More marriage thanksgiving !
There’s a very good story about a young man who approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. "That depends," replied the foreman. "Let's see you fell this tree." The young man stepped forward and skilfully felled a huge tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, "Start Monday!" Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by, and then on Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, "You can pick up your pay on the way out today."
Startled, he replied, "I thought you paid on Friday." "Normally we do," answered the foreman, "but we're letting you go today because you've fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you've dropped from first place on Monday to last on Wednesday."
"But I'm a hard worker," the young man objected. "I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks!" The foreman, sensing the boy's integrity, thought for a minute and then asked, "Have you been sharpening your axe?" The young man replied, "No, I've been working too hard to take the time."
There are times when people have a tendency to get on with a job rather than plan it through, to carry on without sharpening the axe – sometimes it works perfectly but sometimes the delays caused by a lack of thought beforehand mean that it takes longer than making detailed plans to start and then getting on with it.
Spontaneity is a good thing – the world would be a very dull place without it, but sometimes we have to be dull enough to sit down and plan. Today’s service has been dedicated to giving thanks for the gift of marriage, whether our own or someone else’s, and marriage is something that needs to be worked on, it sometimes needs planning.
And one of the essentials that must take priority in our planning is spending time together. There’s a story about a farmer and his wife who were in bed one night when a tornado came and swept them out of the house. There they were, flying through the air together in their bed, and the wife began to cry. The farmer said to her, ‘This is no time to cry !’ and she replied, ‘I can’t help it, I’m so happy – this is the first time we’ve been out together in 20 years !’
Thought and consideration for others is an essential quality in marriage, as it should be in the life of everyone, married or not. Marriage itself can never be taken in a vacuum. The Bible tells us and human nature dictates that actually we are all part of a much bigger family, married, unmarried, old or young, and as such each of us have commitments to each other.
And the advice of the Psalmist (Ps.127) is important advice for everyone – ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain…’ And the same is true of every part of our lives. The psalm speaks about the absolute necessity of including the Lord in all our thinking, planning and actions. Three examples are actually given of actions which are "in vain", and these are really intended as illustrations for the whole of life.
"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. It is vain that you rise up early and go late at rest, toiling for food to eat - for he grants sleep to those he loves" (Ps. 127.1-2).
The Psalmist isn’t suggesting that we don’t have hard work to do - whether in building the house, guarding the city or toiling for food.
He is saying that we need to build, guard and toil with God - depending on the Lord to guide us and to fill our homes with his presence and love and blessing; to guide our governments, our civic leaders and to surround our community with his protection; to bless our farming efforts with both water and sunshine and a plentiful harvest, and so on.
Those words at the end of verse 2 are significant - "for he grants sleep to those he loves”, or in another translation, "for while they sleep he provides for those he loves".
While our human work is never "done" in the final sense, the person who trusts in the Lord will find genuine rest.
Today married couples often complain of never seeing their spouse, and in society today many people are too busy to make time for others, but amidst all of the noise, all of the stresses and strains of modern life, the most important thing is people, and our relationships with them.
And to achieve anything that is good, we can build our house on rock, the rock of Jesus mentioned in our gospel reading. A solid base is essential for any marriage, or indeed any good human relationship, and then when the storms come, as they come to everyone at some time, the house will not fall because it is founded on the most solid rock of all.
And this rock is not, as I touched on earlier, a private rock. We live our lives for ourselves and for those closest to us, but we also live our lives with a wider commitment to all those around us, all those who make up our family.
I often say, because I know it from personal experience, that there will be people who we find it difficult to like, difficult to understand, maybe people who are hostile to us, and I’m sure that Jesus understood those feelings, but he simply offered the teaching to turn the other cheek, and to continue to love, whatever the cost…
Whether married or not, that is our commitment to the world and to people all around us – to echo the words of Jesus who said, ‘love one another as I have loved you…’
When the Crystal Palace Exhibition opened in 1851, people flocked to London’s Hyde Park to look at the exhibits. One of the greatest of them was steam power. Steam ploughs were on display. Steam locomotives. Steam organs. Even a steam cannon.
Of all the great exhibits that year, the first-prize winner was a steam invention with seven thousand parts. When it was turned on, its pulleys, whistles, bells, and gears made a lot of noise, but, ironically, the machine didn’t do a thing! Seven thousand moving parts made a lot of commotion... but had no practical use.
With the high-tech era we live in, it’s easy to confuse activity with accomplishment, to be fooled into thinking that the sound of gears and pulleys - or the dazzling effects on the computer screen - mean that something important is being done.
