge explored the relevance of this with us today.
These early churches, by which we mean the people not any form of building, contained all sorts: Jews and none-Jews, wealthy as well as poor folk, even slaves. Yet Peter uses the metaphor of the great Temple in Jerusalem where the biggest foundation stones weigh 350 tons to talk about how the people, the ‘living stones’ of these churches should conduct themselves, taking Jesus’ message of love as their Cornerstone.
In turn, Rev Richard related Peter’s message to that of the ‘Waller’ or builder of the familiar dry-stone walls in the Yorkshire Dales. The Waller uses a hammer with a chisel head to remodel some of the awkward stones to make them fit - and a good Waller finds a place in his wall for every stone that he picks up. Some are foundational, some are outward facing, whilst others are used inside the wall to build its core strength.
Are we awkward stones? Christian discipleship is based on loving deeply from the heart so we were asked to think individually about what needed to be chipped away by the Holy Spirit? Like the Waller, we need to chip off any bad attitudes that damage relationships thereby making God’s church a better place.
We are all ‘works in progress’ but what a privilege it is when we discover our place in God’s Temple where we can become His ‘holy nation’, lovingly serving other people.
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April 26th - What's Next?
Rev Alf Waite read two stories from either end of Luke’s gospel this morning that track Jesus’ earthly life from its beginning to its logical conclusion.
First, we looked at Luke Ch 2 vs 22-35 where Jesus’ parents go to the Temple and are met by Simeon, an old man who sees in the baby Jesus Christ the Messiah and prophesises what He is going to do. Then we looked at Luke Ch 23 vs 38-43 where Jesus on His Cross is spoken to by two thieves being crucified alongside Him.
Simeon had seen the conflict that was to come which ends at the Cross 30 years later. There we see the opposition of the crowd and that of one of the thieves who saw Jesus as the failure he himself was, and who thought only of avoiding punishment and getting away with his crime. This thief had had no plan for his life beyond the moment and had no hope of eternity.
But the other thief saw something different, recognising Jesus as the Messiah as Simeon had done and in affirming Jesus, Jesus offers him his place in Paradise. Had he witnessed Jesus’ overall sense of Peace? Or had he sensed the injustice that was being done? We try to live our lives our way and maybe this thief had seen that as futile.
Both stories show human hearts being revealed. Jesus mixed with all sorts of people such was His love but eventually it brought Him criticism and led to His death.
As Christians we hope that everyone should come to or return to faith as the second thief had done. We go into eternity in an instant and when we die we believe that we are instantly in Paradise. It’s the result and beauty of His resurrection.
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April 19th - Doubt
We have probably all heard the story told in John Ch 20 of Thomas, the disciple who doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead and who was unable to believe until he had seen Jesus with his own eyes and Local Preacher Jean Shotton discussed this with us this week.
Like Thomas we have all doubted things at times. Earlier in his Gospel, John reports that in response to Jesus saying that He was going to prepare a place for His followers in Heaven, Thomas had asked “How can we know the way?” Jesus had explained again that they had to follow Him. Clearly for Thomas there were too many questions but not enough answers.
We are not told why Thomas had missed the risen Jesus’ first meeting with His disciples but at the Crucifixion everything must have seemed lost so in grief and probably in fear of arrest, Thomas may at first have sought isolation from the others and then when he goes back to them, he learns that his friends had had an experience he hasn’t had. Seeing is believing as the saying goes but when Jesus appears again Thomas’s doubt is removed.
So for our benefit, Jesus tells Thomas that His followers have to learn that Jesus defeated death without physically seeing Him and to understand that, even when our faith wavers, Jesus is with us. It’s not easy but having the Bible to tell us about the empty tomb, we need the courage to keep going.
We have a living faith and knowing that Jesus walks with us just as He did with the two disciples on the Emmaus road, we are delivered from fear.
It’s our job to share the blessing that God is always with us.
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April 12th - Discipleship
The meaning of Discipleship for us was explored by Rev Jenny Porterpryde this week. Having been tested to breaking point by their experiences of the first Easter, we see from Acts Ch 2 that the disciples had regrouped by loving each other through sharing everything and being devoted to the teachings of their Apostle leaders.
We explored the story told in John Ch 20 of Thomas, the disciple who had needed to put his hand in Jesus’ side to confirm his faith, to explain some of the things that undermine, distract, and often hold us back.
