God’s words have power within them. The power to create life…

December 2nd The Living Branch Listen to the reflection here... (also available on Spotify HERE ) The days were coming… but they were not there yet, and the aching pain of invasion and exile scraped across old wounds as ancient Israel strained their eyes into the distance hoping for the promise of hope. Wondering if... Continue Reading →

One Day to Go! (and A Way to Keep Advent at the Heart of Your Home) The puppy sat whining at the fence unable to follow me, as I slipped between the fence wires into the wooded corner of our field. Resigning herself, she sat moping, nose through the fence, waiting. I was on a... Continue Reading →

It’s getting late in the day and the decent down the gentle slopes back to ordinary life has begun… Ordinary life in an extra-ordinary Kingdom.

Perhaps not so ordinary after all...

Day 39 Treasure On The Mountainside   As you sit here on this mountainside, lingering one last time over Jesus’ words which we’ve explored together over these last 39 days, what has moved you? What has alarmed you? What has caused you to take a breath in wonder? As you engaged (to whatever extent you... Continue Reading →

Take a moment in the stillness and imagine yourself sitting on this Galilean hillside having spent a whole day listening, hearing, absorbing Jesus’ every word. Feel these familiar yet new teachings turn over and over like somersaults in your mind, like gentle rain on a dry heart...

In that first garden long ago everything spoken into being by God was held together by His word. Everything existed because He willed for it to exist. We stand in this world today because He designed it so. Everything from the dawn of time has always been a delicate ecosystem held in balance by God’s word and will...

We were created to be fruitful. To bear good fruit. The first two words in our original blessing from God was…’Be fruitful’ and though this was very much connected with population growth of a people (a sign of God’s blessing) it was also connected with the proliferation of the Image of God on earth… we were to be fruitful in manifesting God’s image into the world...

Happy Palm Sunday! There is no Mountainside message today, just a day of rest. We are on the homeward stretch now, with just under a week left in our time on the mountainside. I hope this week you will find time to soak in Jesus' words as we walk through this special week together, a journey... Continue Reading →

Jesus came among the kingdoms of this world to found and establish a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of heaven – unique and separate and essentially spiritual, but also practical.

After teaching us how this Kingdom works throughout the Sermon on the Mount, He then showed us how to enter this new Kingdom...

Jesus was speaking to a people on this mountainside … to God’s people … to His people, Israel.

He was speaking to a people who had a strong sense of their identity, an identity formed over many years...

Sometimes I wish Jesus’ words were easier, tidier, less politically incorrect...

Happy Sunday! No mountainside reflections today... just a day of rest... and a gift. A poster of the 'worry' passages in the Sermon on the Mount... because we all need a little reminder sometimes. And... our family hot crossed buns recipe (for those who haven't had it before). So fun and easy to make... and... Continue Reading →

Day 21 Who Is Your Master? When Adam and Eve threw down God from the throne of their hearts that sad day long ago, when they listened to the whispering hiss of darkness and followed its lead all the way down to the "knowledge of good and evil", darkness moved in and took up residence... Continue Reading →

This prayer nestles right in the heart of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount- because it is the heart pumping life to everything else. Connection with our Heavenly Father through authentic prayer is the pulsing life-giving source of our capacity to live our lives walking-out Jesus’ mountainside words...

What a strange paradox it is that the more we human beings strive towards self actualisation and a sense of personal self worth, the more it eludes our grasp. The more we fight to make ourselves feel valuable, the emptier our identity rattles...

This world that God created, this life He gave us was always brim-full with abundance and generosity, life and overflowing blessing...

Loving those who it is easy to love is easy. Anyone can do that. Even those with shaky morals love those who are in their "club", their "gang", their "crew".

But to love like God loves, now that's another matter. God's perfect love is generous love. Love that stretches past social boundaries, across the borderlines, extending love to those we wouldn't call "us", to those we see as "them"...

Hello my Friend, Happy Sunday! Today is a day of rest and reflection, so no journey up the mountainside today. Just quiet space to connect with others and with God and reflect on your week in His presence awhile. And I have another gift for you: 40 Ideas to create a memorable Easter Season. 40... Continue Reading →

In a world that values autonomy, freedom… and rebellion, following Jesus’ commands is a radical act...

In our garden, it is now clearly visible that we have a stinging nettle problem. These weeds that 'bite' and leave a painful rash are beginning to sprawl across the surface of our garden beds. I looked into expensive weed killers, but discovered that these might also damage  the flowers that are trying to grow among the nettles. The advice we have received is that the only way to deal with them is to dig them up by the root. 

