John Davies - Notes From a Small Vicar

Bartimaeus - Believing is seeing

Believing is seeing. What we believe influences how we perceive the world. It’s important that we understand how this works.

Do we believe - as the pious people of Jericho believed - that people in our society in similar positions to Bartimaeus have only themselves to blame for their poverty? Believing this, then, do we perceive that we can treat them as untouchables, and leave them to sort out their problems alone, without our care or intervention?

Or do we believe - as Bartimaeus himself came to believe - the good news that ‘Blessed are the poor… for theirs is the kingdom of God’? [5] And so perceive that we should reach out to them, practically, financially, engage with their issues politically, to show them that they are indeed in God’s care and embrace?

 - from today's talk, Bartimaeus - Believing is seeing (2015).

The High Priest of Melchizedek in Fantasy meltdown

Jesus, the High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek, plays to a different set of rules. My talk today enters the dark world of fantasy: The High Priest of Melchizedek in Fantasy meltdown.

Love comes blinking through the needle's eye

A few funnies, and a message of liberation for the rich man and the poor, in my talk today, Love comes blinking through the needle's eye.