Weekly Blog 

Here our minister shares a weekly reflection: 

Sunday, 15 March 2026 — Seeing and Hearing 

This Sunday we come across a pretty long reading from the gospel of John (you have been warned!) that tells of the healing of a blind man, and the subsequent fallout when he presents himself to the religious authorities.
 
The Pharisees will not listen to the explanation of what happened to the man and cannot see that Jesus is the Messiah. The healing of the blind man on the sabbath and their claim to be exclusively disciples of Moses seems to cloud their judgment. The healing of a man blind from birth is so far beyond their experience, they cannot see past their preconceptions and prejudices, and they cannot bring themselves to listen to the witness of a man that they assume was ‘born entirely in sin’.
 
It’s easy for us to listen to this story, respond by thinking ‘thank goodness we are not like those narrow-minded Pharisees’. Yet, steeped in our own tradition, and our own limited expectations of how God is at work in the world, then we too face the risk of being closed off to new experiences of God’s restorative presence. God, in bringing new life, challenges the boundaries we put in place and the ways in which we try to control and limit the love and grace that is abundantly revealed through Christ’s presence.
 
The period of Lent is one in which we take stock, and should seek to make ourselves receptive to God’s call on our lives, looking attentively for signs of God’s grace at work in the world around us. It’s about removing our blinkers so we can see beyond our narrow horizons and taking off the noise-cancelling headphones to give ourselves every opportunity to hear what God seeks to say to us.
 
For this is what the limited religious practice of the Pharisees had become: one that focused on tradition and doing the right things in the right way, but blocked out the capacity to see and hear the good news revealed to them in Jesus Christ. May we be ready to listen and see God at work through this time of Lent. Amen.
 

Sunday, 08 March 2026 — Our Ever-Faithful God

This week’s Old Testament reading features an event from the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness (Exodus17:1-7). They have been freed from the oppressive rule of Pharoah, but now fear that they will simply die in the desert instead. They demand that Moses provide them with water and question the faithfulness of God.

In response, God gives Moses some instructions to follow and provides the water they need for survival. Yet the place is named not in remembrance of God’s faithfulness, but instead is called ‘Massah’ or ‘Meribah’, as it was here that the people tested, or quarrelled with, God. God’s faithfulness is a constant, ever-present thing, but our human response to God changes from one day to the next.

During this time of Lent, it can feel like we too cross the wilderness, unsure of what God’s purposes are in the world, questioning God’s faithfulness. We see division in our communities and ill treatment towards refugees and asylum seekers. We see the effects of climate catastrophe at home and more acutely overseas. We see bombs rain down in the Middle East and watch America’s ‘Department of War’ celebrate wanton destruction and death as if it’s all simply a game.

With so much evil, hatred and injustice in the world, in my darkest moments, I wonder what the point was in God sending Jesus to us the first place? Why go through all that pain and suffering for nought but the abuse of the name of Christ to justify violence and oppression?

Yet, even in distressing times, we need to remember that what we are experiencing is not the faithlessness of God, but rather the faithlessness of human beings who place their own ends, power, and wealth above all else. The experience of the Israelites in the wilderness was that God is faithful, and when we turn to Romans 5: 1-11 we are reminded that in Christ, God meets humanity at its absolute worst.

God is faithful, and God’s love and grace are constantly being lavished upon us, whether we are open to receive them or not. In times when it would be easy for us to despair or give up, it is all the more important that we encourage each other, seek after peace and justice in our world, and point to the hope that we have in Christ, who comes to us even though we are all sinners.

God is faithful and will continue to journey with us, come what may.

Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani was born in Isfahan, Iran and is the daughter of Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, the former Anglican bishop of Iran (1961-1990). After an assassination attempt on her parents in October 1979 that wounded her mother and her brother’s murder in May 1980, she and her parents fled to the UK. Her book, Cries for a Lost Homeland, reflects on Jesus’ seven last words from the cross. The blog ends with her prayer for peace:

Prayer for peace – from Bishop Guli of Chelmsford

Ever-loving God,
who hears us in our anguish and distress,
and longs for us to be free.
We pray for the people of Iran and the wider Middle East,
at this time of fear and uncertainty.
Be near to those who are anxious;
bring comfort to all who are suffering.

Guide those with the power to make decisions,
and lead them in the ways of wisdom, compassion and moderation:
that people of goodwill would seek harmony and reconciliation.
Join us with our Christian brothers and sisters in all places,
in praying for peace with justice,
through him who is the prince of peace,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Sunday, 01 March 2026 — Costly Discipleship

Are you sitting uncomfortably?
 
