John Davies: Notes from a small vicar

John Davies

Reflections on life and faith in a changing world.

  1. 18/10/2025

    Speaking truth to power: when persistence overcomes resistance

    The widow who took on the judge, and the Liverpool Poverty Hearing speakers whose truthful, expert, voices were for once given a platform to be heard. A talk for The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, 19 October 2025; Church Action on Poverty Sunday. Referencing 2 Timothy 3.14-4.5, Luke 18.1-8. Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/jd-talks.

    8 min

  2. 18/08/2025

    The Sunday girl stands tall

    “In the modern world, we compete as individuals, against all other individuals. The community is nothing and the individual is everything. We have identified the enemy and he is us.” (René Girard). Discussing the conflict between a spirit which bows and bends us out of shape, and a spirit which helps us stand tall. A talk for The Tenth Sunday after Trinity, 24 August 2025. Referencing ⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews 12.18–29, Luke 13.10-17. Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bit.ly/johndavies-talks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    8 min

  3. 12/08/2025

    We need to talk about Israel

    We need to talk about Israel because today we stand witness to the extreme aggression of the current State of Israel against the Palestinian people, and as our Christian faith is intimately bound up with the historical faith of these semitic peoples, it gives rise to many troubling questions for us. A talk for The Ninth Sunday after Trinity, 10 August 2025. Referencing ⁠Hebrews 11.29 – 12.2, Luke 12.49–56. Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bit.ly/johndavies-talks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    8 min

  4. 07/08/2025

    By faith we smile: realising the wonderful daftness of it all

    But proof isn't the point of faith. Life is the point. The important thing about faith is how it makes us live. The essence of faith is that it’s about seeing things from a different point of view. It is 'the perception of the incongruity', (to quote Ken Dodd). A talk for The Eighth Sunday after Trinity, 10 August 2025. Referencing Hebrews 11.1-3,8-16, Luke 12.32-40. Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bit.ly/johndavies-talks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    8 min

  5. 21/07/2025

    Shortening the distance between ourselves and God

    Will God help us when it hurts? Will God help us bring an end to the massacre of innocents? Can God show us how to overcome those things which divide us, how to escape our cycles of condemning and being condemned? Will God guide us into ways of goodness and hope? How we long to find a way to ‘shorten the distance between ourselves and God’. There is a ‘way’ to do this, and a ‘how’. The way is Jesus and the how is prayer. A talk for The Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 27 July 2025. Referencing ⁠Colossians 2.6-19, Luke 11.1-13. Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bit.ly/johndavies-talks⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    8 min

  6. 11/07/2025

    ‘Who is my neighbour?’ A parable that ‘parables’ us

    The Good Samaritan story is a parable that ‘parables’ us - in other words, we see ourselves in it, and where it puts us, may be an uncomfortable place. It's not intended to condemn us for thinking ill of others: but to motivate us to cultivate love, even for those we fear or dislike, to help us to be better prepared to be compassionate. A talk for The Fourth Sunday after Trinity, 13 July 2025. Referencing Colossians 1.1-14, Luke 10.25-37. Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bit.ly/johndavies-talks⁠⁠⁠.

    7 min

  7. 02/07/2025

    “Peace to this house!” A simple prayer to make our own

    Jesus entrusted seventy followers to visit people's homes and greet them with “Peace to this house!” It's a simple prayer we can make our own in our search for peace in the world. A talk for The Third Sunday after Trinity, 6 July 2025. Referencing Galatians 6.1–16, Luke 10.1-20. Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bit.ly/johndavies-talks⁠⁠.

    8 min

  8. 26/06/2025

    The reluctant embrace of Peter and Paul: a hopeful unity

    Men can be reluctant to embrace - in the traditional icon The Embrace of the Apostles Peter and Paul these two certainly are. But the iconographer is saying that, despite their differences, the Spirit united them in the work of the mission of God, in making 'a new thing' happen in a world exhausted of hope. A talk for The Festival of Peter and Paul, Apostles, 29 June 2025. Referencing the icon The Embrace of the Apostles Peter and Paul by Tamara Rigishvili, ⁠https://www.tamarapaint.com/Icons/Apostles_Peter_and_Paul_Embracing_by_Tamara_Rigishvili.jpg. Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠⁠⁠⁠bit.ly/johndavies-talks⁠⁠

    8 min
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Reflections on life and faith in a changing world.

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