When you reach a certain age you are invited for annual health check-ups by the NHS. I have just had mine. It is a bit like the yearly MOT carried out on a car. However, one thing that I was asked to do, that we do not do to a car, was ‘stand on the scales for a moment’. Hmm... The scales are those ultra-modern, highly-accurate, digital kind. They do not get ones weight wrong. Hmmm...
So there I stood on the scales ‘for a moment’. A moment was all it took to confirm that I have never been heavier in all my life. Hmmmmmm...
At this point you must appreciate that ‘being of a certain age’ the weight shown on the scales did not register instantly. It was shown in