Sharing some thoughts

One of the realities of life is that inevitably we will lose someone we love. Many people will offer words of comfort, many will tell us that it gets easier, and it does, but it doesn’t mean that we ever forget, and neither should it. In remembering we are honouring someone whom we have cared for…, someone who has had a positive influence on our lives … With love, very often comes pain, but I’m sure that nobody who has ever loved someone who has died would  ever, given the choice,  sacrifice that love just in order to avoid the pain, because love is so much more powerful than pain. And in that love we find hope, the sort of hope that encourages us that life is worth living and worth enjoying regardless of the pain,  it offers us  the hope that persuades us to get up each day with some sort of purpose.  In grief we must find the strength to move forward, but that is so much easier said than done…  Many people will  eventually find that strength  from the inspiration of the pe

Today is the day appointed in the Church calendar as Bible Sunday.  The bible  remains the best - selling book of all time, but it is a book often bought as a present, perhaps for a confirmation or baptism, or as a book that you just should have somewhere on your shelf at home – Perhaps it’ll be useful to answer some of those tricky crossword questions.  Somebody once said that some people store their money inside a Bible because they know they won’t open it – for many people, it is a book of little relevance and no real value.  But today, on this Bible Sunday, we are called to give thanks for the word of God, and we are challenged to think more about it, and its meaning in our lives …  It is, or should be, an invaluable tool for each one of us, whether as a book of reference, a book of encouragement, of history, of love, of joy or so many other things…  St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans (15:4), ‘Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction

from Helen I love books, now I don’t mean a little I mean a lot. In most situations if you want to find me relaxing I am reading a book. I love think ing about different characters and I  hate being told the end of a  book. I love buying a new book and I  hate being rushed when I am trying to pick a new book. Basically me and books are lifelong friends. I also enjoy reading the blurb of a book in hard copy  or a description of a book in  electronic copy.  One blurb in particular which I think sounds exciting reads, “ These pages contain stories on an epic scale – thrillers, adventures, family sagas, and more – taut with emotion and spanning the whole of history. Yet a single current – one of love, sadness, betrayal, and forgiveness – flows through. It points to a Father who offered his only Son so that we can go free. A cast of thousands crowds the pages – people living in different times, different places. But the casting isn’t closed. In the continuing drama, each of us is in

from Helen This mornings readings talk about behaviour. There are bits that may shock us from the 10 lepers  in our gospel reading (Luke 17:11-19 )  being  healed and only one  going  back to say thank you, to  Naaman ,  in our Old Testament reading   (2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15b)  an important man being made to visit a prophet and then being left on the doorstep ,  there are bits that just aren’t correct behaviour as we would see it. It makes me think about saying thank you and treating others with respect. Now in case you are thinking that this morning is going to be a lesson in correct behaviour it is not. After all, (and some of you have  heard this alrea dy) I was told off on my first day visiting school from nursery for poking my tongue out. To be fair, I had met a little girl who told me that poking your tongue out was nice and not a rude thing to do in reception  class. Still, we all know the correct way to behave.  I love telling the story of  Naaman  the very importan