Luke 12:13-21 Here we have someone else trying to enlist Jesus to their ‘just’ cause. ‘Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me’. Only a few verses earlier we have been told about Martha who said to Jesus, ‘Tell my sister to help me’. And in both cases Jesus challenges the one who would enlist him to their cause. With Martha he spoke about the need to listen to him. With this man, he speaks about money. Listen to the audio of this talk Still life with skull, candlestick and coins. Johann Stumm c.1645. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 1. Jesus warns him, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed”. Barns come in many shapes and sizes. There are plain old barns. There is property and land. There are the investment portfolios. There are some very big barns in the Burnhams. And equally there are many who aspire to have bigger barns. And it is very easy for the desire to get those bigger barns, the desire for money and all the things that it brings, to get a grip on us, to...
2 Timothy 4:1-8 ; Matthew 13:44-46 St Margaret of Antioch, as she is known in the West, is the same as St Marina the Great celebrated in the Eastern churches. St Margaret of Antioch (on the left) together with St Margaret of Scotland. Stained glass window, St Margarets' Church, Burnham Norton. According to a C9th Martyrology (a record that tells the lives of the martyrs), Marina/Margaret suffered and died in 304. An audio of this talk can be found here She was the daughter of a pagan priest, Aedesius, and her mother died when she was very young. She was nursed by a Christian woman, who lived 15 miles or so from Antioch. She embraced Christianity and consecrated her virginity to Christ. It was at about this time that men were beginning to go off into the desert to consecrate themselves to Christ – the earliest monks; and so we could say that Margaret was one of the earliest nuns. She was disowned by her father, adopted by the Christian woman, and lived in the country keeping sheep. ...