Journey with Jesus

Over the summer I will be on sabbatical, immersing myself in the greatest story ever told, using A Blended Harmony of the Gospels (see below for more details, but in short it tells the story of Jesus in one narrative, which has been divided into 40 days). I will take a piece of scripture for each day, and as I go, I will share some of my reflections on this journey.

What is “A Blended Harmony of the Gospels?

Four Gospels. One Jesus. 
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John: The different details, timelines, and emphases of each Gospel can make it difficult to picture the whole narrative. This book changes that and helps us to see this as one story.

Produced by the wonderful team behind “The Chosen” series following the life of Jesus and his disciples. A Blended Harmony of the Gospels enables you to see the factual accounts in one chronological story and experience the story of Jesus in one seamless narrative.  This has handily been divided into sections for forty daily readings. I will be using this as the inspiration of my worship and writing throughout my summer sabbatical.

I hope you will be inspired to take this journey yourself, so I have set up this page to help you do that. Please do use the comment section at the bottom to write your own reflections for what you’re experiencing as you encounter Jesus.

Jump To …

A Worship Experience

Spotify playlists to help you worship through each day of the Journey with Jesus

A Writing Experience

Monologues and reflections written as I make my this Journey with Jesus.

A Worship Experience

To help my own journey, I have compiled playlists of worship songs inspired by the passages of Scripture for that particular day. You can listen yourself by clicking below to see the playlists on Spotify. I pray it will help you feel closer to God.

A Writing Experience

One of the main ways that I encounter God is through writing. I hope to use the time of my sabbatical to write in response to what I encounter in my Journey with Jesus. These will appear here. I hope they help you too!

Healing and feeding in the Decapolis

[Journey with Jesus – Day 16] I cannot tell you the difference Jesus made in my life. Before he came in his boat, I was barely in my right mind. I lived among the tombs, among the dead, People avoided me, they were so fearful. I didn’t care. I was so full of rage and…

The Crumbs under the table – The Canaanite Woman’s faith

[Journey with Jesus – Day 16] We could tell the pressure was getting to Jesus. There was more grumbling, more opposition. The miracle he had performed of feeding thousands had got people’s attention – people saw an opportunity to take steps to get rid of the Romans and have Jesus as their leader. When it…

Jesus the discouraged

[Journey with Jesus – Day 15 / Day 16] “I am the bread of life.” Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” It was an extraordinary statement he was making. We grew up knowing and loving the stories we were told about how…

Walking on the water

[Journey with Jesus – Day 15] One thing I noticed about Jesus was that he always prioritised time alone to be with his Father.  One time, just after he’d fed all those people with the loaves and fishes, he sent us out on the boat and said he’d join us later.  So, we bid farewell…

The feeding of the 5,000 – a retelling

[Journey with Jesus – Day 15] This morning’s lesson comes from the Gospel of St Mark.   When Jesus hath landed saw he that a large crowd hath gathered.  He hath compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  So he began to teach them many things. Now was the day was…

A miracle in our hands – The feeding of the 5,000

[Journey with Jesus – Day 15] The news came to us via one of John the Baptist’s disciples. After languishing in prison for months, Herod had him executed, apparently to please his wife and step-daughter.  I looked at Jesus’s reaction when he heard and honestly I’d never seen him like that; he was distraught, it…

The death of John the Baptist

[Journey with Jesus – Day 14] This is an attempt to imagine how Jesus would have responded to the awful news of the death of his forerunner and cousin – imagining the horror, the shock, the grief. As soon as I saw their ashen faces, I knew. I think I always knew this is how…

On a mission … being sent out by Jesus

[Journey with Jesus – Day 14] The more healings Jesus performed, the more people he set free, the more his reputation grew, and the greater the crowds became. Wherever he went, he was followed. Our job as his disciples, it seemed, was to give him some protection, to prevent him being trodden on. We were…

The Call to Compassion

[Journey with Jesus – Day 14] When Jesus saw the crowds, // his heart broke // he felt sorry // was moved with compassion and pity for them // had compassion on them, because they were confused / harassed / bewildered / and helpless / aimless // dispirited and distressed // distressed and dejected, like…

The Power of Faith

[Journey with Jesus – Day 13] 18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.20 Just then a…

