19/05/2012 by Rev Sarah.

Today the General Assembly opened with its usual flush of pomp and ceremony. And my first thought as I watched some of the amazing costumes and hats was whether any of them wanted to be there? Perhaps I do them a great injustice to think that the passing of letters and speeches were just tradition but it seemed somewhat ironic to make Alec Salmond sit though the royal material.  Of course his face gave nothing away.  As the day progressed though I was struck by the careful answers of Convenors to questions that tried to dig below the surface. Are we as transparent an organisation as we like to think?

Later I was blessed to have an honest conversation with a supervisor but wished I had said that I am more guarded with others if they were to ask me the same question. We share information readily with some and not with others. Not that we are telling fibs but that we choose our answers based on place, time and people.

Is allowing other religions to worship in our buildings a form of deception where we are unfaithful to God? This question was posed on the floor of the GA and if I am honest I agreed with the sentiment of it.  You can’t take the evangelist out of me that easily. However as the debate progressed I was challenged to look deeper. How big is my God? How confident am I in him? Therefore I had to leave it to the minister’s prerogative because God works in mysterious ways.

Should the vision statement include the words to love as Jesus loves? Do we need to be explicit on that? Shouldn’t we do that anyway? Are we being transparent if we add the words to all our public documents? I suspect we would be deceiving ourselves if we thought all it took was to put it in words. 

The last comment I want to make in a day filled with fascinating thoughts, challenges and mind boggling minutae belongs to Helen who spoke so passionately about the church in china.  I admit to not hearing all of the World mission report as was deep in conversation elsewhere over coffee.  But if listen again was possible for the General Assembly I’d send you to it right now.  Her closing phrase and forgive if it haven’t got it 100% right was this

If you want to walk fast, walk alone.  If you want to walk far, walk together. Love never ends.

I pray that the General Assembly walks together with each other in her myriad forms and the congregations under her care. But more importantly I hope she walks together with our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, sharing Jesus’ love.  

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12/05/2012 by Rev Sarah.

Reading:  John 6:1-15 The Feeding of the Five Thousand.

I want to ask you one question. 

How many people knew where the bread and fish came from? 

Think about the scene for a moment.  Do your best to imagine what 5000 men sitting in one place look like.  It is more people than are to be found in our entire parish.  So when bread and fish turn up to eat you ponder where it comes from but do you know that Jesus provided out of 5 loaves and 2 fish?  As the lunch progresses then gossip gets back as the story passes down the line.  But let’s focus on the front row.

You have Philip who is asked to buy the lunch doing the mental sums in his head…lunch for this lot would cost almost year’s wages.  Allowing for a basic average wage – you are talking around £17,000 (in Scotland in 2011) and as Philip points out you wouldn’t get much. 

Andrew offers what they do have, a wee lad with 5 loaves and 2 fish.  I wonder how many sniggers there were.   It would be like me holding up a tenner and offering to my Kirk Session out for dinner (About 24 of them).

Yet Jesus takes the little they have and offers it to God, saying thank you. 

“Thank you God that in your wisdom you have provided us with food.  I ask that as creator, provider and my most generous Father you would take the little we have and multiply, that all might be fed and give you the glory.  Amen.”

How often do we say thank you for the little we have and then offer it to God, praying with confidence that he will take the little we have and multiply it for his glory?  How often are we more like Philip worrying about the fact the sums don’t add up instead of like Andrew offering what we have?

The Church has become guilty of being like Philip and ignoring Andrew.  Let’s be grateful to God for the little we have knowing that with God that’s all he needs.   When it comes to our family, parish, community, and church what can we thank God, offering it up and allowing him to multiply it for his glory?

When the Kirk Session started thinking about this on Wednesday they realised they had a lot to thank God for and the list given was no where near exhaustive.  Sometimes we spend more time worrying about what we don’t have that we don’t realise what we do have.  The rest of the meeting was a joy despite the challenges and concerns because we knew who was in ultimate control.  Forth St Paul’s might not be a mega-church with loads of money or resources, but the little she has is being well and truly multiplied by our generous God.

Offer your little to God and thank him for it.  Gratitude is the key.  It might be a little faith, it might be something you are a little good at, it might be the resources or contacts you have - thank God for the little and let him do the rest.

May you be richly blessed by our God who just loves to give.

Love Sarah

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20/04/2012 by Rev Sarah.