The nettles will grow if they are allowed to. Only our action will change this...

A rest and a gift for you...

Day 1 Ash Wednesday Blessed On this Galilean mountainside under vaulting skies Jesus begins to unfold His battle strategy for His Kingdom on earth: A people. An unlikely community of people who live their lives belonging to a different Kingdom. His. Jesus is calling a new kind of community together who are prepared to navigate... Continue Reading →

Well Christmas day has lit it's way around our spinning globe and now we wake to the sleepy remainder of Christmas week giving way to anticipation of a new year emerging. Thank you for taking time to walk through the Christmas story with me this season. For a little while this corner of the internet... Continue Reading →

December 22nd Radical Humility      We hear Mary’s voice, we hear Zechariah's voice (for a while), we hear Elizabeth’s voice. Mary, Zechariah and Simeon even get a vocal solo song. But Joseph. He is silent. There are no mentions of his words. Only his actions. But his actions speak a thousand words, revealing who... Continue Reading →

When God is doing something new, the air is full of singing...

God, once more, draws close and He speaks through His messenger to a teenager from nowhere. And she believes. She lives in the reality of God’s word. Her whole world hanging on His every word...

What we say yes to forms us. One way or the other...

December 11th His Name     This insignificant teenager from this nothing town of Nazareth, she is first to hear his name spoken into earth’s round atmosphere. This name of this coming King. This name that is 'above every name’ (Philippians 2:9-11). This name full of power and light. This  name of Him through whom... Continue Reading →

December 10th Two Stories   This is a startling story, but not just because it begins with an angel’s visit. It’s the location where he was sent that may have raised eyebrows amongst Luke's early readers. On a surface level (the one we see with our eyes and live with our perceptions) this story could very... Continue Reading →

December 9th Speechless   ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.’  Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning... Continue Reading →

December 7th Absence and Presence   They were like Noah in righteousness but like Abraham and Sarah in childlessness. Just as God was about to do something new when he called Noah ‘righteous and blameless’ (Genesis 6:9) and just as God was about to do something new when He promised Abraham and Sarah a family,... Continue Reading →

December 6th This is the Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah   Take your finger and run it across the names listed in Matthew 1:1-16, all lined up to tell you a story. Like many great figures of the Bible, Jesus' story begins with a genealogy. A genealogy was a family tree that acted as a way... Continue Reading →

December 5th  Unfurling Hope   If you run your finger across the round face of a sawn-off tree stump, tracing the circular path of its rings, it will tell you a story. Each line has a tale to tell, a story-line revealing years of droughts, the story of rains, the story of bushfires, the story... Continue Reading →

December 4th Prince of Peace She twists the wire around the branches, around and around and around, until all the unruly Christmas greenery finally yields and hangs submissive on the circular frame. There's an intensity to how she does this that most ten year olds don’t have. A determination. Because for this ten year old... Continue Reading →

December 2nd The Living Branch       The days were coming… but they were not there yet, and the aching pain of invasion and exile scraped across old wounds as ancient Israel strained their eyes into the distance hoping for the promise of hope. Wondering if it was really possible. Really true. And we... Continue Reading →

  Two days to go… (and A Way to Keep Advent at the Heart of Your Home) The puppy sat whining at the fence unable to follow me, as I slipped between the fence wires into the wooded corner of our field. Resigning herself, she sat moping, nose through the fence, waiting. I was on... Continue Reading →

Last Monday the railroad tracks of our life upended in the most beautiful way. We awoke to powdery soft snow blanketing everything in brilliant white. We declared it a snow day and after a hot chocolate breakfast spent most of the day outside playing, laughing, sliding and marvelling, breathing out and soaking in the unexpected... Continue Reading →

We stumbled across this cafe down a side street, searching for somewhere to have a moment together out of the cold. The cheery cafe owner took our order and we sat and waited in the corner, looking around us at the tinselled walls and festive decorations.  The cafe owner soon slapped our sandwiches and drinks... Continue Reading →

Well my friend, Lent and Holy week draw to a close, and here in the Northern Hemisphere Spring light is warming up the world with all the hope of summer on its way.  As the blossoms on the trees bud and open out, this Long Walk journey through the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ and then... Continue Reading →

EPILOGUE Easter Monday The Road Home… There are roads sometimes that go nowhere, nowhere but away, nowhere but far from all we want to leave behind us, far from all we fear and cannot face. Wandering roads, retreating roads, roads that give the illusion of forward motion while all the while leading nowhere. Nowhere but... Continue Reading →

