Sharing some thoughts

Today we celebrate St David’s Day – the Patron Saint of Wales….   There are many stories about St. David which are well known, although the accuracy of some of them has been questioned at times. I know one particular story which some of you may have heard about a referee who arrived at the Pearly Gates and was met by the man in charge. "Welcome” said the man. Before you can enter Heaven I need to ask whether there is anything you would want to confess." "Well," said the referee in some embarrassment, "I suppose I should admit one thing. In an international I was refereeing between England and Wales, I gave a penalty for Wales that won them the game. I saw the replay afterwards and I don't think it was a penalty. It's been on my conscience ever since." "You don't need to worry my son. You certainly made the correct decision." "Oh thank you St Peter," said the referee. "That's a real load off my mind."...

There's a story of a man who attended a function trying to meet a very famous celebrity. He dressed up in his best suit hoping to be noticed. However when the celebrity turned up he didn't move towards any of the people dressed up for the visit but instead he went to a really badly dressed beggar at the back. He spoke to the beggar for a little while and then moved on. The celebrity was appearing at another function the following day and the man who wanted to meet him thought perhaps that if he dressed up as a beggar, he too would be noticed. Sure enough when the celebrity came in he walked straight towards the man and whispered quietly, 'I thought I told you yesterday that you didn't belong in here dressed like that, so get out !' The man had tried to transform himself to be noticed but the transformation didn't lead him to where he wanted to be... There's also a story of a time when a Pope was visiting a hospital. On one of the wards where people were...

There’s a story going back to the 11 th  century about King Henry III of Bavaria. Apparently he got fed up of life as the king and he decided to join a monastery. The Prior who met him there explained that one of the main pledges he would make would be one of obedience. The King said he was happy with this.  And then the Prior dropped a bit of a bombshell and told the king to go back to the role that God had given him. He did and when King Henry died a statement was written: "The King learned to rule by being obedient."  Calling can be a really strange thing – there’s another story about  a small boy returning from church one Sunday who  said to his mother, ‘I’ve decided that when I grow up I’m going to be a Vicar’. The mother replied that that was very nice, and asked him why he had decided that. The boy replied, ‘Well I have to go to Church on a Sunday anyway, and I think it would be a lot more fun to stand up and talk than to sit down and  liste...

If you could pick any word to describe yourself what would it  be ?  Maybe you would pick nice, maybe smiley, maybe grumpy, maybe beautiful, strong, clever, amazing, maybe  modest ! How we see ourselves may be quite different from how others see us. This rang true to me the other day when I realised that it is very easy to judge other people and build up an image or impression of them which is completely wrong.  Ian showed me a clip  of a little boy who was in a shopping area with his football. He was playing football on his own when a man came up and started playing football with him. The man was brilliant and the little boy had a great time. When they had finished playing the man aut ographed the football, took off a wig and moustache and the little boy was in awe when he realised that the man was  Christiano  Ronaldo. How  amazing ! Image is brilliant and it can cause all sorts of surprises - from famous people doing ordinary thing...

There’s an old joke about a little boy called Johnny meeting his new baby brother who was screaming. He asked his mu m, “Where did  we get him?”  His mother replied , “He came from heaven, Johnny,” to which Johnny replied, “Wow ! I can see why they threw him out!” I think most of us have a fair idea of what not to say to a new mother – I heard of one baby being described as looking like a skinned rabbit, and another mother being told how dark the child’s skin was compared to either the mother or father –  with the person  leaving a delicate little pause just in case some bombshell was about to be dropped about the parenthood of the  baby ! This morning as we think about the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, sometimes known as  Candlemas , we heard in the gospel (Luke 2:22-40) of Jesus being taken to the Temple 40 days after his  birth  as was the custom under the Jewish law. At the Temple Mary and Joseph met Simeon .  Simeon was...