This was the Word for Today on the 19th April and I wanted to share it because I really enjoyed it.  It is more tongue in cheek than the usual ones.   I do recommend the UCB daily email for there is usually something for us all to ponder.    

After arguing for hours, a couple drove along in silence. Suddenly they passed a barnyard filled with mules and jackasses. Sarcastically, the husband asked, ‘Relatives of yours?’ The wife replied, ‘Yes, in-laws.’ Marriage was God’s idea, and it was a good one. Picking up the theme, Jesus said, ‘A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife.’ In marriage, ‘two’s company, three’s a crowd!’

So here are ten commandments for being a good in-law:

1) Thou shalt love, honour and respect the couple.

2) Thou shalt grant them independence, resisting the urge to show them ‘a better way’ of doing things.

3) Thou shalt be loyal and not criticise them, for, ‘…That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging…’ (Matthew 7:2 TM).

4) Thou shalt not find fault: ‘Don’t…jump on their failures…unless…you want the same treatment…’ (Matthew 7:1 TM).

5) Thou shalt not outwear thy welcome, and always call before thou showest up at their dwelling. ‘…Don’t…show up at all hours…[they’ll]…get fed up’ (Proverbs 25:17 TM).

6) Thou shalt not expect them to visit thee too often.

7) Thou shalt refrain from giving unsolicited advice: ‘A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in…’ (Proverbs 29:11).

Thou shalt not talk about how thou wantest grandchildren unless they are already on the way.

9) Thou shalt respect their home decorating taste even when it differeth from thine.

10) Thou shalt pray for them daily and without fail.

If you are an in-law who doesn’t want to be viewed as an out-law, live by these commandments!

© 2012: This devotional is produced by UCB, free of charge through the generosity of our supporters. As a gift to the body of Christ, permission is given to Churches and Christian organisations to copy up to a maximum of 52 daily excerpts per year. Excerpts must acknowledge The Word For Today as the source, give the UCB address and inform that free issues of the daily devotional are available for the UK and Republic of Ireland.

The Word For Today is written by Bob and Debby Gass, with Ruth Gass Halliday.

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18/04/2012 by Rev Sarah.

This is the Easter Reflection I wrote for the Sunday morning 10am service.  I didn’t use it because I ended up speaking on how we celebrate our God in his glory of the Trinity.  I will post that thought shortly.  However it is the first time I have ever preached without notes! Quite something.  For those of you curious to know what I would have said - here it is.  Please remember it is in the context of morning worship on Easter Sunday.  Using John 20:1-18

The theme of today’s service is celebration.  And what a celebration it is.  On Maundy Thursday we sat with Jesus at his table and on Good Friday we followed Judas to the gallows, Peter to the courtyard and Mary to the cross.  We were encouraged to stay with Jesus, to watch and prayer.

Today though we celebrate the good news of our risen Brother Jesus.  We don’t totally understand it, can’t readily explain it but like the disciples we are prepared to believe what we cannot imagine. We look back at something that happened 2000 years ago and try to grasp hold of it. 

Can you imagine the pure joy when they finally realised the truth?  The one they thought was the Messiah had died – in shame, a failure, and abandoned by them.  They had hit rock bottom.  There was no lower they could go.  Suddenly though here is Jesus – who we know appeared to them and reassured them.  In John’s Gospel – appearing first to the Mary Magadelene.  She wasn’t so keen to leave the Garden. 

We know from stories that Mary Magadelene loved Jesus deeply and understood him best based on the perfume story.  And she wanted answers.  So she waited for him at the last place she had seen him.  He rewarded her and made her the first one to share the good news. 

Can you imagine the joy Mary felt? 

When you meet Jesus do you feel joy? Is today a day of celebration for you?  Did you wake up this morning and think to yourself the Christ is risen.  Praise the Lord.  We run the risk of being complacent because of the distance there is between then and now.  And if we don’t make an effort to mark Good Friday we cannot experience the joy of Easter Sunday in all its glory. 

Celebration comes from a desire to mark a happy occasion. Today is a great day to celebrate.  For today we remember that death is defeated for ever.  Today we remember that evil in whatever shape or form you understand it is defeated.  Today we remember that forgiveness will always have the last word.  Today the light of the world shines even brighter.

