Michaela Youngson
Reflections for Holy Week - The Uncounted Disciples
Reflections for Holy Week - The Uncounted Disciples
by Michaela Youngson
The Uncounted Disciples Luke 23.27 - 31, 49 - 56 Luke 24.1 - 12 Luke understood the loyalty shown and the price paid by the women, the uncounted disciples. His Gospel bears witness to the witnesses. 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and your childre…
Reflections for Holy Week - Pieta
Reflections for Holy Week - Pieta
by Michaela Youngson
Pieta I was fourteen when I cradled you in my not much more than infant arms, wrapped you in linen cloth, fed you with my own life force. Rich men came and brought gifts fit for a king. Who knew that the swaddling cloth would herald a shroud, the myrrh would point to your embalmi…
Reflections for Holy Week - Jesus Wept
Reflections for Holy Week - Jesus Wept
by Michaela Youngson
Jesus Wept Luke 19.28-48 The fresh green of Olivet soon gives way to the barren waste of Golgotha and somewhere between the two is the City. When he came in sight of the city, Jesus wept over it. The city in which dreams are born, wealth grows, mornings bring the luxurious cries …
Reflections for Holy Week - Jar and Nard
Reflections for Holy Week - Jar and Nard
by Michaela Youngson
Jar and Nard Matthew 26.6-13 A jar, fit to hold something precious, broken open to allow its contents to flow in scandalous, intimate, tactile generosity. The pot is royal purple and holy blue, with silver strands that hint at wealth. The colour of death, the colour of lent...
Reflections for Holy Week - Bowl and Towel
Reflections for Holy Week - Bowl and Towel
by Michaela Youngson
Bowl and towel John 13.1-20 Ordinary, everyday, ready to be filled with water, a bowl lies waiting to fulfil its purpose and a towel laid over it waiting to comfort, to dry, to warm. They are not changed by their use, not worn out or broken or destroyed, soon they are washed, dri…
You are the everlasting God
You are the everlasting God
by Michaela Youngson
Prayer of Confession You are the everlasting God Based on Isaiah 40 When I try to reduce you to a manageable size, remind me that you are the Everlasting God: The Creator of the ends of the earth. When I have made of you something that suits my purpose, remind me that you are the…
Imagining intercessions
Imagining intercessions
by Michaela Youngson
Imagining intercessions Based on Isaiah 40 Imagine that you are in space; picture swirls of stars, planets and great expanses of space. Imagine that you can see the Earth from a distance. See its atmosphere, the blues and greens of land and sea, the white bands of cloud. Notice t…
A counsel not to despair
A counsel not to despair
by Michaela Youngson
Reflection: A counsel not to despair Based on Isaiah 40 The writer of Isaiah 40 takes great pains to remind the people of Israel of the full majesty of God the Creator. In wonderful poetry he writes of God ‘who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a ten…
Contemplating lofty aims
Contemplating lofty aims
by Michaela Youngson
Poem: Contemplating lofty aims I want to mount up on wings like eagles, only I need to get to the supermarket. This is the problem with the sublime: Life tends to be more about the mundane, and I find I increasingly have little time, to spend contemplating such aims...
Bible Study Based on John 13: 1-17
Bible Study Based on John 13: 1-17
by Michaela Youngson
Bible study/dramatic reflection It would work well in Holy week or one of the Lent Sundays. Bible Study John 13.1-17 Beverly Gaventa describes this passage as a ‘commentary on Jesus’ death’. This makes a certain kind of sense. The passage, as Pete Phillips said, marks a radical s…
A canticle of Gods creation
A canticle of Gods creation
by Michaela Youngson
A canticle of God’s creation Isaiah 40.21–31 Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is God who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are as small as grasshoppers. Who stretches out the heavens…
Called for a Purpose
Called for a Purpose
by Michaela Youngson
Ordinary 32 Year C Reflection based on 2 Thessalonians 2.13-17 Called for a purpose – questions to consider. (allow silences between questions) What is our purpose here? There is one possible answer in our text – ‘we must always give thanks to God’. But what would it look like fo…
OPening words based on Psalm 145
OPening words based on Psalm 145
by Michaela Youngson
Ordinary 32 Year C Opening Words or Prayer of Praise based on Psalm 145. 1- 5 17 – 21 We will extol you, our God, AND BLESS YOUR NAME FOREVER Every day we will bless you, AND PRAISE YOUR NAME FOREVER Great is God, and greatly to be praised; God’s greatness is beyond our understan…
A reflection