Cogges Parish newsletter November 2003

From the newsletter ...

Read the Instructions!

I was trying to understand the tiny buttons on the new personal CD player. "I can't make it out", I thought, "it won't work". I got a brisk thought in reply: "If all else fails, get the manual...!" I quickly picked up a booklet but even that did not seem to help, and I got another brisk thought: "Are you sure you've got the right manual?" I hadn't, but a steady read of the right one solved the difficulties. I had been guilty of thinking I could solve all the problems on my own, and had only managed to waste time. Rather like driving along a strange route, not quite knowing where you are, when you really ought to have stopped and been humble enough to ask the way.

These days this sort of thing seems to crop up in other circumstances too. Talk to people and they will have a lot to say about things that have gone wrong when they should have gone right, and nobody seems to know how to fix them. All sorts of unhappy things like violence, bad sex, failing marriages, drug dependency, crime rates, hooliganism and so on. Could it be that these days there is a general tendency to ignore our Maker's Instructions and think we can fix things ourselves with ideas that might seem more up to date and less restrictive?

About this time of year in church we have "Bible Sunday" because of the fine old set prayer which starts "Blessed Lord, who has caused all holy Scripture to be written for our learning." A statement that does not go down too well in these PC days of looking askance at any concept that says there is an ultimate source of truth. True, the Bible is a very complex set of books. Some terribly difficult to make head or tale of, some with statements as neat and plain as you could wish for even if they are tough. "If all else fails, read the Instructions" and in this Maker's Manual you can find a lot of answers. Guidelines for bringing up children, running a good business, making a stable marriage, seeking healing, looking after one another, and so on.

Even so, although you may have the right manual in your hand, it is often very helpful to be able to talk to someone who knows more about the matter than you do. Any computer user will tell you this. It is the same with God's instructions on life, and should you be badly stuck about the way forward in some problem or other, it might be worth coming to one or other of us at Cogges. There is a good chance we could say, "I see what you mean. I think it might be helpful to do this..."

David Smith

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