Peter Blog a few random thoughts

I remember when I was working in Basildon we had a small church on the side of the town called Langdon. They hated being associated with Basildon. I remember once being severally told off when I said that I was happy to be here in Basildon and someone came over to me and said. “what you have to remember Father is that we are not like those people from Basildon we are from Langdon: although they had a Basildon postcode. Jesus addresses people who pride themselves on their virtue while despising everyone else. This attitude can come through in our prayer life. Listen to the Pharisee who comes and prays to himself and notice the language he uses. The dominant word is “I” His self-righteousness is the dominant theme of his prayer. Thanking God he is not like those around him or the tax collector. The Pharisee’s thought of themselves as separated from the rest of the Jewish people. They saw themselves as superior. Notice something else about his prayer it has no humility. H...

    Lepers at the time of Jesus were placed outside of the community. They lived generally outside the town and were shunned by others. It seems to me no surprise then that they stuck together as some sort of support to each other. They went collectively to Jesus to ask for the gift of healing but from a distance we hear in the Gospel. “ They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" As they went to show themselves to the priest they were cleansed. Jesus showed pity on them. This healing story has other dimensions. Notice that there were not many of them who came back to thank him. It was not any ordinary person it was a Samaritan someone who was disliked by the main Jewish people. This unexpected person came back to say thank you. I have a friend who when the sun is out and it is a lovely day says “it’s too hot” when it is a bit cooler they say “it’s too cold” When it has not rained for a long time they say “It ...

  I  suspect that if I asked you how I get the emergency services there would be no one here in the Church who could not tell me how to get the Emergency services in a hurry. IT is something that comes very naturally. When we had the old style telephones where you put your finger into the phone they reckoned it was easy because it was the last digit before the dial went back to the beginning. When there is an emergency we know exactly where to go. The Gospel today explains and tells us to pray constantly. But I wonder if we use prayer like and emergency number calling on God when we need him. When we look at Jesus teaching on prayer. There are two things that he seems to tell us. The first only taught prayer is the Our Father. He prays that his Father’s kingdom may come here on earth but it is something that is not in the future but it is here and now growing among his Church. Jesus knows that there are those who will find it difficult to see the signs of the Kin...