Shocked into action.

When I was in school I was never a fan of P.E. or Games. My school report always said that I was polite and I tried hard, meaning sport was not my gift. I think I always found it a little bit too active. I would have much preferred a very gentle walk, with chance for a chat with my friends. I have never liked being surprised into doing something that I wasn’t expecting or being too active. There is a comedian who wakes people up at the early hours of the morning and interviews them. I really couldn’t cope with that. 

I heard of a theological college in the 1950’s where the principal at morning prayer would make some announcements. This doesn’t sound that bad but he would do it during the prayers by praying for people. So, he would pray for the students and then would mention one by name so his prayer would be something like – ‘ we pray today for Harry who is leaving us this morning.’ The problem was this would be the first that Harry had heard of it ! 

Talk about being shocked into action ! 

Our readings today are best described as being shocked into action !  The readings are a bit like a story I read of the composer Beethoven. Beethoven would play a trick on his audiences by playing a nice gentle movement of one of his pieces, and as people were getting comfortable he would then play a loud chord that woke everyone up.  Now that’s a shock !!

This is what the readings this morning are about. How will we choose and who will we choose ?

In our readings this morning we have been shaken up out of any danger of comfort or of thinking that following Jesus is a comfortable way to be. In the gospel reading (Luke 12:49-56) we heard of the divisions that following Jesus could cause. 

The gospel reading talks of divisions, people being against each other, families breaking up, people not seeing what is going on around them. It’s not comfortable reading or hearing. It sounds quite horrible. 

In order to understand it a bit better we need to put ourselves in the shoes of Jesus’ listeners. As Jesus preached he was in an occupied country with people who were being downtrodden. Jesus was pointing out to the people that they were not necessarily taking into account the difficulties of the oppression they were under from Rome, or the harsh regime imposed by Herod or the excessive rules laid down by their religious leaders. They were clueless in a way, they were so busy doing want they had always done they didn’t notice who was right before them. 

It seems like a strange passage, we aren’t used to Jesus being so harsh but what He was doing was trying to make people see what was going on around them and warn them that if they followed Him life was not going to be easy but it would be better and a choice had to be made. 

Certainly if you were reading a description of a new life and it said that you would be persecuted, the world would fall apart as you know it, you would not really be wanting to say yes please to it ! But the biggest point is that we are not alone. In the reading from Jeremiah (23:23-29) we were reminded that God is close to us. In Hebrews (11:29-12:2) we were reminded that we are part of something bigger and that something is the great cloud of witnesses. The people who have gone before us, the people for whom life wasn’t always easy but they knew following God was the best.

The way that we are to live is by looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of  our faith.

When it is hard to follow Jesus we are to keep our eyes fixed on Him, to turn to Him. Yes, it can be hard to be different to the people around us as we seek to be more like Jesus, and yes, our views can make us quite different from everyone around us. 

In the passage Jesus was pointing to the violence that would come to Him. He was disappointed that the people couldn’t see what was going to happen to Him. He was upset that people were not being brave enough to make the decision to follow Him, even though it could initially spell danger for them. This is the division that Jesus is talking of, His followers would suffer.  

For us as followers today the suffering is different. There are Christians who are persecuted for their faith today, people who live in danger because of their faith but they keep going because they have made a decision to follow Jesus. In our country we are able to talk about our faith without fear for our lives. This isn’t to say that we never suffer though.  For us we can still suffer as we are different to those around us because of our beliefs. Our biggest danger though is that we could get much too comfortable.

When we follow Jesus we will be rejecting some of the ways of the world but our gain will be so much more. This is what being a follower of Jesus is about, it is about love, it is about making a change in our lives and it is about a better way, noticing Jesus around us, maybe in the words we hear or say, the people we meet, the comfort we feel. Jesus is all around us, Jesus is with us and we need to remember that we can turn to Him, and keep our eyes fixed on Him. 

As followers of Jesus we are disciples trying to be like Him. In the reading from the letter to the Hebrews  we heard of the people who had taken risks for faith and once again been proven to have made the right decision. Today we have been reminded that we are not alone as we are surrounded by these people who part of the heavenly great cloud of witnesses.

