Sharing some thoughts

Our readings today concentrate on lifestyles – a subject that has been hotly debated both inside and outside the church in recent years. Questions remain over what is a good lifestyle… The Book of Proverbs is full of wisdom about how we can deal with life and with people, and in the section we heard (9:1-6) we are told that wisdom has built her house – in other words wisdom is established and is calling out to people to follow the way of wisdom. In the letter to the Ephesians Paul writes (5:15-20) offering advice to a church, not just the Ephesian church it would seem, but to all of the churches that Paul had been involved in. The letter to the Ephesians is split into two parts – the doctrinal part, looking at things such as the unity of the church and the work of Christ in reconciliation as well as the mystery of the gospel message, and the practical part which concentrates on the lives of the followers of Jesus. And actually both of those things are important for our faith tod...

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight now and for evermore O Lord our strength and our redeemer. AMEN I remember preaching on the these readings during the time of the swine flu pandemic and the suspension of distributing wine at communion and it seemed particularly appropriate that we had 2 readings which concentrate solely on bread ! (Exodus 16:2-4,9-15 and John 6:24-35). Of course though, bread has always been considered an important and basic part of a diet. Today, in the Old Testament we have the account of the bread coming down from heaven to feed the Israelites as God had promised. This was something that satisfied a physical hunger but which pointed far more to a greater message that God will provide for his people. And then in the gospel we have Jesus being followed by many people, and they are following him because they have seen or heard about his miraculous feeding of the 5,000. And Jesus knows that’s why they are th...

Today is the Feast Day of St Mary Magdalene – a character who has been the subject of huge debate and intrigue within the Church and outside the church for centuries – but above all she was a lady who, inspired by her relationship with Jesus, sought to live out his message of love and compassion, and followed him wherever it led her. Today I want to think about Mary Magdalene’s example and lesson for the wider Church today, and for the wider Church of tomorrow. Mary Magdalene it seems never fitted in with the idea that many people had of what a disciple of Jesus should be like or even look like. We start with the obvious fact that she was a woman, and in the time of Jesus the fact that he treated her so well, and on an equal par with men, was enough to cause scandal – through the years since, that rumour of scandalous behaviour has been developed without even the slightest shred of evidence. And then there was of course this suggestion that Mary Magdalene had had some kind of a sh...

The story of the beheading of John the Baptist (Mark 6:14-29) is a particularly unpleasant one. It is a biblical account which is backed up by historians of the time and this reminds us of the influence that John had. John as we know went about preaching to people about their need to repent – a Saviour was coming into the world and they needed to be ready to meet him. John rightly became a symbol of a moral and a holy man, a reputation he held even with King Herod himself. Herod was fascinated by him, but Herodias was not. She tried to think of any ways in which she could get rid of John, and eventually tricked Herod into having John killed. John became a martyr for a cause that he didn’t even fully understand, but he became a martyr willingly because he knew that his commitment to what was good would be rewarded not in the fleeting passing of this life but in the everlasting life which Jesus would win for him. Many of the great biblical characters died for their faith, but sadl...

I was reading recently a book I have got, called ‘Gumpisms’. It’s a book of sayings from Forrest Gump. For those who don’t know, Forrest was a young man considered a little backward by most people, but who managed to make a tremendous success of everything that he tried. In this book Forrest is quoted as saying, ‘Some people like me are born idiots, but many more become stupider as they go along’. I was thinking about this statement and I think there may well be an element of truth in it ! Many of us for example end up doing things or failing to do things which we may have done in the past even though those things were actually a reasonable enough thing to do ! Children, for example, will often say and do things which we would love to say, very honest things, but we sometimes wouldn’t say them out of politeness. Sometimes of course this is very wise, but there are times when our failure to say things leads to a bigger problem, times when a bit of straight honesty might actually be...

One of the most moving poems that I am sometimes asked to read at a funeral service is the one entitled ‘Remember’, written by Christina Rosetti. It reads like this :- Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land: When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you planned: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad. One of the realities of life is that inevitably we will lose someone we love. Many people will offer words of comfort, many will tell us that it gets easier, and it does, but it doesn’t mean that we ever forget, and neither should it. In remember...

A librarian was asked by a child where to look for a book about God. The librarian asked the child what he wanted to know about God – ‘well’ said the child, ‘for a start, what does he do ?’ Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday and we recognise the work of God but inevitably as we do so, we look with eyes which judge by human standards a God who is far above anything or anyone we can ever understand… But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try – and that we shouldn’t at least recognise what we do know and see of God’s work around us – and how we should respond. There’s a good story of a young girl in school one day – the teacher approaches her and asks what she is drawing – the child replies, ‘I am drawing God’, ‘But nobody knows what God looks like’ said the teacher, to which the child replied, ‘They will in a minute !’ In the most simple of terms God the Father is the creator of the world, God the Son is the person we know as Jesus, who came into the world to save us from sin and ...

Pentecost is sometimes called the birthday of the Church – some Churches even have parties, and today we remember the day when the first Church was empowered by the Holy Spirit… Power can be used in at least two ways: it can be unleashed, or it can be harnessed. The energy in ten litres of petrol for instance, can be released explosively by dropping a lighted match into the can. Or it can be channelled through the engine of a car in a controlled burn and used to transport a person. Explosions are spectacular, but controlled burns have lasting effect or staying power. The Holy Spirit works in both ways. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit exploded on the scene; His presence was like "tongues of fire" (Acts 2:3) and dramatically transformed the lives of those early followers of Jesus, as well as the people around them - thousands were affected by one burst of God's power. But in a more controlled way the Spirit constantly continues to work through the church - the institutio...

A mother was preparing pancakes for her two sons one day. The older was five and the younger three. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson here. "If Jesus were sitting here," she said, "he would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.'" Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!" John’s gospel from which we heard this morning (15:9-17) is a powerful evangelistic gospel – throughout, the writer encourages its readers to go out and witness to God – John backs up his writing by describing the public miracles that Jesus did – it is John also who gives us the famous ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus – I am the bread of life; the light of the world; the door; the good shepherd; the resurrection and the life; the way, the truth and the life and the vine. The miracles and these sayings of Jesus point us to the fact that we are to be confident in G...

I am far from being an expert on Greek gods – however I do know that the Greek philosopher Socrates did not encourage his students to read the stories about them. He thought that the gods in Greek poetry were immoral and unworthy of respect. Like many, he gave the gods their due, probably observed the public rituals, but after that he left the gods well alone. And that view of the ancient gods was fairly common. You offered the appropriate sacrifices, didn’t violate sacred places, didn't harm priests, didn't draw attention to yourself – The objective was - don't let the gods become too involved with you, because any glory won from the gods would be offset by a greater measure of suffering. Getting involved with the gods was dangerous and to be avoided. It was a hugely superstitious view. And some people today continue to treat God in this way – trying to get in touch with him only in times of greatest need, or for special occasions, perhaps a baptism or a wedding or fu...