You may have heard the news earlier this week that the professional footballers association is going to be auctioning their famous painting, ‘Going to the match', by Lowry at Christies this month. The painting is expected to raise £8 million. The Mayor of Salford is appealing to the football community to raise the funds so that it can stay on display at the Lowry gallery in Salford.

During his lifetime Lowry’s art was not considered of much worth but with the years there has come an appreciation, even love for his portrayal of Northern life in all its gritty reality. I remember the song ‘Matchstick men and matchstick dogs’ that got to the top of the charts and made Lowry into a household name and northern icon. We may think that the figures are clumsy, the colours are dirty, and the details are sketchy, but that’s just my opinion! However, none of that matters because his art is loved and valued not for the artist's skill but for what it is. All art is valued for itself not for the cost of the materials or even the skill of the artist. Its value is in the eye of the beholder

Our value to God and God’s love for humanity is very much the subject of this discourse in Luke’s gospel.

Friends, not Servants

Luke tells the story of a servant who does his job well. Does he get a reward? No! Jesus makes the point that when a servant does his job he is only performing his duty. He doesn’t expect praise, or thanks, because he is only performing his duty. Jesus tells this story because he wants to contrast the way the world works and the way that God works. God calls us friends and not servants, Jesus often referred to us as ‘Children of God’. We are valued by God not for what we do, but for who we are, his children.

Not great faith but great love

The disciples were given a challenge by Jesus. “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says ‘I repent’, forgive him” Luke 17: 4. The disciples reply, “Increase our faith” Luke 17: 5. They knew how difficult it was going to be to live up to his high standards and they asked for faith. Jesus replies: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’ and it will obey you” Luke 17: 6. Jesus knew that their faith was as small as a mustard seed, but he also knew that his Father’s love was great.

Moved by love not need

God’s love is seen to be indiscriminate, He blesses all with His gifts because He loves all His creation. We might expect Jesus to be motivated by pity or need, or maybe by the faith of those who came to him but that would be to misunderstand God’s love. God’s goodness is not in response to anything we do but flows only out of His love for us. Nor is His response in proportion to our faith in Him. His response exceeds our expectations and efforts – the mulberry tree obeys us!

It is not our needs, our efforts, or our faith that moves God, but as Paul tells us ‘because of His great love for us, God made us alive with Christ’ Rom 5:8.

So what is to stop us from taking advantage of His love, nothing, we can walk away without ever stopping to thank and praise Him, as did nine of the lepers. The leper who returned to Jesus threw himself at Jesus’ feet. It was an act more of worship than thanks. As children of God, we love and serve Him not because of what we can get out of Him, not even for what He gives us but because of who He is, our Father God.

When we look at all the great characters of the Bible; Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, - we see men and women like us who often fail and get it wrong, but God never gives up on them because He loves them as they are and asks them to offer what they have. Like the Lowry painting, we may not feel it is great art but that’s not the point, it is loved and valued for itself by those who see in it something of intrinsic value. Its value like our value to God is in the eye of the beholder; in God’s eyes, we are infinitely precious.

So it’s not our faith that produces results, nor even our best efforts, but God’s faithfulness to us, even in our weakness that transforms us and makes us what we should be. It is because we know that we are loved and accepted by God that we can offer Him our best knowing that He can do great things with us. He makes us more than just servants He makes us His friends.

Rev Simon Brignall

The seven days of Creation

Scripture, art, poetry, music, meditation, clay

Seven Wednesday afternoons at Lady Lucy Cottage,

Coln St Aldwyns

5th October: Light and darkness

Prayer for Ukraine

God of peace and justice we pray for the people of Ukraine today,

and the laying down of weapons. We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow, that your spirit of comfort would draw near to them.

We pray for those with power over war and peace, for wisdom, discernment, and compassion to guide their decisions. Above all, we pray for all your precious children at risk and in fear, that you would hold and protect them. We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.