Talks, Sermons and Reflections

Colossians 3.12-17 ‘Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts’ (v15) Link to the audio of this sermon I think we need to hear that! I spent most of the time yesterday writing this talk feeling very chewed up – we simply did not know how things would work out. I was not even sure whether we would be meeting this morning.  [Saturday June 24: Prigozhin and the Wagner group mutinied and marched on Moscow]   But we need peace. Peace in our relationships: which is what this passage is about (“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body”. Colossians 3:15) and peace in ourselves. So I’d like to leave you with four instructions! They come from Colossians 3.12-17, and they are instructions that will lead us in the way of peace Remember that you are chosen, holy and beloved “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved” (Colossians 3.12) This really is the starting point of everything When Jesus was baptised, a voice was heard coming

Matthew 9.9-13,18-26   Jesus says, 'Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice'.   The Pharisees are criticising Jesus because he has called Matthew, a tax collector, to come and be one of his disciples – and no doubt Matthew has invited all his friends, his mates, to come and meet Jesus, and now Jesus is eating with ‘tax collectors and sinners’.   This was not respectable company. Tax collectors were collaborators with the Roman occupying forces. They had sold out whatever faith they had, and broken the law of God for power and wealth. There are many stories of how they abused their power and exploited people. And they are put here together with 'sinners', which usually refers to prostitutes. This was not respectable company. Today it would be as if Jesus was calling a known paedophile to follow him and was associating with drug pushers and gangsters.   It is not that Jesus condones the sort of tax collection that was going on