St Timothy's Lutheran Church Sunderland

St Timothy's Lutheran Church Sunderland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of England is a denomination of the Christian Church. The ELCE's objectives are:

1. The encouragement of liturgical conformity.

We are 'evangelical' because we believe, teach and preach the 'Good News' of salvation through faith alone in Jesus Christ. We are called 'Lutheran' in memory of Dr. Martin Luther, reformer, who lived in Germany from 1483-1546. Though there are now ELCE congregations in England, Scotland and Wales - our official name includes 'Church of England' because it is in London that our Synod had its first

beginnings in 1896. As a Church Body, the ELCE is not an ecclesiastical government exercising legislative or coercive powers. The ELCE carries out powers and responsibilities determined by its member congregations, as set by their delegates at annual synodical conventions. Proclamation of the Gospel and the strengthening and establishing
of congregations by the preaching of the Gospel.

2. The use together of whatever means that may be serviceable to the
Gospel.

3. The training of ministers and teachers for the service of the church.

4. The preservation and promotion of the unity of the true faith and
a united defence against error, schism and sectarianism.

5. The protection of congregations, Pastors and teachers in the performance
of their work and in the maintenance of their rights.

6.

09/08/2025

The Church Year has two sections - a focus on Jesus - and a focus on following Jesus. We have Advent to Pentecost (with a variety of colours) and then we have the Sundays after Pentecost (predominantly in green). Sometimes the post Pentecost season is described as the time of 'The Spirit' or the time of 'The Church' or even Ordinary Time which is not say that it is unimportant but perhaps it isn't as dramatic as between Advent to Pentecost. I'm ok with less dramatic, with ordinary, with green because growth is often hidden, slow, biological, imperceptible at the time - you don't see it actually happening but you can notice it has happened. It is a good time to delve into books of the Bible in worship and in study ... and grow.

Worship is at church and online at 9:00am tomorrow (Sun 10th Aug).

Grow where you are planted! God bless! - George

The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
3rd August 2025

This week one of my granddaughters turned 5. That’s an important age. I can remember my fifth birthday party. I arrived at her home after she was asleep and so I was able to greet her in the morning the next day. I asked her how old she was and she said “5” while pointing to a very large balloon in the shape of 5 floating around! “Ah”, I said, “that was yesterday and today is a new day so I suppose you are now six!”. She burst out laughing – yes, she does have a ‘silly Pa’ – while saying, “No, I’m 5!” but I could see the momentary uncertainty on her face that perhaps she might be 6 – with the ‘no, I can’t be’ but she wasn’t sure why. And the morning message from all the adults in the room that birthdays come around every year not every day and a year has 365 days assured her that her gut feeling was right – she was 5 and it would be a long time – called ‘a year’ – before she turned 6. (I imagine she’s thinking that is a long time in the way of not knowing what a long time is while I’m thinking that it’s such a short time between birthdays! 😉)

Time is a precious commodity, a currency, and above all a gift. There is physical or seasonal or atomic time that has its pace and then there is our perception of time and how time can ‘drag’ or ‘fly by’. Artistically perceived as a predator by some when death brings our time to an end or a companion to help us grow in wisdom, or a merry-go-round through which discover enlightenment such human descriptions are trying to approach the spiritual truth that we are creatures in a relationship with a Creator who created time in which we might live and grow. Such human descriptions may sense spiritual realities but only revelation gives us truth and insight. The writer to the Ecclesiastes sees time quite brutally …
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV)

The writer to the Hebrews says this … Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

This means for Christians it is the cross which gives us the best lens through which to tell the time – each day – and to live in our time and place! GS

01/08/2025

No matter the changes, Jesus remains our 'constant' (Hebrews 13:8). We want - need - something constant when the changes are rotten, unwelcomed, unwanted or when the change is something we've wanted, hoped for, prayed for. I'm not convinced that we know what is best for us all the time - though we often do know what sort of things we should do - but having Jesus as our 'constant' provides the best foundation upon which to plan and live the life we have. (Look to the cross for God's heart towards us - constant, consistent, reliable.)

At St Timothy there will be a change of pastors with Pastor Wade Bellesbach becoming the pastor at Good Shepherd, Coventry, which has St Timothy as a mission. ELCE pastors will still visit and lead services but the pastoral oversight shifts to Pastor Wade on Sunday (3rd Aug).

St Timothy has a DIVINE SERVICE later today (Saturday 2nd Aug) at 1:00pm. There is an ONLINE SERVICE tomorrow (Sun 3rd Aug) at 11:00am.

