Thought For the Week – 27 June 2018

What a summer of sport it continues to be!  Three weeks of world class football from Russia and with Wimbledon just around the corner the feast continues!  Most of us, of course, won’t be fortunate enough to actually be where the games are played as tickets for all the premiere events are sold out within minutes. Thanks however to the world-wide TV coverage with a flick of a switch, or should I say a ‘remote’ we often get the best views of all. Latest viewing figures for the world cup issued this week reveal that more people than ever viewed one if not all of the matches with the England games as we might expect doubling even the most popular TV ‘Soaps’ which are rarely outside the top UK viewing figures.   It’s anticipated that the Word Cup final on 15^th July will see the largest world TV audience ever and that’s the power of football! Those who will fill the 80,000 Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium will like Max Boyce when Llanelli beat the All Blacks in 1972 be able to proudly declare ‘I was there’.  The rest of us will be part of this multi million world audience made possible by the wonders of technology and TV and we just can’t wait!

I have often thought of making a journey to the Holy Land.  I’m sure that just to walk where Jesus once walked and to visit places such as Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Capernaum and other places which have become familiar from our earliest days in Sunday school would be quite an experience.   To recall Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem while bowing low to enter the place of the Nativity and to walk the way of the cross and the third day of resurrection would I’m sure be well worth the journey. For most of us it may never happen and that’s why to have the Bible and are able to read the accounts of those who were actually there and carefully wrote of what they saw and heard is such a blessing.  The Gospel writers faithfully and honestly recorded for us the life and teachings of Jesus that we like them could know the realty of their experiences in our lives.  Over two thousand years have passed since Jesus walked this earth and yet we through the faithful witness of those who were actually there are part of a world and heaven filled audience who celebrate this message of love, peace and hope which our troubled world needs to hear!