May we be people who aren’t complacent in our faith, but shaken up as we seek to be closer to God as we fix our eyes on Him more and more. AMEN

 

Learning through generations

There is a well known story that I would like to begin with this morning. It’s the story of a man who fell off a cliff. After falling off the cliff the man managed to catch a branch as he fell. From this rather difficult position he shouted out, "Is anyone up there?" 

He heard a voice say, "I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?"
"Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can't hang on much longer."
"That's all right, if you really believe then you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch."
A moment of pause followed and the man said: "Is anyone else up there?"

To be honest this mornings readings can either seem like a mad attempt at trusting or an attempt to try God out, to check how faithful He is. 

I told you this story about faith because our readings this morning are all about faith. In the reading from Genesis (15:1-6) we heard of Abram almost negotiating with God. To be honest I think Abram should have thought this one through a bit more. There is God the almighty, the creator and Abram, not saying thank you to God for His promise of a great reward, asked, “well what is it then ?’ Talk about lack of patience. 

Abram decided that negotiating and perhaps pouting would be best as He reminded God that He didn’t have an heir and he deserved one. God’s response is for Abram to trust, to have faith. 

In our reading from the letter to the Hebrews  (Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16) we were reminded that faith is the evidence of things unseen. In the reading we heard about the faith of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob. The faith is great but they were all people who had a relationship with God. It can feel a little like we are being given the names of some very faithful believers, heroes of our faith. I think the names are given both to encourage us, and also give an example of faith, which always trusts in God.

This could leave us with a question as followers of Jesus today. The question is, are we always prepared to have faith in God because of all that He has done for us. I have to be honest I have questions for  God at times, there are times when I say to God, ‘Lord I really trust you and I have faith, but just in case …. ‘

Faith is what we are about, it is who we are. Our response to God is to thank Him for all that He has done. It’s not about testing God, will He pull through for me ? Will things turn out the way that I want them to ? It’s about knowing a peace that even in the midst of confusion, God is with us. 

The world at the moment is pretty confusing and we could sometimes wonder what is going on and struggle to trust that God is in control. But, God who came amongst us, God who died for us and rose again, God who made sure that Abraham and Sarah a couple over 100 years old could have a child that began a whole nation,  is still there. The problems are that we are humans and we sometimes mess up. 

Our gospel reading this morning (Luke 12:32-40) reminded us that God will turn up unexpectedly like a master whose staff wait for him. I love the fact that in the illustration Jesus used, the master didn’t turn up in the middle of the night expecting to be waited on hand and foot but served his servants with a meal! 

We can take that to remind us that God comes amongst us not to surprise and scare but to love and support.

I am really happy to have faith in God who does this, faith in God who has proven time and time again in the lives of so many people that He is worth trusting in. 

This is what we hear in the Bible as we read about the people who have gone before us.  We are like them, we share their heritage, a heritage that trusts God.  We are part of their family. 

This means that in our family we can claim people who have trusted God, people who have doubted God, people who have done really bad things and people who have done amazing things. It would be a fun thing to do sometime, to think of our favourite or less favourite people from the Bible and think, ‘hmm’, they are in my family – the family of God !!

In the Rees family my sister-in-law worked very hard on building the family tree. This was certainly an interesting exercise and when Ian and I were getting married I decided that I should look at my own family background as well.  I discovered that I am a third cousin of Tom Jones …. Tom Jones who owned a fairground in Weston- Super-Mare, (not the singer!), I had a great, great uncle who had been an international footballer and another great, great uncle whose sporting prowess was discovered on a trophy that we found. A trophy for first prize in donkey racing in Weston !

Ummm… maybe not all of our family backgrounds are things to be proud of. 

We know that God is great, we know that in the family of faith God has provided us with promises that do not fail and they are a lot better than donkey riding in Weston, with God incredible things can and do happen.

This is a lesson from history, from our heritage that asks us how easy we find it to trust God, when to trust Him doesn’t seem just potentially scary but to be honest just seems to be illogical. It’s hard to always trust and it is at times like this, that we can feel really uncomfortable as we realise that we have to trust God and let Him take over, it’s not easy to do, but the results of doing this can be amazing. 

So, remembering who we are as the children of God may we be ready to be more like Him and do something amazing for Him today and always. This is because we can both know and trust that God is our help, always there for us and always with us. 

Wheelbarrows and worries: what are we missing ?

 It is really easy to get distracted. I remember hearing a story about a rugby match where distraction was used. It happened when the great Welsh player Gareth Edwards was playing for Cardiff, and one of his Welsh team-mates Ray Gravell was playing for Llanelli.

