Sharing some thoughts

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but recently it seems that the Prime Minister has appeared on a lot more live interviews than he usually does. This week alone he did a fairly long interview with Andrew Marr on the television, he did an interview with John Humphries on the radio, and he appeared live on the news to talk about gun crime. A cynic may of course suggest that as he approaches the end of his term as Prime Minister he is keen to put himself up to try and get as much good publicity as he can, in order to be remembered well in the future… I of course never have a cynical thought ! But whatever our thoughts on the Prime Minister there is little doubt that ‘Spin’ has become increasingly important in politics today – there is a great need for things to be well portrayed on the outside, almost regardless of the actual substance of the particular policy or incident. Appearance seems to be all important. And the reading that we heard this evening from Luke’s gospel (18:9-1...

A university student was seen with a large "K" printed on his T- shirt. When someone asked him what the "K" stood for, he said, "Confused." "But," the questioner replied, "you don't spell "confused" with a "K." The student answered, "You would if you were as confused as I am." And Harry Truman the former President of the United States said, ‘If you can’t convince them, confuse them.’ Strangely enough I think we in the Church often spend quite a lot of time confusing people about our faith rather than trying to convince them of the power and strength of our faith. And this is a point that Paul seems to be addressing in his letter to the Romans (10:8b-13), where he cuts through all of the potential confusion and wordiness of our faith with the simple words, ‘If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…’ And a little ...

This evening I want to start by asking you to imagine – imagine just for a moment that you are God. You are the Creator of the Universe and you possess all power – and it is time for your people, who are being held as slaves, to be rescued. Who would you choose to do this great work? Perhaps you would send a great military leader? Or perhaps a skilled politician? Maybe you would send a great speaker; someone who could give heart-stirring speeches that would inspire people. If you had the population of the world at your disposal, would you have sent Moses? Probably not! After all, he was 80 years old. He was a fugitive from justice, wanted for murder in Egypt , the very place you wanted to send him! He may have been well educated, but that was over 40 years ago. He may have been well connected in the political circles of the day, but that too had been a long time ago. Yet, when it came time for God to send a deliverer to Israel , this is exactly the person He chose for the job. To u...

When I went to confirmation class, even though it was quite a long time ago, and I didn’t listen very much at the time anyway, I can still remember being taught the colours that we use in Church for the different seasons of the year. One of the things that we were taught was that the colour purple was used for Advent and for Lent, two of the great penitential seasons, seasons of examination and repentance – seasons where we try to get our spiritual lives on to the right track. However this year the colour mentioned in the Church in Wales guide for the couple of weeks before Lent is also purple, which, though I am no expert on such things seems a bit confusing to me – it seems that in a way we are preparing to prepare, and this is a quite a dangerous thing to fall into. As we build up to Lent we have time to contemplate God’s glory, last week we had the readings about creation, and about power over creation, and this week we have the gospel reading of the transfiguration (Luke 9...

There’s a story about St Cedric which I think I’ve told you before, but it’s always worth repeating ! One day Cedric was working on the reception desk in heaven when a beautiful blonde actress came in and stood before him. Cedric was a little surprised to see her – considering her infamous reputation. ‘Are you sure you’ve come to the right place ?’ he asked. The actress smiled seductively and replied, ‘I went to an evangelistic rally, where I was converted just before I died.’ ‘Those rallies are going too far these days’ said Cedric, ‘life was much tougher in my day. So just to make sure you’re converted properly, you’ll have to walk down that long corridor to heaven, and if you think one bad thought a trap door will open, and you’ll drop down to the other place.’ So the actress walked off down the corridor, swaying her hips as she went… about halfway along, a trap door opened and Cedric, following behind, fell through ! All of us at times are called to consider our condi...

There’s an anonymous saying which goes, ‘Out of the gloom a voice said to me “Smile and be happy, things could be worse.” So I smiled and was happy, and behold, things did get worse.’… For a long time I think the Church in this country has all too often been guilty of smiling through problems, pretending that they would go away, and doing very little to try and solve them. The theme of today’s readings though, as has been the theme quite a lot in recent weeks, is very much about having a confident vision for the future, based on Jesus. The gospel reading is the stilling of the storm (Luke 8:22 -25). Jesus went out with his disciples in a boat, and he fell asleep – while he was sleeping a great storm blew up, and the disciples feared for their lives, while Jesus remained asleep. When they woke him he immediately calmed the storm – and then he reminded the disciples that they had no need to fear – he was with them and he was in control. And far from just smiling through problems,...

A wealthy businessman was horrified to see a fisherman sitting beside his boat, playing with a small child. "Why aren't you out fishing?" asked the businessman. "Because I caught enough fish for one day, "replied the fisherman. "Why don't you catch some more?" "What would I do with them?" "You could earn more money," said the businessman. "Then with the extra money, you could buy a bigger boat, go into deeper waters, and catch more fish. Then you would make enough money to buy nylon nets. With the nets, you could catch even more fish and make more money. With that money you could own two boats, maybe three boats. Eventually you could have a whole fleet of boats and be rich like me." "Then what would I do?" asked the fisherman. "Then," said the businessman, "you could really enjoy life." The fisherman looked at the businessman quizzically and asked, "What do you think I a...

A shopkeeper said that in her job in a jewellers shop, she often arranged for engaged couples to have their wedding rings engraved inside with something special. She once asked a bride-to-be what she would like inscribed inside her fiancé's ring. "We aren't very romantic," she replied. Then she said that they were even marrying on her fiancé's birthday so he wouldn't forget the date! But the shopkeeper persisted, "Isn't there something you'll want him to remember as he looks inside his ring?" "There sure is," she said. And that's how "Put it back on!" came to be inscribed inside her husband's ring. It was perhaps a gentle reminder of his need to commit. Another lady may well have wanted to help along her fiancé’s commitment for several decades, as she waited for 44 years of courtship before her boyfriend finally proposed to her, aged 68. Why the wait? Someone asked, to which the woman replied, "He is a bit shy...