It is a sign for today
Throughout the Christmas story we read of miracles: the virgin birth, the angels and the wise men. To some they are a beautiful depiction of God's love and might, able...
Anyone for a Brussel Sprout
We’d like to invite you to Come to the Table today, Christmas Day! No, we don’t have an inexhaustible supply of Brussel Sprouts, nor pigs in blankets, so why such a question? Because...
He was born – it was quite messy
In Matthew's description of the birth of Jesus there's a lot missing it would seem. Whereas parents might wish to add a lot more detail to the timeline, Matthew cuts...
Where do we start?
Regeneration of the Doctor There are a lot of smaller churches. Once they stood out as pinnacles of the community. People would attend at least for those hatches, matches, and...
I did, yeah, I created you
My, I thought Advent was all about Jesus? Last week we may have heard about John the Baptist. Well given that the birth of Jesus was only in 2 of...
Composting is good for us
In a recent blog they announced that only 5 States in the USA have legally accepted human decomposting. In the UK it is legal already. So what is this? "The...
Change yourself
Just a moment. Advent is the waiting for the birth of Jesus and here we have a story about John the Baptist. Surely John gets his own time of the...
When we are waiting
I was once told off for saying Christmas during Advent. I could feel the room chill as the words reverberated around the walls. Life is too short to worry about...
Where are we going?
So much to think about when confronted with death. And after the service all the people scatter. What do we do after the service? Where are we going? If we...
What does TDOR stand for?
If the title means nothing to you, that's because, currently, in my opinion, society is seeking to whitewash the transgender community out of the equation. After years of progress towards...
Kingdom or Kin_dom
If you are like me you may have slipped up a few times when mentioning Charles recently: I'll say Prince and then correct myself. It has taken me a bit...
How many deaths?
At last week's Death Cafe there was a surprising comment - there were many in fact - but this one stood out to me. How many deaths do we have?...
Remember and change
This passage, Matthew 5:4-10, was said when Jesus was up on a mountainside, so that he could see so far. I wondered if he looked over the top of the...
Words, Poems and the Eulogy
According to the Economist (paywall), the percentage of funerals led by Christian ministers (in England) had dropped to just over 20%. The significant increase in the number of civil celebrants...
What does marriage mean?
The sanctity of married life has always been a good storyline. We have had it in fictional tales such as with Eastenders and Coronation Street, but also in real life...
Hallo-death
Today is Halloween, also known as All Hallow's Eve, the day before All Hallow's or All Saint's Day. So Halloween precedes the day that some in the Church might commemorate...
Is Jesus anti-growth?
At the end of Chapter 18 we have Jesus approaching Jericho and he saw a blind man begging on the side of the road. The man shouts out to Jesus...
Funerals have been a-changing
When we contemplate the end for us we typically may think of cremation. But things have for a long time been a-changing. The first crematorium was legally allowed and opened...
Original Blessing
So we have a Pharisee and a tax collector( Luke 18:9-14). Whose side are you on currently? Which do you favour? Is it that we are taught to despise the...
Back to the Future
Time Circuits from DeLorean used in the first and second films Back to the future? Did you ever watch the movie? A boy in the Midwest of the USA and...
So what about death?
This week we launch the Death Café. It sounds a bit strange launching a café in October, let alone one that focusses upon Death. One person said that the advertising...
Compassion does not have borders
Luke, or the writer of this Gospel, has been talking about faith in Luke 17. That we should live a life of faith where we may repeatedly forgive others. It...
You’ll get over this
Why not listen to this classic track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FgDles4xq8 from Boney M. This passage of Psalm 137 probably originates from the period 587-539 BCE. Their captors are pleading for them to...
Cost of Greed Crisis (Luke 14)
https://youtu.be/-Cv2MIkxsQE How do we feel when we hear this? Is it justified? When the energy CAP will be changed once again next month, do we think of ourselves …or of...
Honest Open Prayers – can we go large?
What is this? The weeping prophet? Where’s their inner strength? They are certainly not a happy chappy are they? I am talking about Jeremiah from his wailing in Jerm 8:18-9:1....
Who will they sit with
The new leader of the Conservative party has been chosen, we have a new Prime Minister. They have met with Queen Elizabeth and now with King Charles. The Royal Family...
Harvest Festival in 2022
The Harvest Festival, where we traditionally celebrate the crops of the season. So what do we do with Harvest Festival in 2022? The local farmers will have been amongst the...
Birth a Table
Monty Python's Life of Brian He's back at it! Out on the Sabbath healing people. It could be the Life of Brian again! This time he wants to birth a...
Who wants membership today?
In today's society membership is possibly frowned upon. Joining means responsibility, possibly cost - so why bother? The desire to subscribe to Amazon and Disney may be increasing but is...
Can I disturb you?
One Sabbath... what does that really mean to us today? Rule based seating? Those days when society strictly adhered to the code of what we must wear, what we can...