Thomas was missing when the original disciples had first met the risen Jesus and perhaps it was his lack of the experience the others had had that made him doubt. That same cynicism can restrict us too when we see someone else benefitting from something we haven’t. We might also ask why the disciples were locked in a room. Maybe they feared arrest by the authorities but perhaps they wanted to keep themselves and Jesus to themselves. Are we afraid to trust God and the Holy Spirit He has given us to protect us so that we can unlock the door, go outside and get on with the work that He has set for us?
Jesus says to Thomas “These things are written so that you can believe” so to combat our fears we need to read our Bibles for His guidance, because when we don’t learn from it then we don’t trust Him and obey. Jesus said “Peace be with you” to remind us that we are forgiven and can move forward.
Psalm 16 tells us that God’s love is directed to us, so stand on Jesus as your rock, put your hopes and fears on Him and see discipleship from His higher perspective.
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April 5th - Jesus Lives!
Rev Alf Waite said that the only message for Easter Sunday is that, having risen from the grave and appeared to many witnesses to testify to the event, Jesus is alive. His resurrection shows that every sin and evil that defeats humanity, even death itself, is not the last word because they have all been defeated.
Paul writes in Colossians Ch 3 that if Jesus has been raised, we have been raised with Him. Therefore, if we have been raised, then we are to set our hearts on Jesus and our minds on things above. When the Bible speaks about the heart it is not talking about the pump we have in our chests it is asking us to set our hearts on Jesus because He is at the core of who we need to be. So we can say, as did the Psalmists, St Peter and both old and modern hymnwriters, that we love him.
Our minds make sense of our life experiences, but we also need to understand more and more about who Jesus is. This is more than having an understanding of our faith or church traditions, it is knowing who the person of Jesus is and what he has done for us.
All this doesn’t make us so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use, rather it enables us to fulfil our calling of being the HOPE of the NATIONS.
Today, there is so much evil in the world, globally, nationally, locally and personally but for Christians the Empty Tomb makes sense of this life, enabling us to see that in God’s plan sin, evil and death have been conquered. It is in understanding that message that we find the hope which enables us to cry ‘Alleluia! Jesus is risen - He is risen indeed Alleluia!’
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March 29th - Travel Advice
Referencing the saying 'It's not the destination that matters, it's the journey' Local Preacher Bill Naylor observed that for Christians, that means appreciating the beauty of God's creation and expressing His love to others along the way.
The Bible has many stories about journeys: remember Moses taking the Israelites out of Egypt and St Paul’s travels across the ancient world. Jesus, whose life’s journey was to the Cross, was constantly on the road. All these journeys took their travellers into the unknown, full of hardships and dangers. But certain factors link all journeys together.
Firstly there’s Fear. In the Old Testament Jonah, fearing God’s instructions, was shipwrecked and in the New Testament St Paul endured many beatings and imprisonments.
Are we afraid of what Jesus might ask of us if we tie our horses to His wagon?
Next there’s the risk of failure. We’ve all had life events where we've needed to summon up courage and just go for it! Even a mundane journey carries some risk - what if the bus doesn't come?
Belief is another ‘journeys’ connection. You have to believe that the journey is worthwhile, to 'believe in better’. Christians form their life journeys through the belief that Jesus’ way IS the Motorway!
And don’t forget Trust. Everyone on a journey needs to trust the bus or train driver or the pilot of the plane. Unfortunately many people navigate their lives under the delusion that they are in control when the presence of other factors means that ‘we are never in control.’ Proverbs 29 says “A man's fears will prove a snare to him but he who trusts in the Lord has a high tower of refuge.”
Christians believe in Jesus, so their life’s journey is to trust Him, ‘walk His talk' and follow Him.
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March 22nd - New Life
Are you ready to take your own personal migratory journey and travel towards a new life, away from sin? That was the question Local Preacher Peter Walsham left us to think about today.
Migration and immigration have always been major issues, so we read from Genesis Ch 12 where God calls the Jewish Patriarch Abraham, to migrate away from his ancestral home in modern day Iraq and travel to Canaan, where God promises to bless the land and make Abraham prosperous and the father of a great nation.