On The Couch with Jairus and Susanna

[Journey with Jesus – Day 13] HOST: Well, good evening everyone, and welcome to this week’s edition of “On the Couch”, the show where we offer different views on all the latest news. Up in Galilee there’s been quite a stir caused by itinerant preacher and healer, Jesus of Nazareth – you may not think…

Jesus and the herd of pigs

Do you remember I told you about how Jesus calmed the raging winds and waves with just a word? Well, what happened next was, if that’s possible, even more amazing – it was certainly weirder! We crossed over the side of the lake and landed on the shore in what we knew to be a…

Jesus calms the storm

[Journey with Jesus – Day 13] As I mentioned before, I’m a fisherman.  Well, I was, anyway.  I knew the waters of Galilee like the back of my hand.  I’d fished in it when it was still and when the waters were raging.  I was used to storms.  But one time out on the water…

A scandalous anointing – Simon’s Story

[Journey with Jesus – Day 11] Jesus was a maverick, if you ask me, liked to do things differently and stir things up, not least because of the dubious company he seemed to keep. He hung out with all the wrong people – prostitutes, lepers, tax collectors – he scraped the bottom of the barrel…

John the Baptist – The prison of doubt.

[Journey with Jesus – Day 11] The prison cell was so dark and small. I’d been used to the vast and bright wilderness, to being free to roam. Now, I was a prisoner. I’d been used to crowds following me, hanging on my every word. Now, I was utterly alone. I’d been used to being…

The widow at Nain

[Journey with Jesus – Day 10] Life had never been easy, but rather, full of grief. I had cried many tears – the first when my poor baby girl died in infancy; a few years later, it was eldest son who was taken away by a fever when he was just a boy. His brother…

A servant’s healing

[Journey with Jesus – Day 10] I am a centurion in the regiment in Capernaum. I am responsible, along with the hundred soldiers in my charge, for keeping the peace in this part of Galilee. Capernaum is a key town in the region. Lots of traders pass through, so the locals do a lot of…

The upside-down kingdom

[Journey with Jesus – Days 9 and 10] Have you ever considered just how radical Jesus’s teaching in the “sermon on the plain” in Luke 6 is? I wrote an alternative version of it, turning Jesus’s teaching upside down. Afterwards it struck me just how near to the bone this is in describing the values…

Chosen

[Journey with Jesus – Day 8] I was never the brightest, not even in my family – Andrew had that distinction. No, I was the mouthy one who had the gift of the gab. Sometimes it was a gift when it came to bartering and getting the best money for our catches of fish, but…

More storms on the sabbath

[Journey with Jesus – Day 8] As he performed more miracles Jesus became more and more popular – but not with everyone. Members of the Pharisees became more and more outraged at the way Jesus seemed to flout the Jewish laws. They were particularly bothered by the way he seemed to have total disregard for…

A storm on the sabbath

[Journey with Jesus – Day 8] Over a year had passed since I met with Jesus in the middle of the night. Not a day went by that I didn’t think about that encounter and wonder if I’d made a dreadful mistake. Should I have left my life behind, forgotten about my status and position…

Saved on the Sabbath

[Journey with Jesus – Day 7] At first I didn’t realise what day it was. Every day had blended into another, at least for the past nearly four decades, since I had my fall. I was a mere boy at the time – tried climbing one of the walls under construction – on the temple…

Out of the shadows – Levi the Tax collector

[Journey with Jesus – Day 7] I’m used to rejection. Had it all my life. Well, ever since I was chosen – I was talent spotted as a child – I had an aptitude for facts and figures – I still do, in fact, my memory has always been first rate. I was the quickest…

A Hole in the Roof – more early adventures of following Jesus

[Journey with Jesus – Day 7] We knew that following Jesus would be an adventure. Shortly after he had healed my mother in law there is nothing that she wouldn’t do for him, so when we found out that Jesus was planning to make Capernaum his base, it was she who insisted that he made…

A New Beginning – the wife of Simon Peter

[Journey with Jesus – Day 6] That morning he was a changed man.  My dear Simon had always been restless.  He’d say that he was happy with his life on the sea of Galilee, that he enjoyed the thrill of the catch as well as the cut and chase of the bargaining that went on…

The Cleansed Leper – His Touch Saved my Life

[Journey with Jesus – Day 7] I will never forget the day I woke up and saw the change in my skin. Actually, it was my wife, Miriam, who saw them first – I was bathing myself and she came in from outside. I heard her gasp, and felt sick when I turned and saw…

