Sharing some thoughts

One of the problems that each of us are faced with on a daily basis  is  recognising people who are good and who are bad, and the large majority who are not all good but certainly not all  bad ! But we are challenged to live as people who recognise the good in others –  we are to be people who  are able to see people who are, in spite of their faults and failings, originally created in the image of God himself.  Many of you will know the words of Mother Teresa. She was asked how she could tend the sickest and poorest people in the slums of Calcutta. Mother Teresa said that as she looked at each person for whom she was caring she tried to imagi ne that she was tending the  Jesus’ wounded body – His nail-scarred hands, feet, and side. And so it was that in each act of caring, she was welcoming Jesus, treating that person as if they were the Lord himself ! That sort of compassion and care is rare and yet it is one to which we are all called to aspi...

from Helen I have been described as many things, generally good but the strangest was as a toilet roll. It was strange and a little disconcerting. However, it became more so when it was used at Ian and I’s licensing service in Llandrindod. Not only that but it was used by the  Bishop ! He was explaining that with me and Ian you buy one get one free. Do you remember those toilet rolls  adverts.  BOGOF – Buy one get one free. I was the free one but even so I didn’t have to be associated with toilet rolls.  It is true though when something is on offer you end up buying it. If something comes free  on an offer, you know 3 for the price of 2 then  you will buy the correct number to get your free one. I had enough stock once of washing up liquid from doing this that I didn’t need to buy any  washing up liquid  for a year, and this was before we had a  dishwasher so you can imagine ho w many bottles we had ! I was thinking about this...

17 years ago  yesterday I was ordained as a Deacon in the Church in Wales. Most days it doesn’t seem very long  ago !!  But one of the things that has been striking has been the amount of change in the church even in that relatively short period.  One of the changes is in the number of clergy – when I was ordained there were something like 800  clergy  in the Church in Wales, now the number is somewhere just over 500. When that number is split up between full time and part time clergy, it is the full time clergy that has seen by far the biggest drop in numbers , actually the number of part time clergy has risen in that time …  There are a number of things we can do about this. Firstly, we can ignore it and pretend nothing has changed – it’s certainly what a lot of people want to do , but not really an option that’s open to us . Secondly we can pray for more people to enter the ordained ministry. Thirdly we can perhaps rejoice that there are ac...

From Helen This week has had a lot of turmoil and confusion with the general election. Well I have to say that this morning is not the easiest morning as it could also be confusing. Because today w e celebrate Trinity Sunday,  we think of the majesty and glory of God as we think of the fact that God created us, God became one of us and God walks with us now as the Holy Spirit.  God is bigger than us, that's why we worship Him and why He is God. This means that to understand everything about Him is impossible. We worship God as three in one the ultimate transformer to y almost. A transformer toy was  able to be a plane, a car, a robot but all the same toy. God is one God but He is three parts. Or maybe we might think of water it can be running, it can be steam, it can be ice but it is still water. God is three in one, one in three and if that doesn't make you want to scratch your head in wonder then I don't know what else  could !! This morning I want to think...

This week there’ s been a fair  amount of talk about chaos. We’ve had various rugby analysts discussing the merits or otherwise of chaos rugby and of course we’ve had the chaos of the general election and the uncertainty that has brought about in the country… Today we commemorate Trinity Sunday and we reflect on God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we think of chaos we often think of uncertainty in a very negative sense… Some would think of our consideration of the Trinity as chaotic and confusing and in some ways of course the ways of God are unpredictable  -  but God can always be trusted…  Our church calendar over recent times has shown this as  we have reflected on the time when  Jesus took his disciples to Jerusalem, a place where they all knew he would face arrest, and sure enough, he was arrested and killed … And if that was the end of the story then trusting God would be pointless and we would not be in this church today ,  but of c...

I wonder what that day of Pentecost must have been like – these disciples of Jesus had seen so much in the past few years, and the different things they’d witnessed had magnified over the past few weeks – Jesus had told them of his plan to go to Jerusalem, he had been arrested, he’d been executed on the cross, and he rose three days later as he said he would…  Now there was a new chapter for them – Jesus had ascended in to heaven but had promised that he would never leave them and that they would have a helper, the Holy Spirit, to help them live…  And they trusted and were  suddenly give n  a new confidence , joy,  wisdom and courage to tell people about Jesus…  People sometimes search for evidence of faith and I think evidence is all too clear in changed lives whether it be from those early disciples 2000 years ago or in any of the countless millions of lives that have been changed since… The Holy Spirit gave confidence, joy, wisdom and co...