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The joy of being human? (Proper 22)

  Reading:   Mark 10:2-16 Jesus placed a child in the middle of them and said “unless you become like a child you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven”.   What is it that a child has which makes them more able to accept and understand the love of God?   There could be lots of things, I’m sure – but at least one thing a child has that we should all try to find for ourselves is a capacity for joy – and especially joy in the telling of a story.   Those who were at Kate’s ordination here a couple of weeks ago might have heard that as I started to tell the story of creation from the first chapter of Genesis, and held up a card showing the light that God creates on the first day, one young lad in the congregation just said ‘Wow’.   I think Jesus is reminding his disciples that when they stop to think about what God has done and is doing in the world it should make them go ‘wow!’.   Can we bring that sense of wow with us when we listen to our next reading. It’s the second story of creation –
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Who is the greatest?

 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
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Harvest - giving thanks for small things

  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
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Looking back to the past & rekindling the fire

Joshua 24: 1-2a, 14-18;  John 6: 56-69  & Church Anniversary. For 210 years people have worshipped in this place. As part of my preparation I re-read John Morgan’s history of Tabernacle Chapel,Tiers Cross.   The story here begins with Arnold Davies – was born Wolfscastle, self-educated, former farm labourer, teacher & traveling preacher. In 1803 came to be minister at Rosemarket and encouraged Christians in Tiers Cross to think of building a chapel here.   In 1814 the members raised funds and did much of physical work themselves of building this chapel.  They named the chapel ‘Tabernacle’ – recognising it as a place to meet with God.   I visited John Morgan this week and we were reflecting on the faith of those early members – they were so sure that God wanted there to be a chapel here –  and for 110 years they only had the land as a leasehold. Yet they worked hard to build and maintain and improve this building.   Then in 1924 the people of the chapel raised the money to purch
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Eat and be wise!

 Proverbs 9: 1-6;    John 6: 51-58 This week at the Pembrokeshire County Show provided a great chance to think about how, as churches, we reach out to people. For the first time, this year, the Church in Wales contributed to the cost of the tent and we were blessed with a great mixture of different ministers of all denominations dropping in.  Together, we were able to welcome people from churches and chapels across the county and beyond, coming into the tent to enjoy refreshments, conversation, a chance for prayer, communion together – and on Thursday shelter from torrential rain!   I managed a few quick walks around the show and as ever alongside the stock, crafts and horse competitions, the Show stalls showed a great variety of shapes and sizes (and wind – resistance). There were large and small marquees, trailers, gazebos, horse boxes, and at least one bus and one boat!  But in every case the approach was the same - to offer a sense of ‘welcome’. We all wanted people to come in and
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Come and eat ! (the Bread of Life)

1 Kings 19:4-8     John 6:35, 41-51   This last week Susan & I have been at the Wales Synod Summer school at Llangasty Retreat House, overlooking Llangorse Lake. The views were spectacular, the weather was mostly kind, and it was good to relax and learn with colleagues across the Synod. A really striking part of the week was the welcome and hospitality offered to us by Janet and her very small team of two in the house. The food and drink was freshly prepared, a lot of it local, and arriving at regular intervals, yet the staff were flexible enough to fit our programme of sessions. The large dining table became a place of not just food, but conversation and laughter as we shared together in what was given to us so happily.   No wonder Jesus spent so much time eating at table with people – and used the image of the banquet to describe the kingdom of God.     And that is why, regularly, we share a communion meal together. Here we remember that this is the table of Jesus, and that his l
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