This week, I started to write down some of the lessons I have learnt about life. 

• Finish what you start
• Do not rush into things
• Pace yourself
• Keep the ball in their court
• Wait and see 
• What can you learn from an experience?
• Hour by hour
• Do not quit
• You cannot please everyone
• Keep your good friends
• Health before wealth
• Do not take things for granted
• Think before you speak
• Your education is never complete
• Have an attitude of gratitude
• Do things for the right reasons
• Think of the bigger picture
• Pray
• Prioritise
• Sleep on it
• Actions have consequences
• Do not be afraid to fail
• Anger is never the answer
• Speak kindly to yourself
• Do not be afraid to ask questions
• Trust in God

If you were to ask me what was the greatest, other than trusting in God, I would have difficulty in saying. I guess it depends upon how I am feeling, the experiences I am going through etc. 

If you were to ask me what was the greatest poem I have ever read, I think If by Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) would fit the criteria. Travelling on the underground recently, I saw a poem, which I think during Covid-19 and these unprecedented times is a new favourite. It is by John O'Donohue. 

This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.

Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.

​Jesus was confronted by Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees who wanted to trap Jesus by asking difficult questions. The Gospel reading today asks which is the greatest commandment. There are 613 commandments in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, so which one is the greatest? We know the Ten Commandments, surely it is going to be one of those? Instead, Jesus sums up all the 613 commandments with these words: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” He goes on to say the second greatest is “Love your neighbour as yourself.” It is a helpful response, and the two go together because to show that you love God, you surely must love God’s creation. Therefore, we must love our neighbour whoever they may be. 

Both of these commandments are mentioned in the Torah. Deuteronomy 6:5, which is part of the Shema Yisrael that Jews say twice daily, contains the first and "love your neighbour", is taken from Leviticus 19:18. So, it is not new, but Jesus has pulled these two together to summerise how we can truly worship God. It is how our Christian lifestyle is defined; the vertical dimension of loving God crossed with the horizontal direction of loving our neighbour. We know who our neighbour is through the parable of the Good Samaritan. Our neighbour is anyone who is in need. 

I sometimes forget how radical the concept of only having one God is. In Roman times, I think there were over 60 gods that you could worship, including, of course, the famous Olympian Gods: Jupiter, Venus, Apollo, Diana, Neptune and so on. It is radical to go from the safety of having so many powerful gods to pray to when you need help, to having only one. Even more remarkable, this one God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us. The Roman Gods never once had a thought for us, so through Judaism, this concept of God, creator of the universe, wanting time and a relationship with us is groundbreaking. 

When I compare the Ten Commandments with the response Jesus gave, worshipping God, having no idols and not misusing God's name fall into place. Loving my neighbour means I will honour my mother and father, I will not commit adultery, murder or steal, and I will not give false witness or covet other people’s goods. The Sabbath reminds us, as Augustine (354-430) said, we have to love ourselves. We cannot love our neighbour as ourself unless we love ourselves. The Sabbath provides us that day of rest whereby we can not only appreciate God’s wonder, but it also allows us to recharge, restore and renew. 

Jesus goes one step further in our reading. After answering all the questions, Jesus poses one based upon Psalm 110. This Psalm, written by King David, is the prophetic notion that the Messiah will not just be of David’s line, but will also be far superior to David, so much so David calls him Lord. Jesus’ question stumps the would-be questioners and silences them. We see Jesus as being beyond human, touching the divine, and it is that acknowledgement of his true self that quiets the crowd. We too have to acknowledge who we are for we often have a mask that we show the world; one we believe the world wants to see for which we will gain acceptance and love. But if we are to truly love ourselves, we have to remind ourselves of our true self rather than the self we portray to others. 

So, we offer to God who we truly are knowing that God will accept us, love us and transform us. 

​Isaiah prophesied from 740-681 BC. This reading highlights Cyrus as doing God’s bidding. Cyrus the Great was born in 600 BC and died in 70 years later, we believe, on 4th December 530 BC, probably in battle. Cyrus became king in 560BC reigning for 30 years and had the grand titles of King of Anshan, King of Persia, King of Media, King of the World, King of Babylon, King of Sumar and Akkad, and King of the Four Corners of the World. The strange thing about the passage is Isaiah wrote it around 150 years before Cyrus the Great came to power; it is a prophecy. 

Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire, now known as Iran. He was a great military strategist and is the only non-Jewish person given the title of Messiah in the Bible. He knew the world of politics but showed humanitarian traits as he respected the customs and religions of the people he conquered. His empire was the largest ever known at the time, spanning two thousand miles, including Assyria and Babylonia. It was Cyrus who allowed the Jewish people to leave their exile and for Jerusalem to be rebuilt. Cyrus is significant in the history of Israel, and Isaiah prophesied it 150 years before. 

