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Readings from the Gospel

Sunday 26th July 2026

31He told them another parable; “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” 33He told them still another parable; “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Matthew 13. 31-33. NIV

44”The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy sent and sold all he had and bought that field. 45Again , the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46When he hound one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

47”Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down in to the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48When it was full the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51”Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied. 52He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Matthew 13. 44-52. NIV

Sunday 2nd August 2026

13When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdraw by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 16Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17”We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. 18”Bring them here to me,” he said. 19And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

 Matthew 14. 13-21. NIV

I’m writing this just over a week after Sir Keir Starmer’s dramatic, emotional resignation speech outside 10 Downing Street.

This came at the end of weeks of feverish speculation in the media about how long he could remain as Prime Minister and about who would replace him – before the poor chap had even announced he was going! Now we can all look forward to weeks of speculation about what his replacement – expected to be my fellow Mancunian Andy Burnham – will do when he takes over as the Leader of the Labour Party and the Prime Minister of this United Kingdom.

Personally, I can’t begin to understand why anyone would want to be PM – particularly at the moment – but it seems as though Mr Burnham is pretty keen on the idea as he’s clearly been formulating his ideas, plans and strategies for some considerable time - ideas, plans and strategies that he’s been keeping fairly close to his chest to date, but with which he will inevitably have to go public before very much longer.

In the meantime, the Great British Media is going into overdrive with in-depth analysis of his gifts, attributes, failings, shortcomings, personality, popularity and history – and huge amounts of guesswork about what exactly Andy will do and what he will be like as our next Leader when he is duly elected, appointed, anointed (whichever it will be) in succession to Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, and Keir Starmer.

As things stand, Andy Burnham will be our eighth different PM in sixteen years! And we used to laugh at the Italians changing leader every few weeks…

In the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament bit of the Bible, we find the account of what happened when God’s People got a new leader. There wasn’t any kind of election, of course, (I don’t think God is that much of a democrat) but the time had come for a new king to take over the reins.

It was going to be a tough act to follow because Great King David was arguably the best      leader the people had ever had, but it was now time for his son, Solomon, to take David’s place. Solomon immediately recognised the enormity of the task ahead and took himself off to a holy place to talk it all over with God. In a vivid dream, God asked Solomon what he needed and Solomon replied:

O Lord God, you have made me king in place of my father David, but I’m too young for this task and I have no idea how to do it. So what I need from you, Lord – more than anything else – is wisdom.  Without wisdom I will never be able to rule your people.

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom above all else and said to him:-

Because you have asked for the wisdom to rule justly, instead of a long life or riches or victory over your enemies, I will give you more wisdom than anyone has ever had.

The rest, as they say, is history. Solomon ruled over Israel for forty years. His wisdom is still remembered and celebrated thousands of years later. We still talk about The Wisdom of Solomon today – it’s the stuff of legend.

Now I’ve no idea whether Andy Burnham is likely to ask for God’s help with the task ahead – or whether wisdom would be his first request if he was to do so. But we, as Christians, can - and should - pray for him as he prepares to take office – whether he would be our choice of leader or not. We can - and should - pray, above all else, for wisdom for our new PM and for all our leaders…Lord knows – they need it.

Stephen