Sunday's coming!

 James 3: 13 - 4:3, 7-8a     Mark 9: 30-37 Greatness   Imagine the scene: This week the ministers working in URCs in Pembrokeshire met to talk about how we work together in the future.  How do we make sure we listen to the needs of all the churches, and the thoughts of all the ministers? Some of us have been ordained for decades – Kate has now been ordained for about 24 hours! But we need to listen to new ideas as well as old wisdom.  We began by joining the midweek communion at Albany, and I was amused to find that Hugh-John had chosen today’s gospel reading as our reading. Who’s the best? Who’s the greatest? Who should we be listening to most?   I wondered, for a moment, whether as ministers we might relate to the disciples – arguing about who’s in charge, who’s the most faithful, who’s been following Jesus the longest..     You’ll be glad to know that there were no arguments among us. But there was a beautiful moment. There was a baby in the service. In the pram at first, and then o

  Matthew 13: 31-33  Psalm 146   At harvest time we pause to thank God for everything God has done for us.   Psalm 146 talks about praising the God who made absolutely everything – it is a huge thing to think of all that God has made. We praise God not just for our harvest here in Pembrokeshire or even here in Wales – but across the whole world. Everything that grows is a gift from god and so we thank God for everything we have. And we remember to thank God for the people who make it their life’s work to grow and produce our food – we thank God for the farmers who make the harvest possible and bring the harvest in.   Jesus was good at thanking God for all that was – and often reminded his followers to pause and give thanks to God for their food. The Lord’s prayer contains the request to God ‘give us this day our daily bread’;  and at the last supper with his followers Jesus gave thanks to God the Father for bread and wine – before giving it to his disciples as a sign of his life given