Grumbles about Everything (Numbers 21:4-9)

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15)

This Sunday we continue our series on Israel travelling in the wilderness.

As recorded at St. Luke’s
Listen on Castbox

From bad to worse, from great to greater

Our Bible reading this morning, from chapter 21 of the Old Testament book of Numbers, naturally falls into three sections, each section being two verses long. So, of course, it makes sense for this sermon to be divided into four parts!?! – or in any event I will do my best to say, when it comes to it, why it should have four parts! And those four parts can be summed up in the phrases ‘from bad to worse’ and ‘from great to greater’. We’ll start out with the bad, and see how far we get.

If you’ve been here of a Sunday morning at any time in the recent past, when there have been a series of sermons on the book of Numbers, you’ll be familiar with the situation the Israelites found themselves in, being led by Moses through the wilderness . After the first sermon a month ago, which was called ‘Setting out with God’, the last three sermon titles have been ‘grumbling about provision’, ‘grumbling about plans’, and ‘grumbling about leadership’. The working title I was originally given for today is ‘grumbling about everything’, and that is essentially what we read about in Numbers chapter 21, verses 4 and 5:

They travelled along the route to the Red Sea, but the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’

So that ‘grumbling about everything’ title is perfectly good as a description of what took place there, as long as we recognise two things: first, that to say that the Israelites were ‘grumbling’ is a polite way of expressing the frantic desperation they must have felt, and second, that if we were in their shoes, we would most likely have said and done exactly what they said and did.

Last year, Carolina Wilga, a German backpacker on a solo trip around Australia became lost in the outback. The four wheel drive she had been travelling cross country in developed a fault, which led to her losing control of the vehicle and ending up stuck in a bog, without a map, 100 miles away from the nearest township or mobile phone signal. The news reports said that Carolina stayed with her car for a day “before panicking and striking out to find help”.1 She “used the sun’s position to head west”, and “had minimal food and water with her”, but “drank water from rain and puddles to survive”. “At one point, she sought shelter in a cave.” “In her mind, she had convinced herself that she was not going to be located”, and “got to a point where she thought no one was coming”.

Indeed, she had not given herself the best chance of rescue. “Staying with your vehicle is the golden rule in the outback”, according to a survival expert quoted in the press. “Not only does it help searchers, it provides shelter and the mirrors can be used the attract attention”. Safety advice for those heading to the outback includes packing beacons and tinsel lines, which can be used to form a giant X on the ground to be seen from the air. Alternatively, you could set your vehicle on fire in the hope of being found!

In the event, Carolina Wilga was spotted at the side of the road, 12 days after going missing, by a passing motorist. She was barefoot, dehydrated, starving, ravaged by mosquitoes, had cuts and bruises, and was confused and disoriented. She was 15 miles away from her vehicle when she was found, on a road used only two or three times a week by cars.

Carolina expressed gratitude to everyone involved in the search that was mobilised to find her, and to save her life. She later resumed her journey around Australia. But if on the days prior to her rescue, she had expressed worry about food and water, or despair about her life, we would recognise this to have been the result of fear and desperation, in a situation that would be enough to drive anyone to their wits’ end. We might choose not to call it ‘grumbling’ exactly. We might choose not to be too hard on her, because we know that in her situation, we too would have struggled with despair.

This, I think, describes very well the situation faced by the Israelites in Numbers chapter 21. They were miraculously provided with food and drink in the wilderness, it is true, but they had no roof over their head, and no assurances about how long their ordeal would last. We can say that they should have trusted God and Moses, instead of complaining, but we have to admit that they were in a terrifying position, and that most likely we would have behaved no differently in similar circumstances.

In fact, I think we have to admit that we do not always respond well to the circumstances we do actually face. Instead we may nurture an unconscious expectation that everything ought to go well for us and for those we love. We didn’t get this expectation from the Bible, or from Christianity, by the way. Our Lord has told us that in this world, we will have trouble (John 16:33) but it is an expectation that runs deep. It blights our faith, it misplaces our hope, and it kills our love.

The moment the smallest thing goes wrong, or the moment the largest thing goes wrong, we look for someone to blame, someone to fix everything, or at least someone to listen to us as we complain about it. When we do this, we are imitating the Israelites of Number chapter 21, and like them we face a bad situation.

And then things go from bad to worse:

The LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said ‘We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes things seem to have to get worse before they get better? This is as true in the Bible, as it is in human experience, and there is mystery surrounding the activity of God involved in this, both in experience and in the Bible.

One of my favourite books of the Old Testament is the book of Jonah. If you’re familiar with the story, you will know that it starts by the prophet throwing himself off a boat in the midst of a raging storm. He is in clear danger of drowning, and just as you think things couldn’t get any worse, in the final verse of the first chapter, God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he was inside the fish three days and three nights. Things became worse before they became better as a result of what God sent.

And you may also remember that the book ends with Jonah sheltering from the blazing sun under a vine, before God sent a worm, in verse 7 of the final chapter, which chewed the vine so that it withered, and exposed the prophet to the elements. Once again things got worse before they got better because of what God sent. Likewise in Numbers 21 verse 6, the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and things went from bad to worse.

If there’s one thing worse than being lost in the outback, it’s being bitten by a snake when you’re lost in the outback. Having grown up in Australia, I can tell you that if you have to be bitten by a snake, it’s best to get bitten in the suburbs of a major city, with easy transport links to the nearest hospital. There are of course many different kinds of deadly snakes in Australia, and they each have their own variety of deadly venom, but anti-venom has been developed for all of these varieties, and all the hospitals have supplies.

The main thing they need to know in order to treat you correctly is which kind of snake you have been bitten by. When I was young, I was told that they best way to do this would be to kill the snake that has bitten you, and take it with you to the hospital, so they know which anti-venom to give you. Today, I suppose they would say that all you need to do is to take a photo of the snake on your mobile phone.

But whatever you do, don’t get bitten in the outback, hundreds of miles from any hospital. If you do, your goose could be cooked, as the Israelites discovered.

Did anything good come of the arrival of these snakes, which in the mystery of God’s providence were said to have been sent by the LORD, and which on the face of it made a bad situation far worse?

On the evidence of the verses we are reading, something good did come, which was the realisation on the part of the Israelites that what they had said was wrong, and their plea for Moses to pray for their deliverance. This was an insight they did not have previously, and it was as hard-won as the insights gained by Jonah in the fish, and when exposed to the elements. Out of something evil, in the mercy of God, something new, and true, and good, did emerge in the end. I find that encouraging, and I hope that you do too. It helps me to understand and live by the words of the modern hymn which we / sung earlier / will sing later on:

When trials come, no longer fear

For in the pain our God draws near

To fire a faith worth more than gold

And there his faithfulness is told.2

So now we can move on ‘from bad to worse’, and begin to encounter ‘from great to greater’. The great thing is, of course, the fact that the Israelites were delivered from the threat posed by the snakes. They were not delivered in the way they had hoped or imagined – they had asked that the LORD would take the snakes away from them, and that is not what happened – but they were delivered nevertheless. Likewise we must not be surprised if we are not delivered from the trials we undergo in the way we hope or expect. However much we may wish to hear the Lord say that ‘in this world, you will not have trouble’, in the end it is far, far better for us to know his actual promise, that in this world we will have trouble, but take heart, he has overcome the world.

And what a strange and mysterious way the LORD had to heal his people:

[He] said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live’. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

I hope you don’t mind me saying that this is pretty weird, and has long been recognised as being weird. 1600 years ago, the Church Father St Augustine set out the paradox in a sermon, saying that “the serpent is gazed upon, so that the serpent may lose its power … death is gazed upon, so that death may lose its power”.3 But then, it is also a paradox to be told that if you’re bitten by a snake, you should bring the snake with you to hospital to be healed.

So, too, there is a paradox embedded in the production of anti-venom itself. Small, non-harmful doses of venom are injected into domestic animals to trigger the creation of antibodies, which are then harvested and purified from the blood plasma of these animals, and used to neutralise toxins in human bite victims. Such is the miracle of modern medicine.

It must have seemed counter-intuitive to the Israelites to escape death by gazing upon death. And I won’t pretend to explain how this actually worked. To do so, even if such a thing were possible, would be to demythologise it, to strip it of its miraculous nature, and to transform it from a saving act of God into a bright idea of Moses. All I can really say is that we have here a record of a great deliverance from a deadly danger.

The motorist who rescued Carolina Wilga in the outback said to the press that “miracle is a word that gets bandied about a lot, but [in the absence of any outside help she survived 12 days and] went cross country to come to my road”. The word ‘miracle’ is indeed over-used, but any way you look at the story of the bronze snake lifted up on a pole, it is one of remarkable survival in the wilderness. It is a story not of human ingenuity – on the level of human rationality, it does not make any sense at all. Rather, it is a story of the great work of God to save his people, which is the same story we have been hearing week by week in this series of sermons on the book of Numbers.

