Pictures of Easter

Here's my article for April:

There are many images associated with Easter: bunnies, chicks, decorated eggs, bunches of Spring flowers; but often associated with the religious celebration of Easter is a picture of a hill with three crosses on it, and sometimes a rising sun behind it.  For those who aren't familiar with all the details of the Easter story, this can be a bit confusing.  They might know that Easter is something to do with the death of Jesus on a cross, but who are the other two crosses for?  Perhaps they are for two of his followers?  The answer is that “Two rebels were crucified with [Jesus], one on his right and one on his left” (Matthew 27:38).

The crime of these two men is translated many ways, and traditionally they are said to be thieves, however the translation above is probably closest to the truth.  We know this because crucifixion was the penalty for  rebels or revolutionaries, especially if they were slaves (think Spartacus!).   Jesus was charged with blasphemy by the Jewish religious leaders for claiming he was divine, but the Romans put him to death on a charge of treason for claiming to be the king (John 19:1-16).  Ironically he wasn't leading a rebellion and that was one of the reasons the Jewish leaders turned against him!

So Jesus was crucified along with guilty rebels, and in the place of another rebel, Barabbas, whose rebellion also involved murder (Luke 23:18-19).  So it is likely that they too were guilty of violent and murderous insurrection.  Today we might call them terrorists.

These terrorists were trying to overthrow the occupying Romans and regain an independent nation, and they looked for a Messiah, a warrior king, who would do exactly that.  However, Jesus didn't come as a nationalist leader.  But this makes the words of one of the rebels to Jesus even more appropriate: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).  The terrorist realises that he had been fighting for the wrong kingdom, and instead wants to join Jesus in his kingdom.

Jesus was not offering a Jewish nationalistic alternative to a Roman colonialist system, but a kingdom that is “not of this world” (John 18:36).  He was misunderstood both by his people and by the Romans, and he continues to be misunderstood whenever he is appropriated to a political cause.  Jesus didn't come to be a left-wing alternative to a right-wing government, or vice-versa.  Jesus came to inaugurate a kingdom where he is king; where all ideologies and world-views are de-throned; and our ultimate allegiance is to God.

So if you see a picture of three crosses on a hill, you may want to ask yourself which kingdom you are fighting for, and perhaps to ask Jesus to join him in his.

Lent Reflections 2026: Palm Sunday and Humility

We have spent the past five weeks thinking about humility, and looking to Jesus as being both the exemplar of humility, and also the one whose Spirit enables us to to become more humble.

Today, we start Holy Week by remembering Jesus' entry into Jerusalem a few days before his death and resurrection. The Gospels record how Jesus came riding into the city, whilst the crowds lined the road, waving branches in celebration and laying their cloaks on the road as a carpet. They praised him as God's representative and hailed him as king. We call it Jesus' Triumphal Entry; not only does he enter in triumph but his entry is reminiscent of that of the Roman Emperor.

This doesn't seem to be very humble!! It's sometimes said that Jesus is showing his humility by riding a donkey rather than a horse, but the meaning of this (as we see from the quote from Zechariah 9:9) is that Jesus is coming gently and in peace, rather than on a horse, which symbolises war. The Zechariah quote also says that it is the king who comes on the donkey.

So, Jesus is clearly coming as king. He could have walked into Jerusalem along with everyone else; he could even have slipped into Jerusalem unnoticed, as he did in John 7:10. Instead, he deliberately sets up the situation in which through symbolism he claims to be the Messianic King, coming to the capital city Jerusalem to claim his throne. How can this be the actions of someone who is humble?

The answer comes most vividly as we read the second set of petitions in the Litany of Humility: freedom from the fear of being humiliated, despised, rebuked, calumniated, forgotten, ridiculed, wronged and suspected. Jesus knew he was the Messiah, and he knew that that meant that he would “be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him” (Mark 10:33-34). He knew that his throne in Jerusalem would be the cross – above his head would be the words “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19)

Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8), he was obedient to his Father, but he also humbled himself by putting our need for salvation above his desires for praise and even for life itself.   The proof of God's amazing love is that while we were sinners, Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8) – Jesus was hated so we could be loved.

Jesus rides into Jerusalem proclaiming himself as the Messianic King. But he would subvert the expectation of what that meant by pointing to what the Old Testament said about the coming Messiah. In doing so, he would show us what true humility looks like.