Blessings to you. - George

The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
27th July 2025

I’m not a fan of needles. I know they exist to do a job and that job is invariably in my best interests so I have needles when required. They hurt momentarily in the big scheme of things. This week I gave blood and there was a needle involved and yes, there was that momentary sting but then it was doing its job. This time it wasn’t putting something into me but allowing what is usually best kept unseen to be seen, to be collected, and to be used. (If you see blood that’s not usually a good sign!) I think it is good to give blood if one is able to do so because it is in our best interests.

What impressed me was the skill of the phlebotomist. She asked me which arm I preferred to use and I tend to say something like “the arm with the better veins today” but if both arms ‘pass’ then I’d prefer my right arm. I held out my arms and she took one look and said that my right arm had been used far more than my left arm (which is true) and then when feeling the veins said that the right arm was much better (today) then the left. My body tells a story for someone who can read it! I have several scars from surgery and I expect medical people would be able to tell me why I had the surgery. Same with x-rays of my hand or shoulder or lungs. If you know how to read the signs …

We are hearing from Colossians at the moment in our 2nd Readings and Paul talks about the Body of Christ in two ways. People encountered Jesus through his body. When he was on Earth people saw Jesus physically – saw his body – buried his body – and there are witnesses who then said that they saw Jesus alive again bodily. (There is a bodily resurrection here!) After Jesus’ ascension, the people of this world encounter Jesus through his body and now we’re talking about the Church – the Body of Christ – and the marks of the Church are words, water, bread and wine. (Remember that there is a Christian Church, a one, holy, Christian/catholic, apostolic Church is an article of faith but where words, water, bread and wine are used as Jesus wants there is the Church.)

This means a number of things for Christians. I think we should have a local focus – our local congregation is where we are a member (of the Body of Christ) and we should have a global awareness that the Body of Christ is creedal – and in-between there is our denominational identity about what we teach about Jesus – what we preach and teach about God’s Word and how we use water, bread and wine. So members of Ascension are members of a local congregation, a Synod (the ELCE), and a denomination with those who teach the Book of Concord. This Body can have scars when words, water, bread and wine have not been taught or practised consistently or faithfully. (That’s why it is important for us to know the history of the Christian Church for the past 2,000 years – because the battle scars tell us stories of errors and truth.)

The hard part is to remember that the world sees us – sees the Body of Christ – rather than Jesus. Even we don’t see Jesus! And we’re not the focus here! We want the world to encounter Jesus! So we are going to be honest about our scars, clear about how everyone meets Jesus (words, water, bread and wine), and acknowledge that our Christian living is marked, above all, by daily repentance – so that when anyone sees us, they are pointed to Jesus and his scars! Because Jesus’ scars tell everyone about our sin and God’s grace! What our God has done is always in our best interests! GS

24/07/2025

Our weeks have sunshine and rain, ups and downs - sometimes the sunshine is the 'down' if we want rain! - expectations and surprises - so that living can be quite an emotional roller coaster! And yet whatever the day brings does not separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus. Yes, that's a faith statement! Yes, our experience of each day might challenge such a faith statement and yet after each day we can look back and review that day, that year, or our life and the evidence remains there and true - God is faithful to us! He helps us in the sunshine and rain!

Sunday worship (27th July) at St Timothy is ONLINE at 9:00am.

Blessings to you! - George

The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
20th July 2025

In the world of manuscripts, papyri and scrolls, material before the printing press, I have mentioned on numerous occasions that I’d like to be the one who wandering some cave or antique store in Turkey came across a pretty well preserved copy of the letter Paul wrote to the Laodiceans! (He told the Christians at Colossae to get it and to have the Laodiceans read his letter to them [the Colossians] – see Colossians 4:16.) Maybe it would be a type of Dead Sea Scrolls 2.0 except that the material was Christian of the 1st and 2nd centuries! Ah, one can dream!

We’ve been looking at the 2nd century document ‘The Didache’ in Bible Study – and yes, we know that this document – found in the 19th century – isn’t biblical or canonical but it has so much material that reminds us of many parts of the New Testament – particularly the Sermon on the Mount – that it gives us insights how 2nd century Christians saw their discipleship and what their behaviour in their time and place should be. I think you get a sense of how the wrestling was already happening about how to behave with regards to giving to the poor and needy and what to do about rogue itinerant teachers / prophets and ‘testing’ them (against the apostolic teaching). It also gives us insights how they taught, understood, and practised Baptism and Holy Communion. I think it is a fascinating little document.

