New Kid on the Blog

A random thought to end the day Was thinking - thanks to a line in 'Shites unoriginal miscellany' 'How deep would the ocean be if there were no sponges?'

Another sermon - this time preached yesterday in a couple of my own local churches. No great theological thoughts, just a few reflections of my own... Strange for me to say that noise is not always a good thing!!! dum de dum de dum de dum The Spirit of Subtlety John 15.26-27, 16.4b-15 Romans 8.22-27 Acts 2.1-21 Every year we celebrate Pentecost, and every year we make a big noise about it! I mean that literally, we have the reading from Acts talking of the Holy Spirit coming like a rushing wind, with tongues of fire – as if the divine special effects budget was blown on this one event, the birthday of the Church… Then there’s the babbling, the different languages, all the noise of people speaking before one voice shouts above them all to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the saviour, the one who was prophesied, and pouring out of God’s Spirit on all flesh. In the letter to the Romans, Chapter 8 v 22-27 one of the alternative readings set for this morning we hear of ...

I found myself stranded a few miles from home yesterday as my car was in for a service and i couldn't get a lift back. It was a beautiful summery day so i thought i would walk home... As i left the village i was passed by a huge 4x4 (or SUV as they say in the U.S) which pulled into the local recycling centre and dropped off some bottles in the glass bank. So as i wandered i muttered (only in my head) 'huge petrol guzzling monstrosity, imagine having that to get around these villages and i bet there's only one person in there travelling half a mile to drop bottles in the recycling bank' etc etc.... the usual self-righteous stuff. About half a mile later the same car stopped next to me and said 'Oh, hi Alastair, where are you going and can i give you a lift...' It turned out to be one of my parishoners who was on her way to pick up her horse box, with a load of kids in the car and had decided to combine the journey with a trip to the recycling bank. As it tu...