And now at last we can move through bad to worse, and from great to greater. The New Testament tells us in not so many words that one greater than Moses is here (Hebrews 3:3-4). Specifically in relation to the bronze snake, this is what we are told by in the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 14 and 15:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

This is why it makes sense for this sermon to have a fourth part. We need to explore the backward look at the book of Numbers that is taken by the Gospel writer. As great as it is to be delivered from trouble, to be rescued from starvation or snake-bite in the wilderness, it is far greater to be delivered from one’s own sin.

That is why Jesus, upon once encountering a paralysed man, said ‘Your sins are forgiven’ long before he ever said to him ‘Rise up, take your mat, and walk’. Which is greater to speak: words of physical healing or words of spiritual restoration? Well, at one level it’s easy to string any sentence together whatsoever, but the question really concerns the power required to bring about the state of affairs that the words proclaim. On that level, it’s far greater to say ‘Your sins are forgiven’, and Jesus is in a position not only to speak the forgiveness of sin but actually to bring it about by virtue of being, in the phrase used by John, ‘lifted up’.

Bible scholars tell us that “the first step in [his] ascent is when Jesus is lifted up on the cross; the second step is when he is raised up from death; the final step is when he is lifted up to heaven”.4 “His lifting up will result not only in glory for himself but also in healing for [hu]mankind”.5

This is weird, because crucifixion was the most violent and degrading form of execution known to the ancient world, and most of those passing by a scene of crucifixion would naturally want to avert their gaze away from the horror of the scene. And it is a paradox, as St Augustine says: “Death is gazed upon so that death may lose its power. … In the death of Christ, death died, because life [slaughtered] death, the fullness of life swallowed death, death was devoured in the body of Christ”.6 This truth is not to be explained away, demythologised, or transformed from a work of God into a cunning human plan. As far as human ingenuity goes, it doesn’t make any sense. No-one would have thought that the apparent weakness, shame and futility of Christ on the cross could have effected any sort of deliverance.

But, says Augustine, “just as those who gazed on the serpent did not die because of the serpent’s bite, so those who gaze in faith on the death of Christ are healed of the bite of sins”. The Israelites “were preserved from death for a life in time, but Christ says that [those who believe in him] may have eternal life”.7

And this, the greatest deliverance of all, is what ultimately lies behind the story of God’s preservation of his people, as told throughout the Old Testament book of Numbers. In this world we will have trouble, and things may sometimes appear to go from bad to worse. But we may take heart. Jesus Christ has overcome the world, and our deliverance will be from great to greater.

1 This and all following quotations concerning this story are taken from The Guardian’s 12 July 2025 coverage under the headline ‘Sheer luck: how German backpacker Carolina Wilga was found after 11 nights lost in dense Australian outback’.

2 Lyrics © Keith and Kristyn Getty.

3 St Augustine, Homilies on the Gospel of John 1-40, translated by Edmund Hill (New City Press, New York, 2009), p. 238.

4 Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel according to John I-XII (Doubleday, New York, 1966), p. 146.

5 C.K. Barrett, The Gospel according to St John (SPCK, London, 1967), p. 179.

6 St Augustine, Homilies on the Gospel of John 1-40, translated by Edmund Hill (New City Press, New York, 2009), p. 238.

7 Ibid.

Grumbles about Leadership (Numbers 17:1-11)

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” (Hebrews 4:14)

This Sunday we continue our series on Israel travelling in the wilderness.

As recorded at St. Luke’s
Listen on Castbox

The budding staff  –  Numbers 17:1-11

The story’s told of a monastery where monks took a vow of silence and were only to say two words a year.

After his first year, one monk came before the abbot and said: ‘Better food’.

The abbot obliged, hiring a new chef and improving the food quality at the monastery.

A year later, the monk appeared again to speak his next two words: ‘Warmer blankets’.

The abbot got onto it and purchased new blankets for the monk.

The next year, the monk came in and said:  ‘I quit’.

The abbot remarked:  ‘Good riddance to him.  All he’s done since he got here is complain!’

Over the past few weeks we’ve been thinking about grumbling.  We use different words  …  complaining, moaning, whinging.  It’s common enough, and you probably come across it every day.  At Wednesday afternoon’s Prime Minister’s Questions, the leader of the opposition couches her moan in the form of six questions.  The PM always replies, not with an answer, but with an extended moan about the mess the last government left us in!

It has always been thus.  Moses experienced it.  The older translations say the people ‘murmured’ against Moses.  Lovely word!  In Exodus & Numbers, they murmured on 15 different occasions, and that constant negativity must have worn Moses and Aaron right down.  Two weeks ago we heard how the people moaned about the food God was providing (manna).  They wanted meat, so God responded by deluging them with quail.  Then last week we heard that they were moaning about the land God was giving them, because the people were too big and too strong.  And this week we see them moaning about Moses and Aaron’s leadership.

The story of Korah’s rebellion, which is the background to Numbers 17, is told in the previous chapter, and it ends with a lot of people dying.  You would have thought that after the miraculous deliverance from Egypt, everyone would have felt happy with Moses and Aaron leading them.  They had been slaves all their lives, and now there was the prospect of a new home in a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’.  But people have short memories and it wasn’t long before the complaints began and, with Korah and his cronies in particular, there was an aggressive challenge to the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

So, in an effort to make it clear to the Israelites whom God wanted to be the high priest, Moses instructed the leaders of each of the 12 tribes to bring their tribal staff or stick.  We don’t know exactly what they looked like (maybe quite plain or alternatively with very ornate carvings), but each of them was then placed before the Ark of the Covenant with the name of its tribal leader on it.  And God said to Moses, I will make one of those sticks flower, and whoever the stick belongs to, he will be my priest.  Amazingly, overnight, one of the sticks did sprout leaves, flowers and even almonds, and it was Aaron’s stick!  God had made it crystal clear that Aaron’s tribe, the Levites, would be responsible for overseeing the spiritual life of the nation in future.

Let’s be clear, Aaron is by no means perfect.  When Moses was up Mount Sinai receiving the 10 commandments, Aaron failed to stop the people from creating an idol (a golden calf) to worship, yet God still affirms Aaron as high priest.  And the importance of this moment is captured in Hebrews 9 where the writer tells us that the Ark of the Covenant contained three things  –  the stones on which the commandments were written, a jar containing manna, and Aaron’s budding staff.

Now let me just say a few words about leadership and authority.  There are two kinds of authority – formal and informal.  Formal authority is something we’re pretty familiar with.  There’s often some regulatory body that validates someone.  So if you want to be a teacher or an electrician or a gas engineer or a lawyer or a nurse or a physiotherapist or even an Anglican priest, you’ll need to be accredited by the relevant body.  They authorise you to do your stuff, but usually after some rigorous training and evidence that you’re competent.  Informal authority, as you’ve probably guessed, does not involve any regulatory bodies.  It’s based more on personal charisma or charm, so you get all sorts of health gurus and even pastors who are personable and persuasive, but they don’t have a recognised qualification or certificate of competence.  So you’re left wondering, do these people really know what they’re talking about?

In New Testament times everything was a lot less sophisticated.  Those who had formal authority were people like the Teachers of the Law and Pharisees.  They didn’t have regulatory bodies like we do now, but they wore a kind of uniform, and the people were encouraged to look up to them.  By contrast, Jesus didn’t have any formal qualifications, so you might be surprised to hear me say that His authority was informal.  In other words, this whole business of authority, of formal and informal, isn’t an exact science for us.  For a whole range of things we very sensibly choose to use someone who’s qualified, but when it comes to spiritual leadership, it’s a bit more complicated.  The Catholics and Anglicans are highly regulated, but there have been some scandalous cover-ups in recent years, most notably with the John Smyth case.  And the independent, unregulated churches, many of which are currently experiencing huge growth, also have a mixed track record.

So let me make a few general observations about authority and leadership, and our theme of grumbling …

Leadership is necessary

We need leaders!  We need people who can see where we need to get to and can chart a course for getting there.  That’s true in every walk of life.

Back in 1913, Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, used the idea of an assembly line for building his cars.  Along the conveyor belt the car was gradually built, each worker concentrating on one particular task.  Ford managed to cut individual production times for his Model-T car from 12½ to 1½ hours!

In an age of decline (the Anglican Church in England has seen falling numbers year on year for 70 years), churches need to reconnect more than ever.  People with ideas and vision are few and far between, so we need to pray that God will raise up good leaders.

Leaders need to be encouraged

For a few weeks now we’ve been thinking about the grumbling of God’s people, and this week we’re looking at their complaint that Moses and Aaron were self-appointed leaders.  Complaints are always more numerous than compliments.  When things go wrong, we look for someone to blame.  In football it’s the manager, in business it’s the chief executive.  And church leaders also come in for a lot of stick from time to time.  We tend to expect good things to be the norm.  We’re slow to say ‘thank you’ and quick to criticise.  We’re very blessed to have someone in our vicar, Paul, who is a hard worker, not a shirker.  And that’s not a given, I can tell you.  I’ve seen how hard Paul works.  Sometimes people don’t get the appreciation they deserve!  Ministers often receive more criticism from inside than outside.