The question is do we think that celebrating is just the party element?  Or is there a form of celebrating that includes sharing the good news with others?  Mary could have kept the encounter with Jesus a secret but she didn’t.  There is something so amazing, so wonderful about meeting the risen Jesus that you can’t help but share it.  When we think we have lost something and we are deeply affected by its loss we end up telling the world when we have found it. 

I am sure you can remember times when you have lost something and found it eventually and wondered who you can tell.  Mary couldn’t have kept Jesus a secret because she was so excited. 

I pray that this Easter – as you celebrate our risen Saviour you will be so moved with excitement and joy that you will simply burst if you don’t share the good news with another.

I pray that this Easter you will be encouraged to believe that with God all things are possible – including life from death. And that he is willing to share his power through us as he did through Jesus. 

I pray that this Easter you will be blessed by our Risen Christ, and feel heaven breach this cold dark earth and claim back her own residents. 

I pray that as we gather around the Lord’s table – his table where he is the host we will remember the cost of his body and blood.  And as we partake of him we will receive the faith to believe in our Holy God who loves us and for whom nothing is impossible. 

We celebrate Easter for 7 weeks so this is still within the right time zone! 

God bless,

Love Sarah

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07/03/2012 by Rev Sarah.

Last night at Presbytery we had the send off for Rev Margaret Muir (Glencaple and Lowther) who retires at the end of April.  With much laughter, some moments of cringing behind the desk, and obvious genuine love for one of our more entertaining ministers, Presbytery relaxed and celebrated what it meant for Margaret to work for the Lord.  Much was made of her legacy and it has to be said that she certainly leaves a legacy.  She has taught her congregations about prayer and spirituality, opened up the scriptures and put up with the Vicar of Dibley jokes with good grace.  And she shared some of what she hopes to do in the future but recognised that God has a plan for her and she awaits his direction.

Many ministers have retired to live a quiet life of rest and relaxation (and probably pulpit supply).  Margaret has hopes to continue to learn more from Scripture and to follow God’s plan for her retirement.  She retires from the parish ministry but she isn’t retiring from God’s work and call.  For me that is the most powerful legacy of all. And I heard God tell me to pray for her and the parishes she leaves.  So with nothing planned and simply the urge to pray I prayed - not with finesse but with genuine love for a woman who has constantly reminded me in the past year that God is greater than the church or me, and all is in His hands.

Reading through the Gospels and of course preparation for Easter can sometimes make us keep Jesus in the past.  He becomes a story, a wonderful story of hope and life and overcoming obstacles, but sometimes we lose his legacy in the keeping of traditions.  Like those who spoke about Margaret focussed on the past - on what she had done and said,  we too put Jesus in the past.

However we must remember that Jesus is somewhat like our Margaret - when he returned to heaven he didn’t retire from God’s work and plan.  He retired from parish ministry but he is still working for and with God his Father.  When he gave us the simple instruction (!) to go and make disciples he didn’t say it was all up to us because he was retiring from active service.  He said he would be with us always, even to the end of the age.

Let’s not treat Jesus as a has-been, retired from active service and put out to pasture.  And definitely, let’s not treat him as a wonderful story but let us worship him fully - recognising him as human and divine, Saviour and brother, the Word made flesh.

For when we stop treating Jesus like a story, albeit with a wonderful legacy, then those around us will stop seeing Jesus as a story too.

When Jesus is real to us, he will be real for others.

We are his witnesses for the 21st Century and there is no retirement age.

God bless

Love Sarah

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28/02/2012 by Rev Sarah.

Walking home from dropping my wee fella at school I was struck today by the image of potholes.  Those of you who are car drivers, especially in residential areas of South Lanarkshire, will have a love/hate relationship with potholes.  As a general rule the council simply fill in these holes rather than take up the road and start again.  Now before this becomes a rant about potholes I want us to consider whether the church is as guilty of filling in potholes instead of doing a proper job of re-laying the road.

The road between my house and the main road is so rutted that there are more potholes than road.  In the few years that I have been here the holes have continued to appear, more each time and the council faithfully pour in some tar, squash it down and then go on to the next one.  It has got so bad I actually feel sorry for the men doing the work.  The road condition has continued to deteriorate and each time they return they fill in the same holes as last time plus new ones.

Has the church over the generations followed a similar practice?  Have we kept filling in the potholes with more programmes, with more worship, with fancy screens and praise bands, even Alpha and Billy Graham live links.  Have we ever taken the time to look at what is causing the potholes?  It is easy to fill in the potholes and for a wee while we do see growth but before long the holes appear again.

