Sharing some thoughts

A young minister found a serious problem in his new congregation. During the service, half of the congregation stood for the prayers and half remained seated, and each side shouted at the other, insisting that theirs was the true tradition. Nothing the minister said or did got anywhere near solving the problem. Finally, in desperation, he went to the 99-year-old retired minister who had been the first minister of the Church after it was founded. He told the old man about his problems, "So tell me," he pleaded, "was it the tradition for the congregation to stand during the prayers?" "No," answered the old minister." Ah," responded the younger man, "then it was the tradition to sit during the prayers?" "No," answered the old man. "Well," the young minister responded, "what we have is complete chaos! Half the people stand and shout, and the other half sit and shout." "Ah," said the old man, ...

This morning I heard on the news that today was the most depressing day of the year for people. Apart from it being a Monday and the bad weather, it was the day when credit card bills from Christmas would start to come through, the day when the excitement of Christmas had really worn off and the day when we looked forward to perhaps a couple of months of dull days. But yesterday when people were leaving Church and the subject of the weather naturally came up, there were quite a lot of people who also recognised how fortunate we are here to not have been hit by as many problems as many other places. It is a good thing to recognise our benefits, and to offer our prayers and thoughts for those less fortunate than ourselves. And in our readings this evening we are given some advice about doing this. In the gospel (Matt. 5:13-16)we are told that we are the light of the world. In other words it’s really up to us to share some of God’s light and his love out into the world which we serv...

This week Kevin Keegan was welcomed back as the Newcastle United football manager. Following various disappointments over several years, he has been hailed as a potential Messiah for the club. His appointment has been celebrated by fans, and players have spoken excitedly of his arrival. This afternoon the Cardiff Blues will take a further step in the European Cup journey as they play Bristol away, with a victory ensuring their progression to the Quarter Finals. Whoever it is that leads them to victory (and I have no doubt that someone will !) will be widely applauded by the supporters. People like to celebrate success – they point to people who can make a difference, whether that difference is perceived or real. We look at all kinds of people and point them out as someone special, and in the gospel reading today (John 1:29-42), this is what is happening. John the Baptist has been preaching in the wilderness, preparing people for the arrival of the Messiah, and now he has come and...

The Feast of the Epiphany is the day on which we in the Church calendar celebrate the arrival of the Magi, the wise men, into the Christmas story. We have heard of the journey of Mary and Joseph, the greetings of the angels, the arrival of the shepherds, and now we have these mysterious characters from the East. And with their arrival they brought out 3 rather mysterious gifts for a little child, gold, frankincense and myrrh. There have been different interpretations of the meaning of these gifts, and some have suggested that they were simply gifts with no hidden meaning, but this morning I just want to think of 2 things – firstly the fact that the wise men came at all, and secondly that they brought gifts with them. In the reading we heard from Isaiah (60:1-6), the Prophet writes of the darkness covering the earth, but the light of God shining through it. Today the world has many dark places. Any news programme will remind us of that fact. We have conflicts in so many parts of the...