Sharing some thoughts

I’m sure we’ve all had the experience at some time of giving something to someone and watching with joy at how much it means to them… I’m a little biased but my grandchildren are wonderful at receiving gifts and showing how excited they are – one time my wife had wrapped up some presents in the same paper and when we gave a present to our youngest grandson we realised it had got confused with a present for our niece – now there’s quite a lot of difference in the type of presents a 25 year old young lady might like and what an 8 year old boy might like – but he opened it and gave a big smile and a big thank you before looking to his mum for some sort of advice as to what this might be ! The first response was to appreciate what had been given and it’s always good to see that look of excitement or surprise when you give something to someone. Of course, we may well get a similar response from someone who is desperate for food or a drink and we are able to provide it…. Another gift I can t

  Thursday in the church calendar was St James’ Day and we’re celebrating that day in our service this morning…   James was a Galilean Fisherman who, along with his brother John, was one of those called by Jesus to give up everything and follow him. From what we know he seems to have enjoyed a privileged position in the group as one of Jesus’ inner circle. He was one of the disciples chosen to be with Jesus at the Transfiguration, at the healing of Jairus’ daughter and also then at the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus awaited his arrest.  It is believed that James was eventually put to death in the year 44AD on the instructions of Herod Agrippa who believed that by killing off the Christian leaders, he could kill off the spread of the Christian Faith.  How foolish Herod was to think that a faith was just about the people. Had that been the case then I’m sure that Christianity would never have survived and prospered as it has over the past 2000 years. The Christian faith, whilst heavily re

  Today we have rather a strange gospel reading (Mark 6:3-34, 53-56), not because of what’s in it, but because of what’s not – you will notice in the verses that a big chunk from verses 35-52 are left out, and they’re pretty important verses too – they include an account of the feeding of the 5,000 and of Jesus walking on water. But what we have is also important – and it perhaps draws us closer to the character and appeal of Jesus. And there a number of qualities to focus on. The first is his popularity with his followers. The disciples had been sent out on a mission, teaching, healing and listening and now they had returned, and they returned excited to tell Jesus all that they had been doing. We’ve come to the end of another school year and one of the great joys of watching some of the end of term concerts and events is watching the children proudly having the chance to show their parents what they have done and what they’ve learnt, and you can almost sense the disciples feeling

  The story of the beheading of John the Baptist (Mark 6:14-29) is a particularly unpleasant one. It is a biblical account which is backed up by historians of the time and this reminds us of the influence that John had. John as we know went about preaching to people about their need to repent – a Saviour was coming into the world and they needed to be ready to meet him. John rightly became a symbol of a moral and a holy man, a reputation he held even with King Herod himself. Herod was fascinated by him, but Herodias was not. She tried to think of any ways in which she could get rid of John, and eventually tricked Herod into having John killed.  John became a martyr for a cause that he didn’t even fully understand, but he became a martyr willingly because he knew that his commitment to what was good would be rewarded not in the fleeting passing of this life but in the everlasting life which Jesus would win for him. Many of the great biblical characters died for their faith, but sadly ma