And what comes home to us, I think, is how wonderful and active the Holy Spirit is in keeping people – no matter their language, time, or place – focused on what is important – how we are before God (sinful) – what God has done about it (through Jesus) – and how we live in this world of judgements following Jesus while confident that the final judgement is already known (‘not guilty’ for all in Jesus). We don’t have to learn the language of the time a religion came into being but Pentecost like, the Holy Spirit, keeps us anchored in the truth, keeps our eyes on Jesus. Yes, the languages of the first revelation are known and not ignored and they are translated – the Holy Spirit keeps us grounded in truth – so that we today are meeting the same Jesus who died and rose again – who comes to us through words, water, bread and wine.

Yes, there are many spins and messages about Jesus. There have been for 2,000 years. But the Holy Spirit never tires of drawing us again and again to Jesus’ cross and empty tomb, to what Jesus actually said and did, and to the apostolic messages that came from that time and which are now authoritative for us. In the 21st century we can look back and survey the teachings and meanderings of Church and, as Lutherans, see in the 16th century how important it is to keep central or foundational what Jesus did for us on the cross. That is what the Holy Spirit never wants us to lose sight of all the time – and each morning and evening as we follow Jesus. GS

15/07/2025

Last Sunday Pastor Jaime from Resurrection, Cambridge went to Ascension, Brandon while I preached at St Peter's, Plymouth. At St Timothy we have pastors from other places serving us. Pastors and congregations supporting each other is a healthy part of synodical life. Each Christian is an individual and also a member of the Body of Christ; as is each congregation; as is each Synod. Our discipleship always has a local and a wider (synodical? global? heavenly?) dimension.

Bible Study is Wed 16th July ONLINE at 7:00pm and afterwards there is Compline at 8:45pm ONLINE.

Worship on Sunday 20th July at St Timothy is ONLINE at 9:00am.

Blessings to you. Regards - George

The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
13th July 2025

When you’re preaching you want to communicate and concentrate on the message – getting it right – while seeing faces looking in your direction and you notice reactions even as you’re moving on to the next point. I still remember the first time I said ‘fair dinkum’ in a sermon and the sea of confusion washed across every non-Australian face in Ascension’s early days that I stopped the sermon – ‘time out’ – and asked what had I said to create such confusion and then gave a quick definition of ‘fair dinkum’ which is slang for something that is real or true or really true or genuine.

So last Sunday when I mentioned that probably the biggest challenge Christians get today from the world is about suffering I saw a sea of reactions and nods. I’m pretty sure we’ve all heard – and maybe even said ourselves, “Why does suffering happen and why doesn’t God do something?”.

It is not that there aren’t answers but there is a quality about suffering that defies explanations and we bring our perspective, definitions, and expectations about what God should do as well so that it is hard to communicate about suffering, as it is hard to hear about suffering, as it is hard to bear suffering. Having answers also does not take the suffering ‘away’.

Into this situation Christians often feel the need to ‘defend’ God or find something positive about suffering and so suffering becomes something from which something positive comes. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger sort of thing. However God is viewed then as more remote and inscrutable and often cruel in relation to us. Alternatively, sometimes Christians emphasise that God suffers with us and Jesus and the cross are held up as examples par excellence of God’s vulnerability and his involvement with the troubles of this world and one who can help us bear suffering, be patient, and try to find loving responses. This God is with us in the mess but is not all powerful and there often is a diminishing of God’s holiness and our sin and rebellion.

Essentially a lot of talk about suffering places God in the dock, so to speak, where he has to defend himself to us about who he is and why things are happening – particularly suffering. Luther’s approach was to place people before God, have people hear the Word of God about who they are before God, and come to see the relationship God has established with us through creation and the mess we have made of what was made ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31) and yet God still cares for us providentially. In God’s Word we hear that God is holy and we are sinners and again what God has done to stay close to us and bless us with his presence but we’re always the ones who push him away or want God on our terms – especially intellectual terms – you have to make complete sense to us, God! And in God’s Word we encounter Jesus and the depth he went (think Psalm 22) to bring us light and life in this world.

There is much suffering we can understand because we do it ourselves or it is done to us. But when we put God into the situation or when suffering is ‘inexplicable’ then suffering rips us apart and can plunge us into much darkness and despair because God doesn’t make sense to us. But when the focus is the cross, the Christian knows that whatever is happening is not punishment from God and that suffering will have an end, and that even in such a hard time we can grow in Christ, even as we can’t make sense of what is happening.

