Worship Reflections from August 2026
Pentecost 13 23 August
Matthew | The keys to the kingdom Fellowship@10, 23 August 2026 Alison Sampson ~ Matthew 16:13-20 Welcome, welcome to our wonderful city! This beautiful shrine is to the shepherd god, Pan. The guardian of the flocks, as you know, he’s always one for the ladies. Fellas, lock up your daughters! Pan doesn’t always do consent; we wouldn’t want a ‘situation’ now, would we? On your left, you’ll see a marble temple. This exquisite building was erected by King Herod in…
Pentecost 12 16 August
Matthew | Rethinking Joshua Fellowship@10, 16 August 2026 Alison Sampson ~ Matthew 15:10-28 ‘I’m from one of the oldest families,’ he said. ‘We’ve been here since the beginning.’ And with that he effectively erased 60,000 years of continuous living culture, just as his Irish ancestors had tried to erase the people from the land. He’s a lovely guy, straightforward and well-meaning, and totally oblivious to what he had just done. This is what happens when you’re raised in a colony.…
Pentecost 11 9 August
Genesis | Joseph’s amazing technicolor …. Fellowship@10, 9 August 2026 Alison Sampson ~ Gen 37:1-4, 12-2, with allusions to Matt 14:22-33 Most of us went to Sunday School; we know how it goes. Lucky Joseph gets an Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat, travels to Egypt, and saves the world with the blessing of Elvis. It’s a musical, a Veggie Tale, a children’s story, and thus it is very effectively de-fanged. If, however, we choose to read as adults, we might notice a…
Pentecost 10 2 August
Genesis | Wrestling with God Fellowship@10, 2 August 2026 Alison Sampson ~ Genesis 32:22-31 How often have you been there? Everything is ticking along nicely when, boom! you find yourself flat on your face. The longed-for thing is no more. The relationship falls apart. The lump you tried to ignore turns out to be cancer. Your children move away, your loved one dies, your house becomes shockingly empty. Things were going so well when it happened. It’s unlooked-for, unwanted, a…