So it’s always worth bringing to mind the instruction of Hebrews 13:17: Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.  Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

Actually, on this occasion, Moses and Aaron had done nothing wrong.  Korah and his mates were simply after the status Moses and Aaron enjoyed.  But they cloaked it cleverly.  In Numbers 16:3 they sound like pro-democracy campaigners: You have gone too far!  All the members of the community belong to the Lord, and the Lord is with all of us.  Why then, Moses, do you set yourself above the Lord’s community?  In other words: Moses, you’re an autocrat, a dictator.  You’re hogging the limelight.  You think you’re more important than the rest of us.  Actually, of course, Moses didn’t think that.  It was God who had called him and his brother Aaron into positions of leadership, and Korah was simply jealous.  There are echoes of this in life.  Do you ever feel jealous of those people who’ve been more blessed than you?  Maybe they’ve got higher-paid jobs, or their children are better behaved than yours, or they have a nicer house, or they’ve been lucky with their health  –  and it’s not fair.  Life should be a level playing field for everyone, but it’s not.

That’s probably the main point of the Cain and Abel story in Genesis 4.  Cain is just angry with God because Abel has been the object of His favour.  God tells him to control his envy and anger before it controls him!  Sadly he doesn’t.  His real anger was against God, but he couldn’t hurt God, so he killed Abel instead.

Jesus is our supreme leader

Human leaders are flawed, sometimes a disappointment.  No-one is perfect, and some Christian leaders have proved to be very imperfect.  Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by the scandals.

But notice the parallel between this story and the resurrection of Jesus.  In Numbers 17, a dead stick suddenly sprouts leaves and flowers and almonds, and in a similar way a dead Jesus emerges alive and triumphant from a tomb.  In the way that God affirmed Aaron’s authority, God affirmed Jesus’ authority by raising Him from the dead.  At the end of his Gospel, Matthew records Jesus’ words:  All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go, and make disciples.  In the Book of Acts, the apostles spoke these carefully chosen words  –  you crucified Him, but God raised Him;  you dismissed Him as a deviant, but God affirmed Him as Messiah;  you said ‘NO’ to His life, God said a resounding ‘YES’!  The NT affirms Jesus as ‘one greater than Moses’ and as the supreme High Priest who can bring us to God, hence our opening verse (Hebrews 4:14).

So in closing, two questions:  will you …

  • Be an encourager rather than a murmurer?
  • Make Jesus Christ your supreme leader, embracing Him as the priest who can bring you to God?

Becoming a Christian is not that complicated.  It begins the moment you say: Jesus, I believe that Your way is the right way for the world, and I’m going to follow You.  For my part, I hope to do that for as long as I live, and I hope you will too.

This Sunday – 25th January 2026

(Isaiah 43:18-19)

This week, the sections of the email are:

There will not be an email next week.

  • Opening reflection: 2026 Verse of the Year
  • Key notices: Safeguarding Officer, Life Groups
  • Coming Up: Churches Together in Ramsgate  United Service, Marjorie Woodward’s funeral, Prayer Breakfast, Thanet Churches Together Prayer Gathering, Confirmation Service
  • Interesting Blogs: New Things, our changing culture
  • Weekly Calendar
  • Online Forms: Event application, Submit a notice, maintenance report, access Safeguarding training

Scroll on…

Opening Reflection

Last Saturday, ten of us met for our monthly Dare to Pray prayer meeting at St. George’s. As part of the meeting we had committed to discerning the verse for the year. Some people had sent in suggestions beforehand, which were shared with those there, but in the end we chose the verses above. They were brought to the meeting by two people independently of each other, one from St. Luke’s and one from St. George’s, which in itself suggested they may be God’s choice.

They also seem to capture something of our present situation. Across the country, there is talk of a “Quiet Revival”, which is particularly showing itself among younger men. It seems that God is indeed doing something new with those who are new to adulthood. As churches we need to be aware of that so that we can be more pro-active at welcoming them into our church families and communities and supporting them as they explore and start out in faith.

In addition, Vision 2030, which came out of our year of discernment is also seeking to do something new in our town. We are seeking to reduce the number of buildings we have and improve the ones we keep, so that we can be more focussed on people not buildings. Our deep prayer is that through the new structure of shared buildings and administration, resources can be focussed on developing new worshipping communities (or congregations) so that there will be significant growth in those finding salvation through Christ.

Please pray that God will indeed, be doing new things with and amongst us in 2026 and that we will have eyes to see it.

Paul Worledge

Key Notices:

Parish Safeguarding Officer Role

Safeguarding in church is the responsibility of everyone. However, we need someone to champion and promote safeguarding in the church and to be a point of contact for any concerns raised. There is a lot of Diocesan training and support for this role. If you think you might be the person to take it on then please let Paul know and he can share more about what is involved.

Life Groups

Will you dare to share the Christian life with others? Life groups are a great way to meet together regularly with a small group of other Christians, for mutual support, to share in reading God’s word and to pray for one another.

Please see Paul if you are interested in joining one. There are groups at the following times:

  • Monday evenings
    • Tuesday afternoons
    • Wednesday mornings
    • Wednesday evenings

Coming Up:

Churches Together in Ramsgate United Service

Sun. 25th Jan., 6pm, Royal Harbour School (Upper Site, entrance off the New Haine Road).

There will be activities for children organised by ACTS and a choir led by the St. Lawrence and Coastal Community choir director.

Anyone is welcome to join the choir. Just turn up at the venue at 4:30pm for a pre-service rehearsal. There’s no particular dress code and you don’t have to be a trained singer, just someone who enjoys singing.

Marjorie Woodward’s Funeral Service

Tue. 10th Feb, 1pm, St. George’s Church, 2pm Thanet Crematorium

For those who knew Marjorie Woodward, please join us for her funeral service.

Churches Together in Ramsgate Prayer Breakfast

Sat. 7th Feb, 9am, Centenary Hall, Hardres Street

Thanet Churches Together Prayer Gathering

Sunday 22nd February, 6:30pm, St. James’ Church, Westgate, CT9 5JU

Confirmation Service

Sat. 28th Feb., 5pm, St. Luke’s Church

Please come and support candidates from St. Luke’s, St. George’s and other local churches being confirmed and baptised at the end of February. Bishop Rose will be taking the service.

Interesting Blogs to Share:

New Things? Our Changing Culture

In this 5 minute read, Graham Tomlin surveys the seismic changes happening in our world and asks whether the church is up to the challenge? Read more…

Weekly Calendar

There will not be a new notice sheet on Sunday 1st February.

Sunday 25th – The Third Sunday of Epiphany

Eucharist (St. George’s Church) Numbers 17:1-11 – 9:30am

CTiR United Service (Royal Harbour Academy, CT12 6FA) – from 6:00pm

Tuesday 27th          

Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

Community Meal (St. George’s Hall) – 5:30-7:00pm

Wednesday 28th     

Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm

Saturday 31st          

Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm

Sunday 1st February – The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany

Eucharist (St. George’s Church) Numbers 21:4-9 – 9:30am

Tuesday 3rd           

Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

Community Meal (St. George’s Hall) – 5:30-7:00pm

Wednesday 4th     

Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm

Thursday 5th           

Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

Saturday 7th         

CTiR Prayer Breakfast (Centenary Hall, Hardres Street) – 9:00-10:00am

Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm

Sunday 8th – The Second Sunday before Lent

Eucharist (St. George’s Church) Numbers 22:21-41 – 9:30am

Sunday School (St George’s, 10:30am)

Confirmation Course (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 5:00-6:30pm

Online Forms:

Under the ‘Contact’ tab on the website, there are now three forms that you can use to help us in managing the church:

  • Events Application Form. Use this if you are organising a church event that needs a church room booked, advertising or ticketing.
  • Submit a Notice. Use this if you want to ask us to include a prayer request or other notice in the church notice sheet or email.
  • Maintenance Reporting Form.Use this to report any non-urgent issues with our buildings or grounds.

Safeguarding Training

If you volunteer in anyway at church the national authorities are strongly encouraging you to take at least the Basic Module in safeguarding training once every three years.

If you have not completed the training in the last three years, then the module can be completed online and takes about ninety minutes. You can access the training by following this link. You will need to first register, to access the training. Once the training is completed, you will be sent a certificate. Please forward that certificate to James (office@churchramsgate.org), so that we can keep records of who has done the training.

Finally, let’s have a faith that truly relies on God.

Yours in Christ

Paul Worledge

(Priest in Charge, St. George’s Ramsgate)

Grumbling about Plans (Numbers 13-14)

“So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:19)

So, what kind of faith do you have? Is it a simple interest in religious activity and comfort. Or do you truly rely on God, for your eternal salvation?

As recorded at St. Luke’s
Listen on Castbox

Grumbling about Plans (Numbers 13 and 14)

Will you follow Jesus, when it seems impossible?

As Christians we receive incredible blessings. We can become children of God, and come to him as our father, because Jesus his Son became one of us. We are no longer under condemnation for our sins, because Jesus died for us and we receive the gift of eternal life, because Jesus in his death and resurrection has defeated death.

These are incredible blessings, but at times it can feel like it is impossible to follow Jesus. Jesus, himself said that to follow him, we need to take up our crosses and deny ourselves. In other words, it is going to be tough at times. When challenges come, the temptation can be to give up and return to our old life.

