Readings

1 John 4.11–18 – Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

Mark 6.45–52 – Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray. When evening came, the boat was out on the lake, and he was alone on the land. When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the lake. He intended to pass them by. But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Reflection

In our two readings today, we are invited to reflect on fear and love, and on what it means to trust God when the way ahead feels uncertain.

In the Gospel reading from Mark, the disciples find themselves in a boat, battling against the wind. They are doing exactly what Jesus has told them to do, yet the journey is hard and frightening. The wind is against them, and they are making little progress. It is in the middle of this struggle, in the darkness of the night, that Jesus comes to them, walking on the sea.

Mark tells us that when the disciples see him, they are terrified. They have been with Jesus for some time now, yet in this moment of fear they do not recognise him for who he is. They think he is a ghost. Fear clouds their vision and overwhelms their understanding. And so Jesus speaks those gentle but powerful words: ‘Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid.’ As soon as he gets into the boat, the wind ceases, and they are utterly astounded.

This scene perhaps resonates deeply with our own experience of life and faith. Many of us know what it is to feel as though we are rowing against the wind; trying to be faithful, trying to do what is right, yet finding ourselves tired, anxious, or afraid. Sometimes we pray and wonder why the struggle continues. Like the disciples, we may fail to recognise that Christ is nearer than we think, present even in the midst of the storm.

The letter of 1 John speaks directly into this experience. ‘Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.’ John reminds us that God’s love is not abstract or distant. It is made real in Jesus Christ, and it grows in us as we live in love. Most strikingly, we are told that ‘there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.’

Fear, in the Bible, is not just about being startled or anxious; it is also about what happens when we forget who God is and how deeply we are loved. The disciples’ fear on the lake is not just fear of the wind and the waves, it is fear born of not fully understanding who Jesus is. They had not yet grasped the depth of God’s love revealed in Christ.

In his letter, John, writing to a community learning how to live as God’s people, reassures them that abiding in God’s love changes us. When we abide in love – when we trust that God’s love holds us – fear loosens its grip. This does not mean that life becomes easy or that storms vanish immediately. But it does mean that we are not alone in the boat.

For us, in the life of the Church and in our daily lives, these readings invite us to ask: where are we rowing against the wind? Where are we anxious or afraid? And can we hear again Jesus’ words spoken into those places: ‘Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid.’

So today we are invited to trust more deeply in God’s perfect love, to allow it to calm our fears, and to live it out in the way we care for one another. The wind may still blow, and the night may feel long, but Christ is near, and his love is stronger than our fear.

Amen.

Readings

Genesis 49.2, 8–10 – Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father. ‘Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion, like a lioness—who dares rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his.

Matthew 1.1–17 – An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Reflection

In our first reading from Genesis, we hear the voice of the aged Jacob, gathering his sons around him. These are words spoken at the threshold between past and future: a father blessing his children, but also a people being shaped by promise. Jacob speaks particularly of Judah, praising him and declaring that the sceptre shall not depart from him, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until the one comes “to whom it belongs”.

At first glance, this feels like a text about power, authority, and kingship. Judah will be strong; his brothers will praise him; rulers will come from his line. Yet this is not simply a story of human ambition or political success. Jacob’s blessing is rooted in God’s purposes unfolding slowly through history — often in ways that are surprising, fragile, and deeply human.

When we turn to Matthew’s Gospel, we are given what may seem an unlikely companion reading: a long genealogy, a list of names that we are tempted to skim over. Yet Matthew places this genealogy right at the beginning of his Gospel, as if to say: if you want to understand Jesus, you must first understand the story he steps into.

Matthew traces Jesus’ family line back through King David, through Judah, and all the way to Abraham. This is the fulfilment of the promise hinted at in Genesis: the line of Judah does indeed continue, and it leads us not to a palace, but to a child born to Mary.

What is striking about Matthew’s genealogy is not only who is included, but how they are included. This is not a polished list of heroes. It is a family tree marked by failure, scandal, displacement, and suffering. We hear of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and “the wife of Uriah” — women whose stories involve vulnerability, courage, and, at times, great pain. We hear of kings who ruled well and kings who failed badly. We hear of exile, loss, and waiting.

In other words, this is not a triumphant march of uninterrupted success. It is the story of God working faithfully through imperfect people and broken situations. The sceptre promised to Judah does not appear as an obvious symbol of worldly power. Instead, it is carried through generations of ordinary, flawed lives.

This matters deeply for us. The promise of God is not dependent on human perfection. God does not wait until history is tidy or people are blameless. God enters the story as it is — with all its complexity — and redeems it from within.

When Matthew tells us that Jesus is “the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham”, he is not simply making a theological claim. He is saying that in Jesus, all these promises, all these stories, all these lives find their meaning. The ruler spoken of in Genesis comes not as a lion devouring prey, but as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. The sceptre is real, but it is a sceptre shaped like a cross.

For us, this invites a quiet but profound reflection. We are part of this same story. Our lives, too, are a mixture of faithfulness and failure, hope and uncertainty. We may feel ordinary, or even unworthy, but God’s purposes are not thwarted by our weakness. Just as God worked through Judah’s line, God continues to work through the Church — through us — to bring Christ into the world again and again.

As we listen to these readings, we are reminded that God keeps his promises, often in ways we do not expect. The genealogy that begins Matthew’s Gospel is not dead history; it is a living testimony that God is faithful across generations. And the Christ who comes from this long line of waiting is the same Christ who meets us here today: not distant or idealised, but Emmanuel — God with us.