Peace is not the absence of conflict
Have you had a BBQ recently? I recall lighting one once and feel the warm coals, seeing them glow, anticipating the food which we could cook. I then heard a...
Purl in the Field – Summer Edition
Our eighth edition of Purl in the Field from the Strathclyde #Methodist Circuit. Here we engage with those who may be housebound but in the medium of knitting, crochet and...
Slave : good or bad?
In Luke's description of how to prepare for the future he pointedly states that the disciples are slaves. (Luke 12:36) Is that how we think of ourselves? is being a...
Live in Christ
Being invited to a meal can be a pleasure or a necessity depending on who we are sharing it with. So imagine getting an invitation that reads: You are invited to...
What is prayer about?
"God does not exist to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God."Oswald Chambers In Luke 11:1-13 Jesus teaches the disciples the "Lord's...
Who are we?
In the current candidates' leadership contest we may hear claims of self-identification. How can people self-identify, as if they wouldn't actually know who they truly are? But that asks the...
Mardi Gla anyone?
The route for Mardi Gla 2022 Where can you mix pride with protest, absolute joy and sadness, those outside of the church and those within? On Saturday 16th July approximately...
Do Be Do Be Do?
Ah familiar territory, we know this story, don’t we? It’s that classic tale of which person do we associate with? In Luke 10:38-42 we hear of Martha and Mary: but...
The Good Muslim
Isn't life complicated sometimes? There’s that time when our paths diverge or bump into each other. It’s finding that opportunity to walk alongside many people, without leaving them on their...
We are all on a journey
It's been a week of travelling for us. If it's Tuesday it must be Lancaster; Friday, Hi Walsall; oh Monday, hello Gloucester; and finally Saturday: wahoo Glasgow! We were on...
Has anything changed?
https://youtu.be/Nq3x5frVHgM Considering Luke 10 and the sending out of the 70 or 72 disciples. I wonder if they were all men or perhaps couples? How are you feeling? If you...
Let God In
This week, I'm looking at the Hebrew Scriptures and in partiuclar 2 Kings 5:1-14. It is the story of Naaman being healed. A familiar story to many, or has time...
Oh wow!
Did you ever believe that this would occur? Err...No Possibly, as we look back, we might see instances where I could have discerned such an opportunity but nothing that clear...well...
Are we ready?
Do we wish to smite others like Sodom and Gomorrah? Pray for Ukraine... This week's story comes from Luke 9:51-62 and is all about whether we should smite others. Now,...
Crazy Covenant
Java Justice It all started so many years ago. From using a 4 foot tall inflatable coffee mug and a tray of real doughnuts to persuade merely highlight to the...
Have we missed the point?
You know the familiar story, you know the ending as soon as the story teller starts. Perhaps we might sometimes pause a while and reflect on certain key words. They...
E P O H
Paul has written this letter to those whom he did not know, probably had never met. It is a letter about faith - believing in hope. It is explaining to...
Purl in the Field June 2022
The seventh edition of the bi-monthly Purl in the Field magazine is available here. Click on the magazine below to read it on Issuu. Enjoy. https://issuu.com/deaconbobstoner/docs/knit_knatter_newsletter_june_22
The next Chapter
Have we ever considered what happens when we finish perhaps a piece of craft work, some knitting or sewing, or we come to the end of one job, or at...
Inebriated
The last few weeks have seen a number of occasions with people inebriated. We had Celtic crowned champions of the Scottish League. The 'dear green place' turned green and white,...
Saying it as it is
Possibly it is a better description of Testimony than the church prefers. It's telling of a journey - not all, as there's more to come - and explaining what it...
In a foreign land
Here is Paul arriving in Philippi, Macedonia. As was a province of Greece now an independent country. Then it was controlled by the Romans, led by Caesar Augustus. He’s the...
Summer Creation
Not Van Gogh but by Helen of Partick As Summer approaches - truly it really is! - we might look around at what people are creating to give us joy....
Abide in me
When someone says goodbye it normally is over quickly. Jesus takes 6 chapters, according to John or whoever wrote the Gospel, to say his goodbye speech. In John 14:23-29 we...
Can love be self-giving?
We often encounter such passages about love in the Scriptures. We might often skim them as they are so familiar. Please don't, on this occasion as least. We are looking...
Coral
It was great to chat with some of you this morning. We began by looking at a wooden ornament which had been painted for a garden and discussed whether it...
Sounds Baaa-Zarre!
As we look together at stories of ordinary people, both now and throughout history who have seen the power of God working in their lives, we will focus on conversation,...
Convocation
Do you find meetings, especially large ones, life draining or life affirming? What is it? The action of calling people together for a large formal assembly, yes that’s what a...
Carrying huge loads
It’s been a bit slow going as we move through the story after Easter. Last week we were only with the disciples immediately after resurrection and then a week afterwards....
The disciples’ belief in resurrection
It might be quite 'normal' for Christians to quickly accept the resurrection but how might the disciples have felt about Jesus returning to life after his death. It's not the...