It may be that we struggle with temptations and resisting them just seems too hard, we don’t believe God will help us. It may be that we are experiencing pressure from friends or family for being a Christian, and we don’t believe that following Jesus will bring us enough support, when human support seems to be rejecting us. It may be that we are struggling financially and we feel we have to fiddle our taxes or cheat on our benefits or steal from others in order to make ends meet, because we do not believe God will provide for us anyway.

To follow Jesus, through tough times, means trusting that he will be faithful in those times. When we stop trusting or believing, then we end up on Jesus and returning to the seemingly easier life without him. But to do so is also to lose out on the blessings he offers us, to fail to enter into the promises he gives to us.

The writer of Hebrews, who was trying to encourage Christians not to give up, warns about this danger of unbelief. He says,

“So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:19)

He is using an example from the Old Testament, the story of Israel when they first came to the edge of the Promised Land.

Ready to Enter?

Israel had seen some amazing things. They had seen God force Pharaoh, the king of Egypt forced to release them from slavery, by sending a series of ten plagues on the Egyptians. They had seen God miraculously rescue them from the pursuing Egyptian army by enabling them to cross the Red Sea on dry land. They had experienced God’s miraculous provision of food and water in the Wilderness and they had met with God at Mount Sinai, spending a year camped there with him.

Now after travelling for a few months, they were on the edge of the Promised Land, a wonderful land that God had promised to their ancestors centuries before. This was the moment, where they were to receive that amazing promise, to enter the land and conquer it.

But first in preparation, Moses sent out Twelve Spies, one from each of the tribes to check out the land. To see if it lived up to the promise of God in turns of bounty and to assess the challenge of the people they would have to defeat.

After travelling around the land, the spies returned. The land was indeed good, a land flowing with milk and honey, a term used to describe places of abundant resources of food. They even brought back some massive clusters of grapes to show how good the land was. All the spies were agreed on this, but when it came to the people of the land there were two different assessments.

Ten of the spies emphasised the impossibility of conquering the land, whilst two emphasised that God was with them and they could do it. In the words of the children’s song. Ten were bad, two were good. So, let’s explore what was bad about the ten and what was good about the two.

The Ten Bad Spies

  1. Grasshopper Mentality – 13:27-29; 31-33

The first problem with ten spies, was their grasshopper mentality.

Their speech ends by comparing themselves with the warriors in the land:

Bring

Throughout their speech they have increasingly exaggerated the military challenging facing Israel in conquering the land. The land was full of different peoples, the cities were large and fortified.

In particular they mention the descendants of Anak. These were a people particularly renowned for their height. It may be that Goliath was one of the last surviving members of this tribe.

These descendants of Anak were associated with the Nephilim, a mysterious group, that Genesis 6 implies were semi-divine superheroes. How could the Israelites fight such people?

So, this was the report they brought back to the Israelites. They were basically saying, the land God promised is wonderful, but there is no way we can capture it.

  1. Incite Rebellion – 14:1-4; 14:10

To the people of Israel who had come so far in order to reach the promised land, this message was devastating. Their response was to grumble against Moses and Aaron. Had they led them to the Promised Land just to be destroyed by its ferocious inhabitants? Wouldn’t their children just become plunder to the locals. Surely they would be better off ditching Moses and Aaron as leaders, appointing a new leader and heading back to Egypt. After all, being a slave in Egypt was better than being dead in Canaan!

When Joshua and Caleb tried to argue against this, they were so enraged that they actually tried to stone them.

The bad report from the Ten was not just them being a bit negative, it was leading to the complete abandonment of the whole mission by the whole people. Their lack of faith in God’s ability to help them defeat the people in the Promised Land, had caused disbelief among the whole nation. It was a lack of faith that made them want to give up and return to their old life. To give up on all hope of entering the Promised Land, of receiving the blessings God wanted to give to them.

  1. Bring Judgement – 14:11, 20-38

But this was a lack of faith in the God who had rescued them so powerfully from Egypt. Look at how God sees their response in 14:11:

“The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?” (Numbers 14:11)

To disbelieve God is to treat him with contempt. It is to tell him, I don’t think you are loving enough, faithful enough or strong enough to help me.

It is no wonder that God is angry with the Israelites. He tells Moses that none of the Israelites who are twenty years and older will enter the Promised Land. Instead they will wander around the wilderness for forty years until they have all died out, then the next generation, those under twenty and yet to be born, will go into the promised land. The ones they feared would become plunder in the land will be the ones to eventually plunder it.

This judgement fits God’s description of his own character. Moses quotes it in 14:18:

“The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Numbers 14:18)

God could have wiped out Israel completely for their sin, but he limits his judgement on Israel to the third and fourth generation. The generation that sinned, will not enter the promised land and receive its blessings. Their children and grandchildren and even some of the great-grandchildren will suffer as a result, because they will be stuck in the wilderness for forty years, but they will eventually receive God’s blessing and future generations would enjoy the blessing of living in the land.

The results of the ten spies bad report was judgement on their whole generation, a judgement that would affect the next few generations, but would not prevent God’s plans overall.

But, the judgement on the ten spies was to be even more immediate. Those who lead others into disbelief or sin are worse than those who follow them and are worthy of more severe judgement. The ten spies are immediately struck down with a plague.

  • As we reflect on the ten bad spies, we need to see the seriousness of disbelief. It is corrosive and contagious. It destroys our relationship with God and separates us from the blessings he offers, and ultimately it ends in judgement.

But, our individual disbelief will never destroy God’s plans. The first generation may have failed to enter into God’s promises through disbelief, but the next generation will receive the promise.

Most of us have grown up in the midst of generations that have shown complete disbelief in the Christian message. Now, however, there are signs that the younger generations are beginning to turn back to God. Our generations may be losing out because of their unbelief, but God’s plans will not be thwarted!

The Two Good Spies

  1. True Faith – 13:30; 14:7-9

In contrast to the ten bad spies, the two good spies show true faith. Whereas their colleagues emphasised the impossibility of conquering the land, Joshua and Caleb emphasise that they can do it. Whereas the others ignored God in the equation, Joshua and Caleb emphasise that because God is with them, they do not need to be afraid of the giants in the land. At the end of their speech they say:

“Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (Numbers 14:9)

Now is not the time for giving up and going back to the old life, now is the time for faith and going forward to receive the promises God longs to give to us.

  1. Speak Out – 13:30; 14:7-9

To speak out in this way was brave. They were the minority speaking out against the majority. They were outnumbered 5 to 1. It would have been very easy to have kept quiet and go along with the crowd. Especially when it was becoming obvious that the ten were swaying the whole people to give up on going into Egypt.

In 13:30, Caleb has to silence the people to speak out, and in chapter 14, Joshua and Caleb speak out, even though the people are now set on choosing new leaders and going back to Egypt. Speaking out, was becoming increasingly risky, but they still did it. The result was that the Israelites became so angry with them, that in 14:10 we are told that were on the point of stoning them. If it wasn’t for God appearing in glory, they may well have been the first spies to die.

Yet, Joshua and Caleb were passionate about receiving God’s blessing. They wanted the best for the people and were desperate to try and persuade them.

  1. Receive Blessing – 14:30-31

In the end what looked to be a serious mistake turned into a great blessing for these two spies. They were rescued from being stoned and did not die along with the ten spies who were struck down with plague. In fact, God honoured their faith and courage by pronouncing that out of all of their generation, they would be the only ones who would enter into the Promised Land. In fact, they would be the ones to lead the new generation in faith into the conquest of the land and enable Israel to finally receive the blessings that God had been promising.

  • As we reflect on these two spies, we see the example of their faith in the face of so much disbelief. Democracy has its merits as a system of selecting a government and making decisions, but there is no guarantee that the majority will always make the right decisions. At times, we will need to be those who speak out, in defiance of the majority opinion if we are to be true followers of Christ. That takes courage and faith, but God will ultimately bless those who do.

After all, Jesus spoke out against the majority of the religious leaders of his day, even though in the end they took him and crucified him for it. But, he trusted in God, and God blessed him by raising him from the dead.

Faith or Disbelief?

So, when following Jesus looks to be impossible, will you have faith that God will help you through or will you give up and return to your old life? Will you embrace the promised blessings God has for you or will you treat him with contempt and abandon his way.

Look again at the God for whom nothing is impossible. Have faith and follow him with courage to the ultimate blessings he will give you.

This Sunday – 18th January 2026

“So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:19)

This week, the sections of the email are:

  • Opening reflection: Faith
  • Key notices: Safeguarding Officer, Life Groups
  • Coming Up: Dare to Pray (this Saturday), Men’s Group (this Saturday), Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Churches Together in Ramsgate  United Service, Confirmation Service
  • Interesting Blogs: Six Things Younger Generations are looking for…
  • Weekly Calendar
  • Online Forms: Event application, Submit a notice, maintenance report, access Safeguarding training

Scroll on…

Opening Reflection

What is faith? Does it matter? We often talk about faith in fairly vague terms. To say someone, “has faith” is often a way of saying they are a Christian or at least a member of a religion. But faith as an idea is not a purely religious word. It has a concrete meaning in day to day life. For example, I will only board a plane because I have faith that it will fly me safely to my destination, even though it is hard to imagine or understand how a big lump of metal can fly! We need faith in something or someone before we will rely on it or them.

