Dear Friends
Because I shall be away for part of February I have had to write this month’s letter very early indeed, at the risk of being horribly out of date. The temptation, or perhaps the more sensible course of action, would be to play safe and avoid any reference to anything happening at this moment. Well I am going to chance my arm and risk being topical, hoping that I am not totally out of date by the time this is read.
One of the “hot news” items over the last week or so in January was the disclosures about the House of Lords and the allegations surrounding a few members. It started with some front page headlines in the Sunday Times and soon spread to all the media. At the time of writing it is under investigation and anything could transpire!
I wonder whether, like me, you sat and watched the news as it was splashed all over the television channels with a mixture of righteous outrage and just a bit of satisfaction? When it is someone else, particularly those who are meant to be above reproach, seemingly caught out the chance to point a wagging finger is often almost too good to resist. Of course we would never bend the rules or sail very close to the wind. Perish the thought!
I love the story in the Bible in the Gospel of John chapter 8 about the woman, said to have been caught in adultery, being stood before Jesus whilst the so called righteous people tried to get him to condemn her to stoning. In particular I like the verse where it says that before replying Jesus bent down and started to write in the sand with his finger. Oh, how I would like to know what he wrote. Whatever it was I suspect he was just showing those demanding an instant condemnation of the woman from him that one shouldn’t rush in pointing the finger of accusation without reflecting on ones own position first of all. It is always worth remembering that if you actually point a finger at someone your other three fingers are usually pointing back towards you.
He then went on to tell exactly how they, and us, should react to such revelations of wrongdoings. Let those who are completely free from any sin be first to condemn others. What a lovely world we would be living in if we were all able and willing to follow that advice. Perhaps if we all endeavoured through this time of Lent to give up criticising or condemning others we would find that we actually felt much better about ourselves as well.
So the next time someone has a finger pointed at them just think of Jesus writing with his finger in the sand and in your mind do the same thing so that when any response from you is forthcoming it is after you have judged yourself first of all.
Lent is a great time to really change things in our lives so do have a go and also come to church and quietly say “thank you” to God that He does not point his finger at us but simply tells us, like Jesus told the woman, to go and try and live a better life.
God bless you and all those you love,
John Baxter