In behind closed doors
I wonder what it might be like to in a shelter, behind closed doors. When you are scared, confused, bewildered even. When the world you had always envisaged was there...
Did it really happen?
What would it really mean for our world if Jesus had truly risen? Most biographies spend at most 10 pages on the death of the individual. The Gospels expend great...
Hopeful Serving
A reflection given on Maundy Thursday about Hopeful Serving, based upon John 13: 1-17,31b-35. The date of Easter is always a mystery to me. But I can explain: take the...
Hope-full Journeys
Peace Ducks - one dressed in Ukrainian Colours! For some of us we may be embarking on hopeful journeys: to see loved ones for the first time in a few...
Silencing Us
In recent years we may have noticed the use of letters to reinforce identity of some kind. In America we had the use of Q to denote evidence that there...
Knit & Knatter Edition 6
Our regular bi-monthly Knit & Knatter newsletter, aimed primarily at those who are unable to access the online world, is now available. Knit & Knatter Newsletter 6 by Bob Stoner...
It can’t be sealed
Women in general have the sense of the person much more than men have. This means that they have a special mission, which is to reintroduce love, to give back...
Who are we?
Wow, here (Philippians 3:4-14) is someone trying to identify with everyone: He is trying to answer that question 'Who are we'? Paul is an insider, not an outcomer as they...
Being Enough
Barbara Brown Taylor An array of quilted embroidery Often we can feel that we are not enough. Paul writes in one of his letters to the Corinthians "We are hard...
Let Us Eat
No I am not trying to advertise a firm that delivers subs, coffee and a pizza to your door. This has far reaching conclusions. Our story this week comes from...
On Receive
We scroll through our social media feeds, taking in information, the latest cat meme, and possibly checking the news or sports updates. We are on Receive. But let's think: You...
Anger or Victim?
On our Lenten journey we have observed Jesus being tempted - but where? We have heard Jesus describing a leader as a fox. Now there 's a bit of history....
Spring a Connection
Hedgehog, Chicks and a Rabbit It must be Spring, now that the chicks are hatching, or rather unstitching from the needles. It's a time of new birth, possibly of new...
Are we a member of the Vulpes Family?
Ok let’s hear it for the bad guys in town: not the Vulpes family but the Pharisees! What do you mean, they were ok? Well yes, they did invite Jesus...
What is truth?
This question "What is Truth?" is asked by Pilate at "Jesus' trial". I think it resonates so much in our lives today, more so in our online world. In the...
Who doesn’t like a bit of milk and honey?
Last week we were up a mountain, but as we have entered into Lent, today we will hear of the start of a journey: for those coming out of exile,...
Our hearts grieve
We met again as a group of dispersed members of the Strathclyde Methodist Church, to be as one, to reflect on the news coming from Ukraine. For those families in...
Do you know a hairy man?
Do you know a hairy man? No, they aren't missing as such, just could we recognise them if you saw a 'hairy man'? This week, there is a theme linking...
Listen to what?
What's the phrase: "we have two ears and one mouth, so let's use them in that order?". Wow, that's hard. Listen to what? Where are we? God in the midst...
Knit & Knatter Newsletter #5
Every two months we stitch together some thoughts, interwoven with our passions, to create a newsletter entitled Purl in the Field. That title comes from the knitting together of two...
What does blessed mean?
It's all up and down here in Luke's Gospel. We have been in Nazareth, in the Synagogue, and then over to some towns across Galilee, now we are near to...
The Wonder in Giving and Receiving
Do we love receiving gifts on our birthday or at Christmas? It's lovely to receive something that someone else has chosen just for us. So what drives us to give...
A Never Ending Story in 73 seconds
If we had a familiar story and could retell it, without the old fashioned words, in just over a minute, would we have sufficient time? Here is a series of...
Abundance – what does it mean?
Luke's supposed reader, Theophilus or 'loved by God', may have already been hooked by Jesus moving through Capernaum, that the people were amazed at the teaching of Jesus - all...
What is love all about?
If there is one passage many people know about, it's 1 Corinthians 13: where it explains what love is all about. But it's isn't about romance but a telling off,...
Where do we put the egg?
It's that time again when we brush away the cobwebs collected upon the Christmas Tree and have put it away for another year. We can feel the warmth of Spring...
Scrolling
We scroll so often these days. It seems that every device we have we can now scroll to find out more facts, things to discover, hopefully not to purchase yet...
Was this a wedding party or a work event?
Everyone loves a wedding. But, topically, was this really a wedding party or a works event? Was there cheese? Anyway what's so important about wine? Water into Wine? You might...
Purling into 2022
That's trying to convey us seamlessly moving into another year - but I must admit it does look a lot like hurling, throwing us into what might be 2020 too....
There must be something better
The New Year has arrived – did you celebrate its arrival? For many it was a time of deciding whether to get your glad rags on or wrap up in...
Melchior
Alleged homelands and arms of the three wise men/kings and their arms That's not my real name. I was given this in the 4th C by some story writers. They...