Sharing some thoughts

  There’s a story about a couple of brothers who had led a gang who had caused all kinds of trouble and raised money through lots of immoral activities. When one of the brothers died, the other went to see the Vicar and asked if he could have a church funeral.    The Vicar paused for a moment and then agreed – the brother then asked the Vicar if he would be prepared to say his deceased brother was a saint. The Vicar paused  again  and the brother offered £50,000 for the church if he would do it, and so the Vicar eventually said he would.    When the funeral came it began with hymns and readings and prayers and then came the eulogy. The Vicar spoke of how evil the deceased man had been, how he had robbed people, and assaulted people, and how he’d raised money through all kinds of immoral earnings.    The living brother was beginning to get a little uncomfortable thinking the Vicar had lied to him, but as he was thinking that ,  the Vicar ...

  Today is Bible Sunday – the day when we are especially called to give thanks for the word of God and the day perhaps to ask ourselves whether we know it well enough and whether we really try to know it…  As you will probably know the bible remains the best selling book in the world, also, strangely, it is apparently the most stolen book in the world ! An incredible 100 million copies are sold each year in all kinds of forms, including now of course ‘Apps’ for telephones so that it can be carried around even more easily than ever before. I don’t even know how many languages I could name, but it would certainly be nowhere near 3000 but the bible has apparently been translated into over 3000 languages (according to United Bible Societies - Oct 2022)…  There is an incredible passion for this book – And yet for us as Christians we can sometimes be a little lethargic in our reading and study of the bible – we might describe it as a manual for life...

  It was in 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 revived. It read: "Let us gather together in the chancel of our church, and there receive, in the bread of the new corn, that blessed sacrament which was ordained to strengthen and refresh our souls." Harvest is a great festival celebrating God’s provision for us, and since that first Festival, it has been a great tradition in churches throughout the country to celebrate Harvest. It’s a day when many of us will remember going into church and literally being able to smell the fruit and the flowers…  Today harvest is often a little bit different, we often now see tins or packets being offered which are much easier to distribute or other donations requested, but what hasn’t changed is the importance of recognising the gifts we’re given and saying thanks to...

  In the early days of the Salvation Army, the founder William Booth was often bitterly attacked in the press by both religious and political leaders. People didn’t like that the Salvation Army were dealing with all kinds of difficult people, in difficult places - in spite of what the gospel says about how we absolutely must be doing those things!   Whenever William Booth’s son, Bramwell, showed him a negative newspaper piece, he would reply with the same answer, "Bramwell, fifty years hence it will matter very little indeed how these people treated us; it will matter a great deal how we dealt with the work of God." Today we celebrate Harvest and you may well wonder what that has to do with harvest, but at harvest we are doing a number of things. Firstly we are celebrating God’s goodness, we are offering our thanks to him for the good things that he has given us. Secondly we’re recognising the often large number of people who help to bring our food to us and we’re giving ...