January 19, 2022



On the face of it, what we do every Sunday is a very strange thing. You sit, in relative stillness, and listen to me read extracts from a very old book. And yet this same thing happens in many thousands of churches all over the world. This Sunday we will read a passage from Luke (4:14-21) that describes scripture being read in a gathered assembly of the people of faith. Our reading takes place 2,000 years ago, yet we continue this odd tradition. Why? Now it would be very easy to give a pat answer about this book being the word of God, but what do we mean by that? And why, when most of us are quite capable of reading it at home by ourselves, do we gather each week to read it aloud?


I believe that we gather together each Sunday because we recognize that listening to the words of the Bible is central to our identity, and to the living out of our covenant with God. It tells the stories of our people, stories that give us a better understanding of who they were, and how they related to God and to the world around them. And those stories, in turn, guide us. The Bible tells the stories that had been read to our ancestors for generations before us, and those stories bind us together across the years, from Moses until the present day.
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Those stories have been preserved and continually read precisely because the reading of them has proven itself to be the glue that holds us together in a covenant relationship with God. Our tradition of reading scripture continues to be a place of epiphany, of revelation, and of encounter with the living Spirit of God. Please join us this Sunday as we continue that loving and powerful tradition.
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Your friend in Christ,
​Rev. Ernest
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