Stephen preached from Psalm 93 this morning, looking at the might and majesty of God.

The psalm begins by telling us ‘the Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty.’ A coronation is probably the time when we appreciate the majesty of a king or queen. It’s a public display showing the power invested in the crowned person. They wear elaborate robes and gowns and their crown is the symbol of their authority.

Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation in 1953:



God’s splendour and majesty are enormous. He is ‘armed with strength’ and rules for all eternity. All of creation rises up to give glory to God. The pounding waves and breakers of the sea all acknowledge how mighty God is. We should be like the waves, relentlessly giving praise to God, never ending, never ceasing in our ongoing acknowledgment of who He is!

God’s holiness adorns Him. Do we reflect His holiness? Do we see His strength from on high? May we praise Him and reflect Him in all we do.

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” the saying goes. I’m sure dullness is not a characteristic of church members at Goldthorpe! – and we certainly know how to both work and play as we proved on Friday, when we had a cleaning session before we played badminton.

Cleaning chairs



Cleaning play equipment:



Playing badminton:





A short badminton video:

For those of you old enough to remember talent shows before ‘The X Factor’ and ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, there was a show called ‘Opportunity Knocks‘. This talent show was famously hosted by Hughie Green, and later editions were hosted by Bob Monkhouse from 1987 until 1989 with Les Dawson (a former winner) in 1990.Unlike its rival New Faces, the winning acts on Opportunity Knocks were decided not by a panel of experts but by the viewing public. A singing dog apparently once won the show!

I’m not a great fan of this kind of programme, but was reminded of this show the other day when I came across a quote from Thomas Edison about opportunity. I think this is more apt than the kind of sensationalist talent show which currently graces our TV screens!

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” (Thomas Edison)

I think this is very true. So often we want the glitz and glamour of fame and fortune, of ‘being discovered’, of having our moment in the limelight. But we often fail to recognise the God-given opportunities we face every day because they don’t look like we expect them to. Abraham’s servant, coming to a well at the end of a long journey, seeking a wife for his master’s son and praying that God would send the right person to him… Ordinary moments can be very much God’s hand working in our lives, but it may not look spectacular. For every amazing victory (think of David and Goliath!), there has generally been a lot of behind-the-scenes activity that looked very ordinary (David being a shepherd, taking on the wild animals as part of his everyday job description…)

We attended a concert last week given by Jack Gibbons. This talented pianist amazed us with his skill and ability to play. His repertoire is vast – classical, jazz, many different styles of music. But behind the glamour of a 2 hour concert lie hours and hours of work… opportunity in overalls, practising tirelessly, repetitively, boringly. He has transcribed all the works of George Gershwin by ear from recordings made in the 1920s and 1930s, once spending all day listening to the notes of one single chord to make sure they were right. Does this look like opportunity or hard work?! Sometimes, perhaps, the two things are indistinguishable…

“Life is full of light and shadow”, the DavidCrowder*Band song ‘Shadows’ goes. It’s full of ups and downs and twists and turns. Very rarely does it seem as though we’re on a straight road. Life, it seems to me, is more like a rambling country lane than a dead straight motorway…

I am currently reading the songs of ascent which pilgrims sang on their annual journey up to Jerusalem. Today I read Ps 126, a song about the restoration of Israel’s fortunes after a time of sorrow:

“When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,

we were like those who dreamed.

2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great things for them.”

3 The LORD has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy.” (Ps 126:1-3)

The people of God have always known what it is to rejoice and what it is to mourn or grieve. Paul reminds us in Romans 12: “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (Rom 12:15) There will be times in life when both responses are required.

Ps 126 goes on:

“Those who sow with tears

will reap with songs of joy.

Those who go out weeping,

carrying seed to sow,

will return with songs of joy,

carrying sheaves with them.” (Ps 126:5-6)

Whether things are going well for us or we feel we’re in a drought, God’s name is to be praised. Aaron Shust’s new song ‘My Hope is in You’ says “My hope is in you, Lord all the day long. I won’t be shaken by drought or storm.” Matt Redman expresses this view in his song ‘Blessed Be Your Name’ when he talks about praising God whether the sun’s shining on us or we’re found in the desert place. Our response needs to be consistent, looking to God whatever our circumstances, whether we’re sowing in tears or reaping with joy.

May God give us the courage and grace to bless His name at all times, in all circumstances, with steadfastness and faith.

I do apologise in advance for the randomness of this post. My Internet home page is set to Google and as you may know, they put pretty pictures on there of things of general interest. It’s a bit like having an automatic calendar. Birthdays and anniversaries (see the previous post!) are celebrated by Google!

Today’s picture is this:

I looked at it curiously. Einstein, I decided, must have been born today. But when I hovered over the picture, the words “I have discovered a truly marvellous proof of this theorem, which this doodle is too small to contain” appear and I decided it must be Pierre de Fermat’s birthday instead. Sure enough, he was born on 17th August, though the year seems to be in dispute (1601 or 1607 or 1608 were all suggested by Wikipedia!)

Fermat, for those of you who aren’t surrounded by mathematicians and maths books as I am, was a 17th century mathematician famous for his ‘Last Theorem’ which states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two. No, I don’t understand it, either. I did know of Fermat because he was French and a contemporary of the philosopher and mathematician Pascal. I do vaguely remember the theorem only being ‘proved’ in recent years, over 300 years after Fermat wrote about it. It makes no difference at all to my daily living as far as I can see and I’m really not that interested in it, though my husband and son often try to explain to me the wonders and relevance of maths.

What does interest me, however, is the fact that people have the capacity to think about these things, ponder them, reflect on them and care about them. The human mind is an amazing thing and I am constantly awed by what it can conceive.

Many of us are so busy with everyday things that we feel we have no time for thinking. Jesus warned us in Matthew 6:25-34 not to be so preoccupied with the everyday things that we forget about God. God is there, even in the ordinary, even in the mundane, and we need to reflect on Him and ‘ponder anew what the Almighty can do’ at every opportunity. Stopping and reflecting on an extraordinary life lived hundreds of years ago – even if it seems to have little direct connection to my ordinary life in 2011 – can’t be a bad way to start the day!

People have very different attitudes to birthdays. Some love them. Some dread them. Some are indifferent to them.

In a similar manner, people have very different attitudes to the birthday box at church, and this was very definitely demonstrated this last Sunday.

We had the reluctant birthday girl…



We had the shy birthday girl…



We had the defiant birthday girl…



… and we had the absolutely-eager-I’ve-been-waiting-for-this-moment-for-months birthday girl…



Whatever the attitude, we wish all of these a very happy birthday and pray God’s richest blessings for the coming year for each one of them.