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.

All our historic ramblings last week led me to thinking about legacies. We looked round so many historic buildings, which generally only became historic because somebody had the vision and determination to want to leave behind something that would make a difference to the world.

We saw the Roman baths in the city of Bath, an amazing engineering legacy:



We saw the majestic abbey in Bath, a soaring architectural legacy:



We visited the Cotswold Wildlife Park, where a local landowner had the vision to protect and breed endangered species as well as providing education about wildlife to local people (I liked the cute wallaby the best!)

But a legacy is not only something that you leave when you die. In Oxford, there were more modern legacies, such as the beautiful fountain at Christ Church whose inscription reads ‘Let everything that has breath praise the Lord’:



Or the lovely new gardens with fountain created thanks to a donation from a former member at Keble:



We often think you have to be rich to leave such a legacy. But God is interested in our lives and in what we are sowing into other people and into our communities. We might have no financial legacy to leave when we die, but daily we can leave behind good deeds, loving kindness and thoughtfulness. In the film ‘Evan Almighty’, these are called ‘acts of random kindness’. Our very lives are our legacies. What kind of legacy are we leaving?

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Heb 4: 14-16)

Whilst on holiday last week, we visited Oxford. I used to live there. It’s a city I absolutely adore. Steeped in history, it remains one of my all-time favourite places. I suppose that’s because I feel so connected to it. Having studied there, the colleges and libraries, museums and ancient buildings are not just of tourist interest to me. They hold precious memories.

The good thing about going back to Oxford, however, is that I have free access to so many buildings, precisely because I used to be a student there. So, whilst others have to pay entry fees, I was able to stroll around and visit favourite haunts.



Tom Tower in Christ Church. the largest college in the University of Oxford:



Balliol College, one of the oldest colleges (founded in 1263)



Keble Chapel, home of the famous Holman Hunt painting ‘Light of the World’. Keble was my own college and so holds a very special place in my heart, despite being a brick college rather than a stone one!



The Sheldonian Theatre, where students graduate (amongst other things!)



Of far greater value, however, is the free access we all have to God if we are children of God. It’s free to us, but was bought at a price – the precious blood of Christ. Hebrews encourages us to approach God’s throne of grace with confidence. It’s not because of our own righteousness or anything we have done, but we are allowed into God’s presence, washed clean, holy and blameless in His sight. That’s something we can all enjoy!

On holiday last week, we visited Gloucester Cathedral, and got to see the amazing Whispering Gallery there. A whispering gallery is a gallery beneath a dome, vault, or enclosed in a circular or elliptical area in which whispers can be heard clearly in other parts of the building.

A whispering gallery is usually constructed in the form of an ellipsoid, with an accessible point at each focus. When a visitor stands at one focus and whispers, the line of sound emanating from this focus reflects directly to the dish/focus at the other end of the room, and to the other person. Circular whispering galleries may provide “communication” from any part on the circumference to the diametrically opposite point on the circumference.

You can see how high the gallery is from this photograph taken from high up:



Here’s the gallery itself. When you stand at one end, whispers can be heard by someone at the other end, even though they are around corners!



The plaque in the gallery reminds us that if we can hear the whispers, God surely can hear our prayers. That’s a reassuring thought!

Yan Handley, a visiting speaker, looked at Matthew 6:25-34 last night, talking about the Bible’s answers to anxiety.

Romans 8:37 reminds us that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus and that anxiety does not have to be part of our daily lifestyles. Anxiety can steal our joy as we carry unnecessary burdens, but Jesus repeatedly tells us not to be afraid, giving us also the power to make this possible. Anxiety (uneasiness, tension, worry, fear, dread) can affect us physically, emotionally and spiritually, but Jesus tells us not to let our hearts be troubled (John 14:1) and Paul talks about letting the peace of God rule in our hearts (Col 3:15). There are clearly principles we can employ to banish anxiety.



(1) Renew our thinking

Is 26:3 tells us that peace is available to those whose minds are fixed on God. The thought life is where the battle is won or lost, and we need to ensure that our thoughts are fixed on God. We have to take every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor 10:5) and have our minds fixed on the things of the Spirit (Rom 8:6). Jesus talks to His disciples about the unspiritual things that bother them (worrying about the material, what they will eat or what clothes they will wear) and lifts their perspective to spiritual realms, understanding that God will provide. The answer to anxiety is to come to God with prayer and praise (Phil 4:6-7), allowing our thinking to focus on the higher perspective.



(2) Re-evaluate our priorities

Jesus reminds His disciples that the first priority has to be seeking God and His kingdom above all else. Ps 37:4 reminds us that if we delight ourselves in God, He will give us the desires of our heart. Jesus is our great example in this, for He only did what He saw His Father doing (John 6:38). Often, we have to be still in God’s presence and allow our priorities to be re-arranged.



(3) Recognise our worth in God

A poor self-image can lead to us becoming insecure and feeling inadequate. We are unique individuals of immense value to God. We are precious, honoured and loved by God and John tells us that perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18). Jesus reminds His disciples that freedom from anxiety is possible because God is our Father and will take care of us.



(4) Realise worry changes nothing

Worry is pointless. It doesn’t alter the situations, but we need to learn to cast our burdens on the Lord (Ps 55:22). Worry is like a rocking-chair that gives us something to do, but doesn’t actually get us anywhere. So often, we are beset by fears, but fear is really nothing but ‘False Expectations Appearing Real’. God’s grace is sufficient for us in every situation; hypothetical anxiety about the possibilities of what could happen tomorrow are fruitless.



(5) Renounce and repent of all negativity in our lives

We damage ourselves and other people when we allow negativity and anxiety to dwell in our lives. Just as the spies gave a report that aroused fear in the people’s hearts, so too we can discourage and cause other people to become fearful if we constantly dwell on the negative. Worry is really ‘unholy meditation’. We need instead to see this tendency as sin and repent of it, being determined to think as God wants us to think and therefore to trust Him in every situation to take care of us, since He is a loving heavenly Father.