Unitarian & Free Christian Bible Discussion

On Monday 16th of October Cressida Pryor will lead our discussion on The Parable of the Sower. Cressida writes:  The Parable of the Sower is present in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15). The Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) devoted a great deal of attention and reflection to this parable and produced several drawings and paintings on the subject. Van Gogh, as well as being a painter was also a lay preacher...and apparently ‘matured his religious vocation’ in England...he walked the 100 miles from Ramsgate to Welwyn in Hertfordshire to visit his sister Anne admiring the countryside as he did so...and wrote of the beauty of what he saw as he walked... There are a number of his sermons on the subject of sowing where he compares God to a sower who 'infuses his blessing in the seed of his Word sown in our hearts'. (Sermon of 1876). It is well known that VG didn’t have success selling paintings in his lifetime...and I’m wondering if this pa

On Monday 9th October at 6.30pm Indra Sikdar will lead our Bible discussion on the topic of Zacchaeus the tax collector from Luke chapter 19: Zacchaeus the Tax Collector Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salv