Sunday 19th July 2026
Dear Church,
Some Bible passages read like stories from a children’s book and we’re not sure whether they really matter to adults living in a grown-up world. Some Bible passages are so violent, so graphic and so intense that they read like the script of an R-rated movie and we’re not sure how they are relevant to sensible people in respectable society. This Sunday, we come to both. There is a good reason that the story of Balaam and his donkey from Numbers 22-24 has featured in lots of kids Bible story books, but there is also a good reason why Numbers chapter 25 has not. Numbers 25 is graphic and confronting, but it is still God’s word to us. We’ll see that between the absurd scene of Balaam and his talking donkey, and the disturbing scene of Phinehas and his zeal for the Lord, God has some very important things to teach us from this part of his word. So I’m letting you know that our Bible reading for this Sunday will be Numbers 25:1-18 so that you are not caught off-guard when we come to it. I want to reassure you – especially if you’re concerned about your teenage child sitting through a sermon on such a passage – that we will be treating this with great pastoral sensitivity. We will not be dwelling on the sex or the violence, but we will be humbly sitting under God’s word as he teaches us important things that are relevant to us all. In a remarkable way, amidst the graphic portrayal of human sin and its consequences, the light of the gospel of God’s grace to us in Jesus shines bright – so bright that we will leave church uplifted and energised for life with God on the journey home to his eternal glory.
As always, if you’ve got any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can email me at Simon.marshman@trinity.church
In Christ,
Simon