Stir up, O Lord

22 Nov 2009

It is "Stir up" Sunday - the name given to the day by the collect "Stir up, O Lord, the wills of your faithful people...."

I'm a Methodist Minister, currently in my 4th appointment, and my first appointment as a superintendent. I'm in the Castleford circuit, West Yorks, UK, and this morning I was preaching in the small village of Burton Salmon, North Yorks.

There are 2 things which really stick in my mind about today, and the service I took this morning doesn't feature in either of them. The first was an e-mail I received. Now I know that in sermons, pastoral visitors meetings and other such settings I have said that you never know what might come about as a result of a visit, but this really did take my breath away. The e-mail was from someone I had visited 19 years ago, back in 1990, saying that the visit I made was part of the reason he is still in the church today.

Now it's easy to say that "Ah yes, the minister visited" but no, the minister did not visit. I was not a minister 19 years ago - I was a university student. I had almost forgotten about making that visit until this e-mail arrived out of the blue.

So I suppose this is why I am calling this blog "A knock on the door". What might seem like a small knock to us might be a huge door opening to someone else. A former TV talent show (back in the days when talent shows really were about talent) used to end with the saying "If opportunity comes your way, don't knock it". Good advice there.

The 2nd thing that sticks in my mind abou t today was the wonderful testimony given at this evening's service. The preacher knows who he is, and although I had heard the story before in the privacy of his living-room, it took enormous courage to say that to the church. God bless you.

There'll be a lot more to come in these posts - I intend to update regularly, though perhaps not every day, and I'll introduce myself to you bit by bit as time goes on.

Every blessing

Rev.Robin