Israel were travelling with God. They had embraced the religious dimensions of their relationship with God in the setting up of the Tabernacle, which now stood in the middle of the camp. But was their faith strong enough for them to rely on God to do what seemed impossible?

When they reached the edge of Canaan, the land God had promised to give them, they sent in twelve spies. On their return all twelve agreed this was a land that lived up to the hype. What they did not agree on was whether they were able to conquer it. Ten emphasised the impossibility of the challenge, the size and ferocity of the present inhabitants. In contrast, the other two emphasised that God could do what he promised. Ten did not truly rely on God, they did not believe his promises, whilst the other two did. Unfortunately, the people were swayed by the ten and so because of their unbelief they did not enter the promised land. The nation had to wait for the next generation who did have the faith to rely on God in the face of impossible seeming challenges.

So, what kind of faith do you have? Is it a simple interest in religious activity and comfort. Or do you truly rely on God, for your eternal salvation?

Paul Worledge

This Sunday

Grumbles about Plans (Numbers 13-14)

Join us this Sunday for our monthly communion service, when we will be discovering why Israel failed to rely on God and receive his promised blessing. There will be all the normal young people’s groups.

Key Notices:

Parish Safeguarding Officer Role

Safeguarding in church is the responsibility of everyone. However, we need someone to champion and promote safeguarding in the church and to be a point of contact for any concerns raised. There is a lot of Diocesan training and support for this role. If you think you might be the person to take it on then please let Paul know and he can share more about what is involved.

Life Groups

Will you dare to share the Christian life with others? Life groups are a great way to meet together regularly with a small group of other Christians, for mutual support, to share in reading God’s word and to pray for one another.

Please see Paul if you are interested in joining one. There are groups at the following times:

  • Monday evenings
    • Tuesday afternoons
    • Wednesday mornings
    • Wednesday evenings

Coming Up:

Dare to Pray – This Saturday 17th, 9:30-10:30am, St. George’s Church

We had a small but important Dare to Pray meeting in December just before the Christmas services, which, as vicar, certainly boosted me for the Christmas period. For our January meeting we are going to be praying for positive developments for our vision in 2026 and discern together what should be our verse of the year. Suggestions in advance for the verse of the year are welcome.

Men’s Group – This Saturday 17th January

Meeting at 8:30am for breakfast at Wetherspoon’s followed by a tour of Ramsgate tunnels at 10:00am. For more information contact Bruce Stokes or grab a flier.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

This week, Monday to Thursday, 9am to 9:30am, there will be joint prayer meetings for all the Ramsgate churches at the United Church in Harbour Street. Do come along on any day you are available.

Churches Together in Ramsgate United Service – Sun. 25th Jan., 6pm

Join Christians from all over Ramsgate for this joint service at Royal Harbour School (Upper Site, entrance off the New Haine Road). There will be activities for children organised by ACTS and a choir led by the St. Lawrence and Coastal Community choir director.

Anyone is welcome to join the choir. Just turn up at the venue at 4:30pm for a pre-service rehearsal. There’s no particular dress code and you don’t have to be a trained singer, just someone who enjoys singing.

Confirmation Service – Sat. 28th Feb., 5pm

Please come and support candidates from St. Luke’s, St. George’s and other local churches being confirmed and baptised at St. Luke’s at the end of February. Bishop Rose will be taking the service.

Interesting Blogs to Share:

Six things the younger generations are looking for…

Reflecting on the research about the Quiet Revival James Lawrence gives 6 things that under 35s are looking for in church in this 2-minute video. Watch now…

Weekly Calendar

Sunday 18th – The Second Sunday of Epiphany

Eucharist (St. George’s Church) Num. 13:1-2,21-33 – 9:30am

Confirmation Course (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 5:00-6:30pm

Monday 19th         

Prayer for Christian Unity (United Church, Hardres Street) – 9:00-9:30am

Confirmation Course (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 7:30-9:00pm

Tuesday 20th          

Prayer for Christian Unity (United Church, Hardres Street) – 9:00-9:30am

Community Meal (St. George’s Hall) – 5:30-7:00pm

Wednesday 21st    

Prayer for Christian Unity (United Church, Hardres Street) – 9:00-9:30am

Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm

Thursday 22nd          

Prayer for Christian Unity (United Church, Hardres Street) – 9:00-9:30am

Saturday 24th         

Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm

Sunday 25th – The Third Sunday of Epiphany

Eucharist (St. George’s Church) Numbers 17:1-11 – 9:30am

CTiR United Service (Royal Harbour Academy, CT12 6FA) – from 6:00pm

Online Forms:

Under the ‘Contact’ tab on the website, there are now three forms that you can use to help us in managing the church:

  • Events Application Form. Use this if you are organising a church event that needs a church room booked, advertising or ticketing.
  • Submit a Notice. Use this if you want to ask us to include a prayer request or other notice in the church notice sheet or email.
  • Maintenance Reporting Form.Use this to report any non-urgent issues with our buildings or grounds.

Safeguarding Training

If you volunteer in anyway at church the national authorities are strongly encouraging you to take at least the Basic Module in safeguarding training once every three years.

If you have not completed the training in the last three years, then the module can be completed online and takes about ninety minutes. You can access the training by following this link. You will need to first register, to access the training. Once the training is completed, you will be sent a certificate. Please forward that certificate to James (office@churchramsgate.org), so that we can keep records of who has done the training.

Finally, let’s have a faith that truly relies on God.

Yours in Christ

Paul Worledge

(Priest in Charge, St. George’s Ramsgate)

Grumbling about Provision (Numbers 11:4-34)

“And do not grumble, as some of them did–and were killed by the destroying angel.” (1 Corinthians 10:10)

As Christians we need to be honest about the difficulties and struggles we face, but we must not allow ourselves to be caught up in a negative spiral of grumbling that makes us forget the power of God to help. We must not abandon hope. As we enter 2026, lets lift our eyes from our problems to the God who promises us ultimate blessing.

As recorded at St. Luke’s
Listen on Castbox

Grumbling, Campaigning or Lamenting?

In our culture complaint is increasingly encouraged. We are told, if there is a problem, don’t keep quiet say something about it. Whistle blowing is seen as a heroic activity. Even churches now have to have complaint procedures to make sure complaints are taken seriously. This is especially important in the light of all the safeguarding cases where people’s genuine complaints about bullying, sexual abuse or harassment had sadly in the past been ignored.

And yet, not all complaining is good. Much of our complaining can be quite negative, merely increasing the bad feeling with no positive effect.

How can we distinguish between good complaint and bad complaint? I want to suggest there are three types of complaint: grumbling, campaigning and lamenting.

Lament is when we come directly to God with our complaints.

When Jesus was on the cross he complained:

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

It was a quote from Psalm 22, which is itself a lament, complaining to God about the persecution of enemies in a way that closely reflects Jesus’ experience on the cross.

Campaigning is when we complain in order to bring about needed change.

Some of the great heroes of the Twentieth Century did this. Just think of Martin Luther King and Ghandi.

Grumbling on the other hand is merely complaining because you are fed up.

If we are honest much of our complaining is often just grumbling. We are not bringing our problems to God and we are not really expecting anything to change. We are merely seeking to share our upset and dissatisfaction with others and so increase the general mood of annoyance.

 The New Testament has some strong warnings about grumbling:

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe…” (Philippians 2:14-15a)

 “And do not grumble, as some of them did–and were killed by the destroying angel.” (1 Corinthians 10:10)

This last verse was referring to the attitude of the Israelites as they travelled through the wilderness towards the promised land. Our passage is itself a key example. In the first section, the Israelites grumble about the lack of variety of food, there’s no meat, cucumbers, onions or garlic. Just manna to eat. God is angry with them and his judgement comes on those who desired to have meat and the place is named, Kibroth Hattavah, which means grave of craving.

Yet, also in the passage, there is a lament by Moses and God responds to Moses’ lament with a wonderful provision. Two forms of complaining, grumbling and lament. One is condemned, the other is held up as an example for us.

Israel’s Grumbling…

Let’s look more closely at Israel’s grumbling and see what made God so angry about it?

Re-Imagines the Past

Grumbling often complains that things aren’t the way they used to be. The past was much better than the future. In so doing grumbling often re-imagines the past, focussing on what was good and forgetting what was bad.

Israel do that in this passage. They look back to their life in Israel and remember the variety of food that they ate: fish, cucumber, watermelons, leaks, onions and garlic. It all sounds delicious, a wonderfully varied menu. But now all they had as they travelled through the wilderness was Manna to eat.

As it goes, this is all true, but it ignores the hardships they faced in Egypt, forced to work as slaves, and having their newborn babies killed by Pharaoh. Was that really worth it for the sake of some nice food?

This re-imagining of the past is particularly bad, because it reframes who God is. Rather than celebrating God as the great redeemer who miraculously rescued them from slavery in Egypt, they see him as the one who has brought them into a life of boring food! No wonder God was angry!!

Are you in danger of grumbling about life in a way that reimagines the past in this kind of way? Are you in danger of grumbling about the struggles in your Christian life, in a way that forgets how God has rescued you from your pre-Christian life, where there was no relationship with God, not hope beyond death and no freedom from guilt or son?