It is argued by the Council that it is cheaper to fill in the potholes than repair the road.  Yet my road is now verging on unsuitable for vehicles as it is so rutted, unless you have really good suspension.

The Church cannot afford to continue to fill in the potholes.  Nobody wants to drive on a road that is full of potholes, and people don’t want to belong to churches that don’t know who or what they are about.  Do we need to strip right back to the base of the road and re-lay a smooth road?

The thing is when the council do come to fix my road (apparently in 2013 according to some rumours) they won’t change the route of the road.  They will strip the road down to a reasonable level and put in a new road smooth and a joy to drive.

The church is not being asked to become something else or even go in a different direction. But I do believe that we need to strip the church back to its original purpose.  Primarily to fulfil the Greatest Commandment and in turn the Great Commission. And in doing so perhaps we will move away from church being a building and church being a way of life.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbour as you love yourself.  And go and make disciples, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I (Jesus) have taught you.

The challenge is that we have got so used to filling potholes the church is struggling to break the habit.  At Forth St Paul’s we are developing a discipleship model and even in 9 months we are seeing breakthroughs, and the machines are gathering to tear up the road.  When the new road is laid we will be so pleased but this in between stage when preparations are happening for the road to be closed and torn up is the most frustrating.

This is a time for prayer and preparation, hope and expectation.

All rather appropriate for Lent.

God bless,

Love Sarah

Comments welcome.  

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27/02/2012 by Rev Sarah.

Tonight I took part in a fascinating conversation about positive and negative attitudes with the Forth Youth Fellowship otherwise own as the FYF. Do you see the glass as half full or half empty? The young people were frank and challenging in their thoughts and very gracious with what could have been a difficult subject.

Being a YF we turned to Scripture and looked at some biblical “half-empty” people and what came of them.  We started with Jonah - he saw the glass half empty and legged it in the others direction.  He wasn’t for getting involved with those Ninevah folks.  And when eventually he does he is gutted because they change their ways and there is no mass destruction.  And no amount of pleading from God was changing his mind.

Then we moved to that fabulous tale of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 where he has lost the will to live. He is the last prophet left standing and he hears the queen of hearts yell “off with his head” - or words to that effect.  He too legs it but God is rather more gentle with him for it is fear rather than self interest that motivates his behaviour. God feeds him and allows him time to rest and heal. Then after a journey away from Jezebel and her minions he meets with God at the cave. There he experiences God’s power over nature and God comes gently once again. He sends Elijah to meet with the 7000 who believe as well as bringing him to Elisha, the one he will disciple. Elijah as we all know becomes one of the most highly revered prophets in the Jewish and Christian faith. Yet even he has bad days.

We finished with a look at Exodus chapter 3 and the infamous story of the burning bush. Here Moses argues with God - repeatedly telling God that he can’t do what He asks. No matter what God does or says, or “tricks” he shows Moses - Moses still says he can’t do it.  If anything Moses is pretty gutsy telling God he can’t do it but finally God wins with the help of brother Aaron.  Read on though and Moses becomes the one who changes the course of history for the Israelites and is right up there at the top of the faith tree. Moses even remains faithful when Aaron does not.

Being a glass half empty person doesn’t mean that good things won’t happen.  However Moses needed support and Elijah needed strength and with it, through God achieved amazing things. Jonah on the other hand refused God’s help and his story ends with him dejected and angry on a hillside.

Are you a Moses? Convinced that you can’t do it? With God all things are possible and there are folk who will support you until you find the way.

Are you Elijah? Hurt, broken, worn out, weary, stressed to the max? God brings you healing and strength for the road ahead.  He will provide people to share the load. He promises to never leave you nor abandon you.

Or are you Jonah? I pray not!

May you find God is faithful to you no matter your circumstances.

And I will do a blog on the optimists of the Bible soon - those who see the glass as half full.

God bless

Love Sarah

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10/02/2012 by Rev Sarah.

Matthew 11:25-30

New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

The Father Revealed in the Son

 ²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

   ²⁷ “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

   ²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 It is in knowing Jesus we find our rest.