Catching People – The call of Simon Peter

I’m Simon the fisherman.  Fishing is all we know in my family, going back generations – my dad, grandparents, great-grandparents – that’s all we’ve ever done. It’s all we’ve known.   I’ve been on the water for as long as I can remember, going out early in the morning or even overnight with my dad.  I…

Simon Peter – Fishing for people

[Journey with Jesus – Day 6] I’m Simon the fisherman.  Fishing is all we know in my family, going back generations – my dad, grandparents, great-grandparents – that’s all we’ve ever done. It’s all we’ve known.   I’ve been on the water for as long as I can remember, going out early in the morning or…

Alive and well – the healing of the official’s son

[Journey with Jesus – Day 6] As one of Herod Antipas’s officials, based in Capernaum, it’s my job to have my ear to the ground and work out if there’s any trouble brewing. So, of course, we knew all about the baptiser. Hordes of people from all over Judea and Galilee went out to him…

By the River – John the Baptist

[Journey with Jesus – Day 3] I was there, you know.  Saw everything first-hand.  I’ve always gone wherever the crowds go, to be honest, and the crowds were gathering here, by the banks of the Jordan River.  People from all over Judea and Jerusalem thronging together, all because they wanted to catch a glimpse of…

The Woman at the Well – “Spirit and Truth” 

Have you ever had that experience when someone looks at you and you can tell that they know all abut you?  I had that experience today.  I was going out to Jacob’s well to draw water.  It was the height of the day, and the heat was beating down on me.  Most people choose to…

A Night-time encounter – Jesus and Nicodemus

[Journey with Jesus – Day 5] This has been inspired significantly by the wonderful depiction of this encounter from the Chosen I came to him in the middle of the night. I’d seen him at a distance before; been there when he’d engaged in debates with the other religious leaders. He was extraordinary. Whenever he…

The Wine Server at Cana

[Journey with Jesus – Day 4] So, I am the one who messed it up. I was the one who calculated how much wine we would need for the wedding. I’m normally good at that sort of thing – it is my job, after all. We asked how many guests were expected for the feasting…

“What are you looking for?”

[Journey with Jesus – Day 4] These (or, in the NIV version, the more direct, “What do you want?”) are the first recorded words of Jesus in John’s Gospel. He says them to two men who are at that point disciples of John the Baptist. Having seen him walking past, John points Jesus out to…

The Temptation of Jesus – An angel’s view

[Journey with Jesus – Day 4] We would have caught him, you know. Would have done anything for him. Our whole existence was for the purpose of serving and worshipping him. Day by day we are in the presence of God in the throne room, pouring out our praises, leading the whole of creation in…

Prepare the Lord’s way

[Journey with Jesus – Day 3] A voice crying out, “Prepare the Lord’s way!”What does that mean for us here today? In the time of the Caesars despotic reignWhen the chosen people are in chains againPrisoners in their own holy landcrying out to see the mighty Lord’s handDesperate to hear the Lord speak his wordWhen…

Learning to Abide

Last week I spent a precious time at Lee Abbey, with teaching led by Paul and Becky Harcourt. The theme of that week was rooted in John 15, with Jesus’s beautiful teaching on the Vine and the Branches where he says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and…

“In my Father’s house”

[Journey with Jesus – Day 3] Imagining what it must have been like for Jesus to grow up with the realisation of who he was, and the significance for him of being in the temple in Jerusalem, aged 12. It was the same routine. Every year we would go up to Jerusalem with our family…

Holding on to God’s promises

[Journey with Jesus – Day 2] “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil what he has spoken to her.” It takes courage to hold onto a promise. We can sense God speaking, sometimes so clearly, and yet it feels like our circumstances make the fulfilment of this promise seem so unlikely.…

May your will be done in me

Salvation comes in the secret place.
The inward transformation of your presence in us
Bringing life and hope to dormant hearts.
Your purposes unfolding,
Your Spirit stirring, renewing,
Doing what seems to be impossible,
in us, through us and for us.
Though we’re scared, you bid us, “Do not fear”
Your presence goes before us,
We’re not alone.
So, would you speak and show us…

Letting go and letting God

For those of you who don’t know, I am days away from taking a sabbatical from my role as vicar of St Christopher’s Church in Coventry. One of the great gifts of this role is that we are granted occasional sabbaticals – three month periods of rest, recreation and restoration. In Coventry Diocese you are…