23 March by Rev Stuart Wild, Superintendent of Blackpool and South Fylde Circuit and Presbyteral Synod Secretary
Reading: Luke 13 v 1 – 9
Theme: Repent – perish or flourish
Notes
Jesus refers to two bad incidents that his audience would know about. We have no other historical record of them and so we can only assume that for some reason Pilate slaughtered some Galilean pilgrims to Jerusalem. The second incident was the unexpected collapse of a tower causing the death of eighteen people.
People are trying to make sense of an event in their time and place, and they seek Jesus’ guidance upon it. Whenever there is a disaster today the question is asked-where is God or why did God let this happen? It is interesting that the question assumes the existence of God, but the questioner is struggling to make sense of something that has caused pain and suffering in the context.
We have a responsibility to ask these questions first – to seek God and strive to understand God’s purposes in order that we can more clearly reveal God’s love to a world that desires to see it. God is at work in our world. It may be that those who are closer to God find it easier to answer the question. We draw closer to God by recognising that we need to repent. Repentance rids of that which is not of God and thus we are able to flourish.
Wonder
What items of news have troubled you this week?
What do you need to repent of in order that you will flourish?
Prayer
Restore your image in me. I’m sorry that I tarnish it. I repent of spoiling it. Refresh your image that I may flourish for you. Amen.
24 March by Rev David Newlove, Cumbria Mission Area Lead and Superintendent of North Cumbria Circuit
Reading: Galatians 3 v 6 – 14
Theme: Abraham’s faith
Notes
3 11 Now it is evident that no one is reckoned as righteous before God by the law, for “the one who is righteous will live by faith.”
We all like some clarity – the Gentiles needed it, and Paul is speaking not just from his learning but also from the Spirit. He wants his hearers to understand clearly where salvation comes from. This is the heart of his letter to the Galatians.
Our righteousness, God’s saving grace, comes not from obedience to the law (though that is good to guide our lives and to protect us from straying beyond where God desires us to be). Rather, our righteousness (living in relation to God and in accordance with God’s standards) comes from our faith.
Paul is not alone here in this teaching; he is quoting Habakkuk (2:4) this truth is also reflected in his letter to the Romans (1:17). The law may reveal to us our transgression and our need of atonement, but it cannot bring us justification – that is by faith alone.
It is by faith that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8) and by faith in Christ that we are heirs to God’s promise to Abraham (3:29). This faith is not just a belief in Christ but also the way we are to live. It is about a daily reliance on God, we are just by the exercising of our faith and we draw our life from it.
Wonder
I wonder what it means for you to hear that you are a descendent of Abraham (3:7), that you are blessed in him and that the promise God made to him is yours also (3:8-9)?
Prayer
Father God, we thank you that in Christ and by faith we are saved.
Help us to know that this is enough,
And help us to live in faith and to find our lives through it.
Thank you too, that we can trace our spiritual root back to Abraham,
And that we are heirs with him in your great promise.
Graciously speak to us and affirm us afresh through this truth today,
Through Christ our Saviour.
Amen.
25 March by Deacon Pru Cahill, North Lancashire Circuit
Reading: Luke 1 v 26 – 38 (Annunciation)
Theme: Gabriel visits Mary
This rich passage is one of a handful in the Bible containing all three persons of the Trinity; God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We also read the names of six more people (Gabriel, Joseph, David, Mary, Jacob, Elizabeth) but the dialogue is between Gabriel and Mary alone.
The visit of Gabriel must have been a huge surprise to Mary and the task he announces even more astonishing. Nevertheless, this divine messenger sets it out in the context of God’s faithfulness to the people of Israel from the time of Jacob, continuing down the line of David (Joseph’s ancestor).
Around 1000 years previously the prophet Nathan had been told that through David’s son, God would establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. (2 Samuel 7:13)
Even though there was a long gap in time, God was faithful to his promise.
Despite Mary’s initial hesitancy, she was reassured by Gabriels words, responding Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.
Can you point to moments in your life when God’s words may have seemed implausible to others but perfectly credible to you? How were you able to hold on to God’s faithfulness at that time?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, please bring to birth those gifts that you have been nurturing within me:
where I am afraid, give me courage,
where I am unsure, give me clarity,
where I am hesitant, give me resolve.
Help me to trust in your promises and rely on your faithfulness.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
26 March by Rebecca Ainsworth, Local Preacher in the Preston Ribble Circuit
Reading: Galatians 3 v 15 – 29
Theme: Law and Promise
Competition and rivalry are a part of normal life in lots of areas. Man united vs City, Liverpool vs Everton, team Edward vs Team Jacob, Apple vs Android. The different teams have settled positions, and asking the two teams to join together and split the difference is easier said than done.
This is a situation that Paul is trying to address in his letter to the Galatian church. It is divided between Jews and Gentiles who are non-Jews. At the time the Gentiles are struggling in their argument with the Jews, who believe they should convert to Judaism to become Christian. They say this as they have the Law given to them from God, via Moses.
Paul is coming to the defence of the Gentiles, telling the Jews that God first spoke to humankind through the promise made to Abraham and his Seed. A single seed that Paul is saying is the Messiah-who for Paul represents God’s people, the single family incorporated into the Messiah.
This is a covenanted Promise that was made before the Law- nothing in all of Heaven or Earth could break this promise. Paul makes it explicit in verse 28. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free; there is no ‘male and female’; you are one in the Messiah, Jesus.
There will always be differences of conviction, and in the future life of the church we will continue to have differences between us. Rural vs urban parts of the church, where should we focus our resources, new ministry vs established ministry, old wineskins vs new.