Abraham does what God asks of him because he is a faithful and obedient servant who seeks to follow the same providential God that we, together with all migrants down the ages have chosen to follow. We do this safe in the knowledge that God in the human form of Jesus, never turns anyone away, and hopes that in turn we will respond in love and reach out to strangers.
Next we looked at John Ch 3 where Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling elite comes to talk to Jesus secretly in the dead of night, because Nicodemus has a societal status which he does not want to risk damaging by meeting Jesus, the revolutionary preacher. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needs to be ‘born again’ by taking a spiritual journey to a new life based not on the letter of the Jewish law, but centred on the spirit of it which is about worshipping God through caring and loving other people, every single one of whom God cares for deeply.
In other words, Nicodemus back then and all of us here and now, need to be recreated by adopting an entirely new and radical way of thinking leading to a new life to which God’s Holy Spirit graciously guides us.
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March 1st - Spirit Led
Today Local Preacher Judy Tasker spoke about the need to be open to God’s Holy Spirit and encouraged us in our own private places to set time aside from our busy lives to listen for His voice.
We read from Genesis Ch 12 where we see Abraham called by God to go to a new land where he will become the father of a great nation. At that time, several hundred years before Moses and the people of Abraham’s nation made their covenant with God and received His laws, there were no rules and regulations for Abraham to follow – he just lived in faith and went where God’s Spirit led him.
Then we looked at John Ch 3 where Nicodemus, a member of the religious ruling elite, seeks Jesus out because he recognises Jesus as a man of God. Nicodemus believed that he would achieve eternal life after his earthly death through rigid adherence to the Mosaic laws but Jesus tells him that following the law was not sufficient and that he needed to be ‘born again’ by believing in Jesus and following Him into a way of living that is guided by God’s Spirit. Unfortunately Nicodemus doesn’t understand the free gift that God, through Jesus, is offering.
This comparison between Abraham who was alive to where God’s Holy Spirit was leading him and Nicodemus who was not, can guide us today. Are we wanting everything proved about who God is and how He works through laws and regulations, or do we accept Him and in trust, listen and obey Him when He speaks and guides us?
So wherever we are and whatever our circumstances we can pause and ask the Holy Spirit to guide our encounters with other people and to offer help when and where it’s needed.
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February 22nd - Modern Temptations
Beginning our Easter preparations, for this first Sunday in Lent, Rev Richard Bainbridge spoke about Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness (Matthew Ch 4 vs 1-11) and asked us how we relate Jesus’ desert experiences to our modern day lives.
Whilst we know that nobody is perfect and that we all succumb to temptation at times, we need to maintain a healthy sense of balance, not overdeveloping our sense of guilt, because Jesus, the only One who was faultless, intercedes with God for us and we can start over again.
And looking at Jesus’ response to His temptations can help. Knowing that He could turn stones into bread and thereby satisfy every human physical need would have been very effective in His ministry to come but Jesus realises that life is more than having food or any other material thing.
Next, Jesus is tempted to impress people by spectacular showmanship but courting popularity doesn’t solve the problems of the world and finally, He rejects ruling by dictatorial power and coercion. We’ve all wanted to be the life and soul of the party on occasions, or tried to force others to do things our way, but Jesus rejects both approaches because we have to recognise that it is God who has authority.
In modern life, we have arbitrators whose job it is to bring disputing parties together in search of solutions so Jesus chooses the route for His life that will lead to His death on the Cross because through sacrifice He will become the Great High Priest (who is able to empathise with our weaknesses, having been tempted in every way like us, yet did not sin - Hebrews Ch 4 vs 14&15), and intercede for us with God.
This Lent, feel drawn to Jesus who both understands and loves you.
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February 15th - Prioritise Wisdom
Today Rev Jenny Porterpryde’s message came from two stories in Matthew’s gospel. The first, from Ch 17, was about how God told the disciples Peter, James and John to prioritise Jesus and put Him first when Jesus appeared on a mountain with the Jewish Patriarchs Moses and Elijah. This fits perfectly with the second reading from Ch 6 where Jesus tells His listeners not to worry about material things like clothes and food, but to concentrate upon being right with God and that what we need will follow.
This key advice mirrors 1 Kings Ch 3 where the newly crowned King Solomon, successor to the great King David and struggling in his new role, asks God for the wisdom he will need in leading the Israelites - and God gives him that as well as the personal riches he hadn’t requested.
