As you’ll be aware, I’m an angler. I’ve been fishing since my mid teens.

Over the years I’ve learned to ‘read the water’, to be able to tell see where fish might be hiding, look for signs of feeding activity, to assess what might be the right approach.

Generally there are two techniques that I use to catch fish. One is the trusted float, hook, piece of sweetcorn, the other is a swimfeeder with a hair-rig. Most of the time, these two simple techniques are all that I need to catch fish.

There are days when I seem to daw a blank, with nothing apparently taking the bait. At these times I have to think differently, try a different technique, a different part of the lake or river, a different rod, a change of reel.

Peter was an experienced fisherman. He’d followed in his Dad’s footsteps, watching and learning as he grew up. He knew how to catch fish, where to catch them, and the best time of day or night to catch them.

He and his friends had been fishing all night to no avail when Jesus comes along and says, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’

With, I think, immense self-control Peter replies:

‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.’

But then he adds:

‘But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’

The result is a miraculous catch so large that he has to get help to bring in the net.

There are times when we think that we’ve got this church thing sussed. We use this or that particular liturgy, these set of hymns or songs, meet in this sort of building.

And then Jesus says:

‘Put out into deep water, and let down your nets’.

Maybe there are times when Jesus is calling us to do it differently; a different liturgy; a change of hymns or songs; to try

silence; change our building; a new location. Have we the faith, the courage, to follow Peter’s example and say, ‘Because You say so, we will’?

Maybe there’s a miraculous catch waiting for us …

Rev Phil

Mission is God’s invitation to everyone to join in the Divine Dance.

2025 is the Diocesan Year of Engagement, when we are challenged as churches and individuals to engage with our communities. It is only through building relationships with people that we are able to engage in mission.

How do we do this practically?

My shelves have books entitled ‘Everyday Evangelism’, ‘Developing Healthy Churches’, ‘Online Mission and Ministry’, ‘Creating Missional Worship’, all of which should be a guide to mission, that act of inviting people to join in the Divine Dance.

The best advice I’ve found comes from ‘Chav Christianity’, which has a section entitled ‘Get off your backside and tell your friends about Jesus’. And it simply says to tell your story, share your faith, and share your hope.

Peter tells us to:

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15)

We don’t/shouldn’t need to initiate conversations about faith. If we are living Christ-like lives, people will be wanting to know what it is that makes us different. The way in which we live, think, act, talk, should attract people. A chorus I learned in my teens says:

They are watching you, marking all you do, hearing the things you say.

Let them see the Saviour as He shines in you, let His power control you every day.

When we are in the shops in Bromyard, when we’re waiting for the bus to Hereford or Worcester, when we’re at a show or concert at the Conquest, when we’re exercising in the Halo gym, when we’re walking the dog, when we’re at Stoke Lacy coffee morning.

If you want to engage with the community, don’t use the self-service checkouts in the Co-op, do always say ‘Hello’ to a

passing stranger, end every conversation with a simple ‘God bless’. It may take a little time, but doors will begin to open! A thought ascribed to St Francis of Assisi:

‘Preach the gospel, use words if necessary’

Rev Phil

If a hedgehog learned about the Green Cross Code and found it to be the safest way to cross the road, then surely it would want to share that learning with family, friends, neighbours, to ensure their safety when they crossed the road.

We have good news; not just any old good news, the Good News! It’s far better than the Green Cross Code. It is the Good News that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; it is the Good News that everyone is invited by God to join in the Divine Dance.

It’s Good News that is exciting. And that’s why people have shared it. On finding the tomb empty, the women

‘… hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.’ Matt 28:8 (ANIV)

After Jesus was recognised in the breaking of bread at Emmaus, the two disciples explained,

“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32 (ANIV)

They were excited! For a sense of that excitement just read 1 Peter 1: 3-9.

People have also shared the Good News out of thanksgiving. When Jesus healed two blind men, and after specifically telling them not to say anything, they

… went out and spread the news about Him all over that region. Matt 9:31 (ANIV)

Again, after healing a deaf and mute man:

Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more He did so, the more they kept talking about it. Mark 7:36 (ANIV)

Their thankfulness led them to tell others about Jesus.

Excitement and thankfulness encourage us to go out and share God’s invitation. The excitement of knowing that we are loved unconditionally; being thankful for all that God has done for us and in us.

Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessing, see what God has done. Count your blessing, name then one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done!

Rev Phil

Mission is nothing less than God’s invitation to all peoples to join in the Divine Dance. So if mission is God’s invitation, what’s our part?

In Matthew’s gospel we read:

When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”

He called His twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These twelve Jesus sent out …                                                                               Matthew 9: 36 – 10: 1,5

Our first part in mission is to recognise that there is a need; a need for people to know the love of God for themselves. Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion on them.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that during COVID many people turned to prayer, praying to an ‘Otherness’, a ‘Universal

Spirit’. We have the privilege of knowing this ‘Otherness’, this ‘Universal Spirit’ as the God who loves us because He loves us because He loves us.

Next, we are to pray. The Message version of the Bible has Jesus saying, ‘On your knees and pray for harvest hands!’ This suggests two possible meanings to ‘hands’. It could mean ‘hands’ as in hired hands, hired workers, which would be lovely as it leaves mission to someone else. Or it could mean that we must be prepared to get our hands dirty and participate in the harvest.

We pray that God would send people out to share His love. But notice that having told the disciples to pray, Jesus sends them out. We have to be ready to be the answer to our prayers! When we pray, God often says, ‘Yes, I hear you. What are you going to do?’ As Jesus said at the feeding of the five thousand, ‘You give them something to eat.’

As we pray, God sends us out.

‘… go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them …, and teaching them…’  Matthew 28:19-20

We are sent out to be witnesses (Acts 1:7), ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), with beautiful feet (Isaiah 52:7). Teresa of Avila wrote:

Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes with which Christ looks out His compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good.

Yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.

Rev Phil