The minister writes… from our November 2024 newsletter
A chestnut surprise
Last weekend two of grandchildren stayed with us and on a sunny autumnal afternoon we took them to the local Rec. Finley noticed lots of sweet chestnuts on the ground and wanted to collect them so we could roast them because, he assured me, his dad had given him a roasted chestnut once and he had ‘really liked it.’
I was a little surprised – it’s not the kind of thing you think children would like – but it seemed a wholesome, earth-motherly thing to do and I wondered why I hadn’t done this with his mum when she was a girl (at least, I could only remember doing it once) so we gathered enough to feed a small army. Returning home, I sorted and wiped them then selected a few for roasting. I cut slits in them so they hopefully wouldn’t burst whilst cooking but, just in case, put a baking tray on top of the roasting dish. A short while later the delicious aroma of roast chestnuts filled the kitchen and I retrieved them from the oven, removing the makeshift lid. As I got some bowls ready, there was a sudden, startingly loud noise and one of the chestnuts exploded.
Let me say, it is astonishing how far the debris from an exploded chestnut goes! Every surface within three feet was covered: the microwave, the oven, the walls, the cupboard doors, the floor. And not only the fronts of all of these but tiny bits of chestnut had gone behind the microwave, inside the utensil jars and lodged themselves among the jars on the spice rack.
I put off the clean-up operation until we’d eaten the other chestnuts only Finley declared, ‘Actually Nanna, I don’t think I do like them after all,’ (what a surprise!) and neither did his sister or Mike, so it was just me and the dog who ate them. I enjoyed them BUT the cleaning up took longer than the collecting, prepping and roasting combined and suddenly I recalled why I had only ever roasted chestnuts once before……
In life we get surprises from time to time. Some are pleasurable, others less so. Some are short-lived, others life-changing. The Bible is full of people who were surprised by God: Abraham and Sarah becoming parents when he was 100 and she 90; Moses hearing God’s voice in a burning bush; Goliath being slain by a boy with a slingshot; Mary being told by an angel that she was pregnant with God’s Son; Peter and the other fishermen hauling in a record catch because they did what a stranger told them to do and threw their nets over the other side; Jesus hanging out with the ‘wrong kind of people,’ forgiving sins, healing people; Mary Magdalen on Easter morning encountering the risen Lord; Saul’s Damascus Road experience. The list goes on and on.
Maybe in your life God has surprised you with his answer to some of your prayers? Perhaps he has moved in unexpected ways in your life, at those times you were least looking for him? Or maybe you have been reading the Bible and have been amazed that something you thought was very familiar suddenly has new meaning for you?
There are many words in the Bible that could and should surprise us, but I am just going to leave us with these words of Jesus which are so appropriate for November and in particular Remembrance Sunday:
‘You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’’‘ (Matthew 5: 43 – 48 NIV)
May those words find their way into our hearts and all the corners of our lives like that exploded chestnut found its way into the crevices in my kitchen, and may the power of those words transform the nations of this troubled world.
(And next month I am going to share with you the eight most surprising words in the Bible….watch this space.)
With every blessing,
Sharon