Minister’s Message – October 29, 2023

Bible reading: Matthew 22:15-22.

I don’t really know Crickhowell. I’ve driven through it on the main A40 and crossed its famous old bridge, allegedly the longest stone bridge in Wales; but I’ve never stopped to look around. However the town has won the “Best High Street in Wales” award more than once, and it’s regarded as a desirable place to live. According to its tourism website, “Crickhowell is a picturesque town nestling in the beautiful Usk Valley and lying to the south of the Black Mountains, the eastern range of the Brecon Beacons National Park, Bannau Brycheiniog. The town and surrounding villages have attractions that are enticements for all visitors to this wonderful corner of Wales”. I’ll take their word for it!

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Minister’s Message – October 22, 2023

Bible reading: Matthew 22:1-14.

The first church I served, back in the late 1980s, had a thriving Scout Group – the 221^st North London. Apart from the traditional activities such as camps and the Scout Supper (fun, games, potato and mash for all), one big event in 221’s calendar was its annual Dinner Dance for leaders, supporters and friends. It was held in a hotel or wedding venue..The food varied – we’ll never forget the year of the half-done chicken – and music was provided by a Cub leader who had his own band. To be honest, it wasn’t my kind of event, partly because the noise level made it difficult to chat with people. I usually made my excuses and left by midnight, wondering how many would be in church the next morning, and in what state!

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Minister’s Message- October 15, 2023

Bible reading: 1 Samuel 4:1-11.

Message (i).

I want to draw your attention to two well-known Bible stories which have an extraordinary resonance today. The first is the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt, miraculously crossing the Red Sea, travelling through the wilderness, and finally arriving at the River Jordan prior to cross into the Promised Land. After centuries of harsh slavery in Egypt and decades of wandering around the desert, they are about to have a land of their own, a fertile land overflowing with milk, honey and other good things, a land which (they are told) had been promised to them by God, hundreds of years before. But there’s just one tiny problem confronting the eager Israelites: that land is inconveniently occupied already by pagan Canaanites, and they have no intention of moving out. So the story we read in the book of Joshua is of battle, bloodshed, carnage and destruction. Ultimately the land is secured as the Jewish homeland – at a terrible cost to its former inhabitants.

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Minister’s Message – October 1, 2023

Bible reading: selected from Genesis 3.

I’ll be honest with you: if it had been up to me, I wouldn’t have held a Harvest Thanksgiving service this year. And I certainly don’t have it in my heart to feel in the slightest bit jolly. That’s because the last few months have seen an appalling level of distress and disaster around the world, caused by hurricanes, flooding, wildfires and earthquakes. Communities and livelihoods have been wrecked, the landscape has been devastated, thousands have died. It almost seems patronising and cruel for us in Britain, still a relatively bounteous country, to be thankful – although even our own farmers have had a tough time with scorching heat and torrential rain coming at unexpected times. So we might well be wanting to ask, “Where has God been this year?” and say, “How can we celebrate when it seems that our so-called loving Father doesn’t really care about people?” Even though we know some of the answers to these questions, they still challenge our faith.

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