Thought for the Day - Tuesday 20 October

Thought for the Day – Tuesday 20th October ‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.’ (Genesis 1: 31a) ‘We proclaim Christ crucified, an offence to the Jews and plain folly to others, but to those who have been called, whether Jews or Greeks, it is the message of Christ, the power and wisdom of God.’ (1 Corinthians 1: 23-24).’ We do have such a way of making things so complicated as human beings, don’t we? We constantly plan things to the ‘nth’ degree, we cross every ‘t’, we dot every ‘i’ and all to try and make sure that every eventuality is covered and everything works out okay for everyone involved. I sometimes wonder why we go to all this trouble! Take yesterday, my day off, my day for looking after my youngest grandson, you plan what you will do because the weather is to be poor because you want to have quality time together and fill your day meaningfully and then you discover that actually you may as well have thrown all your plans out the window for it is the simplest of things which delight – looking at tropical fish, looking at lights and the patterns they make, feeling pumpkins, seeing Christmas lights starting to appear, little stones to pick up and look at and garner away, a walk in the rain, splashing in puddles and kicking through leaves – all the simple things of life! So why do we, as Christians, never seem to learn to keep it simple! The message we have to share is a simple one – as Paul says it is the power and wisdom of God and Christ crucified for us! A simple message really and one which can be so simply shared just by living as Christians and showing our love of God, and his ‘good’ created world, and our love for neighbour. Yet, we make it so complicated, don’t we? We sometimes ‘do’ strange things in our denominations, we can have strange rituals which folk find off putting, we wrap our faith up in creeds and dogmas and doctrines and use language folk can’t understand and so they just do not want to engage with us – so complicated! You know, we often speak of simple faith and look on it as a virtue but all these complications sadly mean that so often we don’t practise simple faith in our lives, so is it any wonder the message gets complicated and confused for others! Paul summarised his message in that one sentence – and, of course, even he would admit it needs some fleshing out for others and it will mean different things to different people but he is insisting the relaying of that message in the first place has to be simple. My youngest grandchild always leaves me ‘by blowing kisses’. Now, with absolutely no insult intended or any name calling here, I now blow a kiss to you - KISS – but this kiss is the one people use to say - KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID! So let spread the message but KISS too! Prayer Loving Lord, We trust in your power, even as it is often found in weakness; in your wisdom, even as it is expressed in seeming foolishness; in your wholeness, even as it comes to us amid brokenness. We do not ask this day for dazzling displays of strength, electric exercises of intellectual prowess, or marvellous manifestations of miracles. We come to you as people of simple faith. Touch us this day, O Lord, and help us to keep it simple when sharing your message and bringing your love to those around us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.