Genesis 12:1-4 | Mark 8:31-38
He was starting to feel a bit old. In his young adulthood he’d travelled a bit with his father, wife and his nephew, but they’d settled down and made a life for themselves in Haran. His father had died a while back, and although he and his wife had no children they were not without family: they raised their nephew, whose parents had died when he was young as their own. He’d done pretty well for himself in Haran; lived a good, honest, honourable life, accumulated enough to retire on in some comfort.

Abraham was seventy five years old when God called him.

Surely Abraham must have felt like saying “you know what, God – maybe you should call someone else?”. For what he was being called to do – “go from your country and your kindred and your fathers house” – was no small ask. This was not an age when “go to another country” just meant checking your passport and visa and buying a plane ticket; this meant taking everything, crossing the desert, facing uncertainty and insecurity, never knowing how good the next pasture would be, where the next well was to be found.

This was a journey that many young men would have feared, and many would not have survived. Abraham was safe and secure, and what he heard himself being called to do was to risk his comfort, risk his status, risk his life. How tempting must it have been to say “no, I’d rather look after what I’ve got”. How sensible it would have been, how understandable, how human. And no doubt he would have lived out his life in Haran, comfortable, respected, safe – and never quite sure of what he had lost.

For those who want to save their life will lose it.

Psalm 25 | Mark 1:9-15
As part of Lent Event this year I decided to give up drinking coffee. So if I seem a little grumpy, or find it hard to stay awake at times, there is a good, chemical reason. At least that’s my excuse.

Lent is best known as a period of fasting, of doing without. In fact, that idea has probably come to dominate the popular concept of Lent – I imagine if you asked the majority of people outside the Church what Lent was about, they would either have no idea what you were talking about, or would simply know that it’s a time when people give something up.

In modern years, and with an eye to shedding the negative, life-retricting image that the Church too often has, many people have tried to change the emphasis of Lent. It’s quite popular now to talk of taking something up instead of giving something up; to view Lent as an opportunity to build a new, positive dimension in your life; whether that be committing to a time of prayer or reading of the Bible, or a regular act of service, or spending increased time with family and friends, or giving in a more disciplined way to a cause you believe in.

Exodus 34:29-32 | Mark 9:2-9
On Tuesday night at Nooma we had what I call a ‘help Chris to write his sermon’ study. Essentially this consists of listening to a passage of the Bible being read, and then reflecting on a few simple questions.

Last Tuesday we looked at our gospel reading for today, and essentially the concensus we came to was that none of us in the room could see how this story has anything to do with our lives today.

So what’s it about? Why does Mark choose to include this story in his gospel? What role does it play in his narrative, what is it about Jesus that we are supposed to read through, in, or behind these words?

2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman was a powerful and influential man, commander of the army of the king of Aram, a successful military leader who had won the favour of his king through his victories on the battlefield. And to put that into context; Aram was the dominant power in the region at the time of Elisha – Naaman’s defeated opponents had, on numerous occasions, included the people of Israel (as we read in the passage, Naaman’s wife was served by a slave girl who was an Israelite, taken in one of their raids on the land).

A powerful man, used to winning, used to getting his own way.

But he has a problem. For all his military success, all his armies, all his influence with the king cannot cure him of a disfiguring skin condition (normally translated in English versions of the Bible as leprosy, although lacking modern medical categories the word probably included a wide range of skin diseases). None of his power or influence can help him – but help comes, from the most unexpected of sources.

The Miracle of the Marmalade Cat
A Meditation on John 3:16 – Rob Ferguson

The graciousness of being
so inspired
the all-encompassing love of Jesus,
that whosoever shares his passion
in their hearts,
shall not suffer
the confining limitations
of shallow existence,
but shall know
the ever-expanding
eternal wonder
of abundant life
in all its fullness.
Thanks be to God.