Bethnal Green Mission Church

The Christian life is truth in paradox - a faith which can seem nonsensical and confusing, but at the same time one which reveals deep spiritual truths. We will explore some common cultural examples of paradox and then consider one given to us by Jesus - "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave", taken from Matthew's gospel cha...

Jesus' testing and temptation in the wilderness represent an assault on his identity and calling. By placing this event at the start of Jesus' career and after his baptism, Matthew anticipates the battle and combat with evil forces and voices that will define Jesus' mission. This event is rich in Old Testament allusions and meaning - what does it say about Jesus' identity and his relationship with...

Ruth chapter 4 is a complicated end to a complicated book. This finale answers some questions and raises some more. We are introduced to new characters and more names, this only heightens the sense of where the drama is heading. What more can we learn about family, kinship, love and loyalty from this story and how do these themes resonate beyond this ancient setting?

This week we delve into the world of Cancel Culture. What is the Christian response to this cultural phenomenon? it is a complex and unnerving topic, where we might find ourselves on either side of an experience of being cancelled or doing the cancelling.

It is the end of the harvest season and Ruth and Boaz's story has not moved on. So Naomi and Ruth hatch a cunning, night-time plan to provoke Boaz into action. It is a risque move that requires stealth and boldness. This threshing floor scene is dangerous and highly provocative and leaves us with all sorts of questions - what actually happened at midnight between Ruth and Boaz and why does it matt...

Does one relate more to the season of Christmas or to that of Advent? Is the promise of the impact of Jesus’ coming too good to be true? Are we still waiting for the proclamation of peace on earth to come to fruition? Perhaps Advent isn’t just about waiting for Jesus to come.

Ruth and Naomi arrive in Bethlehem seeking safety and shelter after years of grief and loss. Will the hated foreigner Ruth find welcome in the homeland of her enemies? Will Naomi's life of 'bitterness' be able to recover from tragedy? Ruth now takes centre stage in this short story and despite the odds stacked against her, she ventures into unknown and risky territory to try and redeem their situa...

The book of Ruth is an ancient short story about family, famine, loss, loyalty and love. It provides a welcome interlude after the blood-thirsty violence of Judges. However, as we know by now there is always something more complex going on and something actually more contemporary than we expect. The rich symbolism of the names and the repeated mentions of Moab point us in a direction of irony, pat...

The film The Creator has again set the pulses racing about the potential of AI to change humanity's relationship with technology and machines. In a week which saw some sensible and outlandish claims at the UK AI Safety Summit, we cannot avoid further conversation and collaboration about the ethics, risks and potential of AI. In the midst of this conversation is the vital question, 'What does it me...

The blessings and curses listed in Deuteronomy tyrannise our 21st-century sensibilities with all manner of anxieties and fears. The promises of blessings might encourage and cheer us for a brief moment, but the sheer intensity and volume of curses destabilise us. They confirm our worst feelings of dread about God - that there is some kind of divine karma at work in life, which rewards us for good...

Deuteronomy pictures a new generation of Israelites at the cusp of the promised land as they are retold the story of the covenant and law. It was a scene loaded with anticipation and joy, jeopardy and fear. The jeopardy was a foreboding sense of what lay before them - a land of strong, numerous people groups, and violent warriors inhabiting large cities that reached to the skies. It was a land of...

How good are we at waiting? How do we cope with a hope taking it’s time to be realised? When God seems to be hidden in life, how do we wait with trust rather than hurry and make things happen ‘in our own strength’? And what do rivers have to do with any of this?

This Connect with Culture talk begins with the song "Days", written by the Kinks in 1968 but now regarded as a classic. It was featured on the radio programme "Soul Music" which focuses on the emotional impact Music has on the soul. The talk then moves to a verse in Psalm 90 - "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom", and explores the relevance of this on our day to day li...

What does loving God look like in Deuteronmy? (Deut.6.1-9). How does the language and words of the Shema - the Jewish declaration of faith - differ in the Ancient Near Eastern context compared to the english words and concepts we use? Here we seek to explore the rich and expansive possibilties of how we love and where we love God.

Deuteronomy is quoted or alluded to in the New Testament more than any other book in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is a book we have to wrestle with. It places us with Moses on the brink of the Promised Land, on the cusp of a new era for a new generation. Will Israel be ready to face the challenges of Canaan? Moses gives three death-bed sermons to remind them of the story of their ancestors and to hel...

The story of two crestfallen disciples walking along the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 gives us an insight into the rich complexity of the communion table. The story functions to illustrate the Enigma and Encounter of this table and how divine hide and and seek simultaneously baffles and delights us. What can we learn from the absence and presence of Jesus in this story and the enigmatci work of God i...

The story of Jesus' last week on earth is book-ended by two meal time encounters at a table. In this mini-series, we look at some paradoxical couplets that help us understand the meaning of the communion table, the breaking of bread, the eucharist. Robert Farrar Capon said, "paradox is the only basket large enough to hold truth". What happens at this communion table is gloriously rich and complex...

"Jazz is African/American freedom", said Anthony Reddie. How is jazz a metaphor for the way we do theology and interpretation? How did muscians create, perform, improvise jazz as a voice for oppressed and marginalised peoples? In this talk we reflect on the jazz music of John Coltrane and the work of theologian, Anthony Reddie in order to address some of these questions and see how Jesus was the u...

Trail by ordeal was a common way to determine guilt or innocence. Think Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Think ancient near eastern cultures. Think Numbers 5. We come to a text like this and put it on trial, put the Israelite community on trial, even put God on trial. How can we overcome our prejudices and see this strange, magical, ritual of dust and water in a way which is faithful to how the bi...

It's Quiet Uptown - Finding compassion and light in the midst of grief and darkness.

We make the road by walking. The life of faith is etched by a wider metaphor of journey, of pilgrimage. Using the film "Wild", starring Reese Witherspoon, James explores this metaphor considering how, as disciples, we are to journey towards God, who in turn, leads us on a journey of becoming ourselves.

This talk focuses on what restorative justice is and how it differs from - and works alongside - criminal justice. The potential transformative power of restorative justice is highlighted by the story of Ray and Vi Donovan, and their response to the senseless murder of their oldest son. It features a podcast from the Sideways series from Radio 4 and explores if the heart of restorative justice res...

The Hebrew bible book of Numbers is a travel log of an ancient community, a story of road trip gone badly wrong. Interwoven amongst the census lists of Israelite families and tribes, there are stories of a people encountering God, who frame themselves and the divine through the lenses of their time and setting. What kind of portaits are painted? How does Numbers function to tell a story and what c...