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Above All Love!

Above All Love!

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 Simply Fellowship (Above All Love) is a short, gentle podcast bringing simple Christian community to anyone who needs it — without the noise, pressure, or performance. Each episode follows a quiet rhythm: a welcome, a hymn, a prayer, a scripture reading in plain language, a short reflection on the Good News of Jesus, wondering questions to sit with, and a benediction to close. Fifteen to thirty minutes. Nothing more. Simply Fellowship is especially for neurodivergent people, autistic adults and their families, the church-hurt, and anyone who has ever felt too much or not enough for conventional church. You are welcome exactly as you are. Pax et Bonum — Peace and the Good. Also includes some sermons and messages from my archives.© Christianity Spirituality
Episodes
  • Episode 4: The Road to Emmaus

    Episode 4: The Road to Emmaus
    Apr 19 2026
    WELCOME Welcome to Above All Love. This is Simply Fellowship — the Good News, quietly told. This is a gentle space. No pressure, no performance. You don't have to have it together to be here. You don't have to be hopeful, or certain, or even feel particularly faithful today. You're welcome exactly as you are, wherever you are reading this. If you need to move, or step away and come back later — that's completely fine. There's no right way to be here. Just be here. HYMN We begin with a hymn verse. Read it slowly. You might want to sit with each line before moving on. Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide; When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me. — Henry Francis Lyte PRAYER Loving God, Thank you that you walk beside us even when we do not know it is you. Thank you that you ask us questions and listen to our answers, and do not tell us off for getting things wrong. Help us today to recognise you — in the breaking of bread, in the kindness of a stranger, in the moment when our hearts feel strangely warm. And may we find, when we look back, that you were with us all along. Amen. SCRIPTURE Our reading today is from Luke chapter twenty-four, verses thirteen to thirty-five, from the Easy English Bible. That same day, two of Jesus' followers were going to a village called Emmaus. It was about eleven kilometres from Jerusalem. They were talking together about everything that had happened. While they were talking, Jesus himself came near and walked along with them. But they did not recognise him. He asked them, "What are you talking about as you walk along?" They stopped. They looked very sad. One of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that happened there recently?" Jesus asked them, "What things?" They told him about Jesus of Nazareth. They told him that the chief priests and rulers had handed him over to be killed. They had hoped that he was the one who would set Israel free. But now it was the third day since these things had happened. Some women of their group had surprised them. The women went to the tomb early in the morning. They did not find his body there. They came and told them that they had seen angels, who said that Jesus was alive. Then Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the scriptures. When they came near to the village, Jesus acted as if he was going further on. But they asked him strongly to stay. "Stay with us," they said. "It is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. While he was at the table with them, he took the bread. He gave thanks for it. He broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him. And he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, "Our hearts were burning inside us while he talked with us on the road." DEVOTION They are walking away. That is the first thing to notice. Not towards Jerusalem, where the other disciples are gathered. Away from it. Away from the empty tomb, away from the rumours, away from the women's astonishing report that he was alive. They have heard all of it and it has not been enough. They are going home — or somewhere that feels more like home than a city full of confusion and grief. It is hard to blame them. Three days earlier, everything they had hoped for had been nailed to a cross and buried. They had believed he was the one. The one who would change things. The one who would make it all come right. And he hadn't — or so it seemed. Now there was just the long road, the sore feet, and the words they kept turning over between them, trying to make sense of something that refused to make sense. And Jesus falls into step beside them. He doesn't announce himself. He doesn't say: it is I, do not be afraid. He just walks with them, at their pace, in the direction they are going. And then he asks a question — one of the most tender questions in all of scripture. What are you talking about? He knows. Of course he knows. But he asks anyway. He lets them tell it. He listens to the whole sad unravelling of their hopes. He does not interrupt or correct or rush them to the good part. He walks and listens while two heartbroken people explain, to the very person they are heartbroken about, that they had hoped so much and now that hope is gone. Only after they have said it all does he begin to speak. And even then, they do not recognise him. Not on the road. Not through the teaching. It is only later — at the table, in the breaking of the bread, in that one ordinary and familiar gesture — that their eyes are opened. And in the moment they see him, he is gone. But what they are left with is enough. Our hearts were burning, they say. All along the road, something was happening inside them that they couldn't name. They thought it was just a conversation with a stranger. It was something else ...
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    10 mins
  • Instrument of Peace

