Sharing some thoughts

From Helen Have you ever had the experience of something good happening and then it getting better and better ?  We once went to a wedding where  the reception was a Chinese buffet. I apologise if I have told you this story but it is a very important one and is close to my heart.  I say a Chinese buffet. This was no ordinary buffet, it was in the St.Davids hotel and spa in Cardiff bay. We were all invited table by table to a room where there was food galore. It was very good but the best bit is yet to come… when des s ert came we were taken back into this room and there were loads of mini desserts and we were offered each one. Well, I knew that 7 desserts was greedy but they were mini and it would be rude not to….  That reception was bigger, better and greater than all I could have imagined. This is certainly an experience and emotion which we have heard about in our readings this morning. In the reading from 2 Kings  (4: 42-44)  Elisha trusted God and ...

The 23 rd  Psalm is probably the most  well-known  chapter in the Bible. The words have probably  become as famous as any other literary quote in history. Countless people have memorized it...  It is a wonderful meditation about faith and trust, and being sure of God in all situations. Probably when we were younger, m any of us will have seen words from  this  favourite psalm superimposed on beautiful painted pictures of Jesus on a grassy hillside, with a lamb over his shoulders, rescuing it from danger.  Many children and adults still get great comfort from the image of the kind and gentle Jesus who cares for all God’s creatures. This is the Jesus who will stay with a child through a dark night filled with terrors: alligators under the bed and monsters in the closet. This is the Jesus who stays with adult s too, through nights of pain and crying , and loneliness, and worry, and despair. I n those times of danger and grief, many peopl...

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...

 From Helen I was chatting to some school children recently and they asked me questions about my work and the Church. Then they asked me some more personal questions. One of these was, ‘did you always want to be a  Reverend ? ’ my answer was no. I explained that at 4 I wanted to be the pope and by 6 a ballerina. All the children laughed at the idea of me being a  ballerina !!   Then  I  got asked if I ever had a sporting dream when I was a child. I categorically said, ‘No’. Me and sport have never been friends, sports has never been a gift of mine, although I did get very into swimming at one stage. It got me to thinking about strengths and weaknesses. My weaknesses are :-  sports, chocolate, sports, temper, sports, sleepiness, sport, over chatting, sports – you get the picture. My strengths  are :-  well, they are clear to see and maybe modesty isn’t a strength  of mine  ! In our epistle reading this morning we heard some ver...

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 cons idered a little backward by many  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  which have gone wrong before, or failing to do something again when we know from past experience, we should have done that thing !  Children, for example, wi ll often say and do things that 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 h...