Category Archives: This Sunday

The Bible talks a lot about love. In the New Testament, the focus is mainly on God’s love for us and the commands to love God and others: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…”, “Love the Lord your God…”, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

For my birthday my brother-in-law bought me a t-shirt. It had pictures of chess pieces and a pithy saying: ‘I never lose – either I win, or I learn.’ Learning from your losses is an important thing to do, but even better is to learn before you lose – especially when the stakes are higher than the result of a board game.

Paul is concerned to win. But he is not after the prestige associated with winning a competition or the glory of being a top sportsman. His concern is to win people for Christ.

“Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

Who do you listen to? The modern super-connected world hurls a tidal wave of different voices at us day after day, bombarding us with a multitude of news, opinions and stories. How do we choose what to listen to when we are faced with such an enormous selection?

This week is the last in our series on Nehemiah and we are thinking about Holy Worship. The work is completed, the community gather, the word is read, praise to God is given, and they commit themselves again to being the people of God.

How can we be examples of people that do not exploit, that are wise with resources and seek to show God’s love in how we treat both friend and stranger?

We look at the news and can be disheartened by the sorrow, conflict and difficulties around us. There are times when all we can do is grieve for those situations around us. Are we motivated to grieve? Do we think about fasting and praying? Nehemiah did just this – what can we learn from him?

We encourage daily reading of the scriptures on our own, as well as in hearing God’s word preached, so that we are more familiar with God’s ways of acting in his world, his plan and purpose for his people, the fulfilment of promises made and those to come, and how we can follow his ways for the flourishing of ourselves and our whole society.

This year, we at St. Luke’s and St. George’s are dedicating ourselves to listen to God’s guidance for the future of our work together with sharing the good news of Jesus in word and action. We want to see what God is stirring our hearts to do. I wonder what God will do in 2024 – what might he be stirring in us as individuals and as churches?