Reflection: Sunday 30th October - All Saints' Day - and for the week ahead:Scripture:‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:27-31)Reflection:Someone needs ‘the patience of a saint’ we sometimes say, and may be referring to the qualities and actions that Jesus is recommending to us here, and which can seem impossible! Who is that good? This week the Church celebrates both All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Both in different ways taken up with thoughts of those who have gone before us. Not that they were all saints, of course. Far from it, in some cases. But even the saints were not always so saintly. Because saints are not all dead, holy people, so much better at being good than us. The saints, the way that word is used in the Bible, are just those who are trying to live God-centred lives, doing what God wants from us, which in its simplest form can be expressed thus: Do to others as you would have them do to you. That simple, and that difficult. Revd David
Reflection: Sunday 16th October and for the week ahead:Scripture:‘The time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.’. (2 Timothy 3,4)Reflection: In the Old Testament there are numerous stories of kings and military leaders consulting ‘prophets’ about their plans. But they only consult the ones they know will tell them what they want to hear! They don’t want to risk asking the likes of Elijah or Jeremiah, who would tell them the truth, however unwelcome. It’s not hard to think of similar cases in our own time: politicians, leaders (anyone you can think of?), even church groups, who surround themselves with likeminded people and are deaf to anything that challenges their rigidly held point of view. If they don’t agree it must be Fake News. Let us pray for grace to let go of our prejudices and unfounded beliefs, and genuinely open our minds to ‘the truth that sets us free’..Revd Rosemary Kobus van Wengen
