Sharing some thoughts

Talking to someone in the week about some church buildings he said, 'Churches were built to express people's feelings of worship towards God, but now people have begun to worship the buildings.' The Victorians were passionate about church building as it was a way to proclaim the glory of God - unfortunately a lot of the buildings were built in such a grand way that people started to think that it was the buildings that were important and not what they pointed to. The Victorian legacy to the church is one that has very mixed results but one legacy is the Harvest Festival, and in a way this draws us to reflect on what is really important with regard to our faith. For centuries Christians have celebrated and given thanks for the Harvest, but it was as recent as 1843 when the Revd R S Hawker put up a notice on his Church in Cornwall saying that there would a special Sunday of thanksgiving, and that the old custom of making eucharistic bread from the first corn would be re...

From Helen Humility - what a great word. It makes you think either of people who are very perfect or people who are falsely humble.  Winston Churchill was once asked, "Doesn't it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?" "It's quite flattering," replied Sir Winston. "But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a po litical speech it was my funeral , the crowd would be twice as big."  This is one example of humility another comes from the great missionary Hudson Taylor, who was once asked to speak at a Large Presbyterian church in Melbourne, Australia. The moderator of the service introduced the missionary in eloquent and glowing terms. He told the large congregation all that Taylor had accomplished in China, and then presented him as "our illustrious guest." Taylor stood quietly for a moment, and then opened his message by saying, "Dear friends, I am ...

There’s a story told of a burglar in Antwerp  in Belgium  who was surprised by the owner coming home whilst he was in the house. The thief quickly escaped out the back door, managed to climb over a nine-foot wall and dropped down  on  the other side,  only to find  himself in the city prison. Perhaps it was justice being  done ! When we talk about justice I think there’s a natural thought that we’ll all agree what it is and what it means  but the question of justice is one that is often far more complicated. Recently I  visited the new  prison up in Wrexham , the second largest in Europe  – certainly it’s a lot more comfortable than many other prisons. It’s modern and there are TV’s in the cells and various other things which so me people think are too generous for some of the people in prison.  How can it be justice ,  some would ask ,  that a prisoner is relatively comfortable – others would argue thoug...

from Helen There is a story about a young boy in Korea who was a houseboy for some American soldiers. Sometimes they thought it was funny to play harmless jokes on him. They would tease him. They would tie his shoe laces together. They would lock him out of the house. Eventually they realized that their practical jokes were not viewed as funny by the boy so they apologized. He said, “That’s okay, I will stop spitting in your soup now.” This morning in our readings we have heard about the word forgiveness. From Joseph in the Old Testament reading (Genesis 50:15-21) to the parable that we heard of Jesus telling in our gospel reading (Matthew 18:21-35) we heave heard of forgiveness, the need to forgive and to accept that we have been forgiven. Someone once asked an elderly Christian lady, “Does the devil ever trouble you about your past sins?” She answered, “Yes.” When the inquirer asked what she did then, she replied, “Oh, I just tell him to go east.” “What do you do if he comes bac...

A heartbroken lady once wrote the following letter :- “Dearest Jimmy, No words could ever express the great unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you'll take me back. No one could ever , ever,  take your place in my heart, so please , please,  forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you! Yours forever,   Mary . P.S.    C ongratulations on wi nn ing the lottery.” Sometimes we make love conditional – it’s perhaps almost a natural emotion to put limits on our love but it’s something that God never does…  The love of God for each one of us is unbreakable,  it is not dependant on what we do or fail to do,  and that is the love that Jesus asks , in fact demands,  his followers to show to others. Paul begins the section of the letter to the Romans that we heard (13:8-14) with the words, ‘Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law…’ In today’s society ...

from Helen I want to begin with  an  Ethopian  story . Once upon a time there was a man who had three sons. As he was getting older he was able to see that his death was drawing close. Because of this he divided up all his wealth between his three sons. However, there was one piece of property that he had which was only supposed to be handed on to the son that he felt would grow to be the greatest man. The piece of property was a shield. He decided to get his sons together and told them tha t he would give the shield to  t he  son that he  thought show ed  the most kindness .  The three sons went off to do their acts of kindness.  When they came back,  the first said, “Dad, I did something very kind. T here was a small boy who  fell into a creek. His mother was beside herself with terror and sorrow. I risked my own life. I jumped into the creek and saved the child.” The father replie d, “That’s not really kindness. That’...