St Matthew 2: 19 – 23
When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazarene.’
Reflection
Have you ever woken from a dream and wondered what it was all about? If I can remember enough of the dream, I’ve often found I can trace aspects to events of the previous day, or things which are on my mind. Indeed Freud said that the dream is about the dreamer.
In today’s passage we have one phrase which appears twice; ‘. . in a dream . .’. Both are dreams Joseph experiences as he’s trying to do the best he can for Mary and the young child for whom Joseph has taken responsibility. Both are messages about re-locating for the good of his family. Joseph hears the messages and follows them. He was clearly certain the dreams were of God.
This is, of course, not the only place in the Bible where God speaks through a dream. That was then, though; what about now?
Some years ago, as head of a hospital chaplaincy, I was responsible for the appointment of a new team member. We advertised, read the applications, prayed, interviewed, and I informally offered someone the job. That night I woke in a cold sweat having dreamed that the person was a charlatan. And so it proved to be! I believed then, and now, that God was speaking to me in that dream. Without the dream, things would have been very different. Thank goodness for the support of HR enabling me to withdraw the offer.
Sometimes it is when we are asleep that we can most clearly hear the voice of God breaking through the busyness of our lives. Dreams we can remember are always worth holding to God and praying through – they just might be God calling.
Prayer
Here I am, Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
(Daniel L. Schutte (b1947))
URC Daily Devotion 14 October 2025
St Matthew 2: 16 – 18
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’
Reflection
These ancient agonies ring with renewed horror as we continue to watch the unfolding nightmares of Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories on the West Bank. They do so as we remember the worst attack upon Jews since the Holocaust as Hamas struck Israel on 7th October, 2023. Let them ring in our hearts as we think of the endless list of other places where atrocity and brutality has been unleashed: Sudan; Myanmar; Yemen; Ukraine; Russia; Syria; Afghanistan. On it goes, this endless flow of the teeming rivers of cruelty.
Not too many of our Christmas cards and nativity sets include this horror that comes as a sequel in Matthew to the baby born and the magi’s gifts. Actually, Matthew is giving us much more than a sequel. The killing of Bethlehem’s children is a direct consequence of the birth of the Messiah; the good news of salvation sung by angels finds its counterpoint in the bitter lamentation drifting over the shepherds’ fields as the soldiers ride away.
Studying this text, we can notice the foolishness of the ‘wise’ men, stoking the jealousy of a despotic king with blithe mention of a rival. We can notice the passing of time; Jesus could be two years old by the time the soldiers arrive. We saw, in the preceding verses, that dreams are playing their part: warning the magi not to go tell Herod anything, sending Mary, Joseph and Jesus fleeing for their lives into exile in Egypt.
But let us dwell upon the big news here. God chooses to be born into the terribly familiar world of violence and dictatorship. Fears and tears are the currency spent to keep many in power; regime survival the idol before which everything and everyone can be sacrificed. The Prince of Peace comes to disarm all of this armoury of cruelty, to overthrow this stifling disdain for human dignity. He calls us to play whatever part we might play in praying and working for goodness.
Prayer
Lord, let us conspire with you.
Let us hear the weeping:
as civilians are trapped in war and terror,
as soldiers commit crimes against humanity,
as leaders refuse to seek peace or let aid arrive.
Let us conspire with your cause:
remembering victims and survivors otherwise forgotten,
pressing people in power to act well,
protesting the systems that oppress and dehumanise.
Let us join in your salvation of all.
Amen.
URC Daily Devotion 13 October 2025
St Matthew 2: 13 – 15
Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’
Reflection
Joseph didn’t hesitate. Woken from his sleep by an angel’s warning, he rose, gathered Mary and the infant Jesus, and fled under cover of night. There was no time to prepare, no certainty about what lay ahead in Egypt – only the quiet conviction that God had spoken, and that was enough.
This short passage brims with tension. It reminds us that the birth of Jesus, full of heavenly joy and angelic song, also drew danger. Herod’s rage loomed like a shadow, and the path of obedience led not to comfort, but to exile. Yet in this chaos, God was already writing of redemption. Even Egypt – a place of ancient slavery – became part of God’s plan to protect and call His Son.
We may not hear from angels in dreams, but we are often called into unfamiliar places of trust. God sometimes reroutes us suddenly: through loss, change, or disruption. Like Joseph, we must choose to respond, not with perfect understanding, but with faith that God’s voice is always trustworthy – even when it leads us into the dark.
