St Patrick, Church of Ireland, Kenmare

‘What do I have to do to be free?’, they ask. What will it cost me?
Just believe, He says. I’ll buy it for you. On a cross

When we are baptised in Christ, washed free of our past, we have the opportunity of starting again. We try – and will inevitably fail. But that mustn’t stop us trying.

Someone once asked who would be the best person to talk about Jesus to a lorry driver. To which the answer is ‘another lorry driver’.

Faith is to know that however cold the winter, however dark the night, a new Spring morning will flood creation with light and warmth.

Who does God send to tell the World?
You.

People ask how to discern truth from the well-crafted lies of the enemy. Protected by His promise, the answer is simple. In prayer, just ask whether you can see Jesus in their words and deeds.

We too are challenged to live as disciples. We have the benefit of scripture and history. We know that the story will end with Christ victorious.

He is the Way. On our journey, there will be signposts that will ensure we keep to the path. Prayer. Scripture. Worship. Spiritual guides. He walks alongside – even if sometimes we don’t recognise Him.

Jesus uses the metaphor of the sheep and the shepherd to describe the relationship between leaders and the people they lead.

He comes to us in so many ways in order that we may see Him.. In creation. In forgiveness. In salvation. In love. In new life. All these free gifts of grace – but it is up to us to choose to see them, with every one of our senses.

However it may happen, when we see Him, we proclaim Him in the same words as Thomas – ‘My Lord and my God’ and award Him our trust. Forever.

The only way that we know that the victory over death is permanently won is if we accept that the tomb is empty.

And just as the donkey is a figure at the beginning of the Gospel story, so a donkey is present at its end.

We have to ask ourselves if, like Thomas, we are prepared to follow Jesus at whatever cost

Perhaps, then instead of just giving chocolate and flowers on Mothering Sunday, we might resolve to offer love in return throughout every day of the year

The story of the woman at the well has been described as one of the most significant to our understanding of the Gospel message.

This day is all that is good and fair.
It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations to waste a moment on yesterdays.

If suffering did not exist, we could never know joy. If there was no ‘evil’, we wouldn’t be able to recognise ‘good’.