Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me (Luke 12:13)

I was struck by the recent headline in one of our national newspapers entitled “Mother left son £300,000 home so he could look after her parrots”.  Some of you may have read it too.  The defender was the sole recipient of his parents’ estate after his mother changed her will in 2019 removing her three stepchildren.  Their father and mother had previously made wills in 2017 splitting all their wealth between their son and their three stepchildren. The defender who has been branded as “pretentious” is being...

Genesis 18:20-32

²⁰Then the Lord said, ‘How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! ²¹I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.’ 22 So the men turned from there, and went towards Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³Then Abraham came near and said, ‘Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?²⁴Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it...

Lord, do you not care? (Luke 10:40)

How many times have we been left to do things on our own without support or assistance from others?  How many times have we felt obliged to visit a family member or close friend in hospital, care home or at their home while others do nothing? How many times have we said those familiar words “Lord, do you not care?” either aloud or silently to ourselves?  The variety of personal situations both at home, at work and even at church where this question arises are endless but very real. Like Martha we can...

Of all the stories that Jesus told, the one in today’s Gospel is surely the most famous. Politicians regularly refer to it, and I was particularly struck to read the account of someone caught up in the mass shooting incident in Highland Park, Illinois last week, who explained that he and his family fled in fear and found refuge “in the apartment of a Good Samaritan.” It’s a story that has become a shorthand for what all that we value in the kindness of strangers.

The odd thing is that everyone refers to “the Good Samaritan”, though at no point...

“God, our Father, Lord of all the world,

we thank you that through your Son

you have called us into the fellowship of

your universal Church.

Hear our prayer for your faithful people

that each in their vocation and ministry

may be an instrument of your love,

and give your servants now to be ordained

the needful gifts of grace;

through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen.”

Ordn. of priests ASB 1980

29 years ago on the 4th July I was ordained priest and for me because of this the opening sentence from today’s Gospel is very apt:

“The...