March 27th, 2011.  We continue our look at the Sermon on the Mount by looking at Matthew 5:33-37.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfil to the Lord the vows you have made.’   But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;   or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.   And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.   All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.“

The music used in the opening and closing sequences of this podcast is called ‘Frescoes’, by Alexandr Filippov.
It is released under a Creative Commons licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) and is available from http://www.jamendo.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:25 — 16.2MB)

Following the death of Quasimodo. the Bishop of the Cathedral Church of Notre Dame sent word throughout the streets of Paris that a new bellringer would need to be appointed. The Bishop decided that he would himself conduct the interviews, and went up into the belfry to interview the candidates. After observing several applicants demonstrate their skills, he decided to call it a day, when an armless man approached him announcing that he was there to apply for the post.. The Bishop, incredulous declared, ” My Son, you have no arms!” ” No matter” replied the man. He then proceeded to strike the bells with his face, producing the most beautiful melody on the carillon. The Bishop was astonished, believing he had indeed found a suitable replacement for Quasimodo. But in rushing forward to strike a bell, the armless man tripped, and plunged headlong out of the belfry to his death in the street below. The Bishop, stunned rushed to his side. When he reached the street, a crowd had gathered around the fallen figure, drawn by the beauty of the music they had heard, but a moment before. As they parted in silence to allow the Bishop through, one of the number asked ” Bishop, who was this man?”

..wait for it…

wait for it…..

..” I don’t know his name” replied the Bishop sadly, ” But his face rings a bell.”

WAIT, WAIT! not through yet!

The following day, despite the sadness that weighed heavily on his heart following the death of the armless camponologist, the Bishop continued his interviews for a bell ringer for Notre Dame. The first man to approach addressed him, “Your Grace, I am the brother of the poor armless wretch who fell to his death from this belfry yesterday. I pray that you will allow me to replace him.” The Bishop agreed to an audition, but as the man reached to strike the first bell, he groaned, clutched at his chest, collapsed, and died on the spot. Two monks, hearing the cries of grief from the Bishop at the tragedy, rushed up the stairs…… “What as happened? Who is this man?” they cried. ” I don’t know his name” exclaimed the distraught Bishop,………

wait for it…….

wait for it

wait for it

………” I don’t know his name…………but he’s a dead ringer for his brother.”

Monday 21st March… I had a lovely day yesterday…..it was my birthday….hoorah!! I managed to get to church in the morning, had a nice lunch with my family and then had the treat of piloting a cruise passenger ship out of King George Dock, Hull………and managed to be home for 2130. It was funny because I kept being asked if I was doing anything special for my birthday and I kept saying I was going on a cruise down the river. Knowing that I would be out at work later on, but not knowing that I would be on a cruise ship in a matter of hours!!

The Ocean Countess was built in 1976, an old lady but still looking very good. ( You can see video footage of the ship on the River Tyne, by going to the Multimedia section of the site and choosing the video category.) She is 163m long, 22.8m beam and a lot of power….21000hp from 2 props, 2100hp bowthruster. Lovely to manoeuvre. She was going on the first of her cruises from Hull 12 nights to the Fjords…I just hope the weather is friendly as the North Sea in March can be a bit “bouncy”.

It was just like old times as I had to join her through the ferry terminal where she was waiting for me on the Norlands old berth. The Norland was one of the ferries that used to trade between Hull and Zeebrugge. In fact she was the first ship I ever “Captained”………1st December 1998.

I can remember it as if it were yesterday…..it was a cold dark Decembers night with a fresh Sou-westerley wind blowing across the dock.

There was a hint of rain in the air, my tugs the Lady Elizabeth and Lady Constance were approaching over the Norlands port bow when I called all hands to stations……….

My little heart was pounding out of its chest when I made the passenger announcement…PING PONG. ” Good evening ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Pat Clark speaking from the bridge welcome on board the Norland, the vessel is now secure for sea and we shall shortly be leaving the berth……..”

“Shortly be leaving the berth”, all of a sudden you realise, this is it, you are the main man, in fact the old man, the buck stops here lets hope I can just squeeze her into the lock without doing any damage………….

I have just discovered facebook……I felt as if I needed to get into it particularly after the uprising in Egypt which seemed to be organised through facebook pages. Anyway I am on, and hopefully it will prove to be another way of communicating the gospel and advertising church!!

What about the events of the weekend and the military strikes against Libya, plus the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan………..Matthew ch 24 v4 ” You will hear of wars and rumours of wars…………….v7 Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places………..”  Jesus goes onto say that no one knows the day or hour when He will return…v42 ” Therefore keep watch because you do not know on what day your Lord will come”……….We must be ready at all times, we must be more and more earnest about telling people of the love of God and how Jesus can forgive and save ……..we must tell people about Jesus’ love………..we must get out there and not falter when we have the opportunity to talk to people about Jesus…………

Our prayer Father this day is that you will equip us, that you will provide opportunities and give us the words to speak about the saving love of Jesus, as we go about our daily lives ….Amen.

Podcast from Sunday 13th March now available in the multimedia section of the site.

Jayne takes us through Matthew ch 5 v 27~32.