Time is a funny thing. Some people seem to live in the past – others are always thinking about the future – and others still seem to live only for the moment. But as Christians, we need to keep sight of the past, present, and future, all at the same time, to fully appreciate what God is doing in and through history and where we fit into it all.
Christians are called to love one another to such an extent that it becomes counter cultural. Unfortunately, we don’t always get this right , but when we do – it’s one of the most compelling aspects of our faith. In Acts, chapter 2, we get a brilliant example of what genuine love looked like in the early Church, which functioned very much like a large family.
Continuing with our series ‘Acts: Weird, Dangerous, Compelling, one of the things that makes Christianity so unique, is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. To some it might sound weird – but there's no doubt that this doctrine and more importantly, the phenomenon itself makes Christianity dangerous and compelling.
We began a new series today, exploring the life of the early Church in the book of Acts. Over the coming weeks, we’ll see that the first Christians were weird, dangerous, and compelling, for reasons that will soon become clear. We started with the most striking thing that set them apart, both in the first century and still today: they followed a crucified King.
On Sunday we came to the end of our mini-series on The Fruit of the Spirit – 9 aspects of the Spirit's fruit explored in three lots of three, over three years and seen through the lens of Jesus' life. Closing today with the most important one - Love.
Continuing with our mini-series on the fruit of the Spirit, today we looked at goodness. A big theme, but one we can recognise when we see it lived out. Goodness looks very different from niceness. The world wants us to be nice, to keep things smooth and polite, but that’s not the same thing as goodness.
In many ways, the world we live in is not very peaceful; and sometimes the circumstances of our lives are far from peaceful. Today we saw that, with Jesus, it is possible to experience peace no matter what’s happening around us.
In Galatians 6, Paul reminds us that our identity isn’t built on how we present ourselves, what we achieve, or how well we impress the world. There’s no need to boast in those things. In fact, the only thing worth boasting in is the cross of Christ, because it’s there that God made it possible for each of us to become a new creation.
The Church is meant to be a place where the best relationships grow. And sometimes we see that; moments of real grace and kindness. Other times, we let each other down. But none of us stands above anyone else. We’re all sinners in need of a Saviour. And when someone is struggling, our calling is to gently restore, not to judge.
The apostle Paul compares two ways of living - life by the flesh and life by the Spirit. Life by the flesh is destructive to ourselves, the people around us, and society in general. By contrast, life by the Spirit leads to the fruit of a godly character, and all the benefits that flow from that.
The Apostle Paul makes it clear that if we want to get right with God, we need to put our faith in Jesus. Following religious rules will not lead anyone back to God. Jesus came to free us from religiosity, but more than that, he came to free us from sin and death, so that we might enjoy a relationship with God through Him.
God is not like us. Yes, we’re made in his image, but God is unique. As Karl Barth said, "One cannot speak of God simply by speaking of man in a loud voice." The Christian understanding of God is an eternal relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That’s not easy to wrap our heads around, but why would we expect an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and eternal God to be easy to understand!
31 May 2026
Matthew 28: 16-20 & 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13
Bp John Roundhill
Two-thousand years ago, about 10 days after Jesus ascended to be with his Father in heaven, God poured out his Holy Spirit on a group of believers who were waiting for this gift that Jesus had promised. Since that day, everyone who repents and puts their faith in Jesus is filled with God’s Spirit.
In Galatians 3, we see Paul reprimanding the Galatians for losing sight of that which brought them into a right relationship with God in the first place; namely, their faith in Jesus Christ. Their journey started with faith and they received the Holy Spirit, but now they are making the mistake of trying to earn their salvation.
Christianity stands out from all the religions and ideologies of the world. In a world that is becoming increasingly violent – Christianity provides the only real hope there is.
Jesus asked blind Bartimaeus the question: What Do You Want Me to Do For You? It’s a question that Jesus continues to ask us, even though he’s already done immeasurably more for us than we could ever hope for or imagine.
Jesus' invitation to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him is daunting and demanding, but it's also the most wonderful invitation we will ever receive. We must be prepared to give everything in order to gain everything.
Today we celebrated the most hopeful, exciting, and impactful event in all of human history - the resurrection of Jesus!
In recent weeks we’ve been looking at some of the questions that Jesus asked. Today we’re focused on a question that was asked by a group of women as they approached the tomb where Jesus’ dead body was laid.
When Jesus cried out on the cross, 'Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?') - it sounded like a desperate cry for help, and it was - but it was also the first line of Psalm 22, which prophesied Jesus' crucifixion in detail. A psalm that begins with despair, but ends with tremendous hope.
3 April 2026
Isaiah 53: 1-7 Mark 15: 1-20 Mark 15: 25- 39 Mark 15: 40- 46
Rev Charlie Lacey
In Mark 14, we see human opposition to God manifested in a number of ways: those who wish God dead; rejection of God in favour of materialism; and simply failing to fulfill the tasks that God gives us.
“Wonderful approach to service as a family.” Penny
“St Andrews is such a caring environment that is filled with wonderful people.” Steven
“Awesome environment for young and old!” Simone
