‘What the hell?’ by Claire Lynch, 5 May 2024

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 became common to describe hell much later in western culture. Could the ideas of eternal, conscious torment and separation from God be based on misunderstandings or misapplications of the Bible? If so, what can we learn from the Bible, its prophecies, teachings and the words of Jesus to give us a better understanding of what God might do with us when we die?

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‘A new kind of empire’ by Owen Lynch, 21 April 2024

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 pointed them to Jesus. Why was their baptism so remarkable? How could it revolutionise religious people’s understanding - and ours - of the Kingdom of God?

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‘Things get out of hand’ by Owen Lynch, 14 April 2024

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 couple whose corruption undermined the integrity of the movement, and for man inspired by God to share the movement’s story as part of the history of Israel.

These stories might be familiar to us, but we might have read wrongly or applied them unhelpfully if we haven’t understood their context. What can we do to understand and learn from them better today?

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‘How does Jesus save?’ part 2, by Claire Lynch, 24 March 2024

Continuing from part 1. 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 growing our understanding of them help to grow our sense of God’s love for us and what God wants to do with us?

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‘How does Jesus save?’ part 1, by Claire Lynch, 17 March 2024

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 gain something from these pictures while also keeping our eyes on Jesus to understand what God is really like?

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‘Preparing for Government’ by Owen Lynch, 10 March 2024

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 and believe, and how would they handle their conflicts?

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‘From Judea and Galilee to the ends of the Earth’ by Owen Lynch, 18 February 2024

How did Jesus give his followers power after he went up to heaven, and what was this for? Owen Lynch looks at what happened at Pentecost, a Jewish celebration of the founding of their nation, and how Jews who had grown up in many different cultures heard Jesus’ disciples in their own languages. A community of hope was gathering around one story which was including and uniting a diversity of people without destroying their origins, and it had the signatures of God at work among them. What would it do?

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‘Waiting for a revolution’ by Owen Lynch, 11 February 2024

What would you want and expect if you were promised power? Owen Lynch looks at the situation of Jesus’ first followers and the ways they were desperate for their country to be run differently and better. When Jesus overcame execution by the authorities, rose from death and promised the arrival of the Kingdom of God, what did the people closest to him expect? What would their promised power look like, and what they want to do with it? And for us, what are wanting, expecting and hoping to see God do in our lifetimes?

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‘Relating, reflecting and representing God’ by Claire Lynch, 4 February 2024

What does it mean to have a relationship with God, and what should we expect from one? Claire Lynch looks at the way mistaken ideas about someone’s character can misshape our relationship with them, and how important it can be to learn what someone is really like through an authentic relationship. God made us in his image, giving us the capacity for relating to him, as well as reflecting his character and representing this in our relationships with people. What aspects of God’s character would you most like to show more in your life?

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‘Advent: A story of trust’ by Owen Lynch, 3 December 2023

How would you react to news that rocked your sense of who you were and what to expect from life? Owen Lynch looks at the ways one family in Israel would have been shaken by the news of expecting a child, and how this child would have an historic role which would surprise everyone. However, along with the shock came a call to trust. What does it mean that we can trust God, and grow to trust each other, and that God trusts us?

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‘What the gospel means to me’ by Bern Leckie, 19 November 2023

What is it like to approach Jesus and faith like a child? Bern Leckie shares his experiences of growing up in a religious community and how some things seemed to make more sense than others. When Jesus told people they had to receive God’s kingdom like little children, what did he mean? Was he telling people to be mild and obedient, or hoping that they’d receive the enormous superpower of God’s love and enjoy finding out what it could do in and through them? And is this love only for a special people, or for everyone?

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‘What the gospel means to me’ by David Jennings, 12 November 2023

What can we expect from life with God? David Jennings shares his experience of being in the middle of life-changing things like people being freed from addiction, and finding that this can still be messy and difficult. Jesus promised the reality of God’s kingdom would start to be visible in our lifetimes, so how do we deal with the tension of this being both “now” and “not yet”?

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‘Rethinking wrath’ by Claire Lynch, 5 November 2023

How did the idea that God is angry with people become widespread, and is it true? Claire Lynch looks at some of the ways in history that people have formed a view of God, in many ways shaped by developing understandings of themselves. Pictures of God’s wrath seem easy to find in the Old Testament, but was there also something bigger, stronger and longer lasting being revealed? Jesus and the New Testament can make God look very different. Is this a change in God’s nature, or more of a fulfilment and completion of a picture we can now understand by following Jesus?

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‘Spiritual & Emotional Health 5 - Embracing weakness and vulnerability’ by Owen Lynch, 22 October 2023

How can we find strength by embracing our weaknesses? Owen Lynch shares about the choices he has faced in dealing with imperfections and needing to decide between denial and defensiveness or acceptance and vulnerability. Jesus told the story of the son whose admission of weakness led to stronger connection with his father than the son who claimed to have done everything right. What difference could it make to be honest about weakness with ourselves, God and someone we trust?

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