Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said, 'Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord", will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?" Then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers."

'Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.'

(Church in Wales Lectionary, from New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I worked for some years in the city of Worcester in the Old Palace, and had a window in my office overlooking the river Severn and the cricket ground. That first winter it was very wet and all the fields below me, including the cricket ground, were flooded. But it was worse on the fields where the battle of Powick had been fought during the Civil War. Here the flood stretched as far as the eye could see, but in the middle with no obvious sign of access was a farm house. Over the next few weeks I noticed they used a boat to get to the road, and I also saw that the house was built on a small rocky outcrop which had obviously protected it for centuries.

Our reading from Matthew's Gospel today is a very stark message. Jesus says that it is not enough to look like a Christian, we have to do the will of God. In other words we have to measure everything by our love of God and our love of our neighbour, and when the worse happens we will be safe, for God will recognise us as His own. We will be like the farmhouse in the middle of the flood, built on sturdy foundations and safe from total catastrophe.

Thursday 3rd December, follow up thoughts

Lord Jesus,
teach us how to do
the 'will of the Father',
and forgive us
when we make mistakes.
Help us make sure
that the foundations
of our faith are strong
enough to sustain us.
Amen.