Despises God’s Blessings in the Present

Grumbling can also despise the blessings that we have now. Israel were travelling through the wilderness. There should have been nothing there for them to eat, but God miraculously provided Manna every morning, which was easy to collect and cook and tasted like cake. This was a miraculous blessing, but Israel were complaining about the lack of variety. What God had generously and freely provided they despised. No wonder God was angry!

Are you in danger of despising the good things God has given you in this life? Instead of being grateful for the small things, do you moan about your lack? We need to stop grumbling and start being grateful.

Ignores God’s Promises for the Future

Finally, their grumbling ignores God’s promises for the future. Their present situation in the wilderness was tough, but it was also temporary. God was leading them into a promised land, where there would be plenty of lovely food. Rather than complaining about present hardships, they should be trusting God for his future provision. Trusting that God could meet all their needs and desires. No wonder God was angry!

Are you in danger of focussing so much on present hardships, that you forget about God’s future promises, about his power to save? We need to see again the big picture of what God is up to.

 Israel’s grumbling was more than just expressing dissatisfaction about their diet, it expressed a failure to acknowledge the good God who had gone to incredible lengths to rescue and bless them. No wonder God is angry.

…Leads to God’s Punishment

So, at the end of the passage God sends his punishment.

He gives them what they want: meat and lots of it, but he also sends a plague that kills them. This may seem harsh, but we have already seen how the grumbling expressed a fundamental lack of gratitude towards God or trust in his power to save.  

But also, this was not the first time Israel had grumbled about lack of provision. They had done so a few times already and each time, God had provided for them and not punished them. This now was becoming a pattern, God needed to act to stop a grumbling attitude that would ultimately drive the people away from the God who saves them.

It is also a blessing for future generations, because this punishment was made as a warning. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians referring to the events in Numbers:

“Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” (1 Corinthians 10:6)

 Will we heed the warning and refrain from grumbling like the Israelites?

Moses’s Lament:

In contrast to the Israelites, Moses’ complaint is a lament, not a grumble.

He brings his concerns to God in prayer. Let’s look in more detail about how he approaches things.

Honest

First of all, Moses is honest with God. In particular, he is honest about his feelings. He feels the immense pressure of leading such a large group of people, a people that are not his family, but whom God has called him to lead. He is angry with God, but he is bringing his anger to God. He is on the point of giving up, and he tells God this, saying that he would rather be dead than continue in the misery.

When the Bible tells us not to grumble, it is not telling us to pretend that everything in life is well. That the pressures we face do not matter. To just keep calm and carry on. Rather it calls us to lament. To bring our struggles to God in prayer. To be honest with him about how we are feeling.

As Peter puts it:

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

Humble

Secondly, Moses, comes humbly before God. He is not telling God what to do or where God has gone wrong. He acknowledges, that he is God’s servant, that God is ultimately in charge.

This is where lament differs from grumbling. Grumbling is ultimately self-centred and often self-important. It says my opinion is ultimately what matters. Lament on the other hand shares your opinion and feelings with God with the recognition that God knows best and God is in charge. It frames the complaint in the context of our relationship with God.

Trusting

Thirdly, Moses, shows that he trusts God to be able to deliver. When God says that he is going to give the people enough meat for a month, Moses initially throws up his hands in despair before God. There’s no way I can find that much meat to feed this many people!!

But, God’s response, which comes in one of the verses which we skipped over is:

“Is the LORD’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.” (Numbers 11:23)

Moses finds God’s promise hard to believe and tells God so, but ultimately he trusts that God’s arm is not too short, that he is able to do anything he promises. So, Moses gathers the people and tells them what God has promised.  And God does indeed, provide more meat than they could possibly have imagined! Quail a meter deep for miles around!

Lament comes to God honestly with our problems and feelings, it does so understanding that God is in charge, but it also does so trusting that God is able to bring salvation. Will we come to God in lament and trust that God will work for our ultimate good?

God’s Provision:

Moses lament was that the burden of leadership was too much for him alone. So, God provided for Moses. He told him to find 70 elders and that he would take some of the Holy Spirit and put it on them, so that they too would be empowered to share in the leadership of the people, and the burden on Moses could be lifted.

And this is what God did. He gathered the chosen 70 at the tabernacle in the centre of Israel’s camp, God came down, and the Spirit was shared with the other elders. Initially it showed itself in the fact they were all prophesying, probably in the sense of becoming emotionally overcome with ecstatic praise of God, rather than in giving predictions of the future. This was a unique moment for them, but it demonstrated that God had indeed empowered them to support Moses.

Two on the list, however, had not made it to the Tabernacle. But God put his Spirit on them too and they were prophesying, but in the camp. Reports of this came to Moses and his inner circle and Joshua, Moses’ right-hand man was concerned that these two had gone rogue and that because they were in the camp, they may get all the attention rather than Moses.

But Moses is not concerned. He went to God, because of the pressure of solitary leadership and now God has responded by raising up 70 leaders to help him. What matters is not his status or reputation, but that the work of God can be done. He is not going to start grumbling about sharing leadership, but rejoice that more are doing God’s work.

When we bring our concerns to God in lament, we need to celebrate the way he helps us not focus on any downsides to us. Such an attitude slips into grumbling!!

Grumbling, Campaigning or Lamenting?

Next time you feel a need to complain ask yourself what are you doing: grumbling, campaigning or lamenting? If you are just sharing a moan with someone who can do nothing about it, then you are probably just grumbling. If, however, you are intentionally going to someone to sort out a problem or deal with an issue, then you are campaigning to make things better. Even better if you are bringing your concerns to God in prayer, then you are lamenting and you know that God is the one who has power over all problems!

This Sunday – 11th January 2026

“And do not grumble, as some of them did–and were killed by the destroying angel.”

(1 Corinthians 10:10)

This week, the sections of the email are:

  • Opening reflection: Mustn’t Grumble
  • Key notices: Life Groups, Parish Safeguarding Officer
  • Coming Up: Join Up Confirmation course, Dare to Pray, Men’s Group, Churches Together in Ramsgate  United Service
  • Wider Church: Thanet Prayer Diary, Celebration Event for Safer Families
  • Interesting Blogs: Leaving the European Convention on Human Rights?
  • Weekly Calendar
  • Online Forms: Event application, Submit a notice, maintenance report, access Safeguarding training

Scroll on…

Opening Reflection

“And do not grumble, as some of them did–and were killed by the destroying angel.” (1 Corinthians 10:10)

“Mustn’t grumble….” is a phrase, which is these days often associated with older people. It seems to be a concept that has been lost among younger generations! Most of us too easily slip into complaining about everything from the poor performance of our cricketers to the failures of our politicians.

Complaining does of course have its place. Where it is raising legitimate concerns with superiors in order to improve the situation for ourselves or others, then it can be very helpful and constructive. In this sense prayer can be a kind of complaint and the Psalms give pleny of examples of prayers that complain to God about the difficult circumstances of life.

So, what does the Bible mean when it says, “Do not grumble…”? To fully understand we need to know the stories about Israel as they travelled through the wilderness towards the promised land. These appear in the book of Numbers and our sermon series is looking at some of those events. In those stories, the Israelite grumbling went beyond calling on God for help, because of their difficult situation. When they faced any difficulty they focussed so much on the problem, that they forgot the power of God to help and so decided they would be better off without God and back in Egypt. It amounted to an abandonment of God and his whole project.

As Christians we need to be honest about the difficulties and struggles we face, but we must not allow ourselves to be caught up in a negative spiral of grumbling that makes us forget the power of God to help. We must not abandon hope. As we enter 2026, lets lift our eyes from our problems to the God who promises us ultimate blessing.

Paul Worledge

Key Notices:

Life Groups

Will you dare to share the Christian life with others? Life groups are a great way to meet together regularly with a small group of other Christians, for mutual support, to share in reading God’s word and to pray for one another.

Please see Paul if you are interested in joining one. There are groups at the following times:

  • Monday evenings
    • Tuesday afternoons
    • Wednesday mornings
    • Wednesday evenings

Parish Safeguarding Officer Role

Safeguarding in church is the responsibility of everyone. However, we need someone to champion and promote safeguarding in the church and to be a point of contact for any concerns raised. There is a lot of Diocesan training and support for this role. If you think you might be the person to take it on then please let Paul know and he can share more about what is involved.

Coming Up:

Join Up Confirmation Courses

We will be hosting a Confirmation Service at St. Luke’s on 28th February 2025. Paul will be running a course called, Join Up, from 8th and 12th January, which is both a follow up to Christianity Explored and a preparation for Confirmation. If you have not been baptised or confirmed or are just interested in taking part in the course, then please talk to Paul, asap.

Dare to Pray – Saturday 17th, 9:30-10:30am, St. George’s Church

We had a small but important Dare to Pray meeting in December just before the Christmas services, which, as vicar, certainly boosted me for the Christmas period. For our January meeting we are going to be praying for positive developments for our vision in 2026 and discern together what should be our verse of the year. Suggestions in advance for the verse of the year are welcome.

