Sharing some thoughts

As a child, attitudes towards your parents tend to change fairly dramatically. There are those early years when you place complete trust in them, crying for them whenever you’re upset or hungry, or wanting anything at all. Any problem if it comes can be sorted out by your parents ! And then you get a little bit older and start to disagree over certain things – perhaps you want more pocket money, or perhaps you want to stay out longer than they think you should, and things don’t seem so good. The wonderful infallible parents of your early childhood seem to be replaced by hopelessly out of touch old people ! But hopefully that stage doesn’t last too long either, and gradually you come around once again to recognising that whilst they’re not infallible, they are wise, and seeking to do the right thing for those they care about. And in many ways this relationship with parents can mirror that of our relationship with the Bible. In Sunday School perhaps you were taught lots of stories fr...

This week we had the rather bizarre sight of Martin Jol sitting on the touchline as manager of Tottenham Hotspur for a European match, having already resigned from that position very shortly before the game. I wonder what his thoughts were as he sat there, watching the players whose performances had been part of the reason for him losing his job, and I’m sure just wondering to himself, ‘how did this happen’, or ‘What if I’d done something different earlier in the season.’ There are so many questions and decisions that we face in life, and almost without exception all of them are easier to answer after the event. It is much easier to know what we should have done in a situation after we should have done it ! But as we look at the reading this morning from Paul’s letter to Timothy (4:6-8,16-18), we get the sense of an interview with Paul after the game has ended. Basically his ministry is over – he is sitting in a Roman prison, with nothing to look forward to but his execution at the...

There was a student at a Bible College called Samuel, who had a Pentecostal background. He loved to get up at three a.m. to practice Psalm 5 "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." And as a good Pentecostal, he prayed out loud, so none of the not-so-faithful ones could get to sleep. Once some of the men laid a twelve inch PVC pipe over the ceiling, until it reached Samuel's bedroom. R ight when he started praying, one of the men spoke through the pipe causing an echo: "Samuel, Samuel .". Samuel fell on his knees, believing that he was hearing the call of God, mirroring that of Samuel in the Old Testament, and in a triumphant voice he shouted: "Speak; for thy servant heareth". And the reply came "Samuel, Go and lie down, and let my other servants get some sleep". Recently I spoke about our need to be evangelists, but I suppose all of us have seen or met people who...

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn spent many years in the prison camps of Siberia. Along with other prisoners, he worked in the fields day after day, in all kinds of often extreme weather. His life appeared to be nothing more than backbreaking labour and slow starvation, and this intense suffering reduced him to a state of despair. One particular day, the hopelessness of his situation became too much for him. He saw no reason to continue his struggle, no reason to keep on living. He felt his life made no difference in the world. So he gave up. Leaving his shovel on the ground, he slowly walked to a bench and sat down. He knew that at any moment a guard would order him to stand up, and when he failed to respond, the guard would beat him to death, probably with his own shovel. He had seen it happen to other prisoners. As he waited, with his head down, he felt a presence. Slowly he looked up and saw a skinny old prisoner squat down besi...

I think the gospel reading that we’ve just heard (Luke 17:11-19) is a wonderful example of human nature, and God’s goodness. In it Jesus was walking to Jerusalem through the region between Samaria and Galilee, and as he entered a village he saw 10 lepers. Leprosy was the AIDS of the time, the disease considered by so many to be the untouchable disease, the disease that led to its sufferers being classed as outcasts from society. But when they called to Jesus he didn’t walk by. Instead, he saw their condition and had compassion on them. He told them to go to the Priest and show themselves, as it was part of Jewish law to have to show yourselves to be clean before a Priest before you could re-enter society. And as the 10 went towards the Priest they noticed they were made clean, and one, only one of them, turned back to thank Jesus. Hopefully each one of us have been in a situation at times when we’re so grateful for something that words almost escape us, but we have enough about...

A man went to see his Minister one day and complained, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?" The Minister answered, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man was stunned, and naturally complained, but the Minister insisted, "Do as I say and come back in a week." A week later the man went back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he told the minister, "The goat is filthy." And so the minister said, “Then go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week." A radiant man returned to the minister a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat - only the nine of us." As we celebrate harvest, a great feast of thanksgiving, we recognise also that our thanks are often relative to the place we find ourselves... What we so often take for granted, many would throw a party to celebrate if they had...

Today we celebrate harvest – it’s one of the great traditions of the Church to set aside one Sunday a year to specifically give thanks to God for all the food he provides, and for those who help to bring it to us. Probably of all the great festivals in the Church calendar it’s the one that’s geared up to make us feel comfortable – like a hot cup of tea, and a piece of toast ! Harvest can bring out the best in a Church community. Surrounded by the gifts of God, we may remember the great harvest festivals of the past, and the trees changing colour for autumn – the slow onset of winter and the anticipation of advent and the festive season… It is true isn’t it, that as soon as harvest is gone, Christmas only seems a very short time away ! But today, through the readings, the hymns, the gifts in Church, and the trees outside, we can pause and just see how blessed we are… Being grateful is at the heart of what harvest is about. We are grateful for the gift of food, for the work of those ...

A businessman well known for his ruthlessness once said to the author Mark Twain, ‘Before I die I will take a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, climb Mount Sinai and read the 10 Commandments from the top’. ‘I have a better idea’, replied Mark Twain, ‘Why don’t you stay in Boston and start obeying them.’ Mark Twain was pointing out to that man the importance of living out the words of the commandments rather than just speaking them. He was a businessman with many gifts and yet he used them badly. He used them for his own good to the detriment of others. Many people look at this morning’s gospel reading (Luke 16:19-end) and think of it as a warning against building up earthly wealth. We hear about the rich man clothed in purple and fine linen who feasted sumptuously every day, and then about Lazarus, the beggar sitting at the gate of the rich man. When the rich man died he went to a place of suffering and pain – Lazarus, we are told, ended up with Abraham. And so the story does warn us ...

The following series of addresses was taken from a Mothers Union Quiet afternoon Address 1 Last week I had an e mail, and I don’t know if any of you have had a similar thing, but at the bottom of it, after the message had finished, there was a quotation. In the past I’ve had a couple which are quite bizarre, others a little bit too soppy or overly flowery, but at the bottom of this one it said, ‘Remember, no matter where you go in life, there you are.’ ‘Remember no matter where you go in life, there you are’. A very obvious statement but it got me thinking. It says a great deal about realising the reality of a particular situation, the particular situation in which you find yourself, and accepting that situation. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to change that situation, but before being able to change it, you must recognise where you are. There’s no point in panicking, no point in thinking there’s nothing you can do, and no point in giving up. Wherever you find yourself in ...