John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, in his sermon ‘A Catholic Spirit’ said “though we may not think alike, may we not love alike?”
Wonder– today’s Methodist way of life symbol is NOTICE. We notice God in Scripture and the world. What areas of our church can we see examples of unity with other denominations? or around our new district? How can we encourage co-creation to be a normal part of our mission planning?
Prayer– Loving God, we are reminded that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made in your image. We thank you that we are all unique and special in your eyes. We ask you to clear our vision that we can see that in other people too. Amen.
Photo credit – Noorulabdeen Ahmad on Unsplash
27 March by Rev Karen Jobson, Chaplain to North West Ambulance Service
Reading: Galatians 4 v 21 – 5 v 1
Theme: Hagar and Sarah’s example
‘Be glad, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”[a] Galatians 4: 27
Paul’s letter to the Galatians addresses a community torn by the influence of those insisting that Gentile believers must follow the Mosaic Law (including circumcision) to be saved. Paul argues that salvation comes through faith in Christ, not by works of the Law.
In this passage, Paul employs an allegory drawn from the stories of Hagar and Sarah:
Hagar symbolizes the old covenant of the Law—bondage and legalism.
Sarah represents the promise and freedom that come through the new covenant in Christ.
The passage calls the “barren woman” to rejoice—a statement that on its face can be deeply challenging for those who have experienced involuntary childlessness. However, Paul’s intent is allegorical:
The barrenness and desolation refer not to a literal inability to bear children, but to the condition of those who are not bound by the slavery of legalistic observance.
Conversely, the “children” of the barren woman symbolize the many who come under the freedom of the promise—a freedom from the Law and its burdens.
Paul’s message is clear: the true promise of God is not found in human effort or adherence to strict legal norms, but in the liberating grace of Christ. This grace produces a kind of fruitfulness that transcends the traditional markers of fertility and lineage.
The passage reassures believers that God’s way of producing fruitfulness is different from our culturally defined markers of success. In God’s economy, being “barren” is redefined as a state of openness to receiving His grace.
Some questions to ponder:
- What practical steps can we take to live in the freedom of grace rather than being confined by legalistic expectations—whether in our faith, our communities, or society at large?
- How can we ensure that we are celebrating the fruitfulness of all people this Mothering Sunday rather than excluding those who have not or cannot bear children?
Prayer
Loving God your grace has set us free to be messily, fruitfully, human.
Liberate us from fear to be all that you created us to be.
And this Mothering Sunday help us to offer love to all who journey through childlessness and who have to learn to embrace a reality different to that which they thought would be theirs.
Amen
28 March by Rev Roger Stubbings, Supernumerary Minister in Chorley and Leyland Circuit
Reading: Galatians 5 v 2 – 6
Theme: Freedom in Christ
Galatians was probably the earliest of Paul’s letters written to churches he himself had established in the central southern heartlands of modern-day Turkey. The main theme is the threat posed by the appearance of a group of people who held that Christians must keep the Jewish law, and the letter deals with Paul’s response to that threat. Simply put, Paul saw two ways to God: the way of the Law and the way of the Gospel; indeed the difference between those two ways had been hammered out on the anvil of his own life, and the first had been found wanting, indeed it had been powerfully superseded by the second. Paul expresses the difference forcefully! “When you seek to be justified by the way of law, you are cut off from Christ; you have put yourself outside God’s grace.” (v.4). In sharp contrast he goes on to write: “For it is by the Spirit and through faith that we hope to attain that righteousness which we eagerly await.” (v.5). Paul would have understood the words of the American poet Robert Frost when in his poem “The Road Not Taken” when he wrote:
“I took the one less travelled by
And that has made all the difference”
For Paul the way of the Gospel brought promise, hope and freedom even though that journey of service to Christ was costly. Last year Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident and opposition politician died in an Arctic prison. He spoke of the true freedom his own Christian faith in final words of his recently published memoires: “My job is to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and leave it to good old Jesus and the rest of his family to deal with everything else. They won’t let me down and will sort out all my headaches. As they say in prison here: they will take my punches for me.” Freedom indeed!
To ponder:
What does it mean to me to be free in Christ?
Prayer:
O God, who art the author of peace and concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us Thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies ; that we, surely trusting in Thy defence, may not fear the
power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
(Book of Common Prayer 1662 & Book of Offices of the Methodist Church 1936)
29 March by Abigail Ogier, Deputy Head of Chaplaincy for MHA
Reading: Galatians 5 v 13 – 26
Theme: Living by the Spirit
At the start of this passage, Paul declares “you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters”, before reminding us that we need to choose how to use this freedom. The way in which he continues might seem dualistic, contrasting the desires of the flesh with those of the Spirit, but when Paul talks of the flesh, he is talking about all aspects of human nature, when talking of the Spirit, he refers to the Holy Spirit, through which we live and move and have our being. It strikes me that the reference to the “golden rule” in verse 14 is key, highlighting that this whole passage concerns how we interact with one another. The lists of the works of the flesh and the Spirit towards the end of the passage contrast how, when we allow ourselves to let go of human rivalries and grievances and be led by the Spirit instead, good things happen! But returning to where we began, we should remember that we must choose this approach. As we have freedom, our love for one another must be active, choosing each day to be led by the Spirit.
I wonder what feelings the opening declaration that we are called to freedom elicits in you?
And which of the fruits of the spirit are you drawn to, when you read that list of love, joy, peace, patience kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?
Loving God,
you promise always to be with us through your Spirit,
and give us the gifts of its fruits when we remain in you.
Help us at those times when we find it hard to love one another.
When our human grievances and disagreements capture our hearts,
draw us back to you,
and give us generosity which reflects your loving kindness,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen