Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the book of Judges. There are lots of gory stories which aren’t suitable for Sunday School (Bern shares an embarrassing Dad moment…) and it’s hard to find good role models, but perhaps Gideon comes close in the way he consults and responds to God, ready to do surprising things with humility when asked. In contrast, Samson looks like the kind of “strong man” leader who makes the most of their God-given blessings and look like they’re...

How far would this revolution go? Owen Lynch looks at the way scattered believers in the early days of the church encountered new believers who looked like they would not fit in. While the law, as people understood it, seemed to put them on the margins or outside the boundaries of acceptability, an African eunuch had not only found status in a royal household, but also found scripture which pointed them to Jesus. Why was their baptism so remarkable? How could it revolutionise religious...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the book of Joshua. At face value, this story of the establishment of Israel in its promised land is a combination of glory and horror - there is new life for God’s people, but a lot of death for almost everyone else. It’s important to consider how people at the time would have heard and understood these stories, which don’t fit together in a way which allows anyone to take them too literally. Scholars differ in their...

Do we get that there’s a massive movement building? Owen Lynch looks at the growing expectation among Jesus’ followers early in the book of Acts that their world would change. Believers were living in revolutionary ways which changed how they saw and handled possessions, hoped and worked for equality, and fought and dealt with corruption.  There began to be deadly consequences, both for a couple whose corruption undermined the integrity of the movement, and for man inspired by God to share...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the book of Job. In lots of ways, this is a puzzling story that might seem not to fit well into the Bible - although that might depend on how we read the rest of the Bible. If we think it has given us explanations of why things work and rules we can follow with predictable results, we might be a bit like Job’s friends when we think someone needs our help or advice. The challenge of Job’s story is that they are not as wise as they...

What does it mean to deny ourselves, and what difference can this make? Kyle Henderson-Begg looks at what Jesus showed and taught, and what his followers came to believe about this. What are the advantages of self-control, and where can we find more strength to benefit from this?

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the gospel according to Mark. Looking at the history leading up to the time of Jesus, they reflect on the significance of Jesus' life and what it meant to live in and look forward to the kingdom of God.  Where was, and is, the "battlefront" that establishes it? Between nations, between people, or between conflicting parts of ourselves?  Did the way Jesus presented himself as leader fit anyone's expectations? And if not, could the...

In a bonus episode for Easter, Bern Leckie and Claire Lynch discuss the different views available in the Bible on the meaning and purpose of Jesus' death, as well as his resurrection and what these mean for us. We could regard the whole business as mystery, or pick a clear and simple explanation. One which is widely shared is "penal substitutionary atonement", the idea that Jesus had to die to take the necessary punishment from God that our sins deserve. There are Bible verses which seem to...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the end of the book of Numbers, chapters 17 to 36. What’s so important about giving glory to God, or credit where it’s due to anyone? Bern shares his experiences of the difference that people sharing credit for their sources makes to workplaces. It took him a long time to make the connection that this might be a value received from God, but it now seems crucial to him for being able to remain healthy, responsive and able to grow...

Jesus died on the cross and rose again, but why? Can the way this makes a difference to people be summed up in one simple, shareable idea? Claire Lynch continues her talk about the different ways this is described in the Bible, and why focusing on only one of them can distort our views of God and each other. The ideas of sacrifice and covenant are rich in meaning and hard to grasp in full, but can growing our understanding of them help to grow our sense of God’s love for us and what God wants...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the start of the book of Numbers, chapters 1 to 16, as well as Psalms 38 to 41. Numbers can be a tricky book to make sense of, seeming like a patchwork of pictures shared for different purposes which might not fit together as neatly as we think they should.  But these purposes are important and reveal ways of life which could recognise the specialness of God and an ideal quality of life people would struggle to attain. There would...

Good news - Jesus’ life, death and resurrection helps us to restore good relationships with God - but how does this work? Claire Lynch looks at different ways of explaining this which emphasise different parts of the Bible and might serve as helpful pictures or analogies. But it’s also possible that too much stress or reliance on one picture will distort our view of God and his character. Can we gain something from these pictures while also keeping our eyes on Jesus to understand what God is...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the end of the book of Leviticus, chapters 16 to 27, and the start of Proverbs, chapters 1 to 9. It can seem hard to make sense of some ancient laws, and even harder to know what to make of their relevance to us today.  Leviticus describes a covenant set out by a powerful Lord as conditions for his presence to remain with people. The overall purpose seems to be to establish a social order, giving God’s chosen people a distinct...

