Today’s sketch is based on Jesus’ teachings about giving in Matthew 6:1–4. There are many kinds of financial giving, but according to the NET, the kind referred to in this passage is ‘alms’, referring ‘primarily to the giving of money or food for the relief of the poor.’
Continue reading On giving to the poor: ‘The Silent Finance Awards’ (a comedy based on Matthew 6:1–4)
No discussion about money in Matthew’s gospel would be complete without looking at the rich young ruler: Matthew 19:16–30.
Continue reading The rich young ruler: ‘The Sacrifice of Inheritance’ (a drama based on Matthew 19:16–30)
Happy new year!
This week, I have another short sketch, based on Matthew 10:5–15 when Jesus sends out the twelve. I imagine a conversation between Peter and Andrew and their host as the two apostles visit a town.
Continue reading Jesus sends out the twelve: ‘The Miracle Method’ (a satire based on Matthew 5:5–15)
Happy First Sunday of Advent!
Over the last few weeks, I’ve really enjoyed writing short sketches about money, but I wasn’t sure about writing scathing satires during the festive season.
We’ll see what inspires me next week, but today, I’ve explored the story of the visit of the magi. There’s actually a lot that can be said about money from this chapter of Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 2).
Continue reading The Three Wise Wives (a short drama based on Matthew 2)
Today, I wanted to write about price gouging – a practice of exploitation through unnecessarily high prices. I noticed some similarities between the story of insulin (how it was discovered and how it is now priced in the US) and the story of Jesus cleansing the temple.
The sketch is 1,000 words long, but it’s also light-hearted for a satire and has a refreshing declaration of Jesus’s ministry.
Continue reading Offering and Greed: The Apocalypse of Price Gouging (a satire based on Matthew 21:12–13)
Today I wanted to explore one of my favourite moments from the gospel, when Jesus teaches on the law – by which I mean the Old Testament law.
Continue reading Putting God before grifters in your household budget (a satire based on Matthew 15:1–12)
Today I’m writing about Matthew 6:24.
Continue reading Jesus is every influencer’s worst nightmare! (a satire based on Matthew 6:24)
As I was finishing the last series for Faith in Grey Places, I began to think the next one would look at Matthew’s gospel in some way. Then as the news-feed scrolled on I thought maybe this was a time to write about money.
According to The Infographic Bible by Karen Sawrey, money is the fourth most-frequently preached on topic of Jesus’ teaching [p148-151]. The top three being the kingdom of God, the Father, and faith.
Continue reading Wealth managers outraged by “deceitful” slur (a satire based on the parable of the sower)
Continuing the poetry series based on the nine lessons from a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Today’s reading is Matthew 2:1–12, the visit of the magi.
Continue reading Matthew 2:1–12: The heavenly summons (a poem)
This is part of a series of poems on the virtues described as the fruit the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Once again, I’m struck by how much I discover when I get out my concordance and start looking at the Greek words.
Take, for example, Jesus’s words in Matthew 7:17 where he says that every “good” tree bears “good” fruit. These are two different words in the Greek, but many English translations render both words as “good”.
Continue reading Songs of the Spirit: goodness (a poem)
Bible references for this poem: Matthew 28:16–20, Acts 1:1–11.
When I was still at school, perhaps still at primary school, a friend asked me why Jesus couldn’t have stuck around. Immediately, I piped up about the Holy Spirit and Jesus’s Spirit can be with everyone, everywhere, simultaneously in a way that an embodied, physical Jesus couldn’t.
As I look back at my younger self, I’m a little surprised at how bold I was – but in a good way. The Holy Spirit is just as much a person of the Trinity as Jesus is.
Continue reading Divine comedy (a poem reflecting on Jesus’s ascension)
The twelfth day of Christmas, Epiphany, was yesterday. We have officially moved beyond the Christmas season. And this devotional series ends today. It is, after all, day 40.
I’m not sure I quite knew what I was biting off when I planned this series. It’s definitely been a stretch assignment, but I’m proud of what I’ve achieved and the skills I’ve learned.
If this series has encouraged you, refreshed you in your faith, or given you new insights, I would simply love to hear. Please use the contact form or message me via Twitter or Facebook.
Continue reading Christmas 2020: Week 6, Day 5: Revelation
In 2019, I read Kathy Khang’s book “Raise Your Voice.” She writes as a Korean-American about having courage to speak up and bring about change for the better.
Throughout the book, she speaks about the sensitivities involved, as well as how hard it is to gain traction with people. She writes about changing structural problems, often from a position of little power/influence.
Her insights were a balm for me and there are fabulous one-liners.
One of them was this: “the Old Testament prophets not only recorded history but also remind the modern church of the need for people who say things that need to be said, even when it’s uncomfortable.” (p89)
I nearly pushed this sentence out as a Facebook status, but just before I hit post, I hesitated.
Continue reading Christmas 2020: Week 5, Day 5: Integrity
You hear some kinds of stories multiple times. Then they become tropes. Then you get fed up of hearing them.
Take the whole ‘chosen one’ plot. Something bad needs sorting, but fate or prophecy has decided who will do this. And more often than not, it’s a child. Or a baby. Or a yet-to-be-born baby. Whoever it is, they were born for this.
And then every now and then, you see the story told well, or in a surprising way.
Continue reading Christmas 2020: Week 2, Day 5: Chosen
At the start of this series, I said the Christmas story both begins and ends with tears. Today, I want to look a bit more at that ending. Sorry, it’s not easy going.
A woman once told me her account of when she’d been sexually assaulted. When I said I believed her, she said people often doubted her because she was calm when she spoke about it.
I replied saying that she had become practised at telling her story; after all, she’d had to tell it to police, to social workers, to family, to friends, to her employer and to domestic violence workers. I said she probably wasn’t nearly so calm the first time. And she laughed; she hadn’t thought about it that way before.
Continue reading Christmas 2020: Week 1, Day 5: Politics