In one report, it said because Cyrus read the account of Isaiah, Cyrus made the prophecy come true by invading and freeing the people of Israel. God, therefore, is not limited to using the Jewish population; God can use anybody, Jew or Gentile. It is always important to remember this in our relationship with God; God can and does use us to fulfil God’s almighty plan. 

We move into Matthew and the trickery with which he had to deal. 

To put you in the mood here is a story: 
In a small Italian town, hundreds of years ago, a small business owner owed a large sum of money to a loan-shark. The loan-shark was a very old, unattractive looking guy that just so happened to fancy the business owner’s daughter.

He decided to offer the businessman a deal that would completely wipe out the debt he owed him. However, the catch was that we would only wipe out the debt if he could marry the businessman’s daughter.

Needless to say, this proposal was met with a look of disgust.

The loan-shark said that he would place two pebbles into a bag, one white and one black.

The daughter would then have to reach into the bag and pick out a pebble. If it was black, the debt would be wiped, but the loan-shark would then marry her. If it was white, the debt would also be wiped, but the daughter wouldn’t have to marry the loan-shark.

Standing on a pebble-strewn path in the businessman’s garden, the loan-shark bent over and picked up two pebbles.

Whilst he was picking them up, the daughter noticed that he’d picked up two black pebbles and placed them both into the bag.

He then asked the daughter to reach into the bag and pick one.

The daughter naturally had three choices as to what she could have done:

1.Refuse to pick a pebble from the bag.
2. Take both pebbles out of the bag and expose the loan-shark for cheating.
3. Pick a pebble from the bag fully well knowing it was black and sacrifice herself for her father’s freedom.

She drew out a pebble from the bag, and before looking at it ‘accidentally’ dropped it into the midst of the other pebbles. She said to the loan-shark;

“Oh, how clumsy of me. Never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”

The pebble left in the bag is obviously black, and seeing as the loan-shark didn’t want to be exposed, he had to play along as if the pebble the daughter dropped was white, and clear her father’s debt.

Moral of the story:

It’s always possible to overcome a tough situation through out of the box thinking, and not give in to the only options you think you have to pick from.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus the Pharisees and the Herodians questioned Jesus. Knowledge of the Herodians is scarce, other than they must be supporters of Herod. Therefore, the Herodians were in opposition to the Pharisees - the common enemy of Jesus brings forth strange bedfellows. Yet, Jesus had the measure of them. The fact they produced a Denarius when Jesus asked for a coin has implications.

On the Denarius it reads "Ti(berivs) Caesar Divi Avg(vsta) F(ilivs) Avgvtvs", which in English means Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus. On the reverse, we have a seated female, believed to be Livia depicted as Pax, the goddess of Peace, with the words "Pontif Maxim".

Having the image of Tiberius was an anathema to the Jews. The fact that it claimed Augustus was God was offensive to the Jewish population. As a result, pious Jews did not carry that coin but did their business using smaller denominations. The coin itself was worth one day’s labour; smaller copper coins, which did not hold the face of the emperor, were quite ordinary and were used for daily life. So, the Denarius must have been produced by a Herodian because a Pharisee, would not carry such a coin. 

So, Jesus comes up with the famous statement, “Render to Caesar that which is Caesar's.” In some Bibles, the translation is not "render" but "give to Caesar". I understand the Greek "to render" means to give back, which implies they must have received something already. They were benefitting by the Roman occupation, profiting from the blessings of good communication, transport links, freedom from tribal warfare, stable currency with coins used all over the known world and general peace. It is strange to think of an occupation bringing blessings, and I presume if you live in such a society, the expectations are you give back to that society from which you have taken. 

There is a common theme throughout the new testament. Jesus says to love your enemies, and Paul frequently writes to submit to the authorities, as does Peter. So, the idea of giving back to Caesar reflects they are part of the Roman situation. But when spirituality conflicts with society, Jesus says God comes first; even though we live in society, it is obedience to God that comes first. So, his famous sentence is quite brilliant, as it satisfies both parties and the people posing the question were amazed at the answer. They found the answer quite marvellous. The scene is then set for the Sadducees to have a go at questioning Jesus, but for the minute, Jesus had shown his ability at dealing with tricky questions. 

So, let us reflect: we acknowledge the blessings we receive from living in society; we give back, but we also recognise God’s importance, which means we have absolute obedience to God. In today’s world, Covid-19 means we put our trust in God, but there are also so many other groups who are requesting our support, Black Lives Matter and climate change being two examples. We have to obey the law because it is Biblical, but that does not mean we cannot stand up for others. It is also Biblical that we should stand up and try to change the structures in society that result in injustice. It is a balance, what do we give back to our communities, and what do we offer to God?

The following poems were read at our Harvest Festival.

by anonymous
​
​I love the taste of T-bone steak,
Delicious every bite,
But there's nothing like the Word of God,
For my spiritual appetite.

The Word of God has milk and meat,
And even ice cream and cake.
Take a slice of the Bread of Life,
And coffee to keep us awake.

