Goodhand in Banbury

  Intercessions Sunday 8th March 2026 Based on todays reading John 4:5-42 Jesus tells the woman at the well  a time will come when people will worship God  in Spirit and in truth. Location, background, ethnic group, religion   all will become irrelevant   and so a life was transformed   and she became the first evangelist and people came to faith through her. So let us pray God of community we pray for transformation in this ever uncertain world. Where some leaders break the law and rain bombs upon the innocent and warmongers alike. We pray now for regime change that the diverse populations of the world   will be able to elect woman and men of integrity, who will tell the truth, not seek popularity,   and not use the language of division that plays on human fears. So we pray for transformation in the USA, Russia, China, Iran and Israel   Lord in your mercy Hear our prayers In those places suddenly forgotten Gaza, the West bank, Ukraine, Sudan...

Uncalculating love   And You are love: uncalculating love. When we kick You in the teeth, Your sole concern is whether we have   stubbed our toes. George MacLeod from Growing   Hope. These words from George Macleod, founder of the Iona Community, reflect a very earthy understanding of God whose passion is for creation and its well being, which includes us. It hints, I think, at the God whose concern is such that Love becomes incarnate in Jesus, and in spite of how humanity responded, the concern always remained whether we are okay. So Christmas has gone and this week through three services we have had the Transfiguration, Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent with a reflection on temptations. It has all come upon us so quickly. I know life moves at the same pace but it really does feel as if life speeds up the older you get.   Of course the season of Lent has the element of how you handle temptation as witnessed in the gospels by Jesus’s time in the wilderness. Tempted...

 In sharing my book it needs to be noted that it was written some time ago while I was still in active ministry. While I have sought to ensure it was updated in places for my blog, it is still a snapshot in time. Anyone of discerning faith will recognise that our conclusions about what we believe or understand are always provisional. Retirement has provided the space to read far more widely than when working and continues to feed my changing understanding of discipleship, scripture, the church etc.  Being a part of a local faith community with anglican roots brings into sharp relief that what has formed me, namely Methodism, continues to shape my understanding of church life. When I retired from methodist ministry we have to go through a quant tradition of standing up at ministerial synod asking permission to sit down.  My final comment was to say that ... "on Sunday I attended the accreditation of a local preacher which just reinforced for me what I wanted to end with sa...

  Chapter 13– My own story My own background has seen a movement from a born and bred Methodist to one who now finds it hard to sit within that denomination, but who is now more than at the outset, someone trying to work out what it means to be a disciple of God through the person of Jesus. In other words I am journeying toward God. The more I have come to know has meant recognition of the little that I do. It’s the circle thing. Everything inside the circle is what I know and everything outside the circumference is what I don’t know. My circle has got larger as I learn more, but the circumference only gets bigger, pointing to how much I don’t know. This is fun and this keeps you in your place. I can’t stand those Christians who have God neatly explained and in a box. Their God is too small.   So to a potted personal history that underpins what has made me. My parents created for me a pattern of life that has sustained me over the years. The hard wiring of regular worship, rea...