This is where the psalms of lament can come into their own for there we find in God’s Word, people suffering and crying out for relief (“How long, O Lord?”), not understanding, wondering where God is at the moment, and yet conscious of God’s wrath, his holiness, and his action (think the Exodus in the Old Testament and Jesus’ cross in the New Testament) and we remain oriented to cry out, to seek relief, to pray, to hope, to do what we can, but always in relationship God has established – we come before him not summon him before us. The cross and empty tomb declare that God has not abandoned us. And laments can give us the opportunity to be deeply honest with God and help us have hope, courage, and security even in suffering. God has done something about suffering – it’s just not what we expected or wanted!

And trying to say all that in one quip or a few sentences isn’t easy but there are answers that help us live each day – even in suffering. GS

11/07/2025

This Sunday (13th July) St Timothy's worship service is online at 11:00am. Blessings to you. - George

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
6th July 2025

These days, my car tells me what’s wrong and if the signal lights are red I’m supposed to take notice!

Ok, the light was orange, the buzzer noisy, and I could read the words about the tyre pressure (low). I use my car a fair bit and, on this occasion, I was far from home, so I couldn’t (shouldn’t!) ignore it. I found a petrol station, got out, and looked at the tyre (that’s a good diagnostic tool!) but the tyre didn’t look flat. Nevertheless I checked the air in all the tyres – and yes, I did have to put a little air in the one in question. Onward I drove but the light was still on. Since I was over 2 hours from home, I found a tyre place and yes, they would check. A little while later I was called into the workshop and there was a large nail in the tyre. Oh well. One new tyre later I’m back on the road.

An hour from home the orange light came on, the buzzer sounded, and the words appeared again about low tyre pressure (different tyre)! I laughed in a snorting way ‘God, what are you doing?!’ and took the next exit off the motorway and found another tyre place! This time, this tyre had no problems, and the only suggestion – apart from a faulty sensor – was that I had the wrong tyre pressure in the other tyres and the sensor got tired of trying to cope! 😉 In other words, no one knows, but I’ve had no tyre problems since.

If I didn’t have the sensors I would have eventually discovered that I had a nail in the tyre. Eventually I might have seen the flat tyre. Before that I might have felt the car driving ‘heavily’ or to one side or sounding different. If I didn’t have the sensors, I wouldn’t have stopped the second time but then perhaps I might have exacerbated tyre wear.

We live all of our lives getting feedback – personal, diagnostic, situational, legal, and more – and we learn what feedback to trust, what to follow with the goal of a ‘better’ life – which could be simply getting home safely in as short a time as possible. The feedback itself, may be accurate, or not. If it is from a person, they might have their own agendas.

Living is complicated because it always relies on trust as we learn who we are and as we learn to live in our world with others.

For Christians, there is further feedback about how we’re travelling, how we’re behaving, and who we are and that comes in the form of God’s Word. God’s Law is very much about diagnosis and declarations about our behaviour and attitude and it can also reveal goals by which to live well but it will always be the best sensor to reveal how we are travelling each day. The messages given will be gloomy indeed – the demand to be perfect is always found to be wanting. If this is the only feedback we receive, then many people don’t want anything to do with God – any God – or religion – any religion. However for Christians, there is another message – not feedback for us, so to speak, but a declaration to us, a promise to us – it is more feedback about what Jesus did for us – and Christians hear that they are ‘in Christ’, that they are forgiven, that they have eternal life now already in this world and that trust in these words – the Gospel – makes it possible to receive and understand the feedback the Law gives us. Hearing God’s Word as Law and Gospel is the best way to travel each day!

You can think quite a few thoughts waiting in tyre places! 😉 GS

02/07/2025

The topic is the weather at the moment and we're talking about hot weather - which is relative I know. I feel the heat but I don't find it oppressive. In the same or similar situations, we do not feel or respond identically - and I'm not just talking about the weather but about all sorts of situations in the country, at work, when unwell, when tempted. God speaks to the human situation before him - about who we are, about what he has done for us, about how life is best lived following Jesus - so we all can be talking about the same thing but the experience of being a Christian becomes increasingly personal because the Holy Spirit draws each person to Jesus.

Nevertheless when talking about Jesus we return to God's Word and who Jesus is and what he has done for us - so that each person can grow in Christ - not as robots - but as themselves - precious in God's sight.

