The King’s actions Christmas is all about families. That was repeated on TV News (it isn't news it is opinion), as if family is what Christmas is about families, complete with the strory of the birth of Jesus as often depicted, with Mary dressed in expensive blue silk. I do not believe that story. Picture …
A stripped-back Christmas
A family Christmas? (This post was intended for Christmas day, but I was not online to see if it had been posted correctly. So here it is three days later.) Christmas nativity scene at the Franciscan church in Sanok 2010,Picture from Wikimedia Commons At the time of writing, we do not know if the traditional …
God rest ye merry — Matthew 20:17–19
The King’s actions The final journey It seems a strange passage to read on the Christmas Bank Holiday, one which talks about Jesus talking about his coming death. But if we are going to think about Jesus being Emmanuel, God with us, we cannot do it justice without thinking about why he came. The song …
Jesus and the rich young man, part 5 — Matthew 20:8–16
The Kings Instructions Advent 2021 This is the second part of a parable and also a continuation of Jesus talking about money following a meeting with a rich young man. I'd like to think that this parable, before it was written in Greek, was a poem of Jesus. Grape harvestPicture by Larry Koester on Flickr …
Continue reading Jesus and the rich young man, part 5 — Matthew 20:8–16
A bad news story and a positive spin on autism
Media Watch First the bad news: A story has hit the media in the last few weeks which is bad news for autistic people. Tony Hickmott The BBC has been able to overturn a reporting ban on reporting that an autistic man, Tony Hickmott, has been kept in an institution without anything to stimulate him …
Continue reading A bad news story and a positive spin on autism
Jesus and the rich young man, part 4 — Matthew 19:30–20:7
The Kings Instructions Advent 2021 Jesus was a man of his time. Many of his sayings are based on things that not only people would be familiar with, but were seasonal. Fruit picking has always been seasonal work, the fruit is picked when it is ready to be picked. Jesus and his disciples are on …
Continue reading Jesus and the rich young man, part 4 — Matthew 19:30–20:7
Jesus and the rich young man, part 3 — Matthew 19:27–29
The Kings Instructions Advent 2021 Do we have to give up everything we own? After all that is what Jesus asked the rich young man to do in verse 21. Did Jesus beat Marx to the property is theft idea? Free image from PxHere 27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed …
Continue reading Jesus and the rich young man, part 3 — Matthew 19:27–29
Jesus and the rich young man, part 2 — Matthew 19:23–26
The Kings Instructions Advent 2021 I have heard a sermon where it was claimed that there was a gate in the walls of Jerusalem where a trader could pass, but had to unload his camel so that the camel could pass through without its load and on its knees. The illustration was that we can …
Continue reading Jesus and the rich young man, part 2 — Matthew 19:23–26
Jesus and the rich young man, part 1 — Matthew 19:16-22
The King's instructions Advent 2021 This part of Matthew's Gospel is the last part of a teaching sandwich: Jesus accepted children who were brought to him, but this is between passages about Pharisees who had already rejected Jesus before they came to him and this passage about a rich young man. The three passages ought …
Continue reading Jesus and the rich young man, part 1 — Matthew 19:16-22
Let the Children Come to Me — Matthew 19:13–15
The King's Instructions Advent 2021 These are the sort of passages I dread, ones that I have heard over and over. It makes it difficult to come up with anything new, and if I do, will people be upset? Children playing outside.Free image on Wikimedia Commons 13 Then children were brought to him that he might …
Continue reading Let the Children Come to Me — Matthew 19:13–15
Making an ass of myself 