Stephen’s example reminds us that our call to follow Christ compels us to trust even when life is hard, and trust is a costly choice.
Where is the risen Christ asking you to trust yourself to this Eastertide?
It’s hard to be openhearted when life is frightening and unstable. In such times all our instincts tell us to close ourselves away, to become less trusting and more suspicious of others.
Stephen was able to trust God even when he was challenged and his life was threatened. He carried on trusting in God until the very end of his life when he hands himself over body & soul to the risen Christ. As he dies he says: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Such trust requires an open heart.
Trust is fairly straightforward when life is steady and secure. When we live in stable times, reasonably certain that we can meet our own basic needs trust seems so easy that it’s barely an issue. It becomes much harder when life is uncertain, challenging or even dangerous.
Living in an occupied country in dangerous times he would have been aware there would have been risks involved in joining this new group. Yet, he stepped out into the unknown, trusting that the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit would lead him.
A wobbly stack of pebbles on a wooden table overlooking a sunset lit beach. The text reads: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
An Eastertide 🧵TRUST. Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles calls us to TRUST. It tells the story of Stephen, of the earliest Christian converts, and the first Christian martyr. He is a man of faith filled with the Holy Spirit.
A wobbly stack of pebbles on a wooden table overlooking a sunset lit beach. The text reads: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
#Benedictine, #challenge, #eastertide, #Eastertide2026, #EastertideLexicon, #gospel, #HolySpirit, #Hope, #kingdom, #KingdomValues, #lectiodivina, #love, #Martyr, #newlife, #RisenChrist, #StStephen, #trust The call to trust, new blog post on turveyabbey.org.uk/pilgrimage/2...
My Dad loved babies from when he was tiny. My Gran said people used to remark on how he wanted to look in every pram he passed and always wanted to hold the babies. He had a doll and pram as a child. People in 1940s thought that was odd. My Gran used to tell them it was good practice!
7/7 He calls us to BELIEVE that he is with us, offering us new life in the midst of our brokenness.
How is the risen Christ inviting you to deepen your belief in him this Eastertide?
6/7 There is an answer to that dilemma in Jesus’ response to the crowd: “You must believe in the one God has sent.”
The risen Christ invites us to BELIEVE in him even though, in our broken and damaged world, that is not always easy.
5/7 "...the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.”
His words carry a particular challenge for us. In our world that endlessly promotes image with little concern for truth it can be hard to discern what to believe.
4/7 Vital as that is he calls them to go deeper, seeking beyond the surface for the real meaning of his action, that brings life and hope. He says to them: “Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life,..."
3/7 It’s a call to believe that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God that’s echoed in today’s gospel. His popularity has increased as a result of the feeding of the 5000. Jesus knows that the crowds have been attracted by the miracle rather than by faith in his message.
2/7 He challenges them to believe the witness of their own eyes when what they see before them seems truly unbelievable. In last Sunday’s gospel he tells Thomas to move on from his doubting, saying to him: “Doubt no longer, but believe.”
A person’s hand in the dark holding a small lit candle. The text reads: “You must believe in the one God has sent.”
An Eastertide 🧵1/7 Throughout the Resurrection appearances Jesus is encouraging his disciples to BELIEVE. With each appearance he encourages and challenges them to believe that what he told them has come to pass.
A person’s hand in the dark holding a small lit candle. The text reads: “You must believe in the one God has sent.”
#Believe, #Benedictine, #challenge, #doubt, #eastertide, #Eastertide2026, #faith, #gospel, #Hope, #kingdom, #KingdomValues, #lectiodivina, #love, #newlife, #resurrection, #RisenChrist, #trust Called to believe new blog post on turveyabbey.org.uk/pilgrimage/?...
I think of digging out brambles every time I hear that passage…And I haven’t done it since my noviciate.
Thank you. It’s definitely one of those passages we never get to the bottom of. I think you might be right about what we can bear. I’m sure that’s why Jesus appears in quite different ways to different people in the resurrection appearances. He’s tailoring it to what each needs & can cope with.
6/6 In our dark times when hope feels impossible, the risen Christ also walks alongside us. If we allow him in, he can rekindle a hope that will set us free and give us the courage for these times.
Where do you need the risen Christ to help you rediscover hope this Eastertide?
5/6 It compels them to invite Jesus to stay with them when they reach home, and enables them to recognise him as he blesses the bread. As they recognise him their hope begins to blossom again: “Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?”
4/6 “They stopped short, their faces downcast…Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free.” Jesus gently unfolds the truth, challenging but never forcing, moving at a pace they can cope with. A small spark of recognition is kindled, & a tiny shoot of hope takes root.
3/6 It’s hard to see how they can move from this draining hopelessness to the energising hope we see at the end of the gospel. When a compelling stranger draws alongside them, asking what they are discussing their hopelessness overflows. Full of sadness they tell him:
2/6 At the beginning of their journey the disciples are despairing and hopeless, so drained they can barely drag themselves along the road to their home. We can almost feel the hopelessness from Luke’s description, we may also recognise it from our own experience.
Purple crocus buds emerging from the ground. The text reads: “Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?”
An Eastertide 🧵1/6 HOPE is central to Eastertide. Today, we get another opportunity to revisit the Emmaus gospel. I’m glad to revisit a story that is so full of riches that it always offers us something new to reflect on.
Purple crocus buds emerging from the ground. The text reads: “Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?”
#Benedictine, #challenge, #Christ, #Christlike, #Disciples, #Discipleship, #eastertide, #Emmaus, #gospel, #Hope, #kingdom, #KingdomValues, #lectiodivina, #love, #newlife, #Recognition, #trust Finding hope, new blog post on turveyabbey.org.uk/pilgrimage/2...
6/6 As we face our own stormy times we too need to hear Christ’s voice calming our fears and assuring us that, with his grace we will come through our storms.
Where do you need to hear the risen Christ calming your fears this Eastertide?
5/6 The strange sight of him walking towards them over the stormy lake only increases their already mounting fear. Then Jesus speaks to them, and everything changes: “It is I, do not be afraid.” His words offer them consolation and calms their fears and they reach the shore safely.
4/6 They find themselves buffeted on all sides as wave after wave threatens to overwhelm their small boat. Struggling to control the boat they see Jesus walking towards them across the water. Initially his appearance seems to do little to help their situation.
3/6 As darkness falls and they climb into the boat they must have been hoping for a quiet, peaceful crossing to Capernaum. It wasn’t to be, as they get further from the shore the wind and the waves get stronger and a storm blows up.
2/6 Our own stormy times make it easier to identify with the disciples response to the unexpected storm that threatens them. I imagine them longing for rest and the opportunity to process some of the strange events they’ve witnessed over the previous days.