Open your Bible and turn to Psalms,
For David's famous buffet.
You can drink all the wine of the word you want,
And still feel fine the next day.

There's enough of the Word for everyone,
And no one has to cheat.
The Word of God is a smorgasbord,
So take all you are able to eat.

Let's have a little longsuffering,
Job gives the recipe.
Patience is the main ingredient,
Self denial is the fee.

Wrap that up in temperance,
It may not make much sense,
Cover that with contentment,
Then add some joy for strength.

Let's have love for dessert,
Jesus made this dish,
Cream of joy and peace together,
Sift out all selfishness.

Add some deeds of righteousness,
Enough to make it sweet.
Humility is the frosting,
That makes the dish complete.

Or are you on a diet,
Cause the race seems hard to run.
For a weight losing menu,
try Hebrews 12 and 1.

Are you suffering from malnutrition,
And don't know what to do?
Your spiritual growth seems hindered,
Try 1 Peter 1 and 2.

If when every time you battle,
the enemy always wins,
Try some Holy Ghost Protein,
And spiritual vitamins.

God's Word can feed millions,
And still have plenty left.
Because the Word of God is Soul Food,
Sent from the World's Greatest CHEF.

by Susan Y Nikitenko​

A harvest of apples, a harvest of corn;
A harvest of plenty, an autumn adorned.
With bright colored leaves, a fall festive blend;
A wonderful time for families and friends .

A harvest of pumpkins, a harvest of grain;
A harvest of bounty, and cool autumn rains.
A big harvest moon- way up in the sky;
A harvest of blessing that God has supplied.

Be grateful, be humble, give thanks to the Lord;
He has showered His blessing here in our world.
But have we been faithful , and have we been true?
Have we put God first in all that we do?

A harvest that God sees is not food or crop;
Not pumpkins, or grain, not apples that drop.
But God see the harvest of souls needing Him;
A harvest of people who need saved from their sin.

A harvest of souls and A harvest of love;
A harvest of mercy from our Father above.
When we see the harvest, let's see through God's eyes;
And share with the nations the life He supplies​

Welcome back! Last Sunday we opened our church for the first time since March with a Harvest Festival. We were pleased to welcome several familiar faces back to the church and hope people continue to attend over the next few weeks as we adjust to the new social distancing rules.

The following is a prayer that was written specifically for our Harvest Festival. It is based on the song Food, Glorious Food from the well-known musical, Oliver!​

Father God, 
We thank you for all of this food, 
All your glorious food. 
Whether it be hot sausage and mustard, 
Or, if we are in the mood, 
Cold jelly and custard. 
Tins of peas, puddings and saveloys, 
Food for animals and humans
Adults, girls and boys. 

This food, 
This glorious food, 
We cannot live without it
But many people don't have the chance, 
To have a choice of diet
For them, there is no great big steak --
Neither fried, roasted nor stewed
For them there is no food, 
No wonderful, marvellous food

Look at all our donations, 
Is there anything more handsome?
But for many people in the world, 
It's worth a king's ransom. 
This is what they dream about, 
And they wonder why, 
They cannot have a display of food, 
Piled up so high!

Food, glorious food, 
These people don't care what it looks like -
Burned? Underdone? Crude ? 
As long as it's edible, 
Their senses go reeling. 
All the hungry want is to experience 
A full-up feeling. 

Food, wonderful food, 
What more can we give 
So that those who cannot afford it, 
Can grow healthily and live
Why should they be fated to
Have so little food? 
So today we donate some 
Magical, Wonderful, Marvellous, Fabulous food. 

We thank you, God,
For all your glorious food
Amen 

Dear All,

October, as you know, is the tenth month of the year but it keeps its name from the old calendar of Romulus when it was the eighth month. In French, October is often abbreviated to 8bre. Each month is assigned a “birth flower” and this month it is the calendula. In early Catholic countries, this yellow flower was sometimes nicknamed “Mary’s Gold”, giving it the more common name Marigold. I just thought that would be an interesting little snippet of information for you.

Speaking of snippets, when I am preparing for sermons, a sometimes come across interesting pieces of information or articles, so I thought I would share one with you. This is an anonymous poem that reminded me of how prayer works. During Covid-19, many people have turned to prayer. Some churches were able to host online services, whereas, we focused on our blog on our website. Over 3700 people have visited our website, at least 60% of whom visited during the last few months. Here is the poem:

The Blessing of Unanswered Prayers
I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I had asked for,
but everything that I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered;
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

Be careful what you pray more and remember, sometimes prayer is answered in the most unexpected of ways. Nobody wanted Covid-19 and there have been thousands upon thousands of tragedies. Yet, from that tragedy, God can work. God did not create the tragedy, but he will use it to show God is working God’s purpose out.

​Blessings,
Martin

Fun Fact: The longest word in the Bible is “Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:3)