Men’s Group – Saturday 17th January

Meeting at 8:30am for breakfast at Wetherspoon’s followed by a tour of Ramsgate tunnels at 10:00am. For more information contact Bruce Stokes or grab a flier.

Churches Together in Ramsgate United Service – 6pm, Sunday 25th January

After the success of the united service at Pentecost last May, we are planning another united service at the Royal Harbour School, for Sunday January 25th at 6pm. This will be more traditional in style and there will be a joint choir for the event. If anyone would like to be part of the choir, please let Paul know.

Wider Church

The Thanet Prayer Diary

The Prayer Diary for January and February is available at the back of church or download.

Celebration Event for Safer Families – This Saturday

You may have thought that the celebrations were over…… but we would love to invite you to join us to celebrate the first year of Safe Families and Home for Good in East Kent.

Do come along this Saturday 10th January between 2pm and 4pm to St Christopher’s Church, Newington (Princess Margaret Avenue, Newington, Ramsgate, Kent, CT12 6LG).

Interesting Blogs to Share:

Should the UK leave the European Convention on Human Rights?

This is a meaty article but tackles a controversial issue of today. Should we abandon the convention because it is an obstacle to controlling irregular migration or is it a necessary safeguard against key rights for us all? Read more…

Weekly Calendar

Sunday 11th – The First Sunday of Epiphany

Eucharist (St. George’s Church) Num. 11:4-17,24-34 – 9:30am

Confirmation Course (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 5:00-6:30pm

Monday 12th         

Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

Tuesday 13th          

Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

Community Meal (St. George’s Hall) – 5:30-7:00pm

Wednesday 14th   

Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm

Thursday 15th        

Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

Confirmation Course (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 11:30am-1:00pm

Saturday 17th        

Dare to Pray (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:30am

Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm

Sunday 18th – The Second Sunday of Epiphany

Eucharist (St. George’s Church) Num. 13:1-2,21-33 – 9:30am

Confirmation Course (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 5:00-6:30pm

Online Forms:

Under the ‘Contact’ tab on the website, there are now three forms that you can use to help us in managing the church:

  • Events Application Form. Use this if you are organising a church event that needs a church room booked, advertising or ticketing.
  • Submit a Notice. Use this if you want to ask us to include a prayer request or other notice in the church notice sheet or email.
  • Maintenance Reporting Form.Use this to report any non-urgent issues with our buildings or grounds.

Safeguarding Training

If you volunteer in anyway at church the national authorities are strongly encouraging you to take at least the Basic Module in safeguarding training once every three years.

If you have not completed the training in the last three years, then the module can be completed online and takes about ninety minutes. You can access the training by following this link. You will need to first register, to access the training. Once the training is completed, you will be sent a certificate. Please forward that certificate to James (office@churchramsgate.org), so that we can keep records of who has done the training.

Finally, stop moaning and start rejoicing in the Lord!

Yours in Christ

Paul Worledge

(Priest in Charge, St. George’s Ramsgate)

Setting out with God (Numbers 10:11-36)

“Jesus said,””And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””” (Matthew 28:20b)

A key moment in the life of Israel.

As recorded at St. Luke’s
Listen on Castbox

Setting Out with God (Numbers 10:11-36)

New Year’s Resolutions – Life Tweak or Reset?

As we start a New Year, one of the big questions around is, “What’s your New Year’s Resolution?” People will give all kinds of answers, eat less, drink less, give up smoking, exercise more, read more.

But there are also some more outlandish suggestions that I found on the internet:

  • Learn how to communicate with plants…
  • Only eat food that matches your outfit…
  • Memorise the entire dictionary…
  • Adopt a new accent every month…

Generally, though most New Year’s Resolutions amount to life tweaks, changing small habits in order to improve life a bit. They do not amount to a complete life reset.

Yet, Christianity invites us into the Kingdom of God. This is not a tweak, it’s a complete life reset. It sets God as our King, sets God at the centre of our lives and commits to setting out with God on an exciting journey.

And a complete reset is what has been happening to Israel in the last couple of years.

Israel’s Year of Reset –

Our passage in Numbers 10, may feel fairly obscure and full of weird names, but it comes at a key moment in the life of Israel.

The date at the beginning is crucial. It tells us that it was the twentieth day of the second month of the second year. In other words, it is only just over a year since Israel’s calendar began. I am sure you are fed up with recaps of 2025, but here is a quick recap of what has happened to Israel in the previous couple of years.

Israel had been oppressed slaves living in Israel.

The God sent Moses to lead the Israelites and demand that Pharaoh, the king of Israel let the people go.

Pharaoh refused, so God sent a series of ten plagues, each one worse than the previous one, until Pharaoh finally agreed and Israel as a left Egypt, slavery and oppression behind. They were free.

That event marked the start of their calendar. It was a big reset in itself, but it was only the start of the story.

Those events are retold in the first third of the book of Exodus,

but having escaped Egypt, Israel travelled through the wilderness to Mount Sinai, where they met with God.

What happened in the following 11 months and nineteen days is retold in the second two thirds of the book of Exodus, the whole of Leviticus and the first third of the book of Numbers. Under a year in Israel’s history takes 59 chapters of the Bible. It is arguably the longest year in Israel’s history!

So, what happened in that year? God through Moses was setting Israel up for the future. He gave them rules to live by, a tent called the Tabernacle to show his presence with them, and a sacrificial system and priesthood to help them relate to him in the right way. Then in the first third of Numbers, he prepares them to set out on the journey to the Promised land he was going to bless them with.

After nearly a year at Sinai, going through a complete reset as a nation, Israel are now setting off on the journey to the Promised Land or at least to the Desert of Paran, which was on the edge of the Promised Land.

The middle part of Numbers tells us about the journey. Lots goes wrong and it turns out to be a lot longer than planned, but we will look at that in the coming weeks. The last part of Numbers, then tells us about the next generation of Israelites preparing to enter the Promised land.

So, now they are setting out, what can we learn from the way that they do it?

Setting out with God

On New Year’s Eve, I took part in Ramsgate’s Lantern Parade. The large number of people with their different lanterns gathered at St. George’s ready to set off on the short march through town to the Ramsgate Tunnels. Whilst we were waiting to set off, it all felt fairly chaotic, but there was a plan pinned to the door of the church, telling us in what order the parade was to march out. So, we all got into our respective places and left. For me it was easy – I was at the back!

Our reading in Numbers gives us the marching order for Israel as they travelled through the wilderness. The Twelve tribes are split into four groups of three and each group has its position, Judah’s group at the start, then Reuben’s group, Ephraim’s group and at the back Dan’s group.

But at the end we are told something remarkable. The whole procession is led by the ark of the covenant, the golden box that is meant to represent God’s throne and so his presence.

In other words, Israel are not setting out alone, they are setting out with God, and more than that God is going ahead of them to guide them and show them the way.

Whilst at Sinai, Moses had made it clear to God, that he was not prepared to go on the journey with Israel unless God was with them.

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”” (Exodus 33:15)

But, God agreed to go with them. So, Moses could be confident that the journey would ultimately be successful. Israel’s enemies would be defeated and Israel would come into the Promised Land, the place of rest.

  • In the New Testament, Jesus similarly promises that he will go with us. At the end of Matthew’s gospel as he sends the disciples off on their mission to convert the world, the resurrected Christ says,

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)

As we enter 2026 as individuals and as a church, we do not know what will come, but the more we know that God is with us, the more confident we can be that he will bring us through to his ultimate rest.

Setting God at the Centre

But, we need to take not of Israel’s reset. Not only does God promise to be with them, so they can be confident on the journey, he also wants them to make sure that he remains at the centre of their life and community.

Did you notice that as well as the tribes, the parade order mentions the Tabernacle and the Holy Things. Remember the Tabernacle was the tent where God was meant to dwell. There was another tribe the Levites, who were split into three clans. The Levites as a whole were set apart to make sure the worship of God could happen at the centre of the nation and each of the clans had a role to play. The Gershonites and Merarites were responsible for carrying the tents and poles that made up the Tabernacle, whilst the Korahites, were responsible for transporting the Holy Things, the altars, the lamps and so on.

All of this, shows what a priority the reset for Israel had placed on the Tabernacle, the place where Israel were to meet with God. But, there is more. If you go back to chapter 2 of Numbers we are told how the camp was meant to be set up when Israel were not marching.

The groups of three tribes were to be around the edge, Judah’s group to the East, Reuben’s to the South, Ephraim’s to the West and Dan’s to the North. In the centre was to be the Tabernacle with the Levites camped around it. The point was God’s tent was to be in the centre of all the other Israelite tents. The whole thing was set up to make sure Israel kept God at the centre of their community and life.

  • For us as Christians, we too are called to put God at the centre of our lives? Jesus tells us,

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,

and all these things will be given to you as well.”

(Matthew 6:23)

‘All these things’ means all the things that people run after in life, like food, clothes, shelter and so on. We are to put God first and trust him that these other things will be provided.

So, what does it mean to put God centre of your life in 2026?

A helpful thing to consider is our time and resources. Does God feature in our diaries? Do we invest our resources in him?