This story also reminds us that God’s promises are bigger than the threats we face. Herod was powerful, but not sovereign. The night was long, but not without purpose, and Egypt – once a place of captivity – became the ground of deliverance.
If you are walking a road that you didn’t plan, take heart, for God sees the whole map, even when the turns in the road feel like detours. His presence goes with you, even in the unfamiliar!
Prayer
Lord, when we cannot see the path ahead,
help us to trust the One who calls us forward.
Keep us faithful, and remind us that your promises still hold,
even when the journey is hard.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.
URC Daily Devotion Sunday 12 October 2025
Psalm 102
O Lord, listen to my prayer
and let my cry for help reach you.
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear towards me
and answer me quickly when I call.
For my days are vanishing like smoke,
my bones burn away like a fire.
My heart is withered like the grass.
I forget to eat my bread.
I cry with all my strength
and my skin clings to my bones.
I have become like a pelican in the wilderness
like an owl in desolate places.
I lie awake and I moan
like some lonely bird on a roof.
All day long my foes revile me;
those who hate me use my name as a curse.
The bread I eat is ashes;
my drink is mingled with tears.
In your anger, Lord, and your fury
you have lifted me up and thrown me down.
My days are like a passing shadow
and I wither away like the grass.
But you, O Lord, will endure for ever
and your name from age to age.
You will arise and have mercy on Zion:
for this is the time to have mercy,
(yes, the time appointed has come)
for your servants love her very stones,
are moved with pity even for her dust.
The nations shall fear the name of the Lord
and all the earth’s kings your glory,
when the Lord shall build up Zion again
and appear in all his glory.
Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless;
he will not despise their prayers.
Let this be written for ages to come
that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord;
for the Lord leaned down from his sanctuary on high.
He looked down from heaven to the earth
that he might hear the groans of the prisoners
and free those condemned to die.
Our descendents shall dwell untroubled
and their race shall endure before you
that the name of the Lord may be proclaimed in Zion
and his praise in the heart of Jerusalem,
when peoples and kingdoms are gathered together
to pay their homage to the Lord.
He has broken my strength in mid-course;
he has shortened the days of my life.
I say to God: “Do not take me away
before my day are complete,
you, whose days last from age to age.
Long ago you founded the earth
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish but you will remain.
They will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like clothes that are changed.
But you neither change, nor have an end.”
Reflection
This ancient anonymous prayer-lament seems remarkably contemporary. Faced with the horror of a world where thousands of people are dying of starvation, or crushed by arbitrary violence, where towns are being wantonly reduced to rubble, we lament. We see that the universe is not exclusively rational – that waves of feeling get out of control. Does nobody care?
We may, like the psalmist, retreat into ourselves. He gives a vivid description of his distress; he is powerless, anxious, afraid, very lonely. There is no connection here with personal wrong doing; but in a world of deep fake, he is reviled. God’s behaviour too is opaque and arbitrary. He picks him up in kindness and love only to dash him down like an enemy. Lengthening shadows indicate the approach of death and the petitioner is left to wither away in mourning.
He then turns to the future, contrasting his mortality with God’s immortality; God’s promises to restore an abandoned Zion may ultimately prove true; a change in the city’s fortunes may be imminent. Certainly this is the hope of God’s servants who cling to Zion’s scattered stones and ruins! The people of God who have borne suffering and despair now share God’s plan for Zion with foreign peoples and kingdoms; all have their part to play in the future of God’s city.
But the speaker is not consoled. The vision of change in Zion’s fortunes is too far ahead – the cries of the destitute are yet to be heard, captives still to be released. Although he now pleads directly to God for rescue from premature death, he knows that he is subject to mortality like every other creature – but he knows too that God endures and is not subject to the passage of time. In that lies the firm hope of succeeding generations.
Prayer
Today, O Lord, give me a strong sense that you are by my side. If I should fall into any adversity, then let me not brood upon my own sorrows, as if I alone in the world were suffering, but let me busy myself in encouraging others who need help. So may the power of my Lord Jesus Christ be strong within me and his peace keep my spirit. Amen
Daily Devotion for Saturday 11th October 2025
St Matthew 2: 1 – 12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.”’
Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Reflection
It is likely that you have heard this passage countless times…but have you ever read it in early October? Maybe reading it out-of-season might bring a fresh perspective.
I consider the traditional nativity play to be both a blessing and a curse. A blessing with children learning the narrative of Jesus’ birth; but a curse in consigning it – along with Santa Claus – to the fairy-stories of childhood. Ever known a secondary school putting on a Nativity? For so many, the Nativity-play is the start and end of their contact with the Gospel.
