Sharing some thoughts

The parable that Jesus told in the gospel reading this morning (Luke 15:1-8) is a very well known account of the love and grace of God, and his desire to seek out and save everyone who is lost. The circumstances are particularly important. Once again, Jesus is talking near the Pharisees and the scribes, those people who were really good at listening in to other people’s conversations, and saying how bad everyone else was. And so Jesus launched into this parable about the lost sheep – 99 were safe, but one was missing. And so the shepherd would go after the one, searching until he found it, and then celebrating the find… Beyond what we have heard this morning Jesus then goes on to talk about the woman having 10 silver coins, and losing one, and then searching for it and having a celebration when it’s found. And in the final parable of this section, Jesus tells the story of the Prodigal Son – the young man who stupidly threw away his fortune, but was then welcomed back into the family ...

Throughout the course of history there have many great motivators – people who have inspired others to reach new heights or achieve ambitions which they never thought they could achieve. One of the most famous speeches in history is the one of Winston Churchill about fighting on the beaches, on the landing grounds, in the fields and in the streets, in the hills and talking about never surrendering. Many have even gone so far as to suggest that that speech marked a turning point for the spirit of people caught up in the Second World War, and led them on to face some hugely difficult days, always confident in their ultimate victory. In the Old Testament reading today from the book of Deuteronomy (30:15-18) Moses is talking to the people and offering them a fairly stark choice – a choice between life and prosperity or death and adversity. He explains how to choose life by following the commandments of God, walking in his way, and openly receiving his blessings. Faced with such a choic...

Winston Churchill is remembered for a huge number of things. He is regarded as one of Britain’s great leaders and remains a hero to many people today, but one of the things that he’s not so well known for is his humility. However when he was asked, "Doesn't it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?" He replied, "It's quite flattering, but whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big." Today we live in a celebrity culture. All around us there are pictures of huge celebrities, newspapers and television follow these people everywhere. With the celebrity title often comes wealth and popularity, but many of course have found that just as quickly as they are built up they can be knocked down. In the gospel today (Luke 14:1,7-11), Jesus is once again eating at the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, and he wa...

Martin Luther once wrote that "there are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, the conversion of the mind, and the conversion of the purse ." Of these three, it may well be that we find the conversion of the purse to be the most difficult. Charles Spurgeon writes, "With some Christians the last part of their nature that ever gets sanctified is their pockets." There’s the old story about a church that was undertaking a huge building project, where the minister stood up one Sunday and said to the congregation, "I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the church has all the money it needs to complete this project. The bad news is that it's still in your wallets." Last week at evensong I spoke about giving. The reading suggested we must be generous and cheerful givers financially, practically and spiritually. When I looked at the reading tonight from Paul’s 2 nd letter to the Corinthians (Ch.9), he’s a...

Today’s gospel reading (Luke 10:13-17) is a marvellous example of how people can sometimes get things wrong. Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, when he saw a lady come in who was bent over and completely unable to stand up straight. She had been this way for 18 years. And as Jesus looked at her, and recognised I’m sure her faith in keeping coming back to the Synagogue, he commanded that she should be healed. And she was… Incredibly after 18 years her suffering was over. The woman, recognising the miracle that had taken place immediately began praising God. This week I saw a courier van and written on the back was ‘Call’ and then there was a telephone number, and then underneath ‘For GOD’. It certainly drew my attention, but in smaller letters underneath the word ‘GOD’ was ‘guaranteed overnight delivery.’ In this gospel passage we notice that God can work much faster than overnight in some cases – the transformation of this woman was incredible and yet, the leader of the synagogue d...

A mother wanted to teach her daughter a moral lesson. She gave the little girl a £5 note and a £1 coin for church "Put whichever one you want in the collection plate and keep the other for yourself," she told the girl. When they were coming out of church, the mother asked her daughter which amount she had given. "Well," said the little girl, "I was going to give the £5 note, but just before the collection the man in the pulpit said that we should all be cheerful givers. I knew I'd be a lot more cheerful if I gave the £1 coin, so I did." Tonight’s New Testament Reading (2 Cor.8:1-9) covers another of those subjects which we’re not often very keen to discuss. However the subject has come up quite a bit in readings recently, and in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus is recorded talking about this subject an average of once every 6 verses. The subject of course is money and giving. More than with any other subject people cringe as the preache...

Sometimes in the Bible we look for comfort and for peace. We look for words of hope and inspiration, even for words of joy, and within the Bible there are plenty of places to find such words, but today our gospel reading (Luke 12:49-56) offers us something very different. Here we see Jesus talking about bringing fire to the earth, and about bringing division between families. It’s not the pleasant picture we often like to think of when we’re thinking about Jesus. And to be honest it seems very different from most of the messages that he offers. As a result some have speculated that it wasn’t even his words, but the words of Luke interpreting some thoughts of Jesus. But I’m not really sure that it matters too much whether Jesus actually spoke these words or not, because the sentiments that he was expressing were very real to Jesus. They were not really about breaking up families but about firstly the need for commitment, and secondly the acceptance that sometimes following the way...