He can feature in our diaries, by committing to spend time with him each day, in prayer and personal Bible reading and committing to spend time with him and his people each week at church services and by joining small groups. If God never features in your day or week can you really say he is centre of your life?

And what about our resources? Are we giving generously to God’s work? The Israelites had to give generously to build the Tabernacle in the first place and they had to commit to supporting the Priesthood and the Levites, so they could maintain God at the centre of their nation. Are you using your finances to help support God’s work today? Or are you content to see it dwindle for lack of funds? And are you willing to give time to serve others as God calls us to, both in his church and as representatives of the church?

What will it mean for you to have God at the centre of your life in 2026? Do you need to make some tweaks or a complete reset?

Setting God as King

As well as setting out with God and keeping God at the centre, we need to also set God as our King. This is the point of the way the Tabernacle was set up.

Interestingly, they have discovered a diagram from the 13th century BC around about the same time as the Exodus of an Egyptian military camp. At the centre of the camp is a tent, with a large  outer room and smaller inner room. In the smaller inner room is the symbol for the Egyptian king, flanked by two heavenly beings.

This is exactly the same as the Tabernacle, which was also at the centre of the camp, had a larger outer room and a smaller inner room, where the ark of the covenant with two golden cherubim on top was placed. This was the throne room of God, where he was meant to dwell. This is where you met with him.

The point is that the Tabernacle showed that God was the king of Israel. Although, Moses was the human leader, we are not told anything about his tent. The tent that is special and elaborately decorated, where people went to find out what to do, was the Tabernacle. Moses was God’s spokesperson, God was the king.

  • And so, we as Christians are called to set up Jesus Christ as king or Lord of our lives.

In his first letter, Peter writes:

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” ( 1 Peter 3:15a)

The Tabernacle was set apart in the heart of the nation, to show who was king. We need to set God apart as special and ruler in our hearts, too.

All kinds of things will want to hold sway over our hearts, some are important things, like family, career, relationships, others are more frivolous, such as TV programmes we want to watch, holidays to go on. They all take up space in the encampment of our hearts, but we need to set God up in the royal tent, the one that has the ultimate say over how we should live our lives.

This is the ultimate reset we all need.

Inviting others to Join in

Setting out with God, is an exciting prospect. It can give us confidence as we travel through the ups and downs of life. But, we need to ensure God is central to our lives and we need to set him apart in our hearts as king.

Setting out with God, also brings us to the ultimate place of blessing and rest. It may not be an easy journey, but it is a good one to go on.

Moses turned to his brother in law, who was not and Israelite and invited him to join with them and help them on the journey. Your life may already be set on travelling with God, why not like Moses, invite others to join the journey in 2026?

Joy out of Oppression (Matthew 2:13-23)

“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm 18:2)

As recorded at St. Luke’s
Listen on Castbox

Joy out of Oppression (Matthew 2:13-23)

Knitting…

I can’t really knit. But knitting is amazing. People take a long thread and turn it into a beautiful jumper.

As we look at our Bible passage today, we will see that Matthew is knitting together some amazing themes, to show us a true picture of who Jesus is and how he came to fulfil the Old Testament.

1 simple story and 3 strange quotes

In the passage is a simple story. Jesus has been said to be the new King of the Jews, by the Wise Men who visited. But Herod, who was made king of the Jews by the Romans, did not want the threat of another king.

So, God warns the Wise Men not to return to Herod and Joseph to flee to Egypt with Jesus. Sadly, though, Herod desperate to destroy the baby who may be king, orders the murder of all the children in Bethlehem. Jesus is safe, but Bethlehem is sad. Soon, however, Herod dies, and Joseph it is safe to return to Israel and settles in Nazareth.

One simple story, but Matthew uses the story to knit together three rather strange quotes. He seems to be saying, that Jesus fulfils the quotes, but none of the quotes are about a future king, the first looks back to the birth of the nation of Israel as it came out of Egypt, the second records the sadness of Israel being taken into exile by the Babylonians and the third does not even appear in the Old Testament. This is not a simply the Old Testament said this would happen and now it has. Matthew is doing something much deeper with the quotes here.

So, let’s follow the threads and see what we can find.

Egypt

Follow string to 1st board, with ‘Egypt’ written on front.

“Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Hosea 11:1)

Egypt, is where the nation of Israel were slaves,

until God brought them out of Egypt and made them into the nation.

Coming out of Egypt was the birth of a new nation.

This verse looks back to that moment.

‘My son’ refers to the people of Israel.

Tear off ‘Egypt’ half of sign to reveal star of David and X

However, in Hosea it tells us that they kept turning away from God,

even though God longed to have them back.

Again and again, Israel proved to be a failure as God’s son.

Tear off ‘Egypt’ half of sign to reveal Jesus and tick

Now, Matthew seems to be saying,

that Jesus was going to fulfil God’s vision for Israel as his Son,

in a way that Israel never would.

In Matthew 3, at his baptism,

God speaks from heaven and says,

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

When Israel left Egypt they went into the wilderness

and often failed God there.

When Jesus was taken into the wilderness,

he was tempted, but never gave into temptation.

Where Israel failed, Jesus succeeds.

  • Jesus proves himself to be the true Son of God.

He does not just give us rules to follow, but a life to copy.

He shows us what it means to live as part of the true family of God.

Will you live to be like Jesus?

Ramah

Follow string to 2nd board, with ‘Ramah’ written on front.

In the Old Testament, Rachel was the favourite wife of Jacob.

However, there is confusion about where she was buried.

Some texts suggests she was buried near Bethlehem,

other texts suggests she was buried in Ramah.

So, in some way Rachel is associated with both places.

So, because Rachel was associated with Bethlehem, he uses a quote from Jeremiah:

“A voice heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children,

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more.”

(Jeremiah 31:15)

Tear off half ‘Ramah’ to reveal sad face.

Matthew tells us about the terrible killing by Herod of the children in Bethlehem,

in an attempt to destroy Jesus. The people in Bethlehem must have been very upset indeed and because of their association with Rachel, this verse seems to fit their upset.

The verse actually refers to the people of Israel being taken away from their homes

and forced to go into exile in Babylon.

Ramah was the staging post for those taken from Jerusalem as they were prepared

for the long journey. This was a sad moment. Israel were being oppressed

by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.

This also all echoes Israel’s time in Egypt, when the king of Egypt Pharaoh,

ordered the firstborn males of Israel to be killed and thrown into the Nile.

All these stories record terrible moments for Israel under oppression.

Whether by Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar or Herod.

Tear off half ‘Ramah’ to reveal happy face

But, they are also only parts of a story that are all about hope in God’s

ultimate rescue.

Moses miraculously survived the murder of the babies in his time and God ultimately used him to lead Israel out of slavery and to the promised land.

The next verse in Jeremiah tells Israel to stop weeping, because God will rescue them from exile in Babylon and bring them back to the promised land. And God did as Jeremiah promised.

Jesus like Moses was miraculously rescued from the murder of babies, by a warning in a dream to Joseph to flee to Egypt. And Jesus will return to bring salvation. Not from Herod, but from sin and death itself.

  • Jesus offers hope to the oppressed. We live in a world ravaged by sin and in particular, the oppression by terrible tyrants like, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar and Herod. But even as we suffer in a sinful world, Jesus brings us hope that just as he ultimately died on the cross, because of human sin, he will lead us to the promised land of God’s eternal kingdom.

Nazareth

Follow string to  3rd board, with ‘Nazareth’ written on front.

So, we come to the last quote. Except it is not a quote. You won’t find it in the Old Testament, and the fact Matthew says what was said through the ‘Prophets’, suggests that this is meant to be a summary statement of a theme of the teaching in the Old Testament.

“He will be called a Nazarene.”

So, what could it mean? This is debated, but I am most persuaded that the link should be made to the Hebrew word, Nezer, which means, Branch.

“Branch,” is a title used in the Old Testament of the hoped for Messiah.

Tear off  half ‘Nazareth’ to reveal crown

The clearest link is to the famous verse in Isaiah 11:1.

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” (Isaiah 11:1)

Jesse was the father of David, so this is looking forward to God’s promised king.

But there is another quote, with the title, ‘Branch’, which goes further.

Tear off half ‘Nazareth’ to reveal people

“Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: `Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD.” (Zech. 6:12)

Just as David’s son, Solomon, was the one to build the first temple in Jerusalem, so the prophecy says, a future Messiah will build a new temple in Jerusalem. When Jesus was born, there was already a temple being built in Jerusalem, by the King Herod. What Matthew seems to be saying with this title, is that this child has come to build the true temple, by the true king.

  • But, Jesus did not build a temple out of stones, but of people. He built his church, the new temple to replace the stone one built by Herod. Not built on the backs of oppression, but on the foundation stone of Jesus crucified. This temple, would be worldwide and spread the glory of God worldwide.

Today, you too are invited to be a part of that temple, and bringing glory to God, where we are in this place. As we approach a New Year, why not take the opportunity to be built by Jesus, the Nazarene, into the true temple of God.

The Gift of Joy (John 1:1-14)

“I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you.” (Luke 2:10-11)

As recorded at St. Luke’s
Listen on Castbox

The Word Became Flesh (John 1:1-14)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.