Sharing some thoughts

S. I. McMillen, in his book   None of These Diseases , tells a story of a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst.  To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower." In today’s readings we receive an invitation again to be followers of Jesus and to consider what that really means… And we do it with the help of the day in the church calendar on which we celebrate Michael and All Angels… It’s not the easiest of Feast Days to think about. What we know about Michael is that he is considered to be the Chief Archangel – this great messe...

from Helen Today is a feast day, it is the feast of St.Michael and all angels. I have to say for exciting feast days today is the day. Last week Robert and I discussed me arriving with a sword and dressing up like the Archangel Michael, who was in a battle that we heard about in our reading from Revelation (12:7-12). This battle was a battle in heaven that was part of the vision that the apostle John had of heaven which he wrote down. Today is a day then when we could think about the almighty battle that was between good and evil. The moment when good won the day. The passage describes for us in the most amazing language and picture, which could be a film, the time when through the death and resurrection of Jesus, good won. There would be life eternal and this life eternal means that we can all have a part of this. There are times when things seem so good we can never imagine that there could be anything bad. We all believe and know that God has won but sometimes it is so ...

From Helen I am sure that you all have had those moments when you have been invited somewhere special, an event that you have looked forward to. Then the question comes - what shall I wear ? Or maybe you have the moments when you are going to an event and you don’t really know what to expect. There was once a man who had been invited to a very fancy event, it was a very important meal with lots of important guests. On the day of the meal he had been called into an emergency in work. As time went on, he realised that he was going to be late for the important event. So he rushed straight from work to the meal. He was a little bit dirty and he had less formal clothes on than he had meant to wear but he expected that it didn’t really matter so off he went. He got to the event and nobody spoke to him, he was ignored. So, he went home and changed into his fancier outfit. He went back to the event and people spoke to him and welcomed him. When the food came he started putting the food o...

Today's gospel (Luke 13:10-17) gives us the account of the woman healed on the sabbath. We are told that she had been ill for 18 years, and when Jesus saw her, he immediately healed her. Jesus always seems to have been moved when he saw people in pain, but I wonder on this occasion if he was, as well as offering healing, deliberately setting up a conflict with the synagogue leader.  Here he seems to have acted quickly- he didn't wait to be asked to offer healing, he didn't wait to see anything about her faith, he didn't look at her background, although he may of course have known something about her anyway... But he healed her.  And he knew that in this act, he would upset some. The sabbath was and is a tremendously important day and the rules about what can be done are very strict. But as with so many rules and laws they were put in place to make things better for people, not to stifle people. And that is what Jesus was challenging here, and that is really wh...

There’s a cartoon which has someone approaching a Vicar after a service and saying how much they’d enjoyed the sermon about sin and judgement… They then proceed to tell the Vicar, ‘I can think of a few people here who will learn a lot from that sermon if they listened’…  Of course, the irony is that the sermon was preached to all, including that person who’d failed to see that it might be relevant to them and that there may be any fault at all in their lives which may need to be put right…  Our readings today challenge us to think about our faith and our commitment to our faith… It may be easily proclaimed in a church full of people expressing the same faith but what about in a more difficult setting and what about in the times when our faith is truly tested or questioned…  We are currently in the Trinity season in the Church calendar and that is a season about growth – we don’t have the drama of Holy Week and the pain accepted by Jesus on our behalf to thin...

from Helen In the last week I have ended up talking a number of times about one of the most important parts of life. Yes, I have been talking about the weather. The weather has been very strange so far this summer. I remember, with all my lack of knowledge about such things, making a prediction about the weather that has proved right. Last summer I commented that we had such a lovely summer we would be bound to find fault with it. We are never completely content with the weather. This summer we are not happy about the weather but we have completely managed to forget what a wonderful summer we had last year. Now, in case we assume this is a very British pastime in 1839 in America a man called James Espy decided that he had found a way to provide rain. He said that all you needed to do was to heat the air. He wanted rain so that all the land around him could produce a good harvest. He decided that he should have lots and lots of fires – strangely the idea didn’t gain support and th...

There’s 2 stories about faith which are quite well known. The first is about a man who got the idea of walking on a tight-rope over Niagara Falls. Other people had done it, but this man had a new twist. He was going to do the walk whilst pushing a man in a wheelbarrow. He began to prepare for the event even though he hadn't yet found anyone willing to ride in the wheelbarrow. He set up a tight-rope near the Falls and every day he could be seen pushing and balancing the wheel barrow filled with stones across the tight-rope. Time after time he went across perfectly with no stones spilled.  One day, a young man came up to him to wish him well. "Good luck," he said. "I've watched you practicing and I have confidence in you. I know you can do it." The tight-rope walker answered. "Thank you. Do you really believe I can do this?" And the young man replied, "Yes, of course!" Again, he said, "But do you really really believe I can do thi...