Rivertown United Reformed Church

A world of difference

Light the candle

Voice 1: I live in a fine big house – double glazing, central heating, swimming pool, double garage and a garden.

Voice 2: I live under a corrugated tin roof – no walls, in a shanty town with thousands of other people. We huddle together to keep warm.

Voice 1: When I go shopping I am spoilt for choice – 17 types of bread no less. I always buy myself a little treat.

Voice 2: My family has to grow their own food and we often go hungry when our crops fail in the droughts.

Voice 1: Every morning I have a refreshing shower, a glass of ice cold water and if it is dry I water my garden before going to work.

Voice 2: We are lucky to have water – it is only switched on when the Israelis say so – it is often off for hours every day.

Voice 1: I was wondering whether to buy a 23” wide screen TV or one of those flat screen types.

Please remember in your prayers all those who are unwell,lonely, grieving, lost or uncetain about their future.

May God’s healing presence be felt with all who are suffering, whether physically or mentally, those who are low in spirit. May that love which will never let us go fill the hurting hearts, bringing peace and comfort. May each one of us be alert to the needs of those around us.

“The thought that God has complete foreknowledge of all matters and appoints certain critical hours in history to be turning-points is something we Christians ought to find tremendously reassuring. As we read biblical history we find many occasions when it looked as if events were out of control and then, suddenly a particular occurrence turned the whole situation around. When God’s time arrives, He intervenes, and the situation is seen as contributing to His purpose, not anyone else’s. Often we become downcast and depressed as we look at the state of the world and see the Church derided by men and women of this age. But we must learn that despite all appearances to the contrary, God’s hand is upon the whole situation and a divine plan is being worked out.

Psalm 2:1-12 reminds us that at any moment God can arise and confound His enemies. Any moment – remember that. ‘The One enthroned in heaven’, we are told ‘laughs,’ (v. 4). Why does He laugh? Because as He sees the little people of this earth strutting around so arrogantly, He knows that at a word He could destroy them all. He could, but He won’t, for divine purposes are being accomplished. Everything that is happening is being worked out according to God’s schedule – not ours.”

I am the Good Shepherd and I recognize my own (John 10:14,).

You have probably been in a situation where someone, perhaps a neighbour or a relative, has talked about something that is exclusively hers. There is nothing wrong with such talk, unless of course, the purpose of it is to put down other people. This happens when one person boasts of family possessions as though no one else present could possibly own such things.

Actually we all like to have exclusive ownership of some thing. Its significant that among the first words a baby says are, ‘’Me and Mine.’’We tend to think of the personal pronoun as denoting selfishness. But that is not always so, or David the psalmist would be supremely selfish. “The Lord is my Shepherd,” he states with no smugness or apology. Then David makes great claims on the basis of this personal relationship. ‘I shall not lack,” he declares, outlining all the areas of his life (and death): his good times and the days when enemies would surround him. Were familiar with the words, with their beauty and simple grandeur.

The fruit of the Spirit is … goodness (Gal. 5:22)

In spite of nasty phrases like ‘goody-goody’ and ‘do-gooder’, there is something extraordinarily attractive about goodness.

There is a simplicity and transparency about ‘good’ people. Try peeling the layers off them, and you will find soundness all the way through. What you see is what you get.

Attractive – yes – but also in some ways disconcerting. More than any other virtue, perhaps, goodness throws into stark relief the pettiness, hypocrisy and inconsistency of most human beings. That is why the ‘goody-goody’ is mocked; he or she is ‘too good to be true’ and hence probably isn’t true, but is trying to suck up to someone, or win some advantage over others.

The scornful phrase, ’do-gooder’ is one that is often directed at Christians who engage in acts of love and compassion. Calling you a do-gooder lets me off the hook. I can suspect you of paternalism, of hypocrisy, of, in Jesus’ words ‘doing your “acts of righteousness” before men to be seen by them’. And I can then go on my selfish way with a (reasonably) clear conscience.

The cross is the resurrection of the dead
The cross is the way of the lost
The cross is the staff of the lame
The cross is the guide to the blind
The cross is the strength of the weak
The cross is the doctor of the sick
The cross is the hope of the hopeless
The cross is the freedom of the slaves
The cross is the source of those who seek water
The cross is the cloth of the naked.

Part of a 10th century African Hymn.

I wandered slowly down the road
That winds its way o’er vale and hill,
When all at once I saw a load
Of litter, it made me feel quite ill.
Beside the path, beneath the trees,
Clattering and blowing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
Were wrappers from Mars and Milky Way,
Bottles and coke tins in a line;
Along the Prom, toward the bay.
Thousands I saw at a glance
Tossing about in a litter dance.

The waves beside them danced
But they disgraced the waves untidily,
A poet could not be entranced
In such dreadful company.
I gazed around and then I thought,
What hurt this sight to me had brought.

So oft when on my bed I lie,
That sight will in my mind intrude,
It penetrates my inward eye,
Destroys my peace and solitude,

May there always be work for your hands to do,
May your purse always hold a coin or two,
May the sun always shine on your window-pane,
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain,
May the hand of a friend always be near you,
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Thank you to Margery for this item.

Arthur Balfour, once the P.M. of Great Britain, declared, “The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness, to a friend your heart, to a child a good example, to a father deference, to a mother conduct that will make her proud of you, to yourself respect, to all men charity.”

It takes two to make a quarrel
And both of them are wrong.
Think deeply, speak gently, love much
Laugh often, work hard, give freely, pay promptly,
Pray earnestly, and be kind.

Thank you to Margery for this item.