Sharing some thoughts

One of the great challenges of Lent is to ask ourselves whether we will be changed at the end of it – this period gives us the chance to reflect on our relationship with God and with other people… Our Old Testament reading today (Genesis 17:1-7, 15,16) recounted God appearing to Abram, an old man. God told Abram some things – first he would be the father of many nations. Second, his name would change and so would that of his wife Sarai. He would become Abraham and she, Sarah… And God made promises to them and Abraham listened and he trusted and his life was transformed as was that of Sarah…. It was all about listening and trusting – Abraham didn’t turn around and think he was having a strange dream and he didn’t start to make objections about it all – he listened and he knew that he had to follow God… Abraham received an offer of a life transformed by God and he accepted…. A similar challenge to live out our faith comes with the words of Jesus in our gospel this morning (Mark 8:31

from Helen Have you ever had one of those moments when you are watching a debate and someone scores an own  goal ?  You know the kind of situation when it is obvious who is winning the debate and then they go and say something silly. Or, when you make a comment – and this has happened to me a  lot ,  and  someone comments, ‘There are so many ways to tease you for that comment you have left yourself wide open …”  I think we have all been in the situation when we put our foot right in it . Th ere was once time when we  had  f riends  over for a meal and,  I ha ve to admit  I cheated and bought ready made lasagne from Marks and Spencer. The table looked great with the lasagne from Marks, rocket salad from Marks, Italian bread from Marks and the  husband of the couple congratulated me on my hard work . The wife laughed and said, “It ’ s no problem Marks and Spencer did it all. ” I was amazed how did she know ? I asked  -  and her response was, it used to be an advert on the TV for Ma

Some people like climbing high mountain s…  I'm not such a great walker but have been up some mountains, mountains where there is a convenient cable car to save the walk !  It's not that I like cable cars - I really don't, but they're worth it for the view you can often get on the mountain top.  Some time ago we went up  Ben Nevis. On the ground the view was a bit dull with the view obscured by buildings and trees, but further up the view was tremendous as you could see for miles around.  It is th at  sort of transformation you can see when you light a sparkler - unlit it just looks like a dull piece of metal, but when it's lit it gives off tremendous sparkling light.  The view from the mountain top is always there, just as the potential for light from the sparkler is also there, and today we are thinking  again  about the light of Jesus . The gospel reading of the ac count of the transfiguration is  an important reading. In the account Jesus take

from Helen In our gospel reading (Mark 9:2-9) today we heard the story of the transfiguration. At the moment the Church calendar is moving quickly through the life of Jesus. He was born in December, there was the epiphany in January, then there was the presentation of Jesus at the temple by his parents. Now today we have stepped forward a long way to the transfiguration.  Whenever I think of the transfiguration I think of lots of light and brightness. I think of an explosion of colour but most of all I think of complete amazement and awe as the three disciples saw not only Jesus but Moses and Elijah as well. I think completely shocked would not be an adequate word to describe this. Peter, James and John had travelled with Jesus to another place. At this place they had seen something incredible. They saw the one that they had been following with the great Moses, who represented the law and then Elijah who represented the prophets. Jesus was bringing together these two great pa

The word wisdom is one that always fascinates me. What is wisdom to one person is so often not wisdom to another. Today in the reading from the Book of Proverbs we hear about wisdom – the reading (Proverbs 8:1,22-31) begins ‘Does not wisdom call and does not understanding raise her voice.’ True wisdom is perhaps one of the greatest gifts of God and yet most of us struggle to know or agree what true wisdom is ! There’s a story I may have told before (but I like it !) about an angel appearing at a faculty meeting in a University one day. The angel said to the dean that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behaviour, the Lord would reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty. Without hesitating, the Dean selected infinite wisdom. "Done!" said the angel, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning. Now, all heads turned towards the Dean, who sat surrounded by a faint halo of light. After a few moments, one of his colleagues whispered, &