The one problem that they encountered on the pitch was that having played together for Wales they knew each others insecurities.

Gareth Edwards worked out that there was one way to distract Ray Gravell so that he would have a dreadful game. This would ensure a better result for Cardiff.

So, he picked on Gravells’ physical condition. He began the game by saying, “You look out of shape, you’ve put on a lot of weight.” This of course bothered Ray Gravell. So much so that so he kept asking other players during the game if he had indeed put on weight. This of course distracted him greatly, and it was not helped by the fact that every time Gravs looked at Gareth, he was making hand gestures to suggest a big tummy ! 

Distraction can come about so easily. We can all find ways to get the attention of someone else. Our readings this morning are all about God having a hard time getting people’s attention.

In the Old Testament reading from the book of Genesis (18:1-10a) we heard of Abraham who had stopped believing the promise from God that he and his wife Sarah would have a child. 

To be fair to Abraham he was in is nineties ! Anyway, God needed to get Abraham’s attention and so He sent three strangers who promised once again that Abraham and Sarah would have a child. 

God stepped into normality for Abraham and surprised him. 

In the New Testament reading from the epistle to the Colossians (1:15-28) the people to whom the epistle was written had been led astray by distractions, other beliefs, new ways of thinking. These were all seeking to take the people away from God. In the letter they are reminded what the gospel is about. This is, that there is one God, who has both made Himself known and has a concern for the world.

Then in the gospel reading (Luke 10:38-42) we heard of the distraction of Martha. I always feel really sorry for Martha. She was there trying to make everything perfect for Jesus, she was looking after the house, the food, she was busy. As a result of her busy activity she had became so intent on doing things correctly, in being a good host, that she got distracted from her guest. Mary rather than being the good host was a good guest.

This is in terms of Jesus coming alongside her, whilst she sat and listened intently, paying him all her attention. Yes, Jesus was Martha’s guest, but for Mary she felt that the impact of Jesus was such that she was His guest.

There is a danger that we can be distracted from God, and not hear what God is saying to us, I think we are all guilty of carrying on with our lives and not letting God in.

Sometimes we do this by piling up more and more things in our lives, the things that we have to do, and this cuts down on the time that we should be spending with God.

Sometimes, we can be so intent on doing things for God that we miss out on Him speaking to us, because we are so busy doing what we think is His work. 

I don’t think that Martha was wrong, neither do I think that Mary was wrong. They both wanted to listen to God, and they both went about it in different ways. Martha was a go and do type of character and Mary was a sit and listen type of character.

I think that in our lives there is room to be both of these, I also think that we need to be aware of when we need to go and do and when we need to sit and listen. It’s easy to be distracted.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev used to tell of a time when there was a wave of petty theft in the Soviet Union. To try and prevent this the authorities put up guards around the factories. At one timber-works in Leningrad, the guard knew the workers in the factory very well. The first evening, out came Pyotr Petrovich with a wheelbarrow and, on the wheelbarrow, a great bulky sack with a suspicious-looking object inside. "All right, Petrovich," said the guard, "what have you got there?" "Oh, just sawdust and shavings," Petrovich replied. "Come on," the guard said, "I wasn't born yesterday. Tip it out." And out came nothing but sawdust and shavings.

So he was allowed to put it all back again and go home. When the same thing happened every night of the week the guard became frustrated. Finally his curiosity overcame his frustration. "Petrovich," he said, "I know you. Tell me what you're smuggling out of here, and I'll let you go." "Wheelbarrows, my friend," said Petrovich, "wheelbarrows."  

We can be easily distracted but when we do this we can miss the point. The point being that God is there for us and He has much to share with us. We can build things up around our lives which protect us from the things that threaten to hurt us. We can build concerns around ourselves which worry us.

We can build the ‘must do’ things in our life that stop us from being spontaneous. In fact we can build so many things around us that we become so much of a Martha type of character that we never get to enjoy the peace that Mary felt.

We need to be the type of people who are ready to remove distractions and all that stands in the way of us and God. 

We need Mary days when we take away all that gets in the way of us and God so we can focus on Him. By doing this we can allow Him to lead us into Martha days, where we do His work in both showing and telling others about His love. 

