Dry Paths through Seas of Chaos

These are desperate times in which violence is a deep, ever-present, and continuing reality, which affects every person, and all life, on earth ...

Tonight's reflection for Sanctuary is now online. Read it here, or listen here.

Walk like an Egyptian ... Into the Promised Land

As privileged people, we can’t simply claim the story of the Exodus without reflection, repentance, and concrete response. But if we are willing to hear God’s grief and anger at the suffering of the poor; if we are willing to acknowledge the horrors of our past; if we are willing to engage with the violence of our present, then we can move towards a different future.

A reflection on the plagues of Egypt is now online. Listen here, or read here.

A Passion for Life

Tonight's story is often called “The Birth and Childhood of Moses”, or similar. We care about Moses, because he grew up to be the person who led God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. But in this story, Moses is just a baby, with no special qualities; it’s the women who are interesting. The midwives disobey and mock Pharaoh. Moses’ mother marries, conceives, labours, hides the baby, builds the ark, places him in it, and finally nurses him again. His sister stands, watches, suggests, runs and arranges; Pharaoh’s daughter walks, sees, opens, pities and names. Moses is passive: things happen to him. But these women are active. They all embrace God’s passion for life so wholeheartedly that they defy Pharaoh and the powers of empire: and they act...

A reflection bouncing off Exodus 1:8-2:10 by Alison Sampson, Sanctuary, 27 August 2017 (AP16), is now available online. Listen here, or read here.

Bread and Stories, and the Transforming Power of Love

Next week, we will reconstitute our congregation for the coming year. So what does it look like here? Tonight's reflection on Genesis 45:1-15 is now available to read here, or listen here.

Imperial Economics and the Economy of God

Jacob and his sons struggled to understand God’s economy. Jacob’s love for Joseph should have deepened his love for everyone, but it didn’t; instead, it led to a corrosive favouritism. Joseph’s brothers could have delighted in Joseph’s blessings and trusted it would lead to blessings for them, but instead they let envy consume them, and conspired to destroy their brother. And Joseph himself gave up on God’s economy, as he moved from saving the people to consolidating and extending Pharaoh’s imperial power. Like Jacob, Joseph, and the rest, we too struggle against God’s economy, living as we do in the economy of limitless growth. And every day we make choices about which economy we live in ...

Tonight's reflection on Genesis 37:1-28 and beyond is now online. Listen here, or read here.

Smash the Patriarchy! The sin revealed through Jacob's wives

Leah and Rachel's relationship reveals the toxic effects of the patriarchy. So is the patriarchy God's will?

A reflection on Genesis 29:14b-30:24, 35:16-20 given to Sanctuary, 30 July 2017 (AP12). Listen here, or read it here.

The God of Your Dreams

Many of us think blessing is a reward for good behaviour, but the story of Jacob paints a different picture of God.

A reflection on Genesis 28:10-22 given to Sanctuary on 23 July 2017. Listen here, or read it here.