But there is no greater truth than this - Unless the Lord is in all our activity, it is all "in vain". Our greatest need is to depend on God in all that we do. He makes all the difference. AMEN
Startled, he replied, "I thought you paid on Friday." "Normally we do," answered the foreman, "but we're letting you go today because you've fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you've dropped from first place on Monday to last on Wednesday."
"But I'm a hard worker," the young man objected. "I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks!" The foreman, sensing the boy's integrity, thought for a minute and then asked, "Have you been sharpening your axe?" The young man replied, "No, I've been working too hard to take the time."
There are times when people have a tendency to get on with a job rather than plan it through, to carry on without sharpening the axe – sometimes it works perfectly but sometimes the delays caused by a lack of thought beforehand mean that it takes longer than making detailed plans to start and then getting on with it.
Spontaneity is a good thing – the world would be a very dull place without it, but sometimes we have to be dull enough to sit down and plan. Today’s service has been dedicated to giving thanks for the gift of marriage, whether our own or someone else’s, and marriage is something that needs to be worked on, it sometimes needs planning.
And one of the essentials that must take priority in our planning is spending time together. There’s a story about a farmer and his wife who were in bed one night when a tornado came and swept them out of the house. There they were, flying through the air together in their bed, and the wife began to cry. The farmer said to her, ‘This is no time to cry !’ and she replied, ‘I can’t help it, I’m so happy – this is the first time we’ve been out together in 20 years !’
Thought and consideration for others is an essential quality in marriage, as it should be in the life of everyone, married or not. Marriage itself can never be taken in a vacuum. The Bible tells us and human nature dictates that actually we are all part of a much bigger family, married, unmarried, old or young, and as such each of us have commitments to each other.
And the advice of the Psalmist (Ps.127) is important advice for everyone – ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain…’ And the same is true of every part of our lives. The psalm speaks about the absolute necessity of including the Lord in all our thinking, planning and actions. Three examples are actually given of actions which are "in vain", and these are really intended as illustrations for the whole of life.
"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. It is vain that you rise up early and go late at rest, toiling for food to eat - for he grants sleep to those he loves" (Ps. 127.1-2).
The Psalmist isn’t suggesting that we don’t have hard work to do - whether in building the house, guarding the city or toiling for food.
He is saying that we need to build, guard and toil with God - depending on the Lord to guide us and to fill our homes with his presence and love and blessing; to guide our governments, our civic leaders and to surround our community with his protection; to bless our farming efforts with both water and sunshine and a plentiful harvest, and so on.
Those words at the end of verse 2 are significant - "for he grants sleep to those he loves”, or in another translation, "for while they sleep he provides for those he loves".
While our human work is never "done" in the final sense, the person who trusts in the Lord will find genuine rest.
Today married couples often complain of never seeing their spouse, and in society today many people are too busy to make time for others, but amidst all of the noise, all of the stresses and strains of modern life, the most important thing is people, and our relationships with them.
And to achieve anything that is good, we can build our house on rock, the rock of Jesus mentioned in our gospel reading. A solid base is essential for any marriage, or indeed any good human relationship, and then when the storms come, as they come to everyone at some time, the house will not fall because it is founded on the most solid rock of all.
And this rock is not, as I touched on earlier, a private rock. We live our lives for ourselves and for those closest to us, but we also live our lives with a wider commitment to all those around us, all those who make up our family.
I often say, because I know it from personal experience, that there will be people who we find it difficult to like, difficult to understand, maybe people who are hostile to us, and I’m sure that Jesus understood those feelings, but he simply offered the teaching to turn the other cheek, and to continue to love, whatever the cost…
Whether married or not, that is our commitment to the world and to people all around us – to echo the words of Jesus who said, ‘love one another as I have loved you…’
When the Crystal Palace Exhibition opened in 1851, people flocked to London’s Hyde Park to look at the exhibits. One of the greatest of them was steam power. Steam ploughs were on display. Steam locomotives. Steam organs. Even a steam cannon.
Of all the great exhibits that year, the first-prize winner was a steam invention with seven thousand parts. When it was turned on, its pulleys, whistles, bells, and gears made a lot of noise, but, ironically, the machine didn’t do a thing! Seven thousand moving parts made a lot of commotion... but had no practical use.
With the high-tech era we live in, it’s easy to confuse activity with accomplishment, to be fooled into thinking that the sound of gears and pulleys - or the dazzling effects on the computer screen - mean that something important is being done.
But there is no greater truth than this - Unless the Lord is in all our activity, it is all "in vain". Our greatest need is to depend on God in all that we do. He makes all the difference. AMEN
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