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Fighting racial inequality starts with our own education and awareness but it cannot end there.  It requires that we actively seek to confront unjust structures in society.  In an increasingly polarised world in which far right activists link Britishness with whiteness this can feel overwhelming yet Proverbs 31:8-9 commands us simply to speak out and defend others.

We have a great Diocesan Safeguarding Team, excellent Parish Safeguarding Officers (Nicola and Zoe) and all of us who volunteer or lead are required to undergo checks and receive thorough Safeguarding training; yet, as 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a reminds us, if we have “all these things but do not have love we gain nothing”.

Not all of us are called to an official role in the church but we are ALL called to love and more than this, we are commanded to love, John 13:34-35, as Jesus loves us, without exception, without limits, without partiality.

Sadly, these readings have often been used to encourage those who have been wounded or harmed by the church to forgive and forget.  But love requires that truth is spoken and justice is served. 

From 5th October, Morning Prayer will be said in church on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9am.

Today we celebrate the harvest.  We give thanks that we have been given all that we need to survive and thrive.  

In a time of uncertainty, when harvest yields across the globe have fallen, this morning’s readings both celebrate abundant harvests:

Luke 12:16-21 tells the story of a man who had such a bumper crop that he needed a bigger barn.  We might call him a success: someone who has produced abundantly.  We might call him prudent: someone who has planned for the future. Jesus calls him a fool.

Today is the feast of St Michael and All Angels.  Angels are God’s messengers and in both of our readings this morning they move between heaven and earth.

Jacob dreams of them going up and down a ladder in Genesis 28:10-17 and, although God promises to be with him wherever he goes, Jacob believes that the gate of heaven is in this particular place.

However, when Jesus meets Nathaniel in John 1:47-51, he describes himself as the ladder joining heaven and earth.  The place where heaven and earth meet is not a holy place as envisaged by Jacob but is a living, breathing human being.