EASTER SUNDAY Sunrise “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene…”John 19:25 “…At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day... Continue Reading →

EASTER SATURDAY Flashback THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE ‘“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd,     and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”... Continue Reading →

Good Friday IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE THIS WAY? “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had... Continue Reading →

Tuesday 26th Night   ‘As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out.  And it was night.’ John 13:30 It was the cool of the day in that first Garden long ago, when God had come looking for the first Human Beings¹. But now it is the chill of night, in this second... Continue Reading →

Monday 25th Gethsemane “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden... Continue Reading →

Palm Sunday Misunderstood Our lives are all part a story, folded into time, a longer story, a larger story. A story stretching from the beginning of time and reaching through to the end of it, the story of God’s long walk with human beings, the long story of His grace journeying to find us. The... Continue Reading →

Palm Sunday A Slow Walk through Holy Week…  Well now that we’re down from the mountainside and on the dusty flats of ancient Israel once more we begin our walk alongside God incarnate to the cross. In your inbox you will find for each day of Holy week (From Palm Sunday to Easter Tuesday) a... Continue Reading →

Day 40 Epilogue ‘When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.’  Matthew 7:28-8:1   ‘When Jesus had finished saying these things…’ Matthew 7:28-8:1... Continue Reading →

Day 39 Treasure On The Mountainside   As you sit here on this mountainside, lingering one last time over Jesus’ words which we’ve explored together over these last 39 days, what has moved you? What has alarmed you? What has caused you to take a breath in wonder? As you engaged (to whatever extent you... Continue Reading →

Day 38 (& 39) Building Strong   Take a moment in the stillness and imagine yourself sitting on this Galilean hillside having spent a whole day listening, hearing, absorbing Jesus’ every word. Feel these familiar yet new teachings turn over and over like somersaults in your mind, like gentle rain on a dry heart.  Now,... Continue Reading →

Day 37 Knowing And Being Known By God   In Jamaica, for many years (over a decade) we ran many programmes in inner city communities. Its a tough context and these programmes varied in effectiveness but we battled on, committed to being there and shining God’s love into these communities. But then one day God... Continue Reading →

 Day 36  Who is Lord? ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.’ Matthew 7: 21 In that first garden long ago everything spoken into being by God was held together by His word.... Continue Reading →

Day 35 A Good Tree   ‘A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them.’ Matthew 7:18-20 We were created to be fruitful. To bear... Continue Reading →

Day 34  Good Fruit   We, all of us long to feel like we are not alone in this world. Indeed the one ‘not good’ thing in all creation before the fall was for us to be alone… “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make... Continue Reading →

Day 33 The Road To Life (Guest Post By Jenny Garvin) Jesus came among the kingdoms of this world to found and establish a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of heaven – unique and separate and essentially spiritual, but also practical. After teaching us how to throughout the Sermon on the Mount He then showed us... Continue Reading →

Day 32  So In Everything (Guest Post By David Campbell) ‘So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.’ Matthew 7:12   Jesus was speaking to a people on this mountainside … to God’s people … to His people, Israel. He... Continue Reading →

Day 31 Ask, seek, knock ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. ‘Which of you, if your son asks... Continue Reading →

Day 30 Pearls   Sometimes I wish Jesus’ words were easier, tidier, less politically incorrect. But that would make them cheap. And drained of all their truth.  ‘Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear... Continue Reading →

Day 29 How To See Clearly   ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in... Continue Reading →

Day 28  Do Not Judge One of the things that has struck me most in writing our way through the Sermon on the Mount is the generosity of God laced through it all… ‘Don’t see with stingy eyes, see with generous eyes’, ‘Love your enemy’ ‘Give to the one who asks you, and do not... Continue Reading →

Day 27  Do Not Worry About Tomorrow ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’ Matthew 6:34   This day a few years ago I was down. Way down. Weighed down by worries and stresses and cataloguing my anxieties in a litany of... Continue Reading →

Day 26 Seek First His Kingdom   ‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’ Matthew 6:33   There are a lot of things in this world vying for the human heart, so many calls enticing our eyes, our time, our lives… so many... Continue Reading →

Day 25 Your Heavenly Father   ‘So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.’ Matthew 6: 31-32   When my daughter was around eight years of age her... Continue Reading →

Day 24 Flowers of the Field (Guest Post By David Campbell)  ‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes... Continue Reading →

Day 23 Look At The Birds Of The Air   ‘Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to... Continue Reading →