One of my favourite Bible verses is Micah 6:8: What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God’. God’s desire for justice is one of the principal themes of the Bible, running strongly throughout the Old Testament and being put into practice through the words and deeds of Jesus.

A celebratory weekend, in more ways than one! Firstly we celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the church, when the disciples received power of the Spirit and they were called to witness to all that Christ had revealed to them. In Acts 2 we are told that ‘the disciples were all together in one place, and suddenly, from heaven there came a sound like rushing wind and it filled the house where they were sitting…..All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages’. They went on to become witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. For some this is merely a celebration of a past event but we are the disciples of today and we too are called to witness. A role that is sometimes difficult and the path we tread can be dangerous but we too are empowered the Holy Spirit.

John 14: 23-29 – The gift of peace

During the Last Supper Jesus said to the apostles, ‘Peace I leave with you, my own peace I give you. A peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. So, do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.’ Lovely words from the Gospel to comfort and reassure us.

Every year within the Methodist calendar, we mark Aldersgate Sunday which falls each year on the Sunday immediately preceding 24th May (‘Wesley Day’), the day on which Methodists commemorate a life-changing moment in the Christian journey of John Wesley, the most prominent of the founders of Methodism. In May 1738, John unwillingly attended worship at a Moravian ‘Religious Society’ meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. It was during this service that he felt his "heart strangely warmed", as he experienced God's love in a most personal and life-giving way. Until then he had known God in his mind, but not in his heart. Now he understood the value of a personal experience of God that would bring assurance of salvation to the believer. Aldersgate Sunday is a great opportunity to celebrate the work of God in our lives, and to reflect on how we should respond to everything that God has given us.

Every now and again in the life of our churches we get what I call a God given opportunity to serve others.

Let me explain…

Last Sunday, I had two ‘interesting’ and quite challenging baptisms which I conducted.

I found myself before the second service, sitting on the floor with the little girl who I was to baptise. She was approximately 2 or 3 years old. We were playing with the water in the font, which I had placed on the floor. This had 2 aims, firstly trying to show her the water which I would place on her head, and secondly, trying to calm her tears which were failing down her face.

Without the resurrection Jesus’ death would have simply gone down in history, if it had been noted at all, as yet another unjust execution, another politico/religious injustice, the murder of a good person. But the resurrection confirmed what we know to be true – Jesus who died is and was the Lord of history, the Word of God, and his death shows us the depths of God’s love for us, the extent to which God was prepared to go to bring us back into relationship with him. In Tom Wright’s memorable phrase: ‘On the cross the power of love defeated the love of power’. And that victory we know to be real because of the resurrection.

The meadows were full of flowers. Larks rose singing into the sky. There was no one to be seen for miles around. There was nothing but the wide earth and sky, the singing of the larks, and the freedom of space.

It is hard to believe that this year will be my third Easter with you in the Bede Circuit and yet due to Covid haven’t held services in a church building. So this year will have a significant feel to it all.

It is a story of transformation – the caterpillar eats his way through a mountain of food and although I am not sure caterpillars really eat ice cream, lollipops, salami and cheese etc, the point of the story is that he is destined to bury himself inside a chrysalis. There he stays until it is time to break through and the caterpillar is no more! Instead, as is his destiny, he is eventually transformed into a beautiful butterfly.