Life is full of choices. Every day we decide where we’re going, what we’re eating, when we’re leaving, what we’re watching – there are choices everywhere. Sometimes they’re fun, sometimes they’re exhausting. There’s a story about Herbert Asquith, the former Prime Minister, who once spent a weekend with the Rothschild family. At teatime the butler approached him with a level of choice that could only happen in the world of the very wealthy: “Tea, coffee, or a peach from off the wall, sir?” “Tea, please.” “China, India, or Ceylon, sir?” “China, please.” “Lemon, milk, or cream, sir?” “Milk, please.” “Jersey, Hereford, or Shorthorn, sir?” Sometimes choice goes too far. You walk into a shop and want everything or you can open a restaurant menu and want everything. Choice can be wonderful but it can also be hard! Our readings today (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23/ Romans 8:1-11) are all about choice, but not the “China, India, or Ceylon?” kind. They’re about t...
Romans 7:15-25a & Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 There’s a story I heard once about a man who bought a treadmill. He was determined to get fit. He told everyone about it and watched videos about it. He even bought special running shoes. But the treadmill sat in the corner of his living room, quietly gathering dust. Every time he walked past it, he felt a little pang of guilt. He wanted to use it. He meant to use it. He planned to use it. But somehow… he didn’t. One day his friend came round, looked at the treadmill, and said, “Ah yes - the world’s most expensive clothes hanger.” The man laughed, but he also sighed. “I don’t understand myself,” he said. “I want to do this. I really do. But I just… don’t.” And I think Paul would have nodded sympathetically at that moment. Because in Romans, Paul describes something we all probably recognise, that strange inner conflict between what we want to do and what we actually do. He says, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I...