Let’s not fool ourselves: forgiveness always costs something. Always did, always will.

Relationships will occasionally rupture. Forgiveness is the way they can be repaired.

How do we do this?

This church lived at a time when everyone knew their place. Rank mattered and brought privileges. If you were at the top of the pile you could order people around.

Paul modelled a different way. He chose to appeal rather than to order.

He demonstrated how we subvert the natural hierarchies.

Church is never about preserving your anonymity. It’s about allowing people to know you.

For some of us, we have been so hurt or disappointed that this can be really hard.

But as we learn one another’s names and enter one another’s stories, we are given the opportunity to grow more than we might ever have imagined.

There are times when we just can’t hear, and it may be that we are sure God is silent.

What do we do in these situations?

Paul and his companions were stuck because of circumstances and they changed their plans because of that and a vision.

How do we know how to make sense of the circumstances we find ourselves in?

When should we press on regardless of roadblocks and when should we take stock?

Prophecy is for the sake of others. It’s a clear reminder that we listen to God because we are part of a community that we care for.

Hearing from God is not a personal luxury – it’s a church necessity.

Angels, visions, unexpected meetings, dramatic turns. If angels only turned up once in the Bible it would be easy to overlook them. But they are everywhere!

How do we make sense of that today in a society that sees itself as far too sophisticated to believe this?

We believe that reading the Bible is one of the foundational ways to hear God speak to us.

But how do we hear a word that we might find difficult to understand?

How do we read well so we can hear well?

The psalmist believed that observing nature was a way of hearing the Lord who is speaking every day to any who have eyes to see.

How do we see clearly so that we can hear well?

The promise of Jesus was that God would speak to his people because we are his friends. We would increasingly grow to recognise his voice.

Of course, the challenge is: do we want to hear? Are we prepared to listen? Are we ready to respond if we do hear his voice?