Mental health is spoken of a lot these days and knowing how to live one’s life is a key lesson for all of us. We need to understand that through reading the Bible and praying frequently we will bring ourselves closer to God and in so doing, learn to trust God and not worry about things that don’t matter.
Our Bibles are our handbook for life, a sat-nav that’s never wrong and in talking to God in prayer for our own needs, as well as the needs of others, we will maintain the right perspectives, getting rid of any mistaken priorities we may be harbouring, whilst remembering that our earthly lives are only a small part of our eternal stories.
We need to be like Solomon, who knew how to prioritise wisdom by living close to God, knowing that He both loves us and has a plan for us as we trust Him with all our life problems.
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February 8th - Citizens of Heaven
Today, Local Preacher Peter Walsham explained that all Christians should aim to become ‘citizens of heaven’ through the way we live our lives on Earth.
We read Philippians Ch 3 vs 12-21. St Paul is writing to the church in Philippi from prison in Rome, aware of his imminent execution. Earlier, he has reflected upon his previous life as Saul, the murderer of Christians yet following his conversion, he is full of hope anticipating his own resurrection, where he will be made perfect. Despite personal suffering, Paul writes about ‘Joy and Rejoicing’, encouraging his friends to be ‘Happy and Thankful’.
Philippi was part of the Roman Empire where groups of veteran soldiers monitored important Trade Routes. These veterans retained Roman customs and laws which Paul had witnessed at first hand. He emphasises that ‘we are Citizens of Heaven’ and whilst never forgetting their Roman heritage, Paul says that above all else they are Christians, Jesus having called and claimed them as His own. Like them, we too belong to Jesus’ unique and loving family, so our conduct must reflect this as best we can.
And as the veteran soldiers could call upon Rome should trouble flare up, so we too can call upon God’s powerful Holy Spirit to rescue us. Paul knew and believed that with the Holy Spirit living within him, he could face anything that life could throw at him: “For I am certain that nothing… will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is ours through Jesus Christ.” (Romans Ch 8 vs 38/9)
Paul goes on to explain that following Jesus’ principles and directed by the Holy Spirit, we can become Citizens of Heaven by imitating people who think of others first, showing kindness to everyone they meet, even strangers.
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February 1st - Positive with God
Everyone experiences times when things don’t go well but how we react to these setbacks was the theme of Local Preacher Maureen Simpson’s message to us this week.
Matthew Ch 4 vs 12-23 charts the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry here on Earth. Having recently been baptised in public by His cousin John and received God’s affirmation, Jesus had gone away to prepare Himself, and been tempted by the Devil, but having dealt with that, He returns to be told that John has been arrested. In those days, being arrested was likely to mean summary execution, so we can imagine that Jesus was probably anxious and worried. Anxiety is an emotion we have all faced, so we can very much sympathise!
But what do we do at such times? Do we give up, or run away, simply losing the hope of finding a solution? Or do we act positively and look for the light at the end of the tunnel?
What Jesus did next was to react positively by going to find and commission His disciples who, in a small community, will have heard of Him and may even have been present at His baptism. They will also have known their Scriptures, which predicted their Saviour Messiah coming from a certain place.
And the ordinary working men that Jesus approached acted positively too, changing their lives utterly by leaving treasured possessions and their jobs as fishermen, hoping for a better life by following Him and recognising Jesus for who He was. Jesus went forward in the light and power of God.
We all need the light of Jesus to live by and we need supporters too. Let Him turn darkness into light for you. So ask yourself what you can do to walk closely and positively with God and with His power.
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January 25th - What God Requires
If you’ve ever wondered what God wants from you then this morning, Local Preacher Jean Shotton cleared this up by pointing us to the Old Testament prophet Micah who in Micah Ch 6 vs 8 says: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Jesus summarised this message in Mark Ch 12 vs 30/31 as loving the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength and loving your neighbour as yourself.”
The urgency and simplicity of both teachings is timeless. We are being taught to live in a way that honours God, not confining that to ourselves or just when we are in church, but by acting justly in our lives at all times, standing up for what’s right and being prepared to use our voices when needed. Justice is not only about the big issues it’s about trusting in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit to guide us in all the choices we make throughout life and treating people fairly. Ask God for the courage and words to speak, and remember that sometimes just one word can change things!