May we trust that the God who fulfilled his promise through Judah and through Mary is still at work in our own lives, drawing hope from our brokenness and bringing light into the ordinary paths we walk each day.

Readings

Isaiah 40.25–end – To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Matthew 11.28–end – ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

Reflection

As we have been for much of the season of Advent, in our readings today we hear two voices—Isaiah and Jesus—speaking across centuries, yet offering a remarkably similar promise. Both readings come to us in moments of human weariness. Isaiah addresses a people who feel forgotten in exile; Jesus speaks to crowds burdened by expectation, hardship, and the weight of their own limitations. And into those situations, both proclaim a God who does not grow tired, even when we do.

Isaiah begins with a question from God: “To whom then will you compare me?” It is a reminder that God is not simply a bigger or stronger version of ourselves. God is wholly other—Creator of the ends of the earth, the One who calls out the stars by name. And yet this transcendent God bends down to notice the faint and the weary. Isaiah speaks of divine strength that does not crush but instead renews. “They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” These are not triumphal words about never stumbling, but hopeful words about being upheld when we do.

Into that same human experience, Jesus speaks: “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” At first glance, that sounds like an invitation to collapse, to lay everything down. But Jesus goes on: “Take my yoke upon you.” A yoke is for work, for partnership, for moving forward. Jesus does not take away responsibility; rather, he offers to share its weight. His yoke is “easy”—not because life becomes simple, but because we do not carry it alone.

Both passages confront a common temptation: the belief that we must manage our lives by our own strength. Isaiah challenges the worry that God has disregarded us; Jesus challenges the fear that we must earn our place through endless effort. Together, they remind us of a deeper truth: human strength will fail, but God’s strength will not. And God’s strength is not given begrudgingly but generously, tenderly, and with profound understanding of who we are.

Perhaps each of us brings to this service some form of weariness—physical tiredness, emotional heaviness, the strain of caring for others, the quiet fatigue that comes from uncertainty. The scriptures today do not dismiss those feelings; they acknowledge them. But they also offer a promise: that when our strength falters, God’s does not. When our resources run dry, God’s replenish. When we cannot imagine taking the next step, Christ walks beside us, carrying what we cannot carry on our own. So as we continue in worship, may we hear both Isaiah’s assurance and Jesus’ invitation. May we bring our burdens before the God who neither slumbers nor grows weary, and may we receive the rest and renewal that Christ longs to give. And as we rise again to walk the path set before us, may we do so yoked to him—strengthened, lifted, and held by the everlasting God.

Amen.

Readings

Isaiah 26.1–6 – On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; he sets up victory like walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, so that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace— in peace because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock. For he has brought low the inhabitants of the height; the lofty city he lays low. He lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.

Matthew 7.21, 24–27 – ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’

Reflection

Our readings today place before us two powerful images of security and foundations—images that speak both to our faith and to the way we build our lives.

Isaiah offers a vision of a strong city, a place with salvation as its walls and ramparts. It is a city not secured by armies or human achievement, but by the very promise and presence of God. “You keep him in perfect peace,” Isaiah says, “whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” And then comes the invitation: “Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”

In the Gospel, Jesus takes up that same theme of foundations. He speaks of two builders—one wise, one foolish. Both hear the word of the Lord; both experience the wind and the rain. But the difference lies in what they have built upon. The wise builder hears the words of Christ and acts on them, anchoring life upon the rock. The foolish builder hears yet does nothing, leaving their house vulnerable when the storm inevitably arrives.

Both passages, then, remind us that faith is more than knowledge or familiarity with holy things. It is the shaping of our lives around God’s steadfastness. The prophet calls the people to trust; Jesus calls his followers to obedience; both speak of a life founded upon God’s enduring truth.

For many of us, the idea of storms—literal or symbolic—feels very real. We encounter uncertainty, change, loss, and pressures that shake us. And Jesus is clear: he does not promise a storm-free life. The rains fall on both houses; the winds beat against both walls. Christian faith has never been a guarantee of exemption from hardship. It is, instead, an invitation to root ourselves in the one who does not change.

Isaiah speaks of “the humble and lowly” being lifted up, while the proud and self-sufficient are brought low. The strong city of God is not built by those who rely on their own strength or cleverness, but by those who recognise their need for God and open themselves to his grace. In Matthew, likewise, the wise builder is not someone with superior skill, but one who listens and responds—who allows the teaching of Jesus to shape choices, relationships, and priorities.

So these readings challenge us gently but firmly:
Where are we placing our trust?
What foundations are we building on?
And are we content merely to hear the words of Jesus, or are we seeking to live them out?

To build on the rock is, in many ways, an act of patience. Foundations are not glamorous. They are often unseen—daily prayer, forgiveness offered and received, generosity practised quietly, integrity lived out when no one is watching. Small choices, steady obedience, faithful trust. Yet in God’s kingdom these become the stones of a strong and enduring city.

As we gather in worship today, we are reminded that the Church itself is called to be such a place of refuge—a community built on Christ, embodying his peace, and holding one another steady through the storms that come. And we are reminded too that our hope is not in our own strength, but in the everlasting rock who sustains us.

May we, then, hear the call of Isaiah to trust in the Lord for ever, and the call of Jesus to build our lives upon his word. And may God grant us the grace to become people of strong foundations, whose lives bear witness to the peace and stability that he alone can give.

Amen.