4 Keys for dealing with conflict

Dear Reader, I hope you’re coping with this rainy weather! I’ve bravely driven twice through long stretches of water above my car door sills this week already! You’ll be pleased to know that our new dishwasher arrived safely this morning, welcomed by Chris, Assistant Churchwarden.

This may be the first email with our Towerpod sermon podcast on Substack that I’ve sent you. I hope you find it helpful to have Towerpod sent to your email by default.

You don’t need to do anything, however if you’d prefer not to receive Towerpod to your Inbox - and just receive our occasional newsletters instead, you can turn podcast emails off in your settings - click on the header or icon in this email and you’ll find Settings in your Profile top right. If you need tech support just let me know - and thank you for your patience and understanding as we try out this new system.

Correction: I got the day wrong in my last message for All Souls 2 November 7pm - it’s a Saturday, not Friday.

God bless, Andrew+

Two readings today:

James 3:13–4:8a ESV

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Mark 9:30–37 NRSV

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. 

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”