This week’s gospel reading contains some fairly challenging words from Jesus. He says that:
 
“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27 NRSVUE)
 
Jesus points to the high cost of discipleship, in a context where he was on his journey toward his crucifixion in Jerusalem, as the civic and religious powers sought to silence him. Luke writes this up for early listeners to the gospel, who lived in a context of persecution, where becoming a follower of Jesus could carry a heavy cost, including separation from family. They also believed that the second coming of Jesus was imminent, so there was no need to plan for the future and to seek the wellbeing of future generations.
 
We live in quite a different context in the UK today. For the most part, becoming a Christian does not require the leaving behind of family members, and does not result in persecution. However, being faithful to Christ still comes at a cost, especially in an atmosphere where many call for the care of the nuclear family and British citizens first, at the expense of those most in need.
 
To carry our cross today means to live sacrificially in ways that show love beyond our family units, and to give hospitality to those in our society who are scapegoated, and those who have been failed by our evermore threadbare social safety nets. It means living and working in ways that value people over profit and convenience. It means choosing to spend our money in ways that bring life rather than destruction. It means speaking out against injustice and seeking to bring Christ’s hope and peace where others sow division, fear, and hatred.
 
In our relatively sheltered Western societies, following Christ in such a way has not come at such a high cost in recent decades. However, we have still acted sacrificially as a congregation: supporting those who have had been refused leave to remain in the country, working restoratively with the homeless, and standing alongside the LGBTQ+ community in a Baptist Union that is generally more conservative.
 
However, with the increasingly strident cracking down on protest by first Conservative and now Labour governments, and with more emboldened xenophobic and divisive nationalism taking root, the cost of discipleship here is likely to increase. Indeed, we have witnessed firsthand the price that many Christians have been willing to pay in order to campaign against the ongoing genocide in Gaza and arms sales to Israel, and also in drawing attention to the climate crisis.
 
This week in response to the gospel readings we might respond in two ways:
 
1.Prayerfully reflect and ask ourselves: ‘What price we are willing to pay in order to faithfully follow Christ?’, recognising that giving things up can be a difficult and painful thing to do.
 
2.Give thanks for the many people who have stepped forward in a wide variety of costly ways to follow Christ, as they have sought to show solidarity with creation, victims of injustice, and those who suffer in our world. May they be encouraged and know God’s presence and blessing with them in all that they do.

Sunday, 22 February 2026 - Sports Sunday

This Sunday there will be two themes for our service. The first is not what you might call liturgical: we are having a Sports Sunday, in which I shall share with you something of what it’s like to be chaplain of Oxford United Women’s Football Club, and focus our thoughts around the mission work being done by chaplains nationally and internationally across the community of sport. The second theme, by contrast, is decidedly liturgical, because as you no doubt know, it is the first Sunday of Lent, a Sunday when the lectionary directs us to think about Jesus’s temptations before the start of his ministry.
 
In some ways the two themes appear to be almost polar opposites – sport and temptations, the sublime and the ridiculous, with opinions divided (depending on who you talk to) as to which theme is sublime and which is ridiculous! But we know that sporting metaphors are used several times by the New Testament writers to speak about the Christian life, and there’s a lot of mileage in the comparison between tough training regimes in order to excel at a sport and the hardship endured for the sake of honing one’s faith. Indeed, without wishing to trivialize Jesus’s temptations, we might think of them as the equivalent of a spiritual training camp, where, just as athletes isolate themselves to train for a major event, alone in the wilderness Jesus focuses entirely on this most difficult and demanding exercise, in order to be fully prepared for the rigours of the ministry he is about to begin.
 
Liturgical comparisons apart, the whole basis of sports chaplaincy is that all those who participate in the community of sport are a part of God’s world and under God’s care, and that God is present in the football ground and the athletics stadium just as much as anywhere else in the world. And so the chaplain is a visible sign of that presence, representing and extending that care as opportunities arise. Indeed, that’s what seems to matter most to the players at OUWFC, that someone is there for them and concerned about them, whether or not they feel the need to come and talk about anything at length. It is truly a ministry of presence, of being there, of being alongside; and it’s an immense privilege to be part of the team, supporting and praying for these talented young women, and for the coaching and support staff who work with them and enable their God-given gifts to be developed. So let me take this opportunity to thank you as a church for supporting this ministry, and do come along or zoom in on Sunday to hear more about it.