We have a personal relationship with God who loves us, so walk humbly with Him by living ethically, encouraging others and listening to them, because His voice, may be speaking to you through another person’s words. Before condemning, let the mercy, kindness and compassion you’ve received from God flow through you but if necessary, say sorry quickly so that any hurt caused doesn’t fester.
We all have a place in God's plan, so don’t live in a bubble – reach out! God wants us to act for good in His world.
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January 18th - Promises to God
Each January every Methodist church holds a covenant service and this week Rev Jenny Porterpryde led ours, the purpose being for all of us to renew our promise to God that we will continue to follow His Son Jesus.
Although we only need to believe in God to gain eternal life with Him (John 3 vs 16 and Romans 10 vs 9) the covenant service is an act of worship where we remind ourselves that we need to place our lives in His hands. In life our plans don’t always go as we would want them to but God’s Plan always does, even though we might not be able to see it.
God knows what we are going through the great love He has for each one of us so we need to trust that He will carry us through whatever difficulties we might be facing, even when those problems are of our own making.
At Christmas we receive gifts some of which have the potential to be life changing. God’s gift of Jesus is the greatest gift of all so will we allow the promises we make in our covenant prayer to let God shape our lives and change us?
God, in Jesus, came into the world and asks us to follow Him and to step into His love. When we get things wrong He is always ready to forgive enabling us to start again. God also gives us freewill to make our own decision as to whether to follow Him of not. Sometimes doing His will is not always easy, but when things are hard, He will always support us.
Have you got the confidence to say ‘yes’ and promise your life to God?
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January 11th - Seeking God's Will
This morning local preacher David Parker, considered the lessons to be learnt from the story of Jesus’ baptism, told in Matthew 3 vs 13 -17. Here we see Jesus coming to the place where His cousin, John the Baptist is baptising people in the River Jordan. Of course today, we think of baptism as the naming of a child, but back then it was done for people who wished to be admitted into the Jewish faith, symbolising their repentance for previous wrongdoings and to affirm their membership of God’s chosen race.
John knows who Jesus is and says that it is he that should receive baptism from Jesus not the other way round, but the Lord is having none of it and insists that John baptise Him. In doing so, Jesus is demonstrating His humility and obedience to the will of God.
Obedience is not a popular word these days, but Jesus needed to discern God’s will before beginning His work and the same is true for us. Jesus is showing us that we too need God’s approval and the power of His Holy Spirit before doing anything and that we shouldn’t try to ‘go it alone’ in our own strength. Just think to yourself how good it feels and how energising it is when someone says ‘well done’ which is, as the story describes, what God says about Jesus when He emerges from the Jordan and the Holy Spirit descends upon Him.
Can we follow Jesus and do God’s will or is it too scary? If so, read Isaiah 43 vs 1-10, which is one of the Bible’s great affirmations of faith. It tells us not to be afraid because God has our backs through all life’s adventures and problems and will keep us safe.
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January 4th - Jesus IS the Light
Mark begins his gospel by referencing Jesus to the book of Isaiah whilst Luke starts his with the story of Jesus’ birth. Matthew tells about Jesus’ birth too but also establishes Him by quoting His kingly family tree back to the father of Israel, Abraham.
But John’s gospel roots Jesus quite differently, as the One who existed before the very beginning of time, identifying Him as no other than the Creator of the universe in human form. It is an absolutely stunning affirmation!
John 1 vs 9 says: ‘The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world’ and vs 14a goes on ‘the Word became flesh and made His dwelling amongst us. But how does that amazing revelation translate for us in 2026?
Rev Dr Jason Swan Clark puts it like this: Light doesn’t simply illuminate – it inhabits. The Light of Christ steps into the dark beside us quietly saying, ‘Follow Me’. The Word that once spoke galaxies into being now takes breath in a manger.
Jesus’ light longs to be your compass this year. Not a glare that exposes your flaws, but a glow that guides your path. Not a spotlight of judgement, but a sunrise of mercy. Christ doesn’t simply show you the way – He is the way, lighting you from within.
Let His presence inhabit every part of your life. Just stay close to His Flame – living near enough to it that His light becomes your own.
Light is meant to be seen. God lights us up to make Himself visible through your kindness and forgiveness reaching into the dark places of others. Let your life burn with His borrowed glory until others find their way home by its light.
May the Word incarnate, Light wrapped in love – move into your life this year.