Wednesday, 5 November 2025 

St Matthew 6: 5 – 8
 
Jesus said:  ‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  ‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
 
Reflection

Jesus says,  “whenever you pray”.  Not “if” but “whenever”.   Is our prayer life, I wonder, part of our regular “when” rather than our occasional “if”?   Most, if not all of us, are at risk of regarding prayer as “for emergency use only” rather than being as basic as breathing.  By spotlighting the act of praying in the public gaze and with “many words” we are also alerted to the further danger of limiting our prayer life to those occasions when we gather for public worship.   By contrast Jesus urges us to pray within the personal and private space of our own homes and with the honest vocabulary of those for whom prayer is the regular and natural conversation with God as loving parent.

There is value, of course, in the formal prayers of the Church, gathered for public worship and I am among those who are grateful for those whose written prayers enhance our worship – including the URC’s annual Prayer Handbook.   But if in any other relationship we only communicated with one another when out together in public that relationship would be a very limited one.   In today’s gospel reading we are encouraged to resist the notion that our prayer life is judged by its length and fluency or that “heaping up” prayers will benefit our cause.  We are reassured that God expects nothing more than what we are prepared to say when no one else is listening apart from God alone.

One of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard was offered at the close of the prayer I had said to conclude a meeting.  One of those attending interjected and prayed a prayer for me and ended it with, “Sorry, God, I know the words could be improved but given that Geoffrey has prayed for each of us I wanted to pray for him too”.  Ultimately it is not about perfection of vocabulary but heartfelt intention. 

Prayer

We dare to believe, dearest Lord, 
that you know our every need.
We thank you for the assurance 
that however much we might struggle to find the right words
in Christ you encourage us to make space for prayer 
and to close the door to all but your gaze upon us.
We offer to you what is on our hearts and minds,
asking that those for whom we pray might know strength and peace.
In Christ’s name, Amen.

4 November 2025
 

St Matthew 5: 43 – 48

‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.”  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Reflection

We follow the rules 100%, right?  Jesus has been challenging a simple ‘rules-based’ view of God’s commandments and reimagining them as a way of living that gives life, encourages deep relationships, and feeds our souls. For people who like easy to follow rules, it’s challenging stuff – culminating with the ever-so problematic “love your enemies and pray” for them.  I can’t just throw charity at them and call it love; something in me needs to want to seek God’s blessing for them through prayer.  

Specifically, Jesus is reimagining Leviticus 19:18 – the “love your neighbour as yourself” bit.  Before we are tempted to think this only applies to people who are ‘like us,’ Jesus reminds us that God’s kindness of sun and rain is given to all people.  He also says that those people who society perceived to be unlovable by God (i.e. tax collectors and Gentiles) understand how to love those who are ‘like them’.  However, God’s people are called to be “perfect” like God – to share kindness without distinction.  We are encouraged to remember our place in God’s creation and that our perceived enemies are loved by the same God who loves us.  This teaching touches every sphere – politics, sports, community, education, commerce, family, church, identity, etc.  It’s a difficult teaching, but it’s a teaching we need to hear if we humans are ever going to “be perfect” like God.

I used to see the word “perfect” here like getting 100% on a test, which implies that to be imperfect was to get things wrong, to be less than 100%.  However, the “perfect” Jesus talks about is growing up or maturing as disciples.  Part of growing up or maturing as God’s people is realising that just as God’s kindness through Creation is universal, so is God’s love.  Mature disciples are called to love as God loves, without categorising people into “us vs them.”

Prayer

God, help me to grow up.
Help me to reflect Your character 
and to be a positive difference.
Help me to love those 
I find annoying or challenging.
Help me to pray 
and to seek Your best for them.

Spend time praying for at least one person.  

God, I ask that You pour 
Your blessings upon this person.  
Let them know of Your love. 
Amen

 

 Psalm 105

Alleluia!

Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.

O sing to him, sing his praise;
tell all his wonderful works!
Be proud of his holy name,
let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.

Consider the Lord and his strength;
constantly seek his face.
Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, the judgments he spoke.

O children of Abraham, his servant,
O children of the Jacob he chose,
he, the Lord, is our God;
his judgments prevail in all the earth.

He remembers his covenant for ever,
his promise for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.

He confirmed it for Jacob as a law,
for Israel as a covenant for ever.
He said: “I am giving you a land,
Canaan, your appointed heritage.”

When they were few in number,
a handful of strangers in the land,
when they wandered from country to country,

from one kingdom and nation to another,

he allowed no one to oppress them;
he admonished kings on their account:
 ‘Do not touch those I have anointed;
do no harm to any of my prophets.”

But he called down a famine on the land;
he broke the staff that supported them.
He had sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.

His feet were put in chains,
his neck was bound with iron,
until what he said came to pass
and the word of the Lord proved him true.

Then the king sent and released him
the ruler of the people set him free,
making him master of his house
and ruler of all he possessed,

to instruct his princes as he pleased
and to teach his elders wisdom.
So Israel came into Egypt;
Jacob lived in the country of Ham.

He gave his people increase;
he made them stronger than their foes,
whose hearts he turned to hate his people
and to deal deceitfully with his servants.