So may we be ready to not only be the people who go and do things for God and other people, but also to remove distractions and allow God to strengthen us. May we be ready to listen to God and ask Him to use us as he wishes. AMEN

Just love

 May I speak in the Name of God : Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN

Have you ever had that moment when a child trounces you… that moment when you feel really in control and then a child reasons with you. My nephew Jack did just this to me when he was 9 years old. He was out playing with his friends and clearly decided that it was time for him to have lunch. I was at my Mum in laws house and she had said that when Jack came back in, I was to make him wait while she finished what she was doing and then she would make him lunch. 

Now to be honest at this stage Ian and I hadn’t been married long and I wanted to get everything right. So, when Jack came in I explained that he needed to wait because Gramma was on her way to feed him. Jack looked and informed me that he was busy playing, I said ‘well it won’t be a long wait’. 

He looked at me patiently and then very nicely said that the problem was his friends were eating at their houses right now and if he wasn’t quick he would miss the game. I said well, just wait… then Jack explained that he wasn’t going to be a bother, after all there was some bread that he could use. I explained that there was fresh bread on the way. 

Jack said that he was really happy with the bread that he had and after all this wait Gramma wouldn’t need to start a new loaf for him. 

By this stage I was starting to realise that Jack’s very polite and reasoned approach was getting the better of me. I made one last attempt and he once again smiled at me patiently and said, ‘thank you, Aunty Helen but I must go back out to play now, don’t worry Gramma will be fine and if she isn’t I will explain it to her.’

Sometimes no matter how many objections you put up to something the answer is already sorted. In our gospel reading (Luke 10:25-37) this morning we heard of the lawyer who wanted to do what was right. He approached Jesus and whether he wanted to show off how good he was, or whether he wanted to check that there wasn’t more that he could do, we can’t be sure. But, he went to Jesus and asked what was needed to gain eternal life.

The response Jesus gave was too simple for the lawyer. It was as if he could not believe that gaining eternal life was only about love. The lawyer wasn’t satisfied - he almost wanted a big list that he could tick off.  A bit like a to do list…. There is a Christian speaker called Vicky Beeching, who said that when she was a child she wrote a list of all the things that she could and couldn’t do, she read a puritan book about holiness – to be honest it would have been pretty hard core stuff and if she hadn’t met the requirements that she imposed for herself she would get really cross and mournful. 

It is sad that she as a child had set limits on herself so that she could be perfect and holy. A bit like the lawyer she could not believe that it was all quite simple… we are to love God and to love others.

I often say that I spent so long concentrating on the fact that Jesus had died for my sins that I forgot that it was not for me to spend my time feeling guilty but to enjoy God and His love.

Jesus explained to the lawyer who his neighbour was by telling the incredibly well known parable of the good Samaritan. This parable is often thought of with the Samaritan being one of the type of people that the people of Israel hated. 

There really was hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans because the Samaritans had been separated from Israel during the time of exile. In fact the two groups were incredibly similar but they had built up a suspicion. It makes me think that our neighbours can actually be people that we are suspicious of, the people who are sort of like us but not quite the same, the people whom we are not sure of, the people whom we may have a grudge against, the people who have hurt us or someone we love. 

Our neighbours are everyone. In God’s world and kingdom it is all about love, it is all about acceptance. It is letting go of the past and moving forward. It is all about love. 

This is what community is, this is what we as believers are meant to be like. In our New Testament reading (Col. 1:1-14) we heard of a community that believed, and also had love for all the saints. They were a group who loved each other. A man named Epaphras is mentioned. He was someone who probably came to faith after hearing Paul preach and then went back to tell people all that he had heard. It is thought that he then went back and told Paul all about these new believers. Paul wrote to them offering encouragement and help in their faith and as he wrote, he was congratulating the Colossian believers that their love  meant that they were joined together. 

It is so easy to talk about the love of God for us, it is so easy to talk of the need for us to love each other and anyone that we meet. 

It is easy to talk but it’s not so simple to do.  God calls us to love one another, God calls us to love Him with all that we are. There is another very important bit missing and that is that it is God alone who gives us the strength to do this. 

God, as it says in the letter to the Colossians, ‘has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’ 

Perhaps the answer can be simple as we love each other and God who has rescued us. 

God, who loved us so much that He came amongst us, died and rose again.  

He gives us the strength. 

