Exploring The Holy Scriptures with Rev Dr David Wright

Last week a young lady posted a simple online message :“I have hundreds of followers online, but tonight I have never felt more alone.”Within hours, thousands of people responded. Many admitted they felt exactly the same way. Surrounded by technology, connected constantly, yet inwardly isolated. We live in a world full of communication, yet many people still ache with loneliness.And perhaps that is why the words of Jesus in John 14:15-21 are so powerful.Send me a text if you wish :)

That moment - between confusion and trust - is exactly where we meet the disciples in John 14:1–14.Jesus speaks on the night before His crucifixion. The room is heavy. The disciples sense something is wrong. Their world, built around Him, feels like it’s about to collapse.Into that fear, and fear like it, Jesus speaks .....Send me a text if you wish :)

Messages warning us about “scams” seem to be everywhere these days. Scam websites. Scam emails. Scam text messages. Scam phone calls.Unfortunately people are still falling prey to these crimes.A few days ago I read about a man in Australia who had unknowingly clicked on a link in an email he received following a phone call that he thought was from his bank. The call sounded real. The email looked real. It all appeared so trustworthy, but it was a thief - quiet, convincing, destructive, and his bank account was emptied.Send me a text if you wish :)

If you are walking through a season of confusion or disappointment, if the world seems full of threats and bluster, violence and confrontation, if life has not turned out the way you hoped - - - you are not alone on the road.Christ DOES walk beside you. Even if you do not recognise Him. Even if your eyes are clouded by grief or doubt.He is there !!!Send me a text if you wish :)

It is evening. The doors are locked. Fear fills the room.These are not bold, confident followers of Christ. These are frightened people, hiding, unsure what comes next.The one they trusted has been crucified. The future they imagined has collapsed.....Into that locked, fearful space, Jesus comes.Send me a text if you wish :)

That moment - when hope breaks through despair,when life emerges where death seemed certain -that is the heartbeat of Easter morning.Send me a text if you wish :)

Jesus knew who He was.That’s why betrayal didn’t break Him.That’s why accusations didn’t shake Him.That’s why the cross didn’t defeat Him.Send me a text if you wish :)

Matthew tells us that Jesus sends two disciples ahead to find a donkey and a colt. This is no accident, no improvisation. Jesus is intentionally fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah:“See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey.”In the ancient world, kings rode warhorses when they came for battle. They rode donkeys when they came in peace. Jesus chooses the donkey. He comes gently.Send me a text if you wish :)

Lazarus is dead !Divine love is not always hurried love !Sometimes Jesus delays not because He does not care — but because He intends something far greater.Send me a text if you wish :)

I have my own thoughts about Christianity.  Rightly or wrongly, I have in my mind what constitutes Christianity.I do NOT, however, know the mind of God.  No one does.  As the prophet Isaiah (55:8) says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”.But sometimes humans, ancient and modern, slip into thinking that they actually do know how God chooses to do God’s work.How God wants things done. So … Who’s blind there?Send me a text if you wish :)

SURPRISES … SURPRISES … The story revealed to us in John 4:5-42, of Jesus, a Jew, talking with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well is a story full of them.The barriers to this conversation happening at all are IMMENSE.Between Samaritan and Jew there was a wall of separation no less than that, which in our time often separates, Israeli from Palestinian in The Holy Land.Send me a text if you wish :)

In both Hebrew and Greek, the same word is used for wind, breath, and spirit. You can’t see the wind, you can’t control it, but you CAN see its effects.Faith, Jesus says, works just like that.This was deeply unsettling for the Pharisee Nicodemus - and perhaps also for us, because we prefer systems we can manage. We like checklists. We like knowing where we stand! However, the Spirit does not fit neatly into our categories.Send me a text if you wish :)

Matthew tells us something important and unsettling: Jesus, the beloved Son of God, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be TEMPTED.This is not a detour. This is part of a journey. <PAUSE>Many of us assume that if we are close to God, life should get easier. However, Matthew 4:1-11 tells us a different story. Sometimes the place of testing is not a sign of God’s absence, but of God’s deep involvement.Send me a text if you wish :)

God's voice from heaven spoke.That voice from heaven does NOT say, “This is my Son - understand him fully.”It says, “Listen to him.”Faith is not about having all the answers. It is about paying attention. About learning to hear Christ’s voice above all those others voices of fear, success, anger, and distraction.Send me a text if you wish :)

22 years before his death, Fr. Rene Robert wrote a letter in front of his lawyer and had it notarised to make it a legal document.Fr. Rene appeared to foretell his death in these words, “Should I die a violent death, I request that the person found guilty of homicide for my killing not be subjected to or put in jeopardy of the death penalty under any circumstances. No matter how heinous their crime or how much I may have suffered.”It's almost 10 years since Fr. Rene was murdered but I remember it as if it were yesterday because ....Send me a text if you wish :)

We often talk about ourselves or others as being blessed. “I’m blessed.” “She’s blessed.” “We’re really blessed.”Here’s what I wonder: what does it mean to be blessed?When you tell someone, “you are blessed” what do you mean by that? And when you hear someone else say, “I’m really blessed,” how do you understand that?Send me a text if you wish :)

