Sharing some thoughts

  The car maker Henry Ford asked the electrical genius Charlie Steinmetz to build the generators for his factory. One day the generators ground to a halt, and the repairmen couldn't find the problem. So Ford called Steinmetz, who tinkered with the machines for a few hours and then switched them back on working properly. A couple of days later Ford got a bill for $10,000 from Steinmetz. Flabbergasted, the rather tightfisted car maker enquired why the bill was so high. Steinmetz replied, ‘For tinkering with the generators, $10. For knowing where to tinker, $9,990.’ Ford paid the bill. Today in our New Testament readings (1 Cor 3:10-15 & Matthew 7:21-end) we’re presented with an issue and it’s an issue that’s fundamental in living our lives and that is the question of ‘do we know what our foundation is? Do we know our rock?’ In the short passage from Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians we are presented with the word ‘foundation’ on 4 occasions. The foundation is identified as bei...

  This week the Governing Body of the Church in Wales met and it was one of those occasions where the deliberations made the television news as a vote passed allowing the blessing of same sex couples in church. Of course, some people thought it a step too far, others not far enough… It’s a subject where the church and society have been quite far apart up to now and this closes the gap somewhat.   And that is a great challenge for the church - the balance or meeting of the spiritual and secular is one that, as Christians living in a modern society, we constantly have to be aware of. Just because society does something it doesn’t mean the church should, but similarly just because the church has said something for years doesn’t mean it can never be thought through again and again…   And this conflict is one that has gone back to the times of Jesus himself, as we have seen in the gospel reading today (Mark 8:27-38). Jesus, travelling with his disciples, asks them who peop...