Readings: Isaiah 51:1-6; Matthew 16:13-20 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Cal Bailey. What is Salvation? A teenager dives into the sea, hits the bottom, the spine breaks, and can’t swim back to shore. A youngster and a family hits crisis. Can this ever be God’s plan for our world? Our Old Testament reading comes from a prophet who was speaking to people in despair. The Jews had been defeated in battle, seen their capital city and temple de

Readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Matthew 15:10-28 Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. Minority Report I wonder if you remember the 2002 science fiction film Minority Report. In case you missed it, here is a brief plot summary. The film is set in the year 2054, and Washington D.C. has implemented a Pre-Crime programme, a police initiative that uses three psychics, called Precogs, to foresee murders before they occur. These predictions allow

Readings: 1 Kings 19:9-18; Matthew 14:22-33 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Pete Gillions. Meeting Jesus in the storm Do you ever feel that you could do a better job of things than God? Often life appears that way. In the early 1990’s the world became aware of the terrible neglect of babies and young children orphanages in Romania. There was also equally bad mistreatment of children with learning difficulties. Many Churches from around here explored ways of helpin

Readings: Isaiah 44:6-8 Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. The Baptism of Barney There are seasons in life when we find ourselves asking anxious questions about the future. As many of you know, Rebecca and I have four sons. The elder two are in long-term relationships and flourishing. The younger two are in that unpredictable, occasionally nerve‑wracking dating phase. Parents know this territory well. We watch our children grow, we watch

Readings: Isaiah 55:10-13; Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Pete Gillions. The Parable of the Sower It is very difficult for us put ourselves in the place of the hearers of this parable. To feel their longing for change, their hopes and expectations of people. And in particular, what they see in this new preacher and make of the stories. So, to help with this, here is a contemporary example. Mr Andy Burnham has caught the attention of more than a

Readings: Zechariah 9:9-12; Matthew 11:16-19,25-end Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. What sort of ships? I want to begin with a question asked by a child. Not a clever question. Not a complicated question. But a question that cut straight to the heart. Some years ago, my neighbour Alwyn, an anaesthetist in the Leeds Hospitals Trust, took unpaid leave to volunteer on a Mercy Ship off the coast of Benin in West Africa. Mercy Ships, a

Readings: Genesis 21:8-21; Matthew 10:24-39 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Cal Bailey. God’s promise always remains. Relationships can be the greatest blessing to us. And they can be our greatest difficulty too. We’re going to see today that those statements can be true at the same time. They aren’t contradictory. I wonder if you can think of a relationship which has been difficult for you? With a boss or colleague perhaps; with a partner or member of the fami

Readings: Exodus 19:2-8a; Matthew 9:35-10:8 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Pete Gillions. “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Two thousand years ago when life for many people was brutal and short, when oppression and poverty were a part of everyday life, Jesus looked at the crowds who followed him, and the passage says that “he had compassion on them, because they were harasse

Readings: Hosea 5:15-6:6; Matthew 9:9-13,18-26 Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. Two stories This week our news channels have been dominated with the chilling story of the murder of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak. Journalists have attempted to piece together the sequence of events in attempts to satisfy public demand for information. Body-cam footage has raised questions about policing. Anger boiled over into violence on the streets o

Readings: Isaiah 40:12-17,27-end; Matthew 28:16-end Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. Trinity in five words I want us to begin this morning with the questions the prophet Isaiah poses in that first reading — questions that are as unsettling as they are beautiful: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?” “Who has used his hand to mark off the heavens?” “Who knows the exact weight of the mountains?” Or, as Eugene Peterso

Readings: Acts 2:1-21; John 7:37-39 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Cal Bailey. What are you looking for? Three years ago, a group of us started looking after the peat moor above the Wharfe near Denton village. It had been dried out about 50 years ago, and the peat was slowly dying causing enormous carbon emissions. We did some homework and learned that peat grows in conditions I found very surprising - when it’s cold, dark and wet. So we set about creating the righ

Readings: Acts 16-14; John 17:1-11 Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. Citizens of a different kingdom Friends, it was a former Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who allegedly coined the phrase, A week is a long time in politics. Well, we’ve seen that in the UK over the past few days. Local council elections, mayoral contests, devolved parliament results — all reshaping the political landscape. Questions raised about the suitability of

Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:15-end; Luke 24:44-end Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. What were the chances of that? Katherine Brunt, Arran Brindle, Charlotte Edwards, Clare Connor, Lydia Greenway, Isa Guha, Jenny Gunn, Beth Morgan, Laura Newton, Jane Smit, Claire Taylor. The names of eleven women. Do you recognise them? Well, these were the England women cricketers who won the Ashes Series against Australia in 2005. This was the sa

Readings: Acts 17:22-31; John 14:15-21 Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. People of Woodside! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around the St James’ campus and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I found the Parish Centre, the Horsforth Shed, the Horsforth Pantry, and this fine building. I even found a banner with this inscription: TRY PRAYING. Now, I’ve borrowed that opening from Paul’s sermon in Athens

Readings: Acts 7:55-end; John 14:1-14 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Pete Gillions. If this passage from John was accompanied with mood music, it would be dark and foreboding because Jesus is well aware that he will soon be facing His death. Jesus is together with His disciples and John gives us a very intimate insight into Jesus trying to assure his disciples. What is very clear to see is that the disciples desperately struggle to understand what is really going on. But i

Readings: Acts 2:42-end; John 10:1-10 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Cal Bailey. Getting to know another person well is both exciting and scary. As I was getting to know Jo, while we were courting, I remember her calling time occasionally by saying “That’s a bit up close and personal.” It was her way of saying ‘We’re going fast enough. Don’t get too close too soon.’ Adam and Eve came to a moment when God was getting up close and personal with them in the garden after

Readings: Acts 2:14a,36-41; Luke 24:13-35 Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain: Resurrection faith: open mind, open heart, open eyes Among another stream of crazy international and political news headlines this week, there was a more domestic story that caught my attention; a recent report highlighting the academic underachievement of girls from poorer or, as the report framed it, working class families. Sadly, not perhaps a surprising headlin

Readings: Acts 2:14a, 22-32; John 20:19-end Today’s reflection is by Reader, Pete Gillions: A film called ’ The Man Who Crossed Hitler ‘, set in Berlin in summer 1931 gives a biographical account of one man, Hans Litten, a German lawyer who represented in court opponents of the Nazis. He actually cross-examined Hitler in person, something Hitler never forgot or forgave. Later in 1933 as Hitler came to power he ordered Litten’s arrest. What happened next really challenged m

Readings: Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 28:1-10 Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain: The laughter begins There’s a television show called Last One Laughing. Ten comedians are locked in a room for six hours. Their task is simple: make everyone else laugh while keeping a straight face themselves. The first smile or titter earns a yellow card. A second earns a red card and you’re out. The winner is the last one laughing. During the show, each contestant is

Readings: Isaiah 52:13-end of 53; Psalm 22; John18:1-end of 19 Today’s reflection was prepared by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. The cross and the world ‘It is finished’ is what Jesus cries out from the cross. His ordeal is over. He has gone through all human experience, save death which is about to take him. He has walked this sorrowful path with passion and dignity, and it is over. It is finished. And yet there’s more to this. The New Testament writers invite us t