Moses died by the kiss of God. 

Where our bible tells us that ‘Moses died … at the Lord’s command’, Hebrew scholars teach that the literal translation is that ‘Moses died by the mouth of the Lord’.  His last breath was drawn while being gently kissed by a loving God. It was a peaceful transition from life to death.

Moses’ final moments were peaceful because he stopped fighting God’s judgement. He had to let go of his dream to lead the people into the Promised Land. He had to be reconciled to his own powerlessness. Moses died by the kiss of God: meaning that he came to accept that he would find peace, with the knowledge that he had finished his life’s work and that others would continue what he started.

A talk for the Last Sunday after Trinity, 29 October 2023. Remembering Bill Kenwright and Bobby Charlton.

Referencing ⁠⁠⁠⁠Deuteronomy 34.1-12, Matthew 22.34-46

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We are reading Exodus at a time of elevated crisis in the Middle East; and in a conflict driven by religious ideologies of different kinds - Zionism and Islamism clashing - all these themes of Exodus are right there on the surface: Can the scared and suffering ones make it over the border? Which of the warring factions will win control of the land? And where is God to be found in this struggle? 

It is all taking place a long way from here; but in another sense it couldn’t be closer; for the Christian Church is the ‘Israel of God’; we identify with Her closely; on some meaningful level the actions and the fate of the people of Israel are inseparable from our own. Though troubled and concerned, we may feel powerless to do anything about what’s happening in the Middle East. But how we respond to it, and how we choose to live towards our neighbours in our place, in our time, we trust is part of the kingdom of God which embraces us all.

A talk for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, 22 October 2023.

Referencing ⁠Exodus 33.12-23, Matthew 22.15-22

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Is this your God, O Israel: the enraged king, violent and vengeful towards those who disobey him, who will burn down whole cities in his anger; or is it the one who is expelled with the outcasts, and who bears the punishment of the world with grace?

Is this your God, O Israel: the golden idol you create, expecting it to make you whole, who you trust to remove your suffering, who you think will give you the truth; or is it the one who embraces suffering with you, who helps you face up to your unknowing, and to fully accept the difficulties of existence?

A talk for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, 15 October 2023.

Referencing Exodus 32.1-14, Matthew 22.1-14

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God loves soil, says the writer Norman Wirzba. "God is the first, best, and essential gardener of the world." Humankind has long assumed that what is good for us is also good for the world; but where pride and greed are the primary measures of what is good, this assumption leads to disaster. What happens when we put soil and soul together, and live “by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. ... Making the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. Co-operating in its processes, and yielding to its limits.” [Wendell Berry]?

A talk for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 16 July 2023.

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Stephen Barton writes that "Spirituality.... has to do with the sense of the divine presence and living in the light of that presence." A meditation on unburdening.

A talk for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity, 9 July 2023.

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According to Leonard Cohen, his song called The Story of Isaac “is about those who would sacrifice one generation on behalf of another”. Is the voice he hears through the story of Abraham and Isaac the one we also hear: "You who build these altars now / to sacrifice these children, / you must not do it anymore."

A talk for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity, 2 July 2023.

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Jesus distanced himself from his society’s so-called family values. He would not make an idol of the family, as the rest of his society had. Time and time again in the gospels we hear him make statements like these incendiary remarks: ‘Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.’ He made his point strongly in order to ensure it was heard - that whilst there will always be a place for the family in the future of God’s people, we must not make an idol of it, and we must be prepared to reshape our relationship with it, in the light of the values of God’s kingdom. 

A talk for the Third Sunday after Trinity, 25 June 2023.

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Michael Rosen says that ‘Anxiety, surprise, absurdity and language-play all offer us a rich source for humour’. Anxiety, surprise, absurdity and language-play: we find each of these in the story of Sarah: The anxiety of being told to leave the place where you’ve lived your whole life, to start a journey to some unknown land, however flowing with milk and honey it was promised to be. The surprise - and that’s an understatement - of being told that after a lifetime of carrying nothing but the shame of barrenness, she would bear a child.  The absurdity of falling pregnant in her nineties to a husband turning 100. And the language-play: ‘God has brought laughter for me’. That’s funny from Sarah, it’s a beautiful joke, naming her child laughter, remembering how she first laughed cynically at God’s promise, and now she found herself giggling, chortling, joyfully dancing with glee, at that absurd promise having been fulfilled. It is God’s delight to bring laughter - to those least expecting it.

A talk for the Second Sunday after Trinity, 18 June 2023.

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God's people have always been missionaries; always been builders. In our area (where today we walk from St Matthew's Church Keasden to Newby Methodist Chapel in celebration of their 150th anniversaries) farmers, labourers, landed families, lords: each in their own way, and often working together, have time and again 'built their altars to the Lord'.

A talk for the First Sunday after Trinity, 11 June 2023.

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Life teaches us to wait with patience; though we wait impatiently too. Life teaches us to wait with confidence; but nerves and fears can overcome us in our waiting. Life teaches us to wait in hope; but sometimes we give in to the prevailing spirit of the world which wants us to give up and give in to the lie that the way things are, are the way they always will be: this, I suggest, is waiting without the Lord. So, what does ‘waiting for the Lord’ mean? If those who wait for the Lord renew their strength, and mount up with wings like eagles, if they run and not be weary, if they walk and not faint, then we should consider this question deeply and often, for it will help us in our times of waiting.

A talk for Trinity Sunday, 4 June 2023.

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