What happens when the thing that defined your helplessness becomes the evidence of what Jesus has done? In this Super Short Thought, filmed at Llandeilo Mart, Simon looks at one of the most striking details in Mark chapter 2. A paralysed man is carried in on a mat by four…
Jesus looked at a paralysed man lowered through a roof by his friends, and said something nobody in the room expected. Not "be healed." Not "get up." He said: "Child, your sins are forgiven." He went somewhere deeper first. In this Markine Super Short Thought, Rev Simon Bowkett reflects on…
When every route is blocked and your own strength runs out, sometimes the most important thing you can do is let someone carry you. In this Super Short Thought, we look at one of the most dramatic moments in the Gospel of Mark: four friends who refused to give up…
Standing in a field close to the site of the 13th-century Battle of Llandeilo Fawr, Simon Bowkett opens Revelation 5:9 and asks a question that cuts right to the heart of contemporary debate: where is the line between loving your nation and making an idol of it? In this Word…
Filming outside the RNLI lifeboat station in Penarth, with their flag flying behind me, a question came to mind. What would Jesus make of Y Ddraig Goch, the Welsh Red Dragon? What does He think about national identity, language, culture, and the fierce pride people feel about where they are…
Standing on Penarth esplanade, beside an Italian Garden that marks a century of welcome, WelshRev asks one of the most pressing questions facing Wales today: can a nation be both genuinely open and genuinely honest? Wales has declared itself a Nation of Sanctuary. That is a noble instinct. But good…
Is it actually okay to be a patriot ... to love your country, your people, your language? Yes. Absolutely, yes. The Bible is full of it: Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, Paul saying he could almost wish himself cut off from God if it would save his people, Nehemiah in tears…
There's a song in heaven celebrating a Lamb who was killed, who purchased people for God from every tribe, every language, every people, every nation. But that word "from" matters more than you might think. It doesn't mean every single person from every nation automatically ends up in God's story.…
Standing on Penarth seafront, Simon asks a simple question: what does God think of Wales? Revelation 5:9 describes a heavenly scene where people are gathered "from every tribe and language and people and nation" before God's throne, every language included, every nation kept distinct, not erased into sameness. That means…
Mark 1:21–28: Jesus walks into a synagogue in Capernaum on an ordinary Sabbath and teaches without citing anyone. The congregation is struck out of their categories. An unclean spirit interrupts, names Jesus using the ancient leverage tactic of correct identification, and is dismissed with two Greek
What happens when an ancient power-naming strategy meets Jesus of Nazareth in a Capernaum synagogue? Across Egyptian magical texts, Greek exorcism manuals, and fairy tales like Rumpelstiltskin, the logic is consistent: know the true name of a being, gain power over it. When the unclean spirit in Mark 1 calls…
Every teacher quotes someone. That's how authority works: you borrow it. Rabbis in first-century Judaism built their entire teaching method on citation. You stood on someone else's shoulders and pointed upward. Then Jesus walked into a synagogue in Capernaum and just... spoke. No rabbi quoted. No authority borrowed. Just: "I…
We read about singing planets from time to time, but ... What if the universe has never been silent? In this Super Short Thought, we pause at one of the most breathtaking moments in the whole of Scripture — the closing vision of Revelation 5, where John hears every creature…
We all feel it - the weight of a world that doesn't make sense. War, suffering, unanswered prayer, injustice that goes on and on. Is anyone in control? Does any of it mean anything? In this episode of Word for the Week, we 'open a window' into Heaven - and…
Bought?! What Revelation 5 Says About Belonging and Human Dignity The death of Jesus wasn't just a tragedy - or a moral lesson - but a transaction. How come? There's a line in an ancient song, sung in a vision of heaven, that I've never been able to shake: "By…
Most of us know what it feels like to be on the outside looking in. But Revelation chapter 5 makes a claim that changes everything: every person bought by the blood of Jesus is given the status of a priest - direct access to God, no CV required, no reputation…
Revelation 5:6 shows something that stops you short: a Lamb, standing alive - but still bearing the marks of having been killed. Not healed over. Still visible. Still defining who He is That image from the ancient vision in Revelation is a pictorial of Jesus - risen, exalted to the…
Five reasons Mark's Gospel might be the most surprising read of your summer: - It's the shortest Gospel. - Written at gripping pace. - Surprisingly honest about failure, doubt and hard questions. - And it keeps pressing one unavoidable question: who exactly was Jesus? - Whether you're a committed sceptic,…
Why do some people appear spiritually serious during a crisis, only to drift away once life settles down again? In this week’s Word for the Week, Simon explores Exodus 9:28 and Pharaoh’s dramatic but temporary confession during the plague of hail. Beneath the surface lies a searching warning about superficial…
Pharaoh said "I have sinned." He may even have meant it ... at the time. But Exodus 9 exposes something that cuts closer to home than we'd like: feeling bad about consequences is not the same thing as repentance. Modern culture tends to assume that strong feelings equal deep change.…
Most of us would never say we're 'using' God. But Pharaoh did exactly that - called for prayer the moment a crisis hit, then walked away when things settled. Sound familiar? This short thought from Exodus 9 asks an uncomfortable question: are we relating to God as Lord, or just…
One of the most unsettling moments in the Bible comes when Pharaoh finally says: “I have sinned.” It sounds sincere. It sounds like repentance. But the moment the pressure lifts … he 'Personality Bombs' and goes straight back to resisting God exhibiting his own hidden hypocrisy. Exodus 9 confronts something…
Many people suddenly become “spiritual” when life starts falling apart. But do we really want God - or just relief from our problems? In this Super Short Thought from Exodus 9, Pharaoh begs Moses to pray after devastating hail destroys Egypt. On the surface, it sounds sincere. But Moses sees…