Ramsden Bellhouse Baptist Church: Pastor's Page

When I am faced with a blank sheet of paper my mind reacts in an unnervingly sympathetic fashion and goes blank as well. This means that when I have to write a short piece for the Village Magazine or even our own Church magazine for that matter, my first thought is invariably `Where do I start?'

Well, coffee always stimulates ideas so I wander off to make one. On the way, I stop to fill in a few more clues on the crossword. A quick telephone call that must be made and then I must get back to writing the magazine article. But just before I do that... and so it goes on and all the while, the blank sheet of paper remains accusingly blank and the hours tick away. Well, as Mark Twain once famously remarked `Never put off to tomorrow the things that you can do on the day after tomorrow'.

Excuses are great things. Most of us can conjure them up and basically, anything will do just so long as it serves our purpose.

In the Gospels (Luke 14: 15 -24) there is a story that Jesus told about a certain king who had arranged a great feast. When the time came for the guests to come along, each of them had an excuse ready as to why he couldn't attend. The king was annoyed at this and commanded his servants to go out and instead invite anyone they could find to come to the feast in place of those who had excused themselves. Those who excused themselves were then locked out.

From time to time I meet folk who, on hearing what I do, will first enquire where the church is and then enthuse that they `really must start to attend church again'. However, `we can't come this Sunday as we are going to auntie's for lunch and the week after that we will be doing `

Jesus told His story to impress on us all that the invitations to come into His Kingdom are already given out and all that we need to do is accept that invitation and meet Him Sunday by Sunday in His house. It's the least we can do to show our appreciation for the life that He has given to us.

But the reality is that excuses not to attend are easier and one day, when we finally stand at the gates of his Kingdom, we might find that we too are locked out. But then, it will be too late.

Now, just another quick coffee and I really must write that article for Isabel ...

Geoffrey Griggs

Ramsden Bellhouse Baptist Church

This article first appeared in the Ramsden Bellhouse Village Magazine - Summer 2006 Edition.