“This is our God, the Servant King. He calls us now to follow him.”

Lent Reflections 2026: The Litany of Humility 5

 

On our parish News Sheets this Lent, we're looking through the “Litany of Humility.”

A litany is a form of prayer with a repeated responsive petition and in the Book of Common Prayer, there is a litany that is “to be sung or said after Morning Prayer, upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”

The Litany of Humility, at least in this form, was written by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, the Secretary of State to Pope Pius X, in the early Twentieth Century. C. S. Lewis found this prayer particularly helpful, and many people use it as part of their daily prayer life, especially during Lent.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being honoured, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

The Litany of Humility starts with asking Jesus to deliver us from un-humble desires, and it ends with asking for the grace of humble desires. In particular, we ask for the grace to desire that others 'succeed' more than us. The Litany takes us on a journey of ever-deepening humility: we start by asking to be delivered from the desire for praise; then for deliverance from the fear of disapproval; finally we pray that others would be preferred to us.

Gore Vidal famously said “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies” which highlights how fragile our self-esteem can be especially when others do well.  And if this is true for our friends who we care about, how much more is it true for those we don't?  We might be able to cope with not receiving the praise we're due; we might even be able to cope with being despised; but it's really hard to want others to be loved, esteemed, praised and preferred more than us.  Humility is not just about being content with what we do or don't get, it is also about wanting others to succeed. And so we have to pray for the grace to desire it.

It is a grace because it is something we don't deserve.  We are naturally competitive, our instincts are self-centred and self-interested. James writes “What causes fights and quarrels among you?  Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight” (James 4:1-2).  Our fallen human nature deserves eternal punishment, but not only does God mercifully not demand that punishment from us, to those who trust in Jesus he graciously gives his Holy Spirit, to transform those desires into conformity with his own.  “Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants” (Romans 8:5 Good News Translation).

So again, Jesus is our model.  Although he is God, he emptied himself and became human, and more than that, he became a servant, who was content to die to take the punishment we deserve for our human nature (Philippians 2:5-8 and Mark 10:45).  So if he can lay aside his divine glory so that we can be forgiven and exalted, we should also lay aside our petty pretensions and rejoice when others increase and we decrease.  However, his example is an impossibly high standard for us to follow so we need his grace, his Holy Spirit, to change us into his likeness.

We even need his grace to help us to desire to be like him. We can easily say the Litany of Humility without really meaning it, or adding 'exceptions' to the petitions.

Jesus, grant us the grace to desire humility, whatever the cost.

Lent Reflections 2026: The Litany of Humility 4

On our parish News Sheets this Lent, we're looking through the “Litany of Humility.”

A litany is a form of prayer with a repeated responsive petition and in the Book of Common Prayer, there is a litany that is “to be sung or said after Morning Prayer, upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”

The Litany of Humility, at least in this form, was written by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, the Secretary of State to Pope Pius X, in the early Twentieth Century. C. S. Lewis found this prayer particularly helpful, and many people use it as part of their daily prayer life, especially during Lent.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being honoured, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

Alongside the fear of disapproval, in the second section of petitions we also ask Jesus to deliver us from the fear of being calumniated, wronged and suspected. These are similar to the fear of disapproval but carry with them the sense of unjust suffering. But again we're not asking to be delivered from unjust suffering, but we're asking to not let the fear of unjust suffering stop us from following God's ways.

This is a great reminder that becoming a Christian doesn't mean that our life becomes trouble-free. Indeed in some ways the opposite is true. Jesus tells us that following him means denying ourselves and taking up our cross (Mark 8:34), and that we will face unjust persecution just as he did (John 15:20). This means that not only will we face the normal difficulties of life, but that we will also face suffering when we do what is right and good. When we live as God wants us to live, and share our faith as he has commanded us to do, we may encounter not just ridicule, but our motives might be twisted and it may result in things like broken relationships, loss of social standing, or damage to careers.

Peter wrote “if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed...it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:14,17). If we are afraid of such consequences we may shy away from living out our faith as whole-heartedly as we should.

One way God answers this prayer for deliverance from fear is to give us examples, both in the Bible and throughout the history of the Church, of those for whom following God's ways led to suffering. Stephen was the first of many Christian martyrs (Acts 6-7); Paul speaks of his sufferings for the gospel in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27; in Revelation, John describes himself as a “companion in the suffering” (Revelation 1:9) along with the churches he is writing to.

