Sharing some thoughts

  Back in the summer I was fortunate enough to officiate at my niece’s wedding and then to go to the reception after. A couple of years ago I took part in a wedding for another niece and next year there’s another niece getting married ! It sounds like I have a lot of nieces but actually that’s it and they’ve just got married fairly close together !  A lot of people like a good wedding, and in the gospel reading today (Matt.22:1-14) we hear about a big party – a party thrown by the king as a wedding banquet for his son. Surely lots of people would want to come. There would probably be great food and lots of it, plenty to drink, wonderful entertainment, and of course the chance to mingle with royalty.  There would surely be no shortage of people wanting to come – but there was ! The slaves were sent out to give the invitations to all those that the king wanted to come, but people ignored them…   And so the king, furious and keen not to lose face, sent them out again, t...

Harvest as a season seems to have diminished in some places, but it remains a hugely important part of the church calendar for so many reasons. There is the recognition of the gifts God provides for us, the gratitude we express to those working to bring food to our tables, and there is of course the response we offer in terms of how we lives our lives.   There’s a story of a 12 year old boy named David who was born without an immune system. He underwent a bone marrow transplant in order to correct the deficiency. Up to that point he had spent his entire life in a plastic bubble in order to prevent exposure to common germs, bacteria, and viruses that could kill him. He lived without ever knowing human contact. When asked what he'd like to do if and when released from his protective bubble, he replied, "I want to walk barefoot on grass, and touch my mother's hand." Walking barefoot on the grass may not be something we want to do too often but it's good to know t...

  This week the clergy in the diocese have spent some time away on a residential conference. We’ve explored the theme of ‘Rejoicing in Hope’ and thought about the challenges we face in maintaining hope at times in the church when we think about numbers of people coming to church, sometimes internal arguments, tiredness from being busy doing church things and of course the battle against an increasingly secular society…   But the point was emphasised again and again that as Christians we are called to be people of hope – hope is at the very centre of our faith… Hope in God who loves us and who has called us into a relationship with him that changes us and can change others as well. I want to think this morning about hope in the context of two of our readings. I may have said before that I really enjoy reading Paul’s letters in the bible – some people really don’t, but I enjoy the bluntness, the honesty, the willingness to engage in debate… and also the certainty, not of bei...

  There’s a story told of a burglar in Antwerp in Belgium who was surprised by the owner coming home whilst he was in the house. The thief quickly escaped out the back door, managed to climb over a nine-foot wall and dropped down on the other side, only to find himself in the city prison. Perhaps it was justice being done !  When we think about justice we will probably have some different views on what that means and who deserves it or not !  But I don’t think God uses any of those thoughts or standards - whatever we may think about justice it seems that God confounds most of our thoughts… Justice isn’t about something that is deserved or even necessarily particularly worthy. Instead, justice seems to be thrown out in favour of grace and mercy…  The reality is that our concept of fairness and justice is something that is often adjusted to suit ourselves, and each of us probably even have an idea of how we expect God to deliver justice at times. But, again we’re remin...