Then he sent Moses his servant
and Aaron the man he had chosen.
Through them he showed his marvels
and his wonders in the country of Ham.

He sent darkness, and dark was made
but Egypt resisted his words.
He turned the waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.

Their land was alive with frogs,
even to the halls of their kings.
He spoke; the dog-fly came
and gnats covered the land.

He sent hailstones in place of the rain
and flashing fire in their land.

He struck their vines and fig trees;
he shattered the trees through their land.

He spoke; the locusts came,
young locusts, too many to be counted.
They ate up every land in the land;
they ate up all the fruit of their fields.

He struck all the first-born in their land,
the finest flower of their sons.
He led out Israel with silver and gold.
In his tribes were none who fell behind.

Egypt rejoiced when they left
for dread had fallen upon them.
He spread a cloud as a screen
and fire to give light in the darkness.

When they asked for food he sent quails;
he filled them with bread from heaven.
He pierced the rock to give them water;
it gushed forth in the desert like a river.

For he remembered his holy word,
which he gave to Abraham his servant.
So he brought out his people with joy,
his chosen ones with shouts of rejoicing.

And he gave them the land of the nations.
They took the fruit of other’s toil,
that thus they might keep his precepts,
that thus they might observe his laws.

 Alleluia

Reflection

Reading Psalm 105 we get a potted history, a perhaps selective history, but still a retelling of Israel’s story.  From the time Abraham was called, and God made a covenant with him, through the lives of Isaac and Jacob.  A time in Egypt, a period of famine, where Joseph saved the day but then slavery when Pharoah tried to bring an end to the Jewish people.  But then came Moses and Aaron, plagues and finally the exodus of the Jews through the Red Sea.

All this happened because God remembered his promise to Abraham and so the people rejoiced at all God had done for them.

I say this is a selective history because there is no mention of what the people did, nothing about them questioning Moses and wishing they were back in Egypt because at least they had food there!

I wonder if we too are selective when we look back at our lives and what we have done.  Oh yes, we offer our prayers of confession, but how often are these generic – we are sorry for the things we have said and done or indeed not said and done.  But do we actually name them? 

Do we think of the time we ignored the Big Issue seller because we didn’t have two minutes to stop and chat and buy a copy?  Can we name a time when we know someone would have appreciated a phone call, a listening ear, but again it just felt too much like hard work?

We can all be selective in our lives; we remember the good things we’ve done and try not to focus on the things we could have done better or wish we’d never done at all.  I guess that is a human trait.

But still like the psalmist we can rejoice in what God has done for us and try to be more honest in future. 
 
Prayer

Loving God, we offer you our thanks and praise for all you have done for us.
Help us always to ‘keep your statutes and observe your laws’ as we continue to praise you.  Amen

 

St Matthew  5: 38 – 42

‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”  But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;  and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well;  and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.  Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

Reflection

Walter Wink (1935-2012) was an American theologian and activist who wrote the book ‘Jesus and Nonviolence (A Third Way)’. In this reading Jesus says: ‘do not resist an evildoer’. Wink explains that there are usually two ways to respond to evil – passivity or violent opposition. He then cites that there is a third way, a way of nonviolence, articulated by Jesus: instead of giving back like for like, Jesus encourages loving enemies, with a resistance that disarms the powerful.

When I first heard this I was fascinated and read up on it and demonstrated it in worship. ‘If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also’…at which point the young lad who I had asked to come and help me show what I meant, moved forward slightly and instead of pretending to hit him, I whacked him and momentarily he was unable to turn his head! When he did, I was able to show that, by turning his head back to where it had been, I could not give him a second, backhanded slap, which was the way those in power often humiliated others and asserted their authority. By that small action, the power balance shifted. In relation to going the second mile carrying someone’s pack, a soldier could be punished for letting someone carry their pack more than a mile; and the giving of a cloak as well meant the person demanding the coat would leave the other person with no clothes and so would be the one humiliated (not the naked one). Again, subversion of power.

I really appreciated this interpretation of the text as it shows Jesus advocating a way that isn’t submission (this text has been used – incorrectly in my view – to justify abuse, especially against women) but strength to the oppressed, justice, and a radical standing up to power, systems and structures that oppress. 

Prayer

Justice seeking God,
You call us to live well together in peace and harmony 
and yet we fall short so often. 
We perpetuate systems and structures that oppress
and we fail to look out for the weak, the poor and the marginalised. 
Jesus showed us that there is another way to live that is countercultural and radical. 
Be with us as we seek to follow him. 
Amen.

 

‘Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.”  But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,  or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.  And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.  Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Reflection

Let your yes be YES and your no be NO – it’s in the Bible, yet somehow saying NO, particularly in church life, can feel impossible.  It feels rude, disrespectful, ungrateful, obstructive.  It feels wrong.                                           

Being able to say NO is very important – if we can’t say NO then our YES doesn’t really have value. If YES doesn’t come from a place of free choice then it is not a gift.  So why do we feel bad when we say NO?    Often this is because what sounds like an ASK is actually a TELL – someone is telling us to do something but dressing it up as a request.  And we have to say YES.  We are so used to this way of interacting that we come to believe all ASKs are in fact TELLs.  So the first thing to reflect on, when your heart say NO but somehow your mouth say YES, is does the person posing the request have the authority to tell you to do something?  If so, is that because of their role (eg your boss) or because you have given them this authority?  In either case should that authority extend to the thing they are requesting, is this reasonable?