Another way God helps us is to show us that we don't have to 'grin and bear' this suffering, or, as Kipling would have it, to treat Triumph and Disaster as if they are the same. Instead, God caused words of anger, frustration and bemoaning to be recorded as part of Holy Scripture – indeed there is a whole book called Lamentations! The Psalms in particular give expression to these feelings: Psalm 13:1-2 says “How long will my enemy triumph over me?”; Psalm 73:3,13,14 says “I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure...All day long I have been afflicted”.

However, most famously Psalm 22 starts with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, which takes us to the ultimate example of undeserved suffering: Jesus. He is the reason Peter says we should suffer for doing good. And if we share in his sufferings we will also share in his glory (Romans 8:17).

Lent Reflections 2026: The Litany of Humility 3

On our parish News Sheets this Lent, we're looking through the “Litany of Humility.”

A litany is a form of prayer with a repeated responsive petition and in the Book of Common Prayer, there is a litany that is “to be sung or said after Morning Prayer, upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”

The Litany of Humility, at least in this form, was written by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, the Secretary of State to Pope Pius X, in the early Twentieth Century. C. S. Lewis found this prayer particularly helpful, and many people use it as part of their daily prayer life, especially during Lent.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being honoured, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

The second section of petitions ask Jesus to deliver us from the fear of certain things, though we're not talking about phobias. It makes sense for us to want to be delivered from ungodly or un-humble desires, as we pray in the first section But why pray to be delivered from fears?

The answer comes from looking at what those fears are: being humiliated, despised, rebuked and ridiculed. These are all opposites of the desires for praise and approval in the first petition. Humility means not just that we are happy not to have acclaim, but that we are content even if we have the opposite, even if we are despised and disapproved of.

But we are not asking that we are not humiliated, instead we are asking to be delivered from the fear of being humiliated. We are asking that the fear of disapproval doesn't dictate our actions, or lack of actions. Just as the desire for popularity and approval can lead us to act wrongly and not act rightly, so too can the fear of disapproval or ridicule.

In some ways the fear of disapproval is more powerful than the desire for approval. We often do things that get no recognition, and although that is disappointing, it doesn't stop us from doing them again. We can also do things in the knowledge that we will get no recognition for them, and we can even do things deliberately so that we get no recognition. As long as we don't act this way for smug self-satisfaction and a sense of superiority over 'approval-seekers', these are humble ways of behaving. However, we are more reluctant to do things deliberately that will draw criticism, even if it the right thing to do. The reason good people remain silent, allowing evil to triumph, is often because of the fear of the repercussions. In extreme times that might be persecution, loss of livelihood or even death, but more commonly good people remain silent or don't act because of a fear of disapproval or ridicule.

This is particularly seen when it comes to matters of faith. People are often afraid of whole-heartedly committing to being a Christian, because they know that that will mean a huge change in their lives, and they don't want to be seen as 'radical' or 'fundamentalist.' So instead they say they are a Christian but don't let it affect the way they live. Fear also stops people sharing their faith with their non-believing family and friends, whether that's the fear of not knowing answers to difficult questions, and therefore looking stupid, or again the fear of ridicule.

The apostle Paul wrote that he continued to preach Christ crucified even though it was a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1 Corinthians 1:18-31), and he suffered much for doing so (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). And the Litany also helps us become more like Jesus, who also was not afraid to speak and act even though it led to him being despised and rejected.

Lent Reflections 2026: The Litany of Humility 2

On our parish News Sheets this Lent, we're going to look through the “Litany of Humility.”

A litany is a form of prayer with a repeated responsive petition and in the Book of Common Prayer, there is a litany that is “to be sung or said after Morning Prayer, upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”

The Litany of Humility, at least in this form, was written by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, the Secretary of State to Pope Pius X, in the early Twentieth Century. C. S. Lewis found this prayer particularly helpful, and many people use it as part of their daily prayer life, especially during Lent.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being honoured, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

This week we're looking at the second four petitions in the first section of the Litany of Humility. The desire to be praised and the desire to be approved are very similar to the first four desires that we thought about last week. However, for all of them it is worth reflecting on the question “by whom?” The assumption (as it says later on in the Litany) is that we are asking to be delivered from the desire of being praised, approved, esteemed etc. “in the opinion of the world”, i.e. it is seeking the approval of other people that leads to bad actions and a lack of humility.