What if you expected a power struggle in your life? Owen Lynch looks at Jesus’ followers soon after his resurrection and ascension to heaven, and the giving of his Holy Spirit, which came with power. Peter and the other disciples expected a new Kingdom to come which would challenge the ruling authorities, political and religious. These authorities would not react well. But what did each party want and believe, and how would they handle their conflicts? 

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the start of the book of Leviticus, chapters 1 to 15, and Psalms 29 to 37. There is a lot to talk about here, including the role Leviticus played in the lives of its original audience. While many have understood it to be the source of statute law, both modern scholarship and the rest of the Bible suggest that judges may have been more used to building common law through their use of wisdom. The purpose of Leviticus may be mainly to...

What difference can it make to foster or adopt children? Anna Simmons describes her experience of becoming part of God’s family and, after having children, the decision they made to become a fostering family. Home For Good helps to find homes for the thousands of children that need them - find out more about them at homeforgood.org.uk

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the end of the book of Exodus, chapters 23 to 40. People see Moses go up a fearsome looking mountain into God’s presence, and there is a lot to discuss about what it means to be in the presence of God - how do we experience this today? Two contrasting stories emerge in this part of Exodus about faithful and unfaithful response to God. The unfaithfulness seems odd, hard to explain and tragic. But the faithfulness results in people...

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the beginning of the book of Exodus, chapters 1 to 22. There is a lot of important story to process here, beginning with the loss of good relationship between Egypt and the family of Israel, but with changes coming thanks to what God does through Moses. It’s the foundational story of Israel as a distinctive people, ultimately a nation, but it also seems to be a universally relevant story about the relationship between good and evil,...

How did Jesus give his followers power after he went up to heaven, and what was this for? Owen Lynch looks at what happened at Pentecost, a Jewish celebration of the founding of their nation, and how Jews who had grown up in many different cultures heard Jesus’ disciples in their own languages. A community of hope was gathering around one story which was including and uniting a diversity of people without destroying their origins, and it had the signatures of God at work among them. What...

In this episode, Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the end of the book of Genesis, chapters 45 to 50, and Psalms 1 to 28. The story of Joseph ends in a good place relationally, with reconciliation, forgiveness and restoration - it’s a picture of hope. But it’s also clear that there is more to come, both for Israel’s family and the rest of the world. Psalms contrast with the Bible’s stories as they seem to be personal expressions across a range of emotions and...

What would you want and expect if you were promised power? Owen Lynch looks at the situation of Jesus’ first followers and the ways they were desperate for their country to be run differently and better. When Jesus overcame execution by the authorities, rose from death and promised the arrival of the Kingdom of God, what did the people closest to him expect? What would their promised power look like, and what they want to do with it? And for us, what are wanting, expecting and hoping to see...

We’re on a boxset binge through the Bible, and in this episode, Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the middle of the book of Genesis, chapters 25 to 44. This could be well described as a family story and, as with many families, it can get a bit messy. Far from being a set of neat moral tales, it’s an account of people causing and dealing with difficulties. They are not perfect people, but they are loved and valued.  After much gets broken by people’s weaknesses, what...

What does it mean to have a relationship with God, and what should we expect from one? Claire Lynch looks at the way mistaken ideas about someone’s character can misshape our relationship with them, and how important it can be to learn what someone is really like through an authentic relationship. God made us in his image, giving us the capacity for relating to him, as well as reflecting his character and representing this in our relationships with people. What aspects of God’s character...

We’re on a boxset binge through the Bible, and in this episode, Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the very beginning, Genesis chapters 1 to 24. What is described at the start of the Bible has been the subject of much discussion over centuries. People take different views on interpreting it, but most agree that it is an awesome statement of the wonder of life and the way order can emerge from raw materials.  Bern and Owen look at the view of Bible scholar John H....