    Instrument of Peace
    Apr 15 2026
    A prayer often attributed to: Saint Francis of Assisi (1181 - 1226) St. Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d'Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco ("the Frenchman") by his father, 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226) was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers followed by the early members of the Order of Friars Minor or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares. Though he was never ordained to the Catholic priesthood, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. Links Wiki - Saint Francis of Assisi
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    2 mins
  • Episode 3 - The Woman Who Lost Her Coin

    Episode 3 - The Woman Who Lost Her Coin
    Apr 10 2026
    WELCOME Welcome to Above All Love. This is Simply Fellowship — the Good News, quietly told. This is a gentle space. No pressure, no performance. You don't have to have it together to be here. You don't have to be eloquent, or certain, or spiritually sorted. You're welcome exactly as you are, wherever you are reading this. If you need to move, or step away and come back later — that's completely fine. There's no right way to be here. Just be here. HYMN We begin with a hymn verse. Read it slowly. You might want to sit with each line before moving on. Depth of mercy! Can there be Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God his wrath forbear? Me, the chief of sinners, spare? — Charles Wesley PRAYER Loving God, Thank you that you are the one who searches. Thank you that when we are lost — even when we don't know we are lost — you have not stopped looking. Help us today to hear the sound of that search reaching us where we are. And may we know that when we are found, all of heaven rejoices. Amen. SCRIPTURE Our reading today is from Luke chapter fifteen, verses eight to ten, from the Easy English Bible. Or think about a woman who has ten silver coins. She loses one of those coins. She takes a light and she looks carefully all through her house. She looks until she finds it. When she finds it, she calls together her friends and her neighbours. She says to them, "Be happy with me! I have found the coin that I had lost." I tell you, in the same way God's angels are happy when one sinner turns back to God. DEVOTION She has ten coins. She loses one. Nine are still there, safe and accounted for. Most people, most of the time, would count the nine and be grateful for what remains. They might chalk up the missing one to bad luck, to carelessness, to simply the way things go. But this woman lights a lamp. She gets down on her hands and knees. She sweeps every corner. She does not stop until she has found what was lost. And when she finds it — this one small coin — she does not put it quietly back with the others. She calls her friends. She calls her neighbours. She says: Come and be happy with me. Jesus tells this story to explain what God is like. Not a God who sits and waits for the lost to find their own way back. Not a God who loves the nine and shrugs at the one. A God who lights a lamp. Who sweeps. Who searches every corner of every dark place until the lost thing is found. The coin didn't do anything. It wasn't searching. It had no idea it was being looked for. It was just — lost. Somewhere on the floor in the dust. And it was enough that she knew it was lost. It was enough that she cared. That was all that was needed for the search to begin. There are days when we feel like that coin. Not rebellious. Not running away. Just — somewhere we didn't mean to end up. Lost in a way we can't quite explain. Not sure how we got here or how to get back. The good news, in this small and beautiful story, is that God is not waiting for you to find your own way home. God has lit the lamp. God is sweeping. God is searching. And when you are found — even if you didn't know you were being looked for — all of heaven celebrates. That is the kind of love this is. WONDERING QUESTIONS These aren't questions that need answers. They're just things to hold and sit with. You might want to pause here, step away from the screen for a few minutes, and let them settle. I wonder what it felt like to be that coin — lost, in the dark, not knowing anyone was looking? I wonder what made the woman search so carefully for just one coin when she had nine others? I wonder what the lamp represents to you? I wonder if you have ever felt lost in a way that was hard to explain? I wonder what it means that the coin didn't have to do anything — it just had to be found? I wonder how it feels to know that heaven celebrates when one person is found? I wonder if there is somewhere in your life right now where you can sense a light searching the corners? A Query — in the spirit of the Quaker tradition: Is there any part of me that believes I am too lost, too small, or too ordinary to be worth searching for? A MOMENT OF QUIET Before you read on, you might like to pause here. Close your eyes, or look out of a window. There's no rush. Just rest for a moment. AN INVITATION Before you go — a quiet word. If you have never followed Jesus, or if you've drifted and aren't quite sure how far — you don't need to have it worked out before you come back. The woman in the story didn't wait for the coin to roll itself into the light. She came looking. If you want to respond to that love today, you might simply say, in your own words or in the quiet of your heart: I think I'm lost. But I'm ready to be found. And if you already walk with Jesus — if you have followed him for years, or are finding your way again after a long absence — may this be a moment of renewal. A reminder that the God who searched for you once has not stopped. The lamp is ...
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    8 mins
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