Minister’s Message – July 30, 2023

Bible reading: Romans 8:18-27.

I’ve never found it easy to pray. Monks and nuns seem to spend entire days in fasting, prayer and meditation, John Wesley rose long before dawn so he could spend several hours in prayer before his busy day of ministry, Jesus sometimes went off to isolated places so he could spend an entire night praying to his Father. But I struggle: I soon find my mind drifting, I start repeating myself (or, alternatively, running out of words), or else I simply drop off to sleep. If you want to know what a good prayer life is like, don’t look at me! – although I do try.

Minister’s Message – July 23, 2023

Bible reading: Isaiah 44:6-20.

Every Sunday, millions of Christian around the world, perhaps using thousands of different languages, say these words as they recite the Apostles’ Creed in their worship; “I believe in God”. To be honest, most of them probably take the familiar words for granted and are unlikely to pause and think about them: they are simply the introduction to this great and ancient declaration of faith. (The complications come later, when they get to the bits about Jesus and the Holy Spirit). Yet those four simple words, which we find so basic and obvious, are in fact quite remarkable. Even today, huge numbers of religious or believing people would find them very strange.

Minister’s Message – July 16, 2023

Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

I doubt if many people these days remember Kenneth Horne, the radio entertainer. His first great success was “Much Binding in the Marsh” which began in 1947; he then went on to star in “Beyond Our Ken and “Round the Horne”. These were very daring programmes for the period, packed full of suggestive lines and doubles-entendres. Somehow they managed to evade the BBC censors – perhaps Horne’s posh accent lulled them into a false sense of security!

Minister’s Message – July 9, 2023

Moira and I made a pact with each other when we got married: she would come with me to steam railways and I would go with her to dance performances. I can say that, since then, Moira has consistently refused to learn about such fascinating subjects as locomotive valve gear, single-line working or facing-point locks (I can’t imagine why) while I have learned a lot about dance and have even managed to make some sensible or critical comments about it. However Moira has totally failed in one aspect of her ambition for me: she has never managed to persuade me to dance myself. That’s because I’m self-conscious, uncoordinated and find it impossible to remember even the simplest sequence of steps – saying that I have two left feet is only the start of my difficulties. So I prefer to leave dancing to the experts!