This week Mark Waterfield started our new preaching series ‘Jesus Make the Headlines’.

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village working in a carpenters shop till he was 30. the for 3 years he was an itinerate preacher, he never wrote a book, he never held and office, he never had a family or owned a house, he never went to college, he never travelled more than 200 miles from the place he was born. He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness, he had no credentials but himself.

He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him, his friends ran away, he was crucified  between 2 thieves, while he was dying his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. 20 centuries have come and gone and today he is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that have ever reigned put together have not affected the life of man, on this earth, as much as that one solitary life.