Sharing some thoughts

I may well have told this story before but as we celebrate harvest I think it's appropriate to repeat. A 12 year old boy named David was born without an immune system. He underwent a bone marrow transplant in order to correct the deficiency. Up to that point he had spent his entire life in a plastic bubble in order to prevent exposure to common germs, bacteria, and viruses that could kill him. He lived without ever knowing human contact. When asked what he'd like to do if and when released from his protective bubble, he replied, "I want to walk barefoot on grass, and touch my mother's hand." Walking barefoot on the grass may not be something we want to do too often but it's good to know we can if we want to. It emphasises the gift of freedom. Add to this the gift of human contact with a loved one and we have two incredibly basic needs fulfilled, and at harvest we are thinking about basic needs being provided for and our need to offer thanks. In the reading

From time to time Jesus said some difficult things - many things are challenging because they ask us to look at ourselves, at how we truly love and care for one another, or challenge us as to how we work for justice in the world, or defend the needs of those who can't do it for themselves. Today our Old Testament reading from Amos (8:4-7) talks about the greed of those who can't wait to get up and start trading - money is what the people are after and Amos is just reminding them that with riches come responsibility and privilege. The more we have the more is expected of us. And then we have Paul writing to Timothy (1 Tim.2:1-7) urging prayer for those in authority. Lots of us in our own prayer lives might offer prayers for other people, but those prayers often begin with those closest to us and work outwards from there - Paul is not saying this is wrong but is reminding us that those in authority, who may seem a little bit distant from us, are as much in need of our pr

This weekend we are celebrating the 90 th  birthday of the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon, the youngest of the 6 dioceses in the church in Wales .. .   A little boy asked his mother where he came from, and also where she had come from as a baby. His mother gave him a tall tale about a beautiful white-feathered bird. The boy asked his grandmother the same question and received a variation on the bird story. Outside to his  friend  he said, "You know, there hasn't been a normal birth in our family for three generations." The birth of the church in Wales was complicated and  rather  long winded as was the formation of the different dioceses – Swansea and Brecon Diocese was born in 1923 , the year of the first FA Cup Final at Wembley, and 4 years before Cardiff became the only Welsh club to win the FA Cup, though none of that is particularly  relevant ! What is relevant though is that i t is perhaps appropriate that as we make this celebration, we enter a whole new era f

The evangelist  D L Moody used to tell the story of a conversation he had with  Dr.  A ndrew Bonar  in the Highlands of Scotland. He was told that  a sheep would often wander off into the rocks and get into places that they couldn't get out of. The grass on the mountains  wa s very sweet and the sheep like d  it,  so  they w ould  jump down ten or twelve feet, and then they c ouldn 't jump back again, and the shepherd hear d  them bleating in distress. They may be  there for days, until they had  eaten all the grass. The shepherd w ould  wait until they are so faint they cannot stand, and then  they  put  a rope around  them  and pull ed  th e  sheep  back to safety. Moody asked  w hy  they  d id n't go down there when the sheep first g o t  there? " "Ah!" said   Dr.  Bonar , "they are so very foolish they would dash right over the precipice and be killed if they did!" Moody continued with his story by saying  that is the way with  people ;

The question of conscience is one that we face time and time again in our lives – what about the person who finds £100 lying on the road – do you pick it up and take it home, or do you take it to the police and hand it  in ?  What about the little bit of gossip that you hear – do you keep it quiet or do you share  it ?  What about the wrong that you know someone has done – do you confront them o r tell someone or do you decide  it’s best to mind your own  business ? I once read a small boy’s definition of conscience – that is ‘something that makes you tell your mum you’ve done something wrong before your sister  does’ !   Conscience is about choice – do we follow what’s good and right or do we follow the easy  path ?  Do we follow what we know to be just however hard it may be or do we turn a blind eye to an  injustice ? This last couple of weeks much of the news has been taken up with differing opinions on how to deal with the crisis in Syria – if we believe President Assad used

From Helen I always like to think of myself as someone who knows how to behave well and correctly when in public. Some people may disagree....  But  we do all know how we should behave in certain situations. It is never correct to go to somebody else's house for a meal and complain about the food, nor is it correct to turn up for a posh dinner party wearing scruffy, ripped clothes.  There was once a competition in America to win a large amount of money. The way to win the competition was to do something ridiculous. There was a man who decided that he would eat a tree, not a small tree but quite a sizeable one. The competition runners were a radio station who thought that this could be worth pursuing, so they challenged the man. The man decided that he would make this challenge a very interesting one and thought that he should behave correctly.  So  he set up his challenge as a dinner party for one. He wore a dinner suit, had a large dining  table which  he laid with a beautiful