Faith isn’t all about doing (eg going to every available Christian event) nor is it just about Sundays.  Somewhere, somehow we need to strike a balance between feeding ourselves and feeding others in a spiritual sense of the term feeding.  We need to be fit and healthy mentally, physically and spiritually in order to feed others, and that involves resting but it also means thinking about the burdens we carry.

The RevTopsy Posse are using LifeShapes in their discipleship. The triangle model has an up, in and out dimension.  (If I figure it out I will try and put a diagram up!)

UP – the importance of resting in God.  We have to get to know God which we do through the son Jesus. We often read the verse about resting without reading what goes before.  We can only rest when we are comfortable with the company…hence the term comfortable silence.  Resting in God, even resting with God means that we need to be comfortable with him.  One other thing I encourage you to notice - Jesus offers rest first, partnership second and burden third.  How often do we flip it round and rarely ever make it to rest?  

·         How do we rest in God?  Suggestions – prayer, retreats, bible study, reading spiritual books, practising spiritual disciplines, Sunday worship, Christian community fellowship.

IN – looking to ourselves – what burdens have we accepted?  Have we accepted God’s burden or have we collected a few others along the way?  This is not to say that the other things we do in God’s name are not valuable or important but have we collected more burdens than we should.  In our language burden might make more sense if we used the word “responsibility”.  

·         Jesus said our burden would be light yet most of us carry huge burdens.

·         Notice that Jesus only mentions one burden…

OUT – once we have a handle on our burden then we can start to live it out.  The image of the yoke suggests that we work in partnership with another.  In partnership with Jesus and in partnership with each other.  A problem shared is a problem halved. A burden carried by two is lighter than when it is carried by one.

So what about you?

UP – how do you rest in God?

IN – what burdens are you carrying and for whom?  Do you need to let go of some of your burdens and trust God to pass on your burdens to the right people?  Do you need to accept the burden God actually has for you? 

OUT – Perhaps you recognise your burden but you need to work on it.  Who has God called to be yoked to you?  We all have a role to play in the great commission and this is just the beginning of our adventures.

In a world where we are told to keep doing - for example you show your deep faith through how much work you do, your loyalty by how many hours you put in, and your skills by how many things you can do at once, it is great to be told to lay your burdens down and rest in God.  

Can I encourage you to reflect on your burdens (responsibilities)?  How many have you acquired?  What do you need to stop doing in order to start doing what you should be doing? Do you ever stop and rest in God?

I have been forced to rest because of ill health (winter bugs) and I find it frustrating!  But the more you practise rest (as opposed to laziness) the more you realise its value.

God bless, and I will be back soon!

Love Sarah

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17/11/2011 by Rev Sarah.

On Tuesday I went to Edinburgh as I am taking a Clergy Course in Spiritual Accompaniment.  And being me, I hadn’t done all my reading.  Shocking I know.  So I parked up early and went into Costa Coffee in the Tescos right next to my course location.  The Costa is tucked away in the back corner of this Tescos and I took my seat and started my reading.  As I read though I felt God interrupting me, and making me look around.  As I did I saw a metaphor for how the church has become…

Despite being buried in the back corner of the supermarket, the surroundings were instantaneously Costa.  The comfy seats, the layout of the coffee bar and the decor.  Looking out from my safe seat I could watch people shopping and working whilst I enjoyed my Rich Hazelnut Latte (lovely) and read, surrounded by a few individuals doing the same.  We had all sat a respectful distance apart so as not to get in the way of each other, united by our common purpose of coffee and reading, but that was as far as it went.

It got me thinking about safe havens but then I saw a metaphor for the church.  Here I sit in my “comfy, recognisable, safe” surroundings doing my own thing with a bunch of relative strangers who are all doing their own thing, united by one thing, yet not interacting unless necessary, watching or ignoring the busy world only yards away.

The Church is in the world but a bit like Costa she sits on the fringes, watching or ignoring, but not getting involved.  It has become an US and THEM situation and if we are truly honest, we would rather be drinking coffee than in the midst of the chaos that is Tescos.  We would rather be in church looking after ourselves than out there getting our hands dirty.  Or we talk about getting out there but we are afraid of what might happen…

The Discipleship movement that is going on in Forth St Paul’s is about leaving the coffee shop and entering the supermarket and working with people where they are, rather than expecting the people to come into our coffee shop.  The coffee shop, the Church will always exist because we all need a coffee break now and again, and we need the planners looking out seeing what needs to be done.  But the supermarket was busier than the coffee shop and the real work was being done there.  No matter how plush the surroundings or how lovely the coffee - unless people have time or know that they need God they won’t come into our church.

