Page 14 - October 2015 Issue 299

14 THE NEW COUNTESTHORPE HERALD
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE CHURCHES
OCTOBER 2015
‘A penny saved is a penny earned.’ ‘A stitch in time saves nine.’ ‘Charity begins at home.’ Are those little proverbs in the Bible? I hope you’re thinking - no! But some of them are - and some others could have been. The book of Proverbs is full of both human and spiritual wisdom.
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
These are two little proverbs that are
found in the Bible, in the Old Testament
book that is actually called ‘Proverbs’.
They force us to think about justice and
poverty, which is very topical considering
what’s happening in the world around
us. ‘Whoever sows injustice will reap
calamity...’ ‘Those who are generous
are blessed ...’ When we think about the
first little proverb here, we are reminded
that not only do those who sow injustice
eventually reap the punishment of
calamity upon themselves, but sadly, they
they persecute. We might usually think about the justice that will be dealt on those who do wrong when we hear words like these. But don’t we also wonder sometimes why punishment doesn’t seem to come quickly enough to those who deliberately bring harm to others? It doesn’t seem fair that those who are unjust seem to get away with their crime against God’s people. People often say things like, ‘Why did God allow those young girls in Nigeria to get kidnapped and tortured by the Boko Haram?’ We may even say things like that ourselves. Why isn’t God’s justice immediate and complete?
Why, indeed, but one of the great gifts God gave to us as human beings is free will. If God pushed and manipulated us as a puppet maker manipulates the strings of a wooden puppet, then perhaps the world would be full of nice people going about their business like - well, like puppets. We wouldn’t have to think. God would never cause us to do evil if God was the puppet maker. But in reality we live in a very natural world. People have the free will to behave exactly as they choose.
The truth is that justice will come, but we may not know how those who do evil will be judged or what the outcome will be. It has to be enough that we trust God and know that God loves all of us, good, bad, or indifferent. God’s purpose for the world is that we who try to do good will pray for those who do evil.
And, in the end it’s not all grim. However
depressing our news bulletins seem we
aren’t always faced with the image of evil
is a very positive side to the proverbs. The second little proverb says, ‘Those who are generous are blessed...’ Yes, the recipients of human generosity are blessed of course, but the generous themselves are blessed by grace. There is an interaction of blessedness. I wonder if you’ve ever been out perhaps in a busy shop or just walking through the village and you’ve met someone you don’t know. You haven’t spoken but you’ve just made eye contact and smiled - and in that simple human interaction both of your lives have been blessed.
We know many people who have touched our own lives with love and blessing. Many people touch our lives with their kindness, with the little things that have ‘made our day’ as we so often say. There actually is good in the world if we can only turn away from the news headlines and look into the eyes of our fellow human beings.
Rev David G Vale, Methodist Church
St Andrew’s
HARVEST FESTIVAL Sunday 11 October, 9am and 11am
CoutHeraldAgency.qxp_Layout 1 16/07/2015 17:08 Page 1
No tricks
A free event for All the Family
also reap calamity immediately on those
seemingly overcoming goodness. There
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A NEW START FOR H&R IN COUNTESTHORPE
We are on the move in Countesthorpe, with a new agency opening on Monday 17 August, offering:
• Six day a week opening (Monday - Friday, 9am -1pm
Saturday 9am - 12 noon)
• Customer car parking available right outside
CURRENT BRANCH
NEW AGENCY
Call into see us before Wednesday 12 August at:
2 Cosby Road, Countesthorpe
After Monday 17 August visit us at:
69 Station Road, Countesthorpe Tel: 0116 277 8384
The Society is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. The Society's registration number is 206043