Thought for the Month
Join me each month as I ponder life with all the highs and lows we encounter along the way.
I hope you enjoy my blog whose aim is to raise a smile as well as give food for thought.
As always, I would love to hear from you, so please contact me 01278 781147 c.judson@btinternet.com
God bless you.
Rev Chris
Rev Chris’ Blog,
May 2026 ‘Life-giving Prayer’
I wonder when you first prayed? And what you prayed? For many of us, The Lord’s Prayer was an initial step, and has remained the basis of our prayers. When his disciples were puzzled about prayer, Jesus made it as simple as breathing and gave them this prayer as a model to use. I come across many people who say they want to stick to the original version of this prayer…..so here goes:
Jesus first spoke this prayer in Aramaic (far left), and it’s transliteration is given beside it. Usually ‘original version’ means ‘the version I first learned’, and most commonly this is ‘Our Father, Who art in Heaven….’, though the more modern version ‘Our Father in Heaven….’ dates from the 1970s and 80s, so is already half-a century old! It seems to me that the particular version is far less important than its meaning, and I love it when we pray the Lord’s Prayer in many different versions and languages simultaneously! The Bishop of Bath & Wells has asked us to focus on prayer through 2026, and especially on The Lord’s Prayer. In both of our churches there are Prayer Stations to help us do this – available throughout the week, so please do make good use of them.
The month of May brings together two essential calls to pray, and reminds us that prayer is not simply about asking God to change the world, but is as much about asking God to change us!
From 10th to 16th May we mark Christian Aid Week – a time to focus on the needs of people across the world and, at least in part, to seek to be the answer to our prayers. Food insecurity, over-crowding and climate change are all major challenges in Nairobi, but effective urban farming, despite limited water supply and the tiny spaces available, is making a huge impact. Whether making a donation or taking part in fundraising, every little bit counts – and we are encouraged to play our part and do all that we can to help.
Overlapping this, from 15th to 23rd May, between Ascension Day and Pentecost, are the nine days known as ‘Thy Kingdom Come’. This is when more than a million Christians, in nearly 90% of countries world wide, across 85 different denominations and traditions, unite in praying The Lord’s Prayer, and asking that God’s Spirit be with us and transform us into people who will make the changes we want to see in the world. Will you join in? Dare you pray the Lord’s Prayer, and be open to the changes it may bring?
Prayer does not need to be complicated – from the starting point of ‘O God!’, it is about being open and honest, and trusting the one who knows us and loves us more than we can ever imagine! Do check out the Christian Aid and TKC websites Novena PDF and make room for the life-giving practice of praying The Lord’s Prayer.
God bless you. Rev Chris
April 2026 ‘Hope’
When Keith hit rock-bottom, he walked. It was the only way he could cope with all that had happened to him and all the stupid things he had done to himself and to others. He walked. Not like Harold Fry on his Pilgrimage (in Rachel Joyce’s fictional story) – Harold had a destination in mind and a purpose, even though that changed with time. Keith simply walked to survive, to stay alive, to exist.
By the time he arrived at a shelter in Weston, he was in a bad way. His clothes weren’t really designed for all he’d put them through, his boots least of all, and his feet were in a real mess. At the shelter, to his amazement, in addition to food and a bed for the night, Keith found a chiropodist who attended to his feet without charge. When I met Keith at a drop-in centre near Oxford many years later, he told me about the difference that chiropody had made for him – he reckoned that by enabling him to keep on walking, it had been like a light shining into the darkness, it had given him hope – and had saved his life!
Hope comes in so many different forms – physical help, mental support, emotional or spiritual encouragement. I wonder what has given you hope? What difference that hope has made? ….and where it has led you?
In Greek mythology, when Pandora opened her box, despite being warned not to, she unleashed a multitude of harmful spirits that inflicted plagues, diseases, and illnesses on humankind. Spirits of greed, envy, hatred, mistrust, sorrow, anger, revenge, lust, and despair scattered far and wide looking for humans to torment. Inside the box, however, there was also an unreleased healing spirit named Hope.
At Easter we celebrate the hope of Jesus’ resurrection – evidenced by the empty tomb, and symbolized for us by a hollow chocolate egg. This hope is at the heart of the Christian faith. It is a ‘now’ and ‘not yet’ hope, linking together Jesus’ rising to new life and the anticipation of a final new creation at the end of all time. Tom Wright, in his book ‘Surprised by HOPE’, explains how ‘every act of love……every work of true creativity (every time justice is done, peace is made, families are healed, temptation is resisted, true freedom is sought and won) is a signpost of hope, ‘pointing back to the first and on to the second’.
This Easter, may we all be ‘Surprised by Hope’, and may the true joy of Jesus’ resurrection lead us into life, in all its fulness – both now, and not yet.
God bless you. Happy Easter!
Rev Chris