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Our Old Testament reading this week is the crossing of the Red Sea during the Exodus. This is a seminal part of the story of the Hebrew people, and the language used is reminiscent of that used to describe creation in the Genesis stories. This is a story that really brings the people of God together as a New Creation. It is not surprising therefore that the image of a New Creation is used by the New Testament authors to describe those who follow the risen Jesus. Our services

The common theme to our readings this Sunday is that of how to live in community as the people of God and what fosters this. In the reading from Exodus the rules for celebrating the Passover promote community building, and in the gospel Matthew gives advice on how to resolve conflicts within the church. Our services this Sunday are at the usual times of 7am and 9am, the latter with Children's Church and Zoom streaming. The week's notice paper and 9am service sheet are linke

The June issue of 'Church News has been published. Read it here.

After Peter's proclamation last week that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed one, our gospel reading this week (just at the 7am service) starts to unpack quite what that means. As this is a fifth Sunday of the month, our 9am service is a special intergenerational service with our children helping to lead the worship, and activities for all ages.Our theme will be giving thanks for creation. There will be Zoom streaming as usual. There is still a APBA Holy Communion service at

We come this week to the mid-point of Matthew's Gospel. The author has been building up to this over the last several chapters of stories and sayings of Jesus, and now it becomes explicit. Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God (Matt. 16:16). It is on this that the whole gospel, the whole story of God's relations with humankind, rest. As usual we have two services this Sunday morning at 7am and 9am. The latter includes children's church and Zoo

As we continue to read through Matthew's gospel we see the author continue to draw on examples to show how startling both Jesus and Jesus' message were. In this week's portion, he shows how the gospel breaks down entrenched divisions and how faith can be seen in the most surprising places. As usual we have two services this Sunday morning at 7am and 9am. The latter includes children's church and Zoom streaming. The week's notice paper and 9am service sheet are available under

Our gospel passage this week sees the disciples alone in a boat in the middle of a storm, and Jesus comes to them, walking across the water. Often, in reading this passage, we jump to the next section where Peter tries and then fails to do likewise. However, we should linger with the vision of Jesus. As he walks over the raging waters, he is identified clearly with the God whose Spirit ranged over the waters in the beginning, with the God who parted he waters of the Exodus. T

We move on from parables Jesus' parables of the Kingdom in Matthew's gospel to the story of the feeding of the 5,000 men (plus an unrecorded number of women and children) with just a boy's basket of five loaves and two fishes. But actually this is still Matthew answering the question 'what is the kingdom?' We see that it is something that is an abundant gift of God, to which all are included; something that shows that God cares, and that God's people help to promulgate. As m

We have a smorgasbord of parables about the Kingdom last week and this. Each gives us a glimpse into something that cannot be fully described. The mustard seed and the yeast speak of the impact of the Kingdom, even though it may seem small or insignificant at first. The treasure in the field and the pearl speak of what it is like to see the true worth of the Kingdom. Our services are at the usual times on Sunday of 7am and 9am, with the 9am service including Zoom streaming

We have another parable this week about the Kingdom using seeds, plants and weeks. Here though the weeds do not prevent the good seed from growing, it does so anyway. It is telling that when the disciples ask Jesus for an explanation of the parable, they call it the 'parable of the weeds'. They focus on the negative, the problems. Jesus however, whilst acknowledging these, assures them that these will be dealt with at the right time, and what needs focussing on is the ultimat