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Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the end of Matthew’s gospel, chapters 21 to 28, as well as Paul’s letters to the Galatians and Ephesians. The gospel story of Jesus reveals a lot about what God really wants for people and the misunderstandings which arise when people think this is all about religion, ceremonies, sacrifices or following a set of rules. People who sincere...

How does God speak to us today, and how can we helpfully share this? Claire Lynch looks at what the Bible says about prophecy in the lives of people who follow Jesus, and what we have learned about this from experience and practice in sharing.  Find more information in the transcript at https://www.severnvineyard.org/sunday-talks-bloglist/2024/6/1/prophecy-by-claire-lynch-2-june-2024

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about Matthew’s gospel, chapters 1 to 20. This seems written to introduce Jesus as part of his Jewish family, with a special place and purpose as a descendant of King David. Israel in Jesus’ time was divided over how to solve the problems of Roman occupation and see the kingdom of God restore the quality of life they longed for. Matthew seems...

How expansive and inclusive is God’s kingdom? Owen Lynch looks at the story of Saul who, as part of the duty he felt to uphold God’s law, travelled to oppose Jesus’ followers and take them prisoner. But the risen Jesus intervened, met Saul and changed his mind and his name. As Paul, God would use him to take the gospel message far beyond the boundaries of Jewish culture, but first Saul had to expe...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about 2 Samuel chapters 11 to 24 and Psalms 42 to 51. After the rise of King David came corruption which affected him, the community around him, and his family. We can only guess what was in his mind when he acted on his desire for another man’s wife, but we can see what was in his heart after being called out by the prophet Nathan.  Davi...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about 1 Samuel chapter 21 through to 2 Samuel chapter 10. The rise of King David is inspiring, like a hero story, although with some tragic twists to come. David’s initial struggles don’t just show his character as he hopes and trusts in God, but he meets creatively with God and ends up expressing all kinds of relatable conflict through the po...

Why is forgiveness so important? Rossie Henderson-Begg looks at what Jesus talked and showed about this, and considers what happens when we can, or can’t, find forgiveness ourselves. Can our ability and choice to forgive have a profound effect on us, as well as people we know?

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the first book of Samuel, chapters 1 to 20. What sort of kingdom did God want to build, and how was this shown when it worked well, and not so well?  The rules had been set about who was meant to do what, but Samuel was a surprising addition to the line of priests who would mediate between people and God. Born of faith and dedicated...

What is hell, and where have we got our ideas about this from? Claire Lynch looks at the stories and images in the Bible that relate to this, and how people in the Bible, including Jesus, communicated by referring to concepts that were meaningful and resonant with their audience. These included ideas drawn from Hebrew and neighbouring cultures, and were quite different from the imagery which becam...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the books of Ruth and Esther, as well as Proverbs chapters 10 to 18. What does it mean to be Jewish, or part of any meaningful group? The stories of Ruth and Esther are perspectives on this, both celebrated for what they can show us about faith, courage, loss and redemption, but differing in emphasis and perhaps what people might conclud...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the book of Judges. There are lots of gory stories which aren’t suitable for Sunday School (Bern shares an embarrassing Dad moment…) and it’s hard to find good role models, but perhaps Gideon comes close in the way he consults and responds to God, ready to do surprising things with humility when asked. In contrast, Samson looks like the...

How far would this revolution go? Owen Lynch looks at the way scattered believers in the early days of the church encountered new believers who looked like they would not fit in. While the law, as people understood it, seemed to put them on the margins or outside the boundaries of acceptability, an African eunuch had not only found status in a royal household, but also found scripture which pointe...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the book of Joshua. At face value, this story of the establishment of Israel in its promised land is a combination of glory and horror - there is new life for God’s people, but a lot of death for almost everyone else. It’s important to consider how people at the time would have heard and understood these stories, which don’t fit together...

Do we get that there’s a massive movement building? Owen Lynch looks at the growing expectation among Jesus’ followers early in the book of Acts that their world would change. Believers were living in revolutionary ways which changed how they saw and handled possessions, hoped and worked for equality, and fought and dealt with corruption.  There began to be deadly consequences, both for a cou...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the book of Job. In lots of ways, this is a puzzling story that might seem not to fit well into the Bible - although that might depend on how we read the rest of the Bible. If we think it has given us explanations of why things work and rules we can follow with predictable results, we might be a bit like Job’s friends when we think someo...

What does it mean to deny ourselves, and what difference can this make? Kyle Henderson-Begg looks at what Jesus showed and taught, and what his followers came to believe about this. What are the advantages of self-control, and where can we find more strength to benefit from this?

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the gospel according to Mark. Looking at the history leading up to the time of Jesus, they reflect on the significance of Jesus' life and what it meant to live in and look forward to the kingdom of God.  Where was, and is, the "battlefront" that establishes it? Between nations, between people, or between conflicting parts of ourselv...

In a bonus episode for Easter, Bern Leckie and Claire Lynch discuss the different views available in the Bible on the meaning and purpose of Jesus' death, as well as his resurrection and what these mean for us. We could regard the whole business as mystery, or pick a clear and simple explanation. One which is widely shared is "penal substitutionary atonement", the idea that Jesus had to die to tak...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the end of the book of Numbers, chapters 17 to 36. What’s so important about giving glory to God, or credit where it’s due to anyone? Bern shares his experiences of the difference that people sharing credit for their sources makes to workplaces. It took him a long time to make the connection that this might be a value received from God,...

Jesus died on the cross and rose again, but why? Can the way this makes a difference to people be summed up in one simple, shareable idea? Claire Lynch continues her talk about the different ways this is described in the Bible, and why focusing on only one of them can distort our views of God and each other. The ideas of sacrifice and covenant are rich in meaning and hard to grasp in full, but can...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the start of the book of Numbers, chapters 1 to 16, as well as Psalms 38 to 41. Numbers can be a tricky book to make sense of, seeming like a patchwork of pictures shared for different purposes which might not fit together as neatly as we think they should.  But these purposes are important and reveal ways of life which could recogn...

Good news - Jesus’ life, death and resurrection helps us to restore good relationships with God - but how does this work? Claire Lynch looks at different ways of explaining this which emphasise different parts of the Bible and might serve as helpful pictures or analogies. But it’s also possible that too much stress or reliance on one picture will distort our view of God and his character. Can we g...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the end of the book of Leviticus, chapters 16 to 27, and the start of Proverbs, chapters 1 to 9. It can seem hard to make sense of some ancient laws, and even harder to know what to make of their relevance to us today.  Leviticus describes a covenant set out by a powerful Lord as conditions for his presence to remain with people. Th...

What if you expected a power struggle in your life? Owen Lynch looks at Jesus’ followers soon after his resurrection and ascension to heaven, and the giving of his Holy Spirit, which came with power. Peter and the other disciples expected a new Kingdom to come which would challenge the ruling authorities, political and religious. These authorities would not react well. But what did each party want...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the start of the book of Leviticus, chapters 1 to 15, and Psalms 29 to 37. There is a lot to talk about here, including the role Leviticus played in the lives of its original audience. While many have understood it to be the source of statute law, both modern scholarship and the rest of the Bible suggest that judges may have been more us...