Takeley Chapel

The Lord’s Vineyard

Posted on Aug 20, 2025 by M Emlyn Humphries

Father God, beloved of your people,
you graft us into the vine; your life giving son, Jesus.

You call us in your Spirit to live in truth, in righteousness and justice,
through Jesus Christ your Son; the way, the truth and the life seated at your right hand.

Grant us the wine of gladness from the new planting in Christ, the first fruits of your kingdom.

Come Lord Jesus come!

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the
people of Judah are his cherished garden; he expected justice
but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry!

The words for justice and bloodshed and the words for righteousness and cry differ by one syllable. The puns underline the parody of the way the people of God were created and how they have come to be. But they are still cherished. This is what we see in the creation story, even the story of Cain, and is prefigured on the cross.

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Faith

Posted on Aug 10, 2025 by M Emlyn Humphries

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What would the Lord Jesus say to us as he walks with us in Isaiah 1:10 -20? Maybe:

Delight!

God’s delight is in us, not our religion.

From the beginning, in his Son we are his delight:

Good, very good!

We matter, creation matters.

Blood!

Blood is on our hands as we and our nation turn from God;

As we forget the poor and the needy;

As we abuse the stranger, we sin as Sodom and Gomorrah sinned.

Empty words, empty religion, empty actions,

They are a burden to God the Father.

He bears them on the Cross.

We are called to wash ourselves clean:

Blood and water flow from the side of Jesus,

The new Adam, the Church his bride the second Eve, formed by the blood and the water from his side.

Come now! God the Father calls us to reason:

Red! Deep red – the wool is dyed!

Only God can make the wool as white as snow and restore the wool. What is impossible for us is possible with God.

The blood of the cross brings life:

Red to white: death to life.

Come now let us reason together:

Let us eat the good that is the flesh of the Son

And not be eaten by the sword, the sword of this world:

The sword of pride, cruelty and indifference

Listen to the word within: our Lord and our God.

Let us pray.

O Christ our God, who is full of mercy, in turning from you, the stain on our hearts is deep. Only you can restore and wash us clean by the blood of the cross and the water of the word. Help us to turn from every evil and do good. Heal us: save us and our nation, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

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Happiness in Life

Posted on Aug 3, 2025 by M Emlyn Humphries

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Hosea 11:1–11 (Summary)

This passage expresses:

God’s fatherly love for Israel.
Israel’s rejection and unfaithfulness despite God’s care.
God’s compassion overcoming wrath.
A promise of future restoration.

We seek to understand this through the revelation of the mystery of Christ and the mystery of the Spirit.
Luke 24:27
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

https://bible.com/bible/2016/luk.24.27.NRSV

Overview ( Emmaus reading with the help of ChatGPT)

Hosea 11:1
“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called My son.”

This is quoted in Matthew 2:15 as a prophecy fulfilled when Jesus was brought out of Egypt after fleeing from Herod.

Some see this as a type: Israel’s history prefigures Christ. Jesus completes Israel’s journey but in perfect obedience.

Christ is the crucified one, Son of God, who is from the beginning One God with the Father. For Christians, the event of the incarnation can be seen as from the beginning, a mystery revealed.
M Emlyn Humphries

Hosea 11:2–4 –
“The more I called them,
the more they went away…
I led them with cords of kindness…
I bent down to them and fed them.”

The “cords of kindness” can be seen as God’s Incarnation, the “descent” of the Word to draw us up.

Hosea 11:5–7
“They shall return to Egypt…
the sword shall rage…
My people are bent on turning away from Me…”

Sin leads to spiritual exile. Sin is a turning from God, leading to captivity (internally and externally). Egypt can be seen as a symbol of worldliness and bondage to passions.

Hosea 11:8–9
“How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
…My heart recoils within Me…
I will not execute My fierce anger…
For I am God and not a man…”

God is unchanging but acts with compassion. The “recoiling heart” imagery shows how God’s mercy transcends human justice.

Hosea 11:10–11
“They shall go after the Lord…
He will roar like a lion…
they shall come trembling from the west…
I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord.”

These verses foretell repentance and return. The “roar of the lion” is seen by some as the voice of Christ, calling all nations. The gathering of people “from the west” hints at the inclusion of the Gentiles in the call.

The return home may speak of salvation as in Jesus’s parable of the two sons .
Luke 15:20
So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.
https://bible.com/bible/2016/luk.15.20.NRSV
M Emlyn Humphries

Theological Viewpoint

God’s Love

Not transactional, but covenantal and fatherly.

Israel’s Failure

A pattern of humanity’s fall, needing the New Adam (Christ).

Christological Fulfillment

Jesus as the true Son, faithful where Israel failed.

Mercy over Wrath

God’s mercy is greater than justice; love is ultimate.

Restoration

exile to homecoming, death to life.

O Lord of mercy,
whose heart is moved by compassion, not wrath,
you feed us with unseen kindness.
Bending low, you lift our heads;
your mercy holds us fast.
Though we may turn from your ways
and bow to pride and comfort,
you call us home.
Forgive us our sins.

Therefore, we cry:
Glory to you, who stoops low in gentleness:
Glory to you, who gathers the scattered:
Glory to you who heals with love, not force.
M Emlyn Humphries with the help of ChatGPT