Jesus criticised those who prayed, fasted and gave charity “to be honoured by others” (Matthew 6) calling them 'hypocrites', which carries the sense of play-actors or pretenders. In a lot of his letters, Paul is dealing with a situation where people claiming to be apostles distort the gospel message in order to gain popularity with their hearers. He warns “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather round them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). Paul knew that the gospel message is not always easy to hear and won't be popular but he also knew whose praise he desired: “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

Whether we're proclaiming the gospel by our lips or by our life we should be aiming to please God, to hear him say to us “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21). If we seek the approval of others we will inevitably go astray, but if we seek to please God, we will do what is right just as Jesus did (John 5:30).

Within these second four petitions, two are slightly different: the desire to be preferred to others and to be consulted. These reflect the desire for our opinions to be heard, with the implication that they should also be agreed with. We easily fall into the trap of thinking that our opinion is held by all 'right-minded' people, and we therefore dismiss or scoff other people's views. Our conversations often involve us not really listening to other people, but instead waiting to say our piece, and then looking around for the approval and agreement of others. This is particularly a danger for those who have positions of leadership or responsibility, especially those who have a literal or metaphorical pulpit!

We need the humility to listen not just to other people, but primarily to God. He declares “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways...As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). Jesus has the words of eternal life (John 6:68), sometimes his teaching was hailed as authoritative (Mark 1:27) but often, and ultimately, he was rejected (Luke 19:47). But he promises that if we allow his word to be preferred to our own we will be fruitful (Matthew 13:23).

Curling: a great sport for Lent

Here's my article for March:

Photo by Richard Berling from Flickr

Last month we had the spectacle of the Winter Olympics in Italy.  Despite some people dismissing them as just lots of different ways of sliding, I really enjoy the Winter Olympics and will happily watch almost all of the events.  But my particular favourite is the curling.  For those that have never seen it, it is a cross between archery, bowling and housework on ice: players throw/slide stones into a target area (or 'house') and the team with the closest stones to the centre wins that 'end' and the team with the most points after a set number of ends wins.  I enjoy it because it's a games of tactics, but it's also dramatic with stones smashing into each other, and slightly comical with people sliding while sweeping the ice.

Target games like curling, archery, bowling and darts have an ancient pedigree, probably stemming back to practicing for hunting or warfare. They are useful practically but also metaphorically: we talk of being 'on target' to achieve things.

This metaphor helps us to understand what the biblical concept of 'sin' means, which is especially relevant in this season of Lent.  We often think of sin, if we think of it at all, as being individual acts that are morally wrong.  We also often rank some sins as being worse than others, almost like the rings of the archery target, and as long as we get closer to the centre than others, we feel satisfied with our performance, and consider ourselves to be good.  However, in some ways curling gets us closer to the biblical meaning of sin.

The stone closest to the centre scores and so do any other of that team's stones that are nearer to the centre than any stones of the opposing team. The non-scoring stones are discounted and swept away. Thus, one team can have all eight of their stones in the house, but if the other team has just one closer to the centre, all eight stones are worthless.

In the Bible, to sin is to 'miss the mark'; it doesn't matter how close you get, if you don't hit the target the effort is worthless.  Jesus tells us what the mark is: "be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).  Anything less than being as perfect as God is being sinful.  Unlike archery where you get points for being near the centre, when it comes to morality only the bullseye will do, all other shots are worthless. (Of course, in curling you only have to have the stone closest to the centre and in the house, so you can score even if you're not in the centre, but this just proves that metaphors are limited!)

So Paul says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), echoing Isaiah who said “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”  (Isaiah 64:6).  That means that even our best efforts and best actions are so far away from the target that they don't count for anything. Therefore, “the person who keeps every law of God but makes one little slip is just as guilty as the person who has broken every law there is” (James 2:10 The Living Bible), 

If you want God to judge you on your good deeds, he will, but the target is perfection, the pass mark is 100%  - anything less and you fail.  But Jesus, the only one who hits that target, invites us to join his team so that we win the prize of eternal life, not because of what we do but because of what he has done.