If it is not a TELL, then it is an ASK which means that NO is as acceptable a response as YES.  It might not help the person asking, but it doesn’t make anything any worse.  It really is OK to say NO.   Which also means it is OK for others ot say no to us, something we should accept with grace.  When we empower ourselves and others to say NO then our YES becomes really powerful.  We will no longer find ourselves muttering oaths under our breath when we say YES but want to say NO.  And we will no longer need to back up an honest YES with an oath, because everyone knows we mean YES, or we would have said NO.

Prayer

Jesus – your yes meant yes, and your no meant no.
Help us as followers of your way to honour others with a simple yes or no.
God, in love you gifted us free choice,
help us learn how to exercise this wisely and enable others to do so too.
Most of all, help us to say a wholehearted YES to you, and your offer of fulness of life.
Amen.

St Matthew 5: 31 – 32

Jesus said: ‘It was also said, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.”  But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Reflection
 
These verses, perhaps unsurprisingly, were among the last to be picked by a writer for these devotions. They are challenging, especially if like me, you have been divorced. I am (happily) remarried now, which compounds the challenge these verses present. 

I can counter the force of these verses as they land today. Jesus was speaking into a culture where a divorced woman could be left unsupported and in poverty, especially if (in contrast with a widow) she was not allowed the honourable possibility of being remarried. The force of Jesus’ teaching is to protest against the way that people could, rather casually, cast off an unwanted spouse and leave them destitute. We could argue that, our culture and society having changed, divorced people can make a new life and often do. Post divorce, single parents and their children are not left to suffer either extreme poverty or societal rejection. Most of us believe that it is better to leave a painful relationship than to put up with it. We might even rejoice in the high expectations of marriage (or generally of relationships) today that mean we don’t expect people to stay together in misery. 

But, there is something about the challenge of these verses that I can’t quite escape. There are things about being divorced I still regret; the effect on my daughter, my own failure to live up to what I had promised, my own failure… I cannot simply justify it. There will always be something left of guilt and regret, for which I need forgiveness. 
What do we do with the parts of our life story that remain as marks upon us? They leave scar tissue and we need to be honest about that, as about the scars we leave on others. But Jesus who probably did say words like these, also taught us to forgive others, and, I trust, forgives us. 
 
Prayer
 
Lord Jesus, 
who spoke bravely 
in defence of those cast aside, 
may we open up to you,
about our deepest regrets,
and most pervasive guilts,
so that scars may heal 
and new life grow.
Please welcome us 
into your new community,
where no-one is rejected,
when all may find love,
and each of us, 
forgiveness. 

St Matthew 5: 21 – 26

‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.”  But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire.  So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,  leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.  Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.  Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Reflection

Goodness, this is hard hitting. It’s easy to skim over it without thinking, but listen to those words of Jesus again. He is talking about judgement:  not just the judgement of murderers and thieves, but the judgement of each one of us in our relationships with one another. He seems to be saying that unresolved anger, irritation, disdain of others actually separates us from God. It is vitally important to sort these things out before you come to God. Sounds like the fires of hell are going to be well stoked!

I mean, who doesn’t have some sort of ill-feeling towards another? I know I do. I try to be forgiving, but it’s a hard task sometimes. And I try to apologise when I have done or said something hurtful to another. But my, it’s not easy and I don’t know that I always succeed. Only the other day I called my son a fool for not wearing suncream while gardening on a very sunny day – only to be caught out myself a few days later playing crazy golf in the sun (and yes, I did call myself a fool too – it burnt like hell’s fire!).

The two greatest commandments – to love God and love your neighbour – are, in fact, one. You can’t love God without loving your neighbour – they are two sides of the same coin. Jesus’ story about the good Samaritan is one illustration about loving your neighbour, but your neighbour can be much closer to home too – someone who’s involved in your everyday life just as much as the stranger in need you meet on your journey. No point bringing your gifts or your worship to God, says Jesus, if there’s an outstanding issue between you and your neighbour. Like the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, perhaps we need to admit our weakness, make amends and repair relationships. Oh dear, where do I start?

Prayer

Loving, forgiving God,
how do you do it? 
How do you forgive us our wrongs so readily?
I prefer to hold a grudge.
And as for admitting I’ve failed and making amends,
well, that’s a challenge!
But to love you, I must love your children – all of them.
Help me recognise where hurt separates us
and take steps to put things right.
Then I can also put things right with you.
Amen. 

Almighty and eternal God,
long ago you gave your promise to Abraham and Sarah and their posterity.
Listen to your Church as we pray that the people you first made your own
may arrive at the fullness of redemption,
and that we, grafted onto the vine of Your people,
may balance tradition and innovation,
that we may arrive, with them and all the redeemed,
into your coming Kingdom,
Amen.