As we seek to be more like Jesus may we remember that, that it is He who gives us strength, and may we be ready to turn to Him and ask Him to help us love. AMEN

 

Seeds that speak: honesty, mission and the Gospel

 I want to begin with a story about a man who was planning to retire from his job as chief executive officer. He decided that it would be good to have a year to plan for his successor. He called 4 of his staff and told them that he was considering one of them as his replacement. He told them that to help him decide he had a test for them all. The test was that he gave them each a seed and asked them to plant it. Then they were to bring the plant back in a year. From this he would be able to see who was the person to have the job.

One man named Jim went home, planted his seed, watered it, and kept watching for a whole year. The others in the group kept saying how lovely their plants were. Jim’s wasn’t growing at all. 

At the end of the year, they all took their plants to the boss to see what would happen. Jim was picked as the next Chief Executive Officer. He was really surprised as his seed had not produced a plant. The boss said that Jim got the job because he was the only honest one. The seeds had all been dead and wouldn’t grow. The other staff members had replaced the original seed with one they bought. Jim kept going.

You reap what you sow. This was seen in the reading from the letter to the Galatians that we have heard this morning. (Gal. 6:7-16). In that reading we heard of Paul, who wrote the letter, trying to teach the new believers in Galatia about how they were how to live as believers. He pointed out that in order for them to live in harmony they needed to think both about what they were doing and what they were saying. They were to sow spiritual seeds. This would be through their love for God. In this way they would show others both how to love and be loved by God.

The community of faith in Galatia would have had people who thought that they were better believers. Paul was showing that actually the most important thing was to know Jesus. He pointed out that they needed to behave in a way that was appropriate to their spiritual life. That is their life as believers. 

I have never liked the word boasting. It is one of those words that people use, the kind of word that describes something that I was taught, was naughty. Boasting isn’t good. However, Paul tells the believers in Galatia to boast but only in Jesus and His death on the cross.

I can see that Jesus dying for us is worth boasting about. Paul was trying to encourage the believers, the same way that this reading encourages us. If we spread the good news of Jesus, by living more like Him, just think of the difference we can make. If we only boast in Jesus and not in ourselves, that will give the opportunity for more people to hear about Him. 

In the gospel reading (Luke 10:1-11, 16-20)  we heard about sowing again but in a slightly different way. Jesus had a plan to reach people with the good news about Him. First of all He went about talking to people and showing how they needed to change their lives, and how they could know salvation. Then He called His 12 disciples to spread the good news about salvation. In the gospel reading we heard of Jesus sending out 70 others, to do the same. 

I wonder whether these 70 had been following Jesus, waiting for their chance to tell people about him. They may have felt like they were waiting in the wings. Suddenly their chance had come, and Jesus sent them out with the reassuring words that they would be like lambs amongst wolves. Not the best reassurance. They were to go out and tell people about Jesus, but they weren’t to waste any time. If they weren’t welcome they were to leave and try somewhere else. If they were welcomed into one place, they were to stay there and use it as their base whilst they were preaching. 

The 70 had an amazing time and naturally when they came back they were ready to tell Jesus all about it. Jesus doesn’t really tell them to stop talking about everything but He moves them on. Why ?

Well, just like Paul in his letter to the Galatians, Jesus wanted the 70 to know that they were to keep proclaiming the good news of the salvation that He brought. 

I may have told you this before but I am not good at gardening, I don’t know when things grow best. I was looking on the internet and I saw charts to help you know when to plant certain seeds. It’s not the same with planting the seeds of God’s love and salvation. The time is always now !

In the gospel reading there was an urgency. Jesus was sending these 70 out and there wasn’t time to do anything except tell people about Him. In the letter to the Galatians we heard that we reap what we sow. If we sow for Jesus, we reap for Him. If we plant the seed of telling people about our faith just imagine how it can grow. Of course, we may never know what happens but just imagine the impact.

There isn’t a plan or diary for telling people about Jesus. It’s always something that we are to do.

Last week I was reminded of William and Catherine Booth who founded the Salvation Army. They began by preaching about Jesus to the poor in London on 2nd July 1865. Their work was incredible. 

I am not equating either Usk or the ministry area with 19th century London, however there are some words from Booth that can help us in our mission to reach out to others with the good news of Jesus and His love.

