Minister's Message
May 2022

Nobody’s Perfect
One way of dealing with the problems of life is simply to ignore them. It might not always work out, but there’s often a good argument for doing exactly that. ‘When in doubt do nout’, I’ve heard it said, and seen it practiced. Good old inertia. It’s not about passivity or apathy, but just about making a conscious decision not to get unnecessarily involved and entangled. Sometimes ignoring a problem will just see that problem go away. Someone employed in an office once told me that when he received troublesome letters, he would throw them in the bin. Presumably, second follow-up letters would hardly ever come and so many problems requiring extra work and energy would just not appear. I am reminded of the advice someone gave to another who was too easily provoked. ‘They’ll stop throwing the ball once you stop picking it up.’

It’s true that most of the problems we have in life are just people-problems. We can choose to be offended by the words and actions of others, we can get angry, become self-righteous and claim the high moral ground. If we escalate the matter into a heated exchange, it mostly never ends well. In the Bible, Proverbs 20: 3 it says:

Avoiding a fight is a mark of honour; only fools insist on quarrelling.

Such advice should I think, be heeded by the world’s ‘leaders.’ So much suffering could be prevented. Avoiding a fight, as the proverb goes, could also be achieved simply by remembering those words of the Prayer of St Francis of Assisi; that we should seek not so much to be understood as to understand. If we can forget ourselves and instead seek to see others in the context of their lives and their difficulties, we may get new insight. We may then find it much easier to forgive and to forget. It’s not that we can change others, usually we can’t, but we can learn to accept them for who they are and not who we would like them to be. Once we can accept this new reality, we may truly say, ‘One way of dealing with the problems of life is simply to ignore them.’ Live and let live.

Minister's Message
June 2022

Your Intrinsic Value
I read a little homily that likened the human personality to that of a £50 note, the analogy being that whether the £50 note was new crisp and clean or old worn and dirty, it was still worth £50. In other words, that £50 note whatever it’s condition would still have intrinsic value. There is a problem with this analogy because quite clearly although each life, each person is a child of God and does have this intrinsic value, this value cannot simply be unconditionally realised (cashed in) regardless of what we think, do or say. When Jesus sent his apostles out into the world, of this intrinsic value he said:

What is the price of two sparrows – one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are numbered. So don’t be afraid you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. (Matthew 10:28-31)

In this short sentence something of the nature of God was revealed: His omniscience, and his love for mankind. Here we see humanity’s intrinsic value for ‘you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.’ This God who loves us and calls each one of us by name. But the essential question is - If God knows us, loves us and calls us by name, do we answer? When Jesus preached, he preached from the existent Hebrew scriptures. According to Psalm 1, blessed is the man who delights in the Law of the Lord, for he is not like the ungodly sinner. The man is blessed because he has realised his own intrinsic value. He has found the ‘pearl of great price’ and purchased it. The intrinsic value of a £50 note is only realised in its exchange for either goods or services. The gold within us, our intrinsic value, often needs to be smelted in the crucible of life. In the Parable of the Talents the useless servant who did not utilise his intrinsic value, his potential, was cast out into the ‘outer darkness’ where Jesus said, ‘there will be weeping and gnashing teeth’. We can either seek and find or we can do nothing. The choice is ours. But we should know that our God is a God of consequences.

My best wishes as always.

Bob.