How much can God’s love change the world? Owen Lynch looks at Jesus’ first followers who were discovering that they were not just encouraged and empowered to have better loving relationships, but they were also equipped to challenge the systems of violence in human civilisation. From the most ancient times to the Roman Empire of Jesus’ day, and still evident today, people have suffered through personal anger and cycles of vengeance which also feed into systems that brutally oppress enemies of the state. Many early church leaders were legally executed. But Christians recognised that Jesus’ self-sacrificial love was God’s answer to this. It came with power and hope that the worst oppression could be overcome. How can we experience this and share it today? At the end of the talk, we reflect on a journey taken by fruit grown on a vine, and share the Lord’s supper together. See the video mentioned at https://youtu.be/VRUX6YR6z7A…

From the series ‘What is God like?’ What do we mean by calling God a “trinity”? Claire Lynch looks at the essence of one God as loving relationship, and explores how people have tried to express or explain this. Jesus talked about it in terms of his Father and his Spirit. If we can relate to God through knowing and trusting Jesus, can we do the same? What difference can it make to our lives to know that we are part of God’s loving relationship with creation? Find pictures and resources for this talk at https://www.severnvineyard.org/sunday-talks-bloglist/2025/3/1/trinity-overflowing-love-by-claire-lynch-2-march-2025…

What do we mean by love, and how do we get better at loving? Kyle Henderson-Begg looks at different kinds of love and what we expect from them, and the kind of self-giving love most talked and written about by Jesus and Paul in the New Testament. This turns out to be something which God grows in us - but how?…

How do we grow in God’s love, and what does it mean to remain? David Jennings looks at Jesus’ teaching that his followers are branches in him, a vine, made for fruitfulness under God’s gardening care. This fruit isn’t work we do, it’s the character of love, joy and peace that grows as we accept Jesus’ love and become defined by him and his character. Is it challenging to allow this to happen, sometimes needing to give up what we’d been aiming for ourselves? If so, can we find assurance in Jesus’ promise that, by remaining in him, we will be incredibly fruitful? The video and music mentioned at the end can be found at https://youtu.be/0hWnc8Lb2Go - use this to pray and contemplate as you would like to.…

What does God's coming kingdom look like in you? Owen Lynch looks at how Jesus compared this to a little bit of yeast that transforms a whole batch of dough - but what does that actually mean for us? Could the apparent weakness of self-sacrifice and small expressions of love, joy, peace, patience and kindness really be all that significant, especially when we love big, spectacular experiences? We might imagine the church's first leaders to have been amazing speakers, full of charisma, but this wasn't how Paul described himself. What else was God doing then that he might be doing with us now?…

When people in churches disagree, is there anything we know that should unite us? Owen Lynch looks at how Paul addressed believers who were becoming divided over personalities, leadership, ideas and practical issues. The believers and leaders were diverse, surprisingly inclusive to many. Was the answer to change that? Or was the cross of Christ uniquely powerful and necessary to unite people? Claire Lynch brings a “Lectio Divina” meditation on these words, taken from Paul’s letter to the Colossians: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.…

Are you a journey or destination person? This talk looks at what it means to leave the familiar and head towards a deeper spiritual home. How can we tell which way to go? The Magi in the Christmas story had a star to follow, which pointed them to Jesus - can we fix our eyes on him? Audio is included from a sermon by Dr. S.M. Lockridge given in 1976, with video made by Grace Community Church shared under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported licence. Music added by Bern Leckie, sharable under same licence. Video: https://youtu.be/-xHDoGM2Bvc…

Does this new year feel light and joyful, or have we loaded ourselves up with burdens? Owen Lynch looks at how spiritual and emotional health are important to us and need to be kept in balance. Jesus criticised religious leaders who brought loads of expectation which they could not carry themselves, and offered a better way of life. Have we taken up Jesus’ offer? Maybe we can tell by asking if our faith life is making us weary, judgmental, unapproachable and inauthentic, when it could be lightening our hearts, making us more open minded, hospitable and authentic instead.…

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the book of Revelation. Is this the most intriguing book of the Bible? There is a huge variety of views about what this book means and, even if we can understand it, what we should do with that understanding today. Bern and Owen start by looking at the culture it was written into, the challenges Christians were facing towards the end of the first century, and how words from Jesus and visions of future battles, judgements and resolutions would have been received. Jesus had notes for every regional church, and the theme of “repent” - changing of mind - was consistent. Could our understanding of this today be too small? Did Jesus want to “come in and eat” only with new converts to faith, or with every believer throughout life? John’s prophetic visions were dramatic and packed with meaningful symbols from stories across the whole of the Bible. But was this a code people needed to crack, or more of an encouragement to suffering people that they were richly connected to the God who had always promised to rescue and deliver them? The world as they knew it was coming to an end - as the world sometimes looks to us too - but they could look forward to a better future. God and his love wins. Thanks for listening! You can review the whole of our Bible listening plan and hear every episode of this podcast at severnvineyard.org/bible.…