Herod? He existed. In today’s reading, we get a glimpse into his plotting and scheming. His paranoid tyranny is recorded history. The wisemen’s coming frightens him. Frightened despots are dangerous. No wonder all Jerusalem was frightened, too. More of his violence in Tuesday’s devotion…The star? In 2019, the BBC’s Sky at Night explored possible explanations – They conclude it was probably a comet, attested by Chinese astronomers: “In the second year of the period of Ch’ien-p’ing, second month, a hui-hsing [‘broom star’] appeared in Ch’ien-niu for more than 70 days”.
For obvious reasons of the star’s visibility, we read that the wisemen visited the Holy Family during the hours of darkness. Our Christmas-card Nativity-scenes typically depict three, richly-garmented men, each carrying one gift. Our reading mentions that their gifts came from their opened “treasure-chests” (plural).
The hymn “We Three Kings” gives us one perspective of the meaning of each gift – Jesus the King, the Priest and the Sacrifice – but these expensive gifts will take on real monetary value once the Holy Family become refugees, fleeing Herod’s slaughter, and paying their way in Egypt.
There is a lot going on in today’s reading, and much of it is not the U-certificate of the Nativity-play or Nativity-scene. Imagine the complaints filling the primary-school headteacher’s inbox, were the play wholly faithful to the Biblical text!
God’s message remains real and relevant today to all ages.
Prayer
Loving God,
whenever we read a very familiar text,
like this narrative of the wisemen,
we pray for Your Holy Spirit
to open the Scriptures anew.
We pray for those
who have not yet heard of You.
We pray for those who are seeking,
taking the first steps in faith.
Help us to respond to Your Word,
whose servants we are
with all Your people through the years. Amen.
URC Daily Devotion Thursday, 9 October 2025
St Matthew 1: 1 – 17
An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
Reflection
There’s something deeply moving about tracing one’s family history. You may have watched celebrities doing it on television, or you might have done it yourself. In former times it involved long travel to records offices and poring over microfilms, but today most of the records are online and can be accessed from home. In my own family I encountered many of the usual research difficulties, unanswerable questions, and surprises hidden away, as many of you may have done.
Where family history comes alive is when there are photos and stories. Then I find myself feeling that I am connected to names I’ve never met, indeed who died decades before I was born. That’s the beauty of Matthew 1: it begins not with action or miracles, but with a list of names: Jesus’ family (well, actually it’s Joseph’s family, but we’ll leave that for another day).
This genealogy isn’t just a historical record, it’s a tapestry of grace, woven from brokenness and redemption. Names like Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth remind us that Jesus’ lineage includes outsiders, the scandalous, the faithful, and the forgotten. It’s not a perfect line of saints, it’s a story of people just like us. God doesn’t shy away from our messy stories, rather God embraces and uses them. My own family tree has its share of dysfunction and hurt, but just as God worked through every generation to bring about the Messiah, God is at work in my family too.
Matthew’s careful accounting, three sets of fourteen generations, is no accident. Jesus came at the right time, through the right people, with all their imperfections, to be the Saviour for all.
If your family history feels broken or unimportant: God redeems stories. Your life is part of a larger narrative, just as Jesus’ birth was. Every name matters. Every life has purpose. Even yours.
Prayer
Loving God, thank you for weaving beauty from brokenness and purpose from every name in Jesus’ family tree. You remind us that no story is beyond your redemption. Use my life to carry your light forward. Let me walk in faith, knowing I am always part of your family. Thank You for calling me your own. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
URC Daily Devotion Wednesday, 8 October 2025
1 Timothy 6: 11 – 21
But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen. As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the profane chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge; by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith. Grace be with you.
Reflection
In 2 Timothy 1, Paul gives us three pictures of the Christian life: a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer. What unites them? The need to persevere, even when the going gets tough. Here in 1 Timothy 6, Paul is using soldier-like imagery as he urges Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith.” What does that look like?
First, it means shunning false teachers; those who cause controversies and friction between people; and idols such as the love of money (vv.3-5,10). I wonder: What do you and I need to shun to live faithfully as Jesus’ disciples?
Secondly, it means fighting – not other people, but the attacks of the enemy, who seeks to lead us away from Christ. In CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, a master demon tells his young apprentice “The safest road to hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” I wonder: Are we alert to the spiritual battle going on around us – and within our own hearts?
