Bob Warwicker's blog

According to tomorrow’s Lectionary, “As [Jesus] went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34). My impression is that most people now are not lacking in shepherds to guide them. But whether those shepherds can be trusted is another matter. There are all kinds of advantage to be gained from persuading people to see things your way – financial (‘buy this’, ‘buy that’); political, although that may be similar to the first; the affirmation that comes from feeling people are on your side; the desire to fight and win a ‘culture war’; etc..

Even church people like me want to be ‘shepherds’ possibly for selfish reasons. It often seems to me that the church is treated as an engine for compelling a new generation to follow the ways of an earlier generation, and more often than not the new generation will see through that.

So what can I do to see that the ‘great crowds’ are looked after? To feel I can do it is patronising. but what I can do is to point to Jesus. As DT Niles said, “Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where bread is to be found.”

Modern living, eh? Burning stuff from underground. Going huge distances to get together. Communal roar and breath and closeness.

Unwanted consequences.

Please pray for Germany and Belgium and neighbouring countries as they experience devastating floods.
Please pray for England as COVID deaths and cases rise steeply.

Sunday’s Lectionary includes this from Jeremiah, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.” The job of leaders of God’s people is to care for them, like shepherds care for the sheep. Surely this is the standard by which all leaders are to be judged… Do they give a ****?

We are connected, as strands of a web.
God help us to know
our dependence on others,
and their dependence on us.
Help us to live
as those who love
and are loved;
as you love us
in Jesus Christ.

Not hot at all today, nevertheless I still wanted more fairweather cloud to cover the sun.

Don’t blame beeching. He was working to his terms of reference. I blame whoever though it was a good idea to put Ernest Marples in charge of transport. Putting someone who made loads of money from building roads in charge of the railways is like putting a fox in charge of the chickens.

I had forgotten just how busy the roads can get.

I was at an excellent service this morning, about climate change. As we were hearing about the merits of electric cars (so long as the electricity itself is renewable), a hydrocarbon fuelled car outside was receiving attention from the AA.

But it would have been rude to point I guess.

According to Psalm 24 in tomorrow’s lectionary;-
“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully. They will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of their salvation.” (3-5). And yet our experience is that people who lie and cheat do have vindication. Since we’re thinking about football, ‘the hand of God’ has played a part in several important matches. So what does this verse mean? Is it;-
(1) The ramblings of an optimist
(2) The truthful receive vindication because the winners write the most widely read histories, so that liars have become ‘truthful’.
(3) There is a deeper kind of vindication, maybe not so immediate.
I’d like to think it was the last of those.

One thing that is particularly toxic is the allegation that because you have lost out, you must be in the wrong. It must be obvious to anyone that b*****ds do in fact win, often because they are what they are.

When all this is going on, just keep faith.

Also the brilliant performance of our national football team and the priorities and demeanour of its manager have almost made me proud to be English (sic) again. But not quite. Not so long as patriotism is in the hands of the Nietzschean wing of the Conservative Party.

In my book, believing in England and believing in the UK is about believing in the weak as well as the strong. Otherwise it is nothing.

I seem to remember that problem number 1 in the little book, “Cavendish Problems in Classical Physics”, written by Professor Brian Pippard in the late sixties or early seventies, related to a cyclist travelling along the road at a certain speed and using a certain amount of power to keep going. A crosswind of such and such develops, and the question is, “By how much must the cyclist’s power output increase to maintain the same speed”. “Cavendish problems” seems an oddly prescient title.

Anyway, good luck to him today. Just one step away – so near and yet so far!!