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the books of Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, as well as Psalms 132 to 150. Covering a broad stretch of history from before, during and after the exile of God’s people, the last minor prophets in the Old Testament are sharing words from God in different situations, looking from a broad range of viewpoints. The different angles of their approaches might even mean that the work they saw God doing looked surprisingly different to them. Bern refers to a physical picture of this - a sculpture with a complex shape that looks like a pair of giraffes from one angle but like an elephant from a different angle a short walk away. (This is hard to imagine, so have a look here: https://youtu.be/S2iq8fYVNt4) Some people in history have seemed to dig in and defend particular viewpoints, giving them certainty that God’s kingdom was all about how it looked from their angle - for example, the Sadducees saw it about life centred on a physical temple, while the Pharisees saw it more about what God was doing to bring temple-like life into every home. We can think of modern examples where we’ve heard conflicting groups argue about what church should be focusing on today. God’s people had to move and change their perspective during the time of these prophets, and God seemed to deepen the understanding of people who would listen. A picture of where God was taking people and what his promised Messiah would be like were emerging. But would anyone really understand until they met him? In the next and final part of our boxset, we finish the Bible by listening to the book of Revelation. Listen along at your own pace at severnvineyard.org/bible.…

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, as well as Psalms 120 to 131. The story of how Jerusalem and the temple began to rebuilt was a major cause for celebration for God’s exiled people. Much in this story - formerly a single book - points people to God and the benefits of gathering together, faithfully observing his law and making the best possible effort to avoid the mistakes of the past. But is there more to this story? Had people really taken onboard the fresh perspectives given by God through the prophets about what he really wanted from them, and what he was promising to do next? Looking at how people were proceeding by their own best efforts, doubling down on some traditional ideas but skewing the law in the process, could this really be more of a warning against certain kinds of leadership instead of an encouragement to emulate the leaders described here? And can we see parallels which should give us caution and encouragement today? The “Psalms of ascent” also give encouragement and cause for reflection to people gathering for festivals and worship. When gathering people put their hope in God, was this only to expect good life in the gatherings, or was God going to do something to transform life afterwards too? What are our hopes about this? In the next part of our boxset, we finish the Old Testament by listening to the minor prophets Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, as well the rest of the Psalms, 132 to 150. Listen along at your own pace at severnvineyard.org/bible.…

What makes a great gift? Liz Nixon looks at the value of thoughtful, meaningful gifts and how they can build relationships when we grow love in return. The talk concludes with ten minutes of ‘examen’ prayer, which can also be practised with the Pray As You Go app at https://pray-as-you-go.org

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the books of Lamentations and Daniel. Both were written for and about God’s people around the time of their exile to Babylon and the loss of their temple and centre of social order. Lamentations expresses huge depths of pain and suffering, though in the Hebrew it’s ordered around the alphabet in a similar way to Psalm 119. There is devastation throughout, but also a strong central column of hope which might still feel relevant and needed for us today. Could this book be a good way for us to engage with suffering and find God’s presence? Daniel’s story is memorable to Bern and Owen from childhood, and it seems to have become even richer in meaning since then. Trusting God in the most difficult times is a central theme, and the way God works through people who trust him can be astonishing. Daniel looks a lot like Joseph and might even look a lot like Jesus. What can we learn about God and his kingdom by following Daniel as he seeks to gain understanding and humble himself before God at the same time? In the next part of our boxset, we continue the story of God’s exiled people as they start to return in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and look at Psalms 120 to 131. Listen along at your own pace at severnvineyard.org/bible.…

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about chapters 18 to 21 of John’s gospel and Paul’s letter to the Romans. Was it too ambitious to try and take in these texts in a week? Any of these chapters could be studied for a lifetime, and scholars still debate the details, but Bern and Owen still found massive value in getting an overview from them and reflecting on God’s intentions for his kingdom. Since the middle ages, the western church has often focused on a message of personal salvation which can be pieced together from these passages - a “ticket to heaven” necessary to avoid eternal suffering. But an escape from earth to heaven does not seem as important for Jesus or Paul to teach as much as God’s plan to pour heavenly resources through believers to renew the earth, through relationships and societal change as well as personal development. Jesus’ nature as a suffering servant, along with his willingness to accept a death caused by everyone else’s brokenness, show the power of heaven to overturn the worst of what can happen on earth. God’s kingdom is a social order which can look “upside down” to us and can turn injustice on its head. Paul’s description to the Romans of how God moves to fix brokenness is a challenging one, perhaps requiring us to admit to being more broken than we would like to. Bern and Owen discuss question of whether the fix is our faith in Christ, or the faithfulness of Christ - two alternative readings of the text. With the original culture in mind, some scholars are emerging with a view that this is a both/and rather than an either/or situation; what we call God’s “grace” would likely have been understood at the time as his offer of sponsorship or patronage, providing all the resources people needed to work and expecting a faithful response from people using them. This relationship seems irrelevant in terms of obtaining a “ticket to heaven”, but extremely relevant to a plan to renew the earth with heavenly resources. Paul leads from this towards the idea that we can know how to deal with our inner and interpersonal conflicts, and know God’s mind in general. What Jesus has done has made a way for us to approach God directly, as priests offering ourselves as sacrifices. What does this mean? For one thing, it means God considers us good and acceptable. For another, it means that we can expect to have to lay down some of the things we think are essential to us - perhaps stuff, perhaps opinions - in exchange for a renewal of our minds. This is a lifelong process within faithful relationship with God. In the next part of our boxset, we turn back to the Old Testament and listen through Lamentations and the book of Daniel. Listen along at your own pace at severnvineyard.org/bible.…

What does the story of Jesus' birth tell us about God? Owen Lynch looks at this and shares his own reasons for having faith in Jesus. Do we want the stories which define us to be God's stories about us, our value, and how much we are loved and filled with his love, joy and peace to share this year?