The uncanny thing about being out of shape is that none of us consciously allow ourselves to become that way; it’s something that creeps up on us. The extra pounds that pile on around our waistlines are the result of making wrong choices on a daily basis. Just as we can become physically unfit so we can become spiritually unfit. None of us make bad
As children we might have wondered what God was like. We might have pictured an old man with a fluffy white beard and a kind face. As we get older we stop wondering what God looks like and think about who God is. We might think that the Trinity is some theological mystery, but perhaps it isn’t as much a mystery as we think. We
The disciples have locked themselves in an upper room for fear of the Jews. We know exactly where they’re at. We too are good at making prisons for ourselves. We make prisons where feelings of inadequacy, apathy, guilt, pride or confusion rule our lives. We lock ourselves into debilitating patterns of behaviour where fear and other self-defeating traits become habit. The disciples are behaving very
In these final chapters of John’s Gospel, Jesus is trying to sum up what his life and mission is all about. He speaks at length of the bond between him and his Father and it is from this bond of love that he is ‘sent’. Jesus tells us that we too are ‘sent’ to continue his mission. Friendship with Jesus is being with him, and
There are times in our lives when we feel a sense of abandonment. We might be left with feelings of panic, despair and emptiness at the break up of a relationship, the loss of a loved one; or when the future we thought so secure is turned on its head through job loss, financial ruin or illness. The disciples must be feeling a little like
Does it ever seem to you that Jesus can be a little unrealistic? Today Jesus tells us “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. But how can we go round loving everyone we meet? Isn’t love reserved to those closest to us … our parents, children, and partners? Harder
