Curate Conundrums

  Stay alert, control the virus, protect the NHS. I don’t know about you but I’ve never felt more anxious in my life. At the moment we’re encouraged to be vigilant, to be alert, otherwise we might spread Corona Virus. Wash your hands, make space, and for the love of God don’t you DARE touch your face. I think all of us are under pressure to be vigilant right now. For the sake of our own safety, and the safety of others around us. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. So perhaps this passage is very right for us to think about right now. Jesus is telling us be alert. To be prepared. Because the end is going to come, we can’t predict when, but it will. And Why, why do we need to keep vigilant? Back in the old days Advent wasn’t just about preparing for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, it is also about four things. Heaven, hell, judgement and death. Not very Christmassy eh? But Advent was never supposed to be Christmassy. It’s a purple season, like Lent. A time

What does love look like? It’s a question poets, philosophers and theologians have asked down the ages. Since humans have been capable of it I’m sure they’ve thought about it. What does love look like? There are so many examples in our culture, countless songs ask this question. What does it mean to love? What does it feel like when love isn’t returned? What does it feel like to be in love? The Bible is no exception. As the most human book ever written, there’s plenty in its pages about what love means, and our Gospel reading today is one of the most famous examples, of what Jesus describes the meaning of love as. Love means laying down your life. Love means being good to one another. Love means bonds of friendship. Love means living well, within God’s love, law and purposes. Love means laying down your life. For some like those who died in WW1 and WW2, that meant literally. They died to protect those that were most dear to them. This is love. Others, perhaps for us, we lay