Minister’s Message – October 3, 2021

I’ve recently been following an Internet discussion on the question, “Should dogs be allowed in churches?” This was started by someone who had wanted to wander round Norwich Cathedral with their dog in tow but was firmly told, “You can’t bring him in here”.

Minister’s Message – September 19, 2021

I wonder what you expect to get out of a sermon. Do you hope to be given new facts about the Bible or our faith? Do you want to be encouraged because you’re feeling low – or, conversely, are you wanting God to give you a spiritual “kick in the pants”? Do you want to learn about relating our ancient religion to the issues of modern life? Are you looking for God to guide you in a difficult decision? Or – and I hope this isn’t the case too often! – are you just waiting for that moment when the preacher says, “Amen” and announces the next hymn?

Sermon – September 12, 2021

 “Are you Oven Ready?”

Reading is 1 Cor 13 v4-13

Don’t you just hate autocorrect? My script tells me that this sermon is titled “Are you Oven Ready?”. This is of course incorrect, the title is in fact “Are you Heaven Ready”. You will be relieved to hear that I am not going to talk about our similarity or otherwise to chickens or turkeys!

Minister’s Message – August 29, 2021

Our Holiday Club featured one of the great characters of the Bible: St Paul. And of course there are several other “stand-out” figures in the Bible, such as Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah and Peter, to name a few. This morning, though, I want to focus on someone who, if he were up for a Bafta or an Oscar, would fall into the category of “Actors in a Supporting Role”. And, just as actors often have a stage name which is different to their given one – such as John Wayne who was really Marion Morrison – so this man isn’t best known to us as “Cyprus Joe” (Joseph the Levite from Cyprus) but as Barnabas which apparently means “Son of Encouragement”. It was the apostles in Jerusalem who renamed him; they must have thought very highly of him!

Minister’s Message – August 22, 2021

The city of Amsterdam – which I’ve only visited once, for a few hours – has many notable sights. There is of course the network of canals and I have to say, having done both, that a boat trip around them is slightly nicer than taking the Cardiff water-bus from Bute Park to Mermaid Quay! Then there is the architecture, the narrow but tall old houses that line the canals. You can visit the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh gallery; another popular attraction (if that’s the right word) is the house of Anne Frank whose diary of life under Nazi occupation is world-famous. There is an abundance of churches, chief among them being the Old Church and, naturally, the New Church, now only used for royal weddings and coronations, organ recitals and as an exhibition space. As you wander around, make sure you look out for the bicycles and trams!

Minister’s Message – August 15, 2021

One of the most famous – and most fascinating – figures of the First World War was T.E. Lawrence, known of course as “Lawrence of Arabia”. Although he was bitterly ashamed of the way in which the Arabs had risen in revolt against the Turks as a result of fraudulent British promises of self-rule, Lawrence led them in a guerrilla campaign which revolutionized the art of war. His principal target was the Hedjaz Railway, the lifeline of the Ottoman Empire; some of the abandoned locomotives still lie where they were sabotaged over a century ago.

Minister’s Message – August 8, 2021

One of the accusations made against the first Christians was that they were cannibals. It was said that they gathered in secret and took part in abominable rites which included the eating of human flesh and the drinking of blood. Both the Romans and the Jews were horrified, especially one writer who alleged that a baby would be laid on the altar, ritually killed and then torn from limb to limb before being eaten. I’m sure that, if these accusations were being made today, the BBC would carry out some investigative journalism, social media would be full of horror stories and questions would be asked in Parliament!

Minister’s Message – August 1st, 2021

To most people, Chorleywood is just a leafy suburb of outer London, a stop on the Metropolitan Line into Baker Street. But it is also an extremely important place in the history of bread-making. For, exactly 60 years ago, three scientists working for the British Baking Industries Research Association there invented a process which revolutionised the baking industry. Now, I can’t pretend to understand how it works. But it apparently allows bakers to use lower-protein wheat and speeds up the time required to make bread, which now takes about three-and-a-half hours from the basic flour to a sliced and packaged loaf. This is a highly-mechanised process which can only be used in large factories.

Minister’s Message – Sunday July 25th, 2021

“The problem with Chinese food is that it fills you up nicely but lets you down later. Halfway through the evening you start to feel hungry again”. I wonder if you’ve ever said that, or heard anyone else saying it? It’s probably not true, anyway – it’s more likely that eating Chinese food is simply a different culinary experience to fish and chips, roast beef with all the trimmings, pizza or chicken tikka masala.