The words are, ‘While women weep as they do now, I’ll fight; while little children go hungry as they do now, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl on the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight - I’ll fight to the very end !’

May we fight for God as we sow his love into the hearts of others by telling them about our faith. May we do our bit to to spread the good news of Jesus both by what we say and what we do. AMEN

Giving up my protection

 In a book that I was reading last week I read a part that surprised me. I was reading about knowing the protection of God and letting go of the protection that I might build up around myself. In the book it said to imagine you were on your own walking through a jungle. You would be scared. However, if you were riding through a jungle on the back of a lion, well, the only thing that you would need to be scared of is the lion.

This is really not the way I expected the writer to go. I thought he was saying that being on the back of the lion might make you feel stronger. However, he was pointing out that there was only one thing to fear and this is the lion that you had decided to sit on.

A good point. In our readings today we heard about what happens when we trust in the power of God. We heard of the things we could lose out on if we built our own protection systems, rather than trusting in God.

In our gospel reading (Luke 8:26-39) this morning we have heard not about the religious leaders, or even the disciples recognising who Jesus was, but a man who was troubled. A man who was set free by Jesus from all that stopped him enjoying life.

The story we heard is an incredible story of a man whom society was afraid of. A man who was on the outside and who suddenly became like everyone else. He had recognised Jesus for who He was.

When Jesus did something amazing, when He set this man free from all that was restraining him the people were afraid, and the rest of the town asked Jesus to leave. They were scared of Him and His power. This makes hardly any sense, you would think that when someone was set free right before your eyes you would want to welcome them. But what were the people actually afraid of?

I heard of a young curate who had visiting cards and if he knocked on the door to see someone and they weren’t there, he would write. ‘Sorry to have found you out.’

I am sure it wasn’t this way, but could you imagine someone wondering if the curate knew something about them that was meant to be a secret, ‘sorry to have found you out’!

It makes me wonder whether people were scared by the power of Jesus because He might know things about them, He might change something that they were quite happy not to have changed. 

I wonder whether these people had built up a lovely life for themselves.  They thought they were perfect and in a good place, after all they had their very own frightening person to keep them safe ! They had built their own protection around themselves. A protection which sadly meant that they were not able to see all that Jesus could offer them. 

It would be so easy in our lives to be quite comfortable and happy as we are and not to allow Jesus to change us, to challenge us. Are we happy to listen to Jesus and see what He might be telling us to do, or showing us something that we should change in our life ?

In our epistle reading (Galatians 3:23-end) Paul, the writer, stressed that everyone was equal. This is great, but it may bring another challenge to us. 

There were people in the Church in Galatia who really thought they were better than everyone else. They saw themselves as true believers because they had been Jews first. Paul pointed out that actually they were no different to anyone else in the community. 

Each member of the Church to whom Paul was writing was equal. They had all become one through their belief and baptism in Jesus.  They had a new identity. This was that they were all brand new through their belief in Jesus. 

Paul in the epistle was pointing out that we are all equal. He wrote that there is neither male, or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free we are all equal, and the reason ? We are all children of God. 

To be a child of God, to have a new life of following Jesus means that we are changed and we need to be different.

We have said yes, and because of this we need to be prepared to make a difference by being more like Jesus. Jesus came amongst us to set us free. Free from all that holds us back, free from our doubts and concerns, free just to enjoy the love of God for us. 

We need to remove all the things or behaviours that can stop us getting closer to God. The man in the gospel when he was stripped of all that had held him back was suddenly free. The people to whom the epistle to the Galatians was written, just like us, had been set free and united, not by birth, race or gender but by the change that their belief in Jesus had given them. 

We all have different aspects of our characters that can be hard to let go of. Maybe they are the things that stop us opening up to God. Maybe they are like a protection. 

However, we can keep turning to God and starting again. I love this!

We are the same in the eyes of God and we need to treat others just as if they were the same as us. We have an identity in Jesus we are able to turn to Him but sometimes we hold things back that we want to deal with ourselves. We like to keep something for ourselves, to build our own way and protection.

The people in the gospel reading and those in the epistle who thought they were better than others had built up a type of protection. This was a protection that needed to be broken in order for them to be the people that they really should be. We are set free when we trust God, when we allow Him to change us. 

May we be ready to continually turn to God asking Him to change us and to set us free - free from all that would stop us from enjoying the love that He has for us. AMEN