Thirdly, we need to take hold of the new, eternal life Jesus offers – a life of righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. When we hear the words ‘eternal life’, our minds can immediately jump forward to heaven. That’s a part of it, but when the Bible speaks of ‘eternal life’, it’s not just thinking of the life to come. One translation puts it like this: “get a firm grasp on the life of the coming age” – because eternal life starts now. Sometimes we make the mistake of only looking ahead to heaven when God’s calling us to bring heaven down to earth.
Shunning, fighting and taking hold are all active, not passive. What might God be calling you to do this week to shun, fight and take hold?
Prayer
Gracious God,
help us to shun all that leads us away from you.
Equip us with your armour to fight the forces of darkness.
Enable us to take hold of your eternal, kingdom life.
Shape us so that our lives shine with righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
Embolden us to work with you, bringing heaven to earth in all that we do.
Amen.
URC Daily Devotion Tuesday 7 October 2025
1 Timothy 6: 2b – 10
Teach and urge these duties. Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness, is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
Reflection
‘If we have food and clothing, we will be content with those’. Contentment is highly underrated but how different a world we would live in if our aim was to be, and to help others be, content. Instead so much of social media, advertising and commerce is inclined, and even designed, to foster discontent. ‘Got a new phone? Well the newer version will be released soon and will be so much slicker – wouldn’t you rather have that?’, ‘That’s a nice pair of trousers but orange and tight fitting is so “last year”!’
Some clothing companies deliberately change their range with such frequency that the ‘outdated’ textiles are just dumped, polluting the environment. And do we really need a new, faster car that would get us to the shops three minutes quicker if it were not for the pesky speed limit? Are we not trying to reduce emissions, not increase them?
Paul’s letter to TImothy could just have easily have been written for today. God must sigh to witness the societal greed that is not only destroying creation but stealing our souls, leading to division and poverty and impeded mental health. We had a taste of a slightly different life during Covid-19 and swore to learn lessons from it, but within weeks of lockdown lifting, people felt they ‘had earned a holiday abroad’ after the ‘deprivation’ they had ‘endured’. Oh, to be content with the multitude of good, simple things we enjoy – our daily bread.
We comfort eat and indulge in retail therapy to ease the emptiness of failing to take comfort in what we have, sufficient food and clothing and the grace of a loving saviour who claims us as God’s own.
Prayer
Generous and gracious God,
grant us a sense of contentment.
Take our striving, our yearning, our ever wanting more,
and replace them with appreciation, with giving, with Godliness.
What more could we need but you?
As we pray ‘Give us this day our daily bread’,
help us truly recognise that this is indeed enough.
Make us content, Lord. Amen.
URC Daily Devotion Monday 6 October 2025
1 Timothy 6: 1 – 2
Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honour, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful to them on the ground that they are members of the church; rather they must serve them all the more, since those who benefit by their service are believers and beloved.
Reflection
Fortunately, I needn’t worry about how to behave towards someone who has enslaved me nor what advice to give an enslaved person about their relationship with their enslaver, since my church does not include both enslaved people and their “owners” as members, but that’s not the whole story.
Paul, says one recent writer (Dick France), ‘is almost obsessively concerned that the behaviour of Christians should not bring the gospel into disrepute.’ How Jesus’s followers behave towards others affects how people perceive Jesus; how they see God.
All are worthy of our respect for they are creatures made and loved by God. Some are also our siblings in Christ – fellow family members. You wouldn’t expect to get away with something in the workplace just because your manager is a fellow church member; it wouldn’t be fair to them. And if others got to hear that this is how Christian church members behave …
Of course, what’s true for workers, the humble, and the enslaved also holds good for managers, the mighty and slaveholders. Everyone over whom they have authority is to be honoured as a person beloved by God, and some as fellow members of the Jesus family.
I really wish Paul had been asked to comment about this side of things. I’m sure he would have said that “owners” had to treat their slaves justly since all are God’s fellow creatures, and some are “family” members. If pushed, though, might he not also have questioned whether it is really possible to honour someone if you enslave them?
When a system is intrinsically wrong no amount of good behaviour redeems it. To attempt that brings the gospel into disrepute. Paul’s advice is that there is a gospel imperative for individuals to behave well towards others. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see some gospel-related wider issues.
Prayer
O God, help us honour all people since they are loved by you, not forgetting our Jesus-family friends. And when it’s needed, give us courage to change anything that would prevent us from doing so. Amen.
Sunday Worship 5 October 2025
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