Bible Study resumes tonight (Wed 9th July) at 7:00pm ONLINE and Compline continues tonight at 8:45pm also ONLINE.

**Worship at St Timothy is this Saturday (5th July) at 1:00pm.**
Sunday worship (6th July) is online at 11:00am.

God bless! - George

The Third Sunday after Pentecost
29th June 2025

It is nice to keep learning; to gain a new insight; to grow in understanding. That happened to me at Pastors’ Study Week this past week on a few occasions. The pastors bring their experiences and perspectives, our book study (Jonathan Haidt’s ‘The Anxious Generation’) generated much discussion, and learning about Johann Georg Hamann and his challenge to the Enlightenment was fascinating. Ideas and arguments can be repurposed and repackaged even as the sum total of world knowledge increases. I think we all sense that human beings and the ways we live have fundamental similarities no matter the century or the technology.
With the Enlightenment came humanity’s ‘enlightenment’ (away from God) and reason becomes the way of determining reality. Hamann challenged this perspective by pointing out that if reason defines itself or is self referencing then people are deluding themselves about meaning and purpose. He said that people will only understand the world and themselves when truths are revealed through nature, through Jesus, and through language (words) – and if you can sense here a trinity, that’s good, for people understand themselves and live well when in relationship with God, having received from God their physical life, their salvation, and their faith and discipleship.

And the Christian God has come down to us – condescended to meet us – so that we can be in a relationship with him. Now usually when we talk about God descending we think of Jesus – well, I do – and we can be at the manger at Christmas, by the River Jordan at Jesus’ Baptism, watching Jesus being regarded as wrong and dangerous, ultimately then at the cross – a terrible sight to behold. We talk about Christ ‘emptying himself’ – that though he is God, Jesus didn’t come among us as Superman but as one of us, and even less than for he became sin for us, he died shamefully us, among us he is in his humiliation (Philippians 2:5-11). I’m used to these ideas. I promote Jesus’ cross above all else. I seek to follow the God who serves me in Christ, who forgives me, who blesses and helps me but according to his will and not according to him being my personal genie granting me wishes. I am not a fan of Christians who promote ‘power Jesus’ and who can be entreated to do our bidding by our efforts.

What was new to me – a flashbulb moment – was discovering that all members of the Trinity condescend to meet us. And when it comes to the Holy Spirit who can act as he wishes but he condescends to work through words – he binds himself to the words of Scripture – all of it – even the material that we are horrified or scandalised by – and reveals Jesus when we pause and reflect, ‘see’ the scene before us, and ask what is God saying to me here? To what am I being drawn? What we are ‘seeing’ in the text somehow reveals Jesus and guides us for how we live our life now. By nature we want the Holy Spirit to reveal to us powerful, super Jesus but again and again we will be confronted by people’s sins and God’s responses. The Old Testament points to Jesus. The New Testament flows from Jesus and points us to heaven. But before we ‘get there’ we live, here and now, with Jesus through faith – which guides our behaviour – and the Holy Spirit binds himself, humbles himself to Scripture because language and words are how we encounter God. Self generating words from within us are self defeating! I teach that the Holy Spirit binds himself to Scripture and everything spiritual must be tested by Scripture but I had not thought of this as the Holy Spirit’s humiliation – all so that humanity can know God! And I found that thought amazing. It resonated with the God I know – the God who serves – me – who never deserves it. GS

26/06/2025

While at Pastors' Study Week, news came of unexpected deaths and disappointing diagnosis within congregations and immediately the pastors responded. (As I say when I'm on hospital call as a chaplain, no one rings you at 2:00am with good news to share!) It is good of the pastors to respond but they're not bringing God 'into the situation' - God is already there! What pastoral care is about and what Christian wisdom learns is to see what God is already doing and how he is helping - bringing good - from the situation. And for that we need God's Word to remind us that God is good - that God does care - that God doesn't abandon his people - that God guides us how to respond to the moment - and no matter how we feel about things, we can look to the cross and empty tomb for certainty and live in God's daily forgiveness, hope, and love!

Worship on Sunday (29th June) is online at 9:00am.

