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Qoholet has a CV of work and achievements to be proud of. Yet, we still find him groping for meaning and enjoyment in the midst of this 'vaporous' life. He repeatedly commends pleasure and joy, despite his struggles, and he sees work, wealth, food and drink as gifts from God. So, what place do ordinary, material and earthly pleasures have in Qoholet's search for the good life? What wisdom can we unearth from his quest and his experience?

Continuing our series on Love Does, we look at how 'love does not want what it does not have'. What spiritual and practical habits can we cultivate that help us resist the lure of our 21st Century materialistic world which tempts us to desire what we do not have?

We are looking at Qoholet's seach for wisdom and knowledge. Despite the high value he puts on the acquistion of knowledge and wisdom as we do, he states very clearly, "For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow". Does Qoholet's view have any resonance for us, who live with a constant stream of knowledge and information at our finger-tips? Is there any merit in his observation that "you are sad because you know too much"? Does his wisdom shed any light on our use of Artificial Intelliegence?

In this next addition to our Love Does series on 1 Corinthians 13, James explores what it truly means for love to "endure all things". Drawing on his tattoos, discover how three key perspective shifts can teach us to stand firm in our faith and 'kiss the waves'.

Wisdom is both lauded by Qoholet and our culture as something to be pursued and prized. But Ecclesiates paints a complicated and messy picture of the benefits of wisdom. Wisdom is both powerful and fragile, it gives and it takes away, it is something to appeal to, but also a source of exasperation. What can we learn from Qoholet's picture of the smart and the dimwit? And how does the spectre of death inform our wisdom?

We're talking about our most valuable resource and our greatest enemy - time! In this second talk we examine the two greek words for time and their associated gods - chronos and kairos. We seek to understand how our hyper-speedy world brings a cruelty to our times and seasons and how the wisdom of our sage can help us transform this cruelty into curiosity.

Ecclesistaes 3.1-13 is one of the book's most well-known chapters, but also one of its most misunderstood. In this riddle-like poem of 28 seasons, time is enigmatic - both something we can inhabit but also something done to us. What is this sage Qohelet saying we should do with time? Today, we look at some of the 'essentials' of what he is saying and not saying and explore how previous readings of these verses have been sometimes unhelpful and damaging.

Today Heather helps us understand the posture and spirit of love, which 'always looks for the best'. How is this both a challenge and joy as we seek to engage with our world around us?

Qoholet's ancient wisdom echoes modern philosophy and our own human condition, that we long to see gain from our toil, reward for our labour, and profit from our varied experiences. What do we do when there is no gain from life under the sun? How do we manage our culture's pull towards striving and seizing? In this talk we explore some of the unhealthy consequences of our human desire for gain, and some alternative postures and behaviours to temper this.

In this second talk on Ecclesiastes, we explore Qohelet's vexed angst against the uncontrollable nature of life. If life is absurd vapour, 'a chasing after the wind', how do we cope as humans and Christians? In our innate reflex to control, strive and seize, where is our comfort when we realise, like Qohelet, that what we work for, pray for, and pay for cannot be guaranteed, cannot be bottled for future use? Is Qohelet hinting at a different posture and outlook, where we come to terms with our finitude and mortality? How can Harmut Rosa's concept of 'Resonance' help?

Today we start a deep dive into the book of Ecclesiastes in our 'What We Missed In..' series. Ecclesiastes is a unique voice in Scripture, perhaps the nearest the bible gets to a piece of philosophy. But as ancient wisdom, it still speaks powerfully to our own modern dilemmas - 'how can we live well', 'does life have meaning', 'is there benefit or gain from our work', 'what is the good life'? The voice of the book's protagonist is compellingly honest and raw in its emotion as he explores the questions about the baffling enigma that is life.

We're continuing our series 'Love Does', using the Message version of 1 Corintians 13.3-7. This week Bernie explores that very easy-to-do aspect of love which 'Trusts God Always'.

In this talk James continues our sermon series on 'Love Does' looking at the concept of truth. Using scripture five scriptures as lenses, we look at truth from different angles to build a framework for how we as Christians enter into a space where truth is more and more divided

This talk starts a new series called "Love Does..." It looks at the various ways that 1 Corinthians 13 highlights how love is practically manifest. Taking The Message translation, "Love does not strut, or have a swelled head" we explore the way pride is an enemy of love by drawing on the lessons from the parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector from Luke's gospel.

This sermon explored repentance as a Lenten practice — what repentance truly means, and why we often fear it. It reflected on some of the most common barriers to repentance, including fears of vulnerability, misdirection, and anger, while also considering what genuine repentance looks like in practice and the core attributes it requires. Ultimately, it invited us to consider why repentance matters: not as an act of shame or punishment, but as a pathway to freedom, restoration, and deeper transformation.