Where do you find yourself?  Always drinking coffee but never out on the shop floor?  Do you want to get out?  Do you feel God inviting you to join him on the shop floor but you are struggling to figure it all out?  Don’t worry - when God invites you he will also give you purpose and identity.

Do not be fooled: You cannot cheat God.  People only harvest what they plant.  If they plant to satisfy their sinful selves, their sinful selves will bring them ruin.  But if they plant to please the Spirit, they will receive eternal life from the Spirit.  We must not become tired of doing good.  We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time if we do not give up. Galatians 6: 7-9 (NCV)

Let’s not give up and let’s escape the coffee shop and get down to the real work, knowing that the regular coffee breaks  we will share will be all the more special, and eventually the hard work will be rewarded.

God bless you this day and always, especially when you are working in his mission fields.

Love Sarah

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03/11/2011 by Rev Sarah.

By scripture alone- the question I am pondering is which version?

Now before you think this is an argument about doctrine or how we interpret Scripture especially in relation to contentious issues that drive wedges into our relationships with each other and with God - it isn’t.  You are safe and can read on, though you might still totally disagree with me by the end…

If you raid your book shelves how many Bibles will you find and how many different versions?  As a minister you would expect me to have a few - I have the Good News Version(2), the New International Version (3), New American Standardised Version, the Dramatised Bible, The Message (only NT and Psalms version), King James Version (Christening Bible), New Revised Standard, New Century Version (Children’s Bible, Youth Bible and Mom’s Bible). And now I have modern technology I have an electronic one that can access around 30 versions.

At the weekend I saw a copy of the Masonic Bible (KJV) and I am sorry to say it made me chuckle.  I know, deeply irreverent of me and I am sorry.  The language for me was so archaic though and I tripped over a verse about mighty mischief which brought a smile, given the company I was in.  And then on Sunday night I was speaking with a Catholic friend at Alpha and we were talking about how each ‘religion’ is perceived by the other at times.  I told her that I didn’t even know the Catholics had their own Bible with that section called the Apocrypha until I went to University and I had to go find out what the Apocrypha is.  It wasn’t that I was brought up in a sectarian setting - in fact I am lucky that I have a great ecumenical background (which is why I struggle with the barriers that are so easily erected but that is for another day!).

However having said all that I struggle with all these versions of Scripture that come full of distractions.  There I have said it.  Shocking isn’t it?  I recently got myself a copy of the NCV Mom’s bible.  I needed a new one because my one had fallen apart with use (and yes it is in the bin).  When I read it the other day I found it hard to follow the actual Scripture because of all the inserts telling me as a mom how to interpret the passages.  And mom isn’t a typo. But at other times I know they will be very helpful because Scripture isn’t always easy to get into it.  My young people enjoy the Youth Bible because it gives some answers and challenges.

But dare I wonder if we are curtailing the richness of Scripture by trying too hard to speak for Scripture?  I find so many people want to put an interpretation on in - whether from our theological backgrounds, from culture,  from the sermons that do stick(!), or these wee inserts - that sometimes God struggles to break through the clutter.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all for people engaging with Scripture - reading commentaries or thoughts for the day or whatever - in fact I encourage it.  But I want to suggest that before you drown a text in study, that you spend time with it, reading, re-reading and asking God to speak to you through the text.  Be prepared for surprises because when we stop putting our interpretation on it, God can speak to our hearts more deeply.  Sometimes he encourages us, sometimes he disciplines us, sometimes he calls us out, sometimes he invites us just to worship Him and we remember that we are his children.   And then when you read around the text, God can reinforce his message.

No matter which version of Scripture you read, whether it comes with inserts or is the KJV - as long as you can meet God through his Word - that is all that really matters.  For Christians Scripture must be the source we return to again and again because its message is what will sustain us during these days of upheaval and uncertainty, as long as we believe that God is ever present in it and uses it as a tool for communication and relationship building with us.

I believe it was Karl Barth who said (and this is about all the theology I remember!):

The Bible is not holy whilst it is upon the shelf gathering dust.  

It is only becomes holy when it is lifted down and read. 

 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Luke 21:33 (NIV)

May God bless your reading today and speak to your hearts, regardless of version.

Love Sarah

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