Have you ever had times when life is "a drag"?One day merges into another and they are all the same, boring routine.Yes? Well, you are not alone!That's the reality of life - yes - BUT these are also the circumstances in which Jesus comes to us, the context in which we hear the call to new life, and the place where we are forever changed.Send me a text if you wish :)

John 1:29-42 begins with one of the greatest encounters of all time - John the Baptist, meeting Jesus.As John sees Jesus his THIRTEEN words, yes - just 13 words, smash into our consciousness and are unforgettable,“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”Later, we have a response from Jesus,"Come and see",and what a call for us that is.Send me a text if you wish :)

That word, “righteousness,” is absolutely full of meaning. Matthew uses it seven times in his Gospel, and each use signals a slightly different understanding of the word.On this occasion, Matthew 3:13-17, perhaps it is Jesus' way of saying,“Come on John, Let’s do this! It’s part of God’s plan to redeem the world!”Send me a text if you wish :)

In Luke 2:41-52, Mary and Jospeh are in a panic, they cannot find Jesus!With great anxiety they search for him and, three days later, they find him.Mary’s first words are, “Child, why have you treated us like this?” What I really hear is a loud, “Where have you been young man? Your father and I did not survive angels visits, birth in a stable, and living like refugees in Egypt only to have you get lost in Jerusalem.”Send me a text if you wish :)

As we read Matthew 2:13-23 we realise that the Christmas story takes a dark turn. Christmas cards never show this scene. No angels singing. No wise men bringing gifts. No shepherds kneeling.Instead, we hear of fear, flight, and tragedy.Just after the immense joy of Jesus’ birth, Matthew’s Gospel takes us into danger and darkness. The child who has come to save the world is immediately threatened by the powers of the world.Send me a text if you wish :)

Did God take leave of his senses? If God is the almighty creator of the universe, what would possess Him to to be born as a helpless baby, to put himself in a position of complete dependence on human parents, to make himself vulnerable to all the pain and suffering of life on earth?What on earth would be the point of it?What sort of God decides to do something like that?It's noting more than the power of love !!Send me a text if you wish :)

The final Sunday in Advent marks the beginning of the transition from Advent to Christmas.It is at this time that Christmas narratives often shine the spotlight on Mary, on shepherds, and of course on the Christ Child Himself.However, I want to draw our focus to Joseph. His role is quiet, but it is powerfully instructive. In Matthew 1:18–25, we encounter a man who shows us what faithful obedience looks like - especially when God’s plan is confusing, unexpected, and costly.Send me a text if you wish :)

Matthew 11:2-11 offers a very different picture of John The Baptiser.He is a prisoner with a question, “Are you the one, or are we to wait for another?”So what happened? How did John get from pointing to Jesus as the one who will baptise with fire and the Holy Spirit to this position where he is, clearly, not so sure? How did he go from being a prophet with all the answers to a prisoner with questions?What does this mean for us?Send me a text if you wish :)

You brood of vipers !!! The wrath of God is coming. It doesn’t matter who you are. The axe is out and ready. Right now the blade is against the tree. The chopping is about to begin. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is being cut down and burned. The unquenchable fire is raging, waiting to be fed with the chaff. And that’s just the beginning! Wow! That’s some way to start!Well, the words of John The Baptiser clearly show us that we should strenuously avoid the tendency to reduce Advent to some kind of warm, cosy, sentimental season.In fact it’s anything but … I would say to you that Advent really is a kind of preparation for, a waiting for, ….. REVOLUTION !Send me a text if you wish :)

Life is filled with periods of waiting.Some of us wait patiently. Some of us do not.Advent is a time of waiting. Waiting for Jesus as a babe in a manger and also reminding us to be waiting, looking ahead, FULL OF HOPE, ready for His second coming.Readiness is the key concept in Matthew 24:36-44.Okay - so what can we be doing to help us get ready while we wait ?Send me a text if you wish :)

Here we are on the last Sunday in Ordinary Time for 2025.It is “The Feast of Christ The King”.It is the last Sunday before Advent begins, BUT but before we can get to all our favourite Advent stories and the coming of the Christ child we get our gospel today, Luke 23: 33-43.It is the story of Christ on the Cross.NOT WHAT YOU EXPECT!Send me a text if you wish :)

The gospel, Luke 16:19-31, puts a gate between a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus, but it’s more of a barrier than a way to connect them.While the rich man wears expensive clothes, Lazarus only wears sores.The rich man ignores naked and hungry Lazarus as he passes through the gate everyday, on his way to a  great feast.Naked, sick, and hungry, Lazarus is ‘invisible’ to the rich man.Send me a text if you wish :)

Jesus had been teaching with stories, parables and miracles about the way the Kingdom of God works, and people still didn’t get it.Once in a while, there would be a glimmer of understanding, but it would quickly fade as even the disciples who knew Jesus best, kept trying to put him into “the box of their own expectations”.Suddenly, Jesus breaks out of his mild-mannered persona and His words are mightily powerful and forceful!Send me a text if you wish :)