Sharing some thoughts

From Helen I have to confess that I love girlie things. I love pink, I like flowers, I adore chocolate, and I like to buy new clothes. The idea of a new wardrobe to me is appealing and not because I need the space to hang my clothes in. You can imagine how much our epistle reading excited me this morning as Paul spoke of new clothes – or rather a new set of armour ! This morning I want us to think about these items of clothing and consider what they mean for us.   The first is the belt of truth. Truth is never easy. The belt of truth is our middle, it literally holds everything together. Roman soldiers wore a very wide belt which protected the lower part of their bodies and held everything together. The belt of truth means that the truth we know of Jesus should underscore everything we do and are. The truth holds us together and it is this truth which we must proclaim. Without Jesus at the centre everything will fall apart and we must remain true to what we have heard not tw...

From Helen I once heard about an occasion when a man claimed that he had photographic evidence that Elvis was still alive. He phoned a newspaper and the news quickly spread. The excited media went to see this man so they could see the picture. When they arrived the man showed them the photograph. They looked and said, ‘this is a photo of you and your dog.’  The man replied, ‘yes, but Elvis took the picture.’ In our gospel reading  (John 6:51-58)  this morning we heard of Jesus  offering Himself,  not a copy  of bread but the true bread. Jesus was offering  all that p eople would ever need for life as He  said that He was the living bread. This comes as part of a whole section of Jesus’ teaching when He was explaining to the people that they had been looking for the wrong things in life.  Going back in time a bit, Jesus had fed the 5000 and people were amazed. After this they followed Him and asked what else He could do for them. There ...

For the last couple of weeks our gospel has concentrated on Jesus’ claims to be the bread of life and today, once again (John 6:51-58), we are thinking about that claim, and its importance for us all.  Jesus said , “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever…”’ In those  words  he is clearly once again challenging us to make a decision about him. And we also heard from Paul in his letter to the Ephesians (5:15-20) where he is pleading with his readers or listeners to live lives worthy of God, and enjoy life as he intends. He is reminding us in these words that actually our faith is not about rules for the sake of rules and misery and glum faces, and frowning at people who seem to be having fun – our faith is about sharing in an exciting partnership with God, as we seek to enjoy life – life which we are supposed to celebrate. Going back even further this is also the sense we have from our reading from Prover...

Apologies for using the same illustration at the beginning as last week. It was preached in a different church !  Theologians can sometimes  seem to over complicate things at times – important as their work is, it sometimes doesn’t help us to get personally closer to God.  However having said that, there is a parable   written by the theologian S oren  Kierkegaard   about a  community of ducks waddling off to duck church to hear the duck preacher , and this is one that is pretty easy to understand .  At the service, t he duck preacher spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly. With these wings there was nowhere the ducks could not go. With those wings they could soar  high into the sky . Shouts of "Amen!" were quacked throughout the duck congregation  and there was real excitement at the wonderful gifts that God had given them. A t the conclusion of the service, the ducks left commenting on the ...

Great theologians are known to sometimes totally confuse people –  and I rarely begin any address by quoting a theologian but today I will.  Søren Kierkegaard told a parable  about  a community of ducks waddling off to duck church to hear the duck preacher. The duck preacher spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly.  With these wings there was nowhere the ducks could not go. With those wings they could soar. Shouts of "Amen!" were quacked throughout the duck congregation. At the conclusion of the service, the ducks left commenting on the message and waddled back home. But they never flew. They had listened to the message, recognised its value, celebrated that value … , and done nothing about it…. And so often, as we hear the gospel message we too can run into the same sort of danger – we can proclaim our faith in word and song and prayer through a service, but leave without recognising that the gospel demands a response...