Unexpected Blessings

Yesterday we began a series looking at Jesus' teaching on what it means to be his disciple in the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7.

Jesus starts with a list of the kinds of people who will find favour with God. I guess if we were asked to write this kind of list we might agree with many of the Old Testament writers - God blesses those who don't mix with sinners, who trust God, who listen to God, who are obedient to God, who are blameless...who go to church, who pray, who ask, who do the right things and who don't do the wrong things...

But the surprise is that Jesus starts with 'blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven' (Matthew 5:3). People who are poor in spirit are at the end of their own strength, they have questions and doubts and very few if any answers, they've messed up, they feel far from God, they feel worthless, they are the losers of this world.



They are people like the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14 who does not even want to look to heaven, instead he beats his breast and says, 'God, have mercy on me a sinner.'

The problem is that all to often we feel that those who are blessed and those who will be blessed are those who are more like the Pharisee in Luke 18, who can say, 'I thank you that I am not like other people - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get'.

At the beginning of this sermon Jesus reminds us that the invitation to be a part of the kingdom of heaven is for those who have come to the end of their own resources - and who put themselves totally into the hands of God. It is not for those who want to try and earn their way in. And so as Jesus goes on to describe what discipleship looks like we must make sure that we don't turn these commands into a moral badge of honour - as if when we do these things God will owe us anything. Instead, as we accept the love and forgiveness of God who welcomes us in our brokenness, we respond in love by doing the things that please God.

No wonder Jesus' message was good news to the prostitutes, tax collectors and 'sinners' of Jesus' day.

To listen to this message click here.

Another Operation Christmas Child Update

Just to let those of you who are interested know - if you contributed one of the 120 boxes we collected for Operation Christmas Child those boxes (along with another 18,000 +) were sent to a processing warehouse in Borehamwood, from where they were shipped out in early December to needy children in Mozambique.

Culprit Uncovered by Covering of Snow

If you live in the UK you will know that we are experiencing what the media are referring to as the 'big freeze' - but is actually more like the decent winter weather we should get at this time of year, but so often don't! Anyway the covering of snow has solved one mystery...

Just inside the front gate of the church is a wooden side gate that gives entry to the garden. I'm guessing that most people have not even noticed it as it looks quite a lot like the fence when closed. It is just that most mornings when I get to the church it is not closed but open. The problem with the gate is that it does not latch properly, but it seems that everyday someone is using the church car park and garden as a short cut - and leaving the wooden side gate open.

Anyway - the snow gave the opportunity to solve the mystery of who was leaving the gate open once and for all. This morning on arrival at the church, the gate was indeed open, and there were a single clear set of footprints in the snow, leading through the gate, across the car park... easy to follow the prints and find out which house they led to...it was just then a case of ringing the bell and finding out why the person repeatedly left the gate open and trespassed on church property...

But the footprints belonged to a fox. The gate is being left open by a fox.

When I was younger, when we left a door open we would often be challenged, 'were you born in a field?' I guess the answer in this case is probably 'yes'.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

One of my favourite quotes/poems is the beginning of the poem popularly known as 'The Gate of the Year' written by Minnie Louise Haskins in 1908. It was perhaps most famously quoted by King George VI in his 1939 Christmas Address just a few months after Britain had entered World War 2. The words remind us as we stand at the beginning of another year that although we have no idea what lies ahead God knows, and He has promised to be with us.

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.