Blessings to you. - George

The Second Sunday after Pentecost
22nd June 2025

I finished transferring all our family dates – births, baptisms, anniversaries, deaths – onto our 2025 calendar this week and included some dear friends and events we don’t want to forget. Ok, I started it in January (!) but only did up to February then but now it is all complete and finished and hanging up in the kitchen. For many years we’ve enjoyed a wonderful Christmas present of a ‘home made’ calendar with family photos for each month – I can lose time simply stopping and looking at it! (The blank dates – when I looked below the photos – finally made me too guilty to leave blank! :-) )

Many dates have nothing written; other dates have more than one thing written. Of course things happened for our family and friends on the ‘blank’ days – and maybe of significance too – but they are not recorded and won’t be until someone says, “Hey, what about …?” or we remember. Such remembering adds to the tapestry of our lives. We are unique. And the perspective that came to me particularly as I wrote baptismal details – my eldest child and I share a baptismal birthday (last Sunday) – is that God is with us through every day. Often we can think he’s not – especially when things happen that we don’t want to happen – or that he doesn’t care or help. Our baptism is when we are linked to Jesus’ death and resurrection – born again into a life where there is no eternal death – and that perspective can and does shape how we view calendars, days, and events.

Psalm 90 is often thought of when we think of time and age and longevity. It can be used at funerals and sometimes people only want to hear the first part but we should read all of it. Go on, do it today sometime! :-) But for now I’d like to close with the last verses (Psalm 90:12-17 ESV) and with the thought, ‘Give us peace and wisdom each day, Lord!’ …
12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
GS

19/06/2025

With the warm(er) weather here, I hear more often "Oh, it's ok for you [Aussie]!" to which I smile - yes, I've lived where the weather is much warmer than this for much longer but I still feel the temperature like everyone else - it's just that I may have a different perspective about hot weather. This is life. The atmosphere is the atmosphere - weather-wise, emotionally, socially, judicially, in a family or an office or a congregation - everyone feels it - but the perspective one brings to it can have a big impact on how one gets through it. For Christians, the perspective that helps and shapes us is Baptism where we've been linked with Jesus who helps us live each day in any weather! God is with us in the sunshine and the storms - he is our refuge and strength!

Our next worship service is Sunday 22nd June at 9:00am online.

Blessings to you! - George

The Festival of The Holy Trinity
15th June 2025

Some songs just hit home; resonate with you; ‘grab’ you. You hear versions of songs and meanings and a person’s life on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs. I came across Lewis Capaldi’s, ‘Someone You Loved’ by an algorithm shortly after the song was released. I think the algorithm linked my Doctor Who interest and Peter Capaldi (the 12th Doctor) with the song and the video clip of the song by the Organ Donation charity ‘Live Life Give Life’ in which Peter Capaldi stars as a widower who hears his deceased wife’s heart after its donation to a young mother. I thought the song a good description of grief and the video clip excellent story telling. Yes, my listening is part of the billions of streams of the song.

But I was surprised many months later – I don’t remember when – I discovered another video of the song in which Lewis Capaldi stars and sings of a relationship breakup – and, of course, the words ‘work’ there as well – they should since that was the context into which they were written. The words can ‘carry’ other breakdowns when love comes to an end but for me the song is irrevocably about death and organ donation.

My world is a world of words. When in conversation about Jesus, I find myself listening a lot to try and understand the words people have about Jesus – how they describe him – and, if possible, where those words come from. This means that I can find myself having to ‘deconstruct’ their version of Jesus and try and replace those words with Biblical ones. It is not a matter of arguing but saying that their Jesus is not found in the Bible and trying to get a Biblical perspective ‘out there’. Jesus can be co-opted for many of the world’s issues but what exactly did he say and do? The answers to such questions can ‘grab’ people – particularly because his love doesn’t come to an end!

I will never know whether Lewis Capaldi thinks that my understanding and preference of his song is ‘correct’ or ‘ok’ or ‘not the main point’ or something else. The author / composer wrote the song with a goal and have I reached it? Who determines the meaning for oneself?

Jesus is not a literary creation – even as he is the Word made flesh – and so people may want to make him in their own image or their own version of him – but as a living Being – not fictional – he says who he is and what he is on about. And that is what makes Jesus different to all other historical figures – he is alive! – and so we learn who he is by revelation – we meet him in all sorts of contexts and messages – but to know him and grow in a relationship with him and follow him means returning regularly to the Bible and the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth – learning more and more about Jesus and what God has done for us! Any other cornerstone will build all sorts of meanings and offer no peace in the end. Only the cross declares God’s love doesn’t come to an end! GS

Address

Sunderland
SR29AA

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when St Timothy's Lutheran Church Sunderland posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Place Of Worship

Send a message to St Timothy's Lutheran Church Sunderland:

Shortcuts

Share

Category