Sharing some thoughts

Mark Twain once wrote that ‘it is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those 3 unspeakably precious things : freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and the prudence never to practice either of them !’ In the gospel of Luke (Ch.4 vs. 16-21) we are given the account of Jesus visiting the Synagogue in Nazareth and being handed some scripture and exercising freedom of speech and conscience, but not having the prudence not to practice them – he reads the passage from the prophet Isaiah which we heard this evening (Ch.61). It’s a wonderful passage talking about bringing good news to the oppressed, binding up the broken hearted, proclaiming liberty to captives and release to prisoners. It talks about the time of jubilee – proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favour. The passage is a whole string of celebrations as the Lord triumphs and sin and misery and evil and death are conquered… It was no coincidence that as Jesus read the scripture in the Synagogue that day, it was this pa...

Elvis Presley died more than 30 years ago now and it seems that an increasingly popular hobby is Elvis impersonating ! I’m not sure of the truth of it, but one of the most startling facts that I have read recently suggests that if the rate of growth of Elvis impersonators continues at its current level, then by 2025, 1 in 4 of the worlds population will be an Elvis impersonator ! You can imagine there are huge opportunities for businesses to grow up making and selling huge sideburns and glittery white suits, and training companies practising the various qualities that Elvis is remembered for ! And impersonation acts are nothing new – many people have made a good living out of impersonating people. One who was not so successful at it was Charlie Chaplin who, when on holiday one year, entered a Charlie Chaplin lookalike competition and only managed to finish 3rd ! But anyway to impersonate a person you begin to follow and copy their behaviour and mannerisms. For Christians the life of Je...

A famous actor was once the guest of honour at a social gathering where he received many requests to recite favourite excerpts from different books. An old preacher who happened to be there asked the actor to recite the twenty-third Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would also recite it. The actor's recitation was beautifully intoned with great dramatic emphasis for which he received lengthy applause. The preacher's voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his diction was anything but polished. But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room. When someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied, "I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd." Today we are at the start of Christian Aid Week – it’s a week where we are called to especially consider the work of Christian Aid, but also to think about the people who are on the receiving end of their work, and perhaps even some of the reasons for the work. Wit...