During this fourth Sunday of Advent, this candle represents the unending love of God that found its perfect embodiment in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This should serve as a poignant reminder of the divine love, the ongoing compassion and goodwill of God.

Love is our mission. Jesus challenges us to extend grace to everyone—even those who oppose us. As Christmas approaches, let’s embody His love, creating spaces where all feel valued and cared for. Let’s live out His command, making His love visible in our daily lives.

Right throughout scripture we find that peace is on offer to us, Jesus himself said, "In me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). This is a peace that allows us to trust in God's promises, to maintain a tranquil faith despite the chaos around us. What our beautiful bible tells us is that the peace of God, or "shalom," is more than an absence of conflict; it is a slice of heaven given to us now, it is a glimpse of how things are meant to be.

This Sunday we will light the first candle of Hope, also known as the ‘Prophet’s Candle,’ and our reading from Isaiah this week is therefore quite appropriate, because Isaiah is quoted in the gospel of Mark, who speaks of the one who will prepare the way (John the Baptist), and who is he preparing the way for?

For our LORD, Jesus Christ, our beacon of hope.

Prayer is a strange thing for us as Christians, we have so many different ideas about how prayer works, we have different ways of how we might pray, and we believe different things about prayer. But we are called to pray, no, actually we are commanded to pray, and yet almost every one of us would probably admit that we do not pray as we should.

James as he usually does, helps us to consider a few important ideas in this short passage which are practical for us. One of these ideas is patience, a word that is repeated a number of times, so James is obviously highlighting this as one of the main ideas he is hoping to convey. But what are we to be patient for? Well it seems quite explicit in this passage that we are to wait patiently for our Lord.

What’s God’s mission for the church? What’s God’s mission for St George’s? What’s God’s mission for each one of us individually? Something for us to take time to carefully think about, because I think we all realise that the older we get, the less material wealth means, we certainly don’t take it with us. So again, what or who are we stewarding resources for?

…it is easy to have a plan in mind, thinking, ‘well yep, it’s taking a bit of time, I’ve got to set some goals to reach my goals faster,’ but we do this without really stopping to consider, is this what God wills in this situation?

You might find from your experience of reality, as I have, that it is far more reasonable to submit to the God scripture, than to submit to the ‘world.’

James speaks of two kinds of Wisdom. A Wisdom that comes from heaven, and a wisdom that comes from the world.

I picture a church that’s more like street food—simple, approachable, where anyone can come just as they are, see the goodness for themselves, and freely taste what’s offered.

The tongue is to be tamed and kept in check, not always easy for us to do especially in the heat of the moment, but for our own sake and those around us, let’s pray for help to steward our tongues well. 

…the idea of sola fide (faith alone), we will be exploring this on Sunday in our journey through the book of James. This is the idea that God’s salvation is a free gift offered to humanity and is not in any way secured by any effort on our part.

So often in our own lives as Christians we are called to extend grace, to show mercy and forgiveness rather than to retaliate in an unrighteous manner. In our recent communion service, from the book of James, we had explored ‘favouritism’ which might be described as a form of unrighteous judgement. In a way, a righteous view of others, which might require us to intentionally curb our own preferences or biases, can be a way of extending love and mercy as we are called to. This Sunday we will cover the last few verses from James concerning ‘favouritism,’ with the reading from James 2:8-13. I pray we all have an open heart and mind to understand what God might say to us through this passage.

May God bless you all.

Josh

It was in similar desert terrain that the Israelites were condemned to wander for decades, but miraculously we saw how God had fed them with manna from heaven, He also kept their clothes from wearing out and their feet from swelling (see Deuteronomy 8:4). If as T.E. Lawrence indicates, venomous snakes were a normal part of desert life, a biblical commentator suggests that as well as His provision for His people, God was also miraculously keeping these snakes at bay, a part of God’s protection over His people.

Our lectionary reading then for this week is taken from James 2 but we will only deal with the first seven verses, at least I hope that we will get through the seven verses! But it deals with an issue that is common to all of us, it’s an issue that we all tend to fall victim to whether we know it or not: favouritism, or is it favoritism?

This week as we have the pleasure of hearing from Rev Nathan Pedro who has a better grasp of Tokelau language and culture than I. He will be giving our reflection during the service and speaking to us from the book of Genesis 26:12-33, touching on the idea of ‘Inheritance’ from a biblical perspective. Please take time to reflect on this passage over the weekend. This coupled with the fact that it is Father’s day, should give us much to dwell on and consider as to who our heavenly Father is and what He has done for us.

…after obediently going to the cross for our sin, suffering and then dying, CHRIST IS RISEN, HE IS RISEN INDEED!

Good Friday is a day when we as a church might truly take the time to consider the magnitude of the work of Jesus on the cross…

Christ is clearly revealed as a Prophet, a King, and His mantle as High Priest is further affirmed.