Sharing some thoughts

I hope this isn’t one of them but I am sure that all of us must have, at some time or another, gone to a Church service which we really haven’t enjoyed – perhaps the music was too loud, too quiet, too modern, too old, the preaching was too long or too short, perhaps boring as well, or the building was cold and the people at the service were just as bad ! When we leave a service like that we sometimes have a tendency to moan ! On clergy school recently I went to a service and heard the sermon and I was none too impressed – after the service I moaned to several people but struggled to find anyone who really agreed with my verdict – most seemed to have quite enjoyed it. And in our gospel reading today (Mark 9:38-50) we have a reminder that there really is no right and wrong when people are honestly serving Jesus and seeking to share his message. In the reading John brings it to the attention of Jesus that someone is going around casting out demons and using the name of Jesus to do it – as...

In this age of political correctness I think it’s important to put a few things straight, so I’m going to start with one this morning. It’s a little bit controversial in this age of women’s ministry and equality, but with Helen safely away in Penarth I feel confident in addressing it ! I want to say that Churches should be built firmly on the leadership of one man – one man who will guide decisions, one man who will inspire a following, one man who will lead meetings and play the major part in worship, one man who will oversee the administration of the Church, one man who quite frankly controls everything. Many different Church models have been tried over centuries, but this is the only one that has ever brought lasting success. Before I get into any further trouble I should say, as some of you will have worked out, that the one man I am talking about is Jesus, who must be the focus of our prayers, our worship, in fact our whole lives. I’ve probably mentioned before over the past few w...

Every 3 or 4 years all the clergy in the Diocese go on clergy school, and this week Oxford was invaded by the clergy of the Diocese of Llandaff, eager to learn. Actually, and perhaps rather surprisingly, it was pretty good. One of the interesting parts of the school was the worship which was at a local Church in the centre of Oxford. And this week, 2 of the days happened to coincide with St Giles’ Fair, a huge event which has gone on for hundreds of years, and which now includes a massive fun fair with all the noise and fun that comes with it. During our services in the Church in times of quiet prayer and reflection, the sounds of the fair, which began just outside the door, were just as clear as if we were outside – with constant music and people laughing and shouting. It was, in many ways, a perfect merging of the world and God. And that balance of the spiritual and secular is one that, as Christians living in a modern society, we constantly have to be aware of. And this conflict is ...

The first line of today’s psalm (125) is one that rather amuses me – ‘they that put their trust in the Lord shall be even as Mount Zion : which cannot be moved, but stands fast for ever’. I think I mentioned before that when we were in Jerusalem someone asked our guide which mountain was Mount Zion and our guide pointed to where it was at the time of Jesus, and where that immovable mountain is today ! In fact, of course, the mountain had not moved at all, but the names of the mountains had been changed ! What was Mount Zion is no longer Mount Zion – it has, in name at least, moved ! And this movement reminds us that it is so often not God himself that moves or changes, but our expectations of him, our thoughts about him, and our feelings towards him. But, in the Lord, we can stand fast for ever, secure in his saving power – many people approach God with hope rather than expectation, but we can approach God and his message with absolute confidence. Today’s readings point us towards a he...

St Francis of Assisi is well known throughout Christian tradition as a kind, compassionate and caring man, but there was also a slightly sterner side to him as well. One day, a woman once went to see him and asked what she had to do to be forgiven for her gossiping. St. Francis told her to take feathers and place one at the doorstep of everyone she had spoken ill of in the town. She did so and returned to Francis who then told her to go and retrieve all the feathers. When she attempted to do so, of course they were all gone. By that time the feathers were scattered all around the town. Once again, she returned to St. Francis and told him about the feathers. He said to her, "You wish to repent and be forgiven of your sin. Good. But the damage of your words is done and cannot be taken back." It’s a harsh lesson – forgiveness is certainly possible but some of the damage done by our actions can have lasting effects. And in the reading from the letter of James today (1:17-27) this...

Like many of you I’m sure this week I watched on the news as the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing was released from prison in Scotland, and returned to Libya. Suffering from cancer it is believed that he only has a short time to live, and on compassionate grounds the Scottish Justice Minister ordered his release. Many have argued that he showed no compassion for the victims of the bombing and therefore he should be shown no compassion now, and be left to die in prison. The arguments are long and varied, and many people will have many different thoughts about the rights and wrongs of the decision that was made. But as I read through the passage for this evening from the letter to the Hebrews (13:16-21), my mind came back to this news story. The passage we heard began, ‘Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God’. The life of Jesus combined with these words reminds us that our doing good is not conditional upon somebody else doing ...

There’s an old joke about a couple who are going on holiday and they are waiting at the airport when the husband said to the wife, "I wish we had brought the piano." The wife said, "Why? We've got sixteen bags already!" And the husband replied, "Yes, I know - but the plane tickets are on the piano!" People have some strange priorities at times in their lives – for some it will be all about having fun, and perhaps neglecting those who may be hurt by the fun or ignoring things they should be doing and for some it will be work and earning money, often at the expense of relationships. Life revolves around choices we make, and though we can often blame circumstances for things that don’t work out right, a majority of consequences for things that happen in our lives will be down to a choice we have somewhere made at some time. How we live is obviously one of the most fundamental choices we can ever make. Today’s Old Testament reading (Joshua 24:1-2a,14-18) t...