Minister’s Message – January 23, 2022

I can’t imagine that St Paul had much of a sense of humour. Jesus clearly did, as he gave us the slapstick comedy of one blind man leading another into a ditch; and the man who could see the speck of dust in his friend’s eye but failed to see the plank sticking out of his own. Then there’s the tiny mustard-seed which could make huge mountains leap into the sea; the wordplay of calling indecisive Peter a “rock”; the preposterous thought of a laden camel – complete with its hump – trying to squeeze through a needle’s eye; and the person who thought it was a sensible idea put a basket over their lamp. We may not find these sayings or stories very funny: but Jesus’ listeners did.

Minister’s Message – January 16, 2022

“One Spirit, many gifts, glorious service”.

I’ve never enjoyed playing football – or team sports in general. I have no ball sense and when I was at school the captains choosing the two teams used to fight for the privilege of not having me on their team! When play actually started I could only see what was going on through a haze of short-sightedness; and if the ball dared to come anywhere near me I saw it as my duty to kick away this brown and muddy object as rapidly as possible – in whatever direction I could.

Minister’s Message – January 9, 2022

I wonder how many of us do our banking online? I’m a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to technology, but I got into this quite early on and find it very convenient. I know that it has led to many bank branches closing, which is a real issue for small businesses, older people and in rural areas. However my bank has only ever had one branch in the city, and only one in Ipswich where we were before, so my conscience is clear!

Minister’s Message – January 2, 2022

I guess that most of us enjoy a good murder! Not a real one, of course – and there have been far too many tragic and shocking deaths in the last few months, including those two London teenagers just this week – but the fictional murders we read in books or watch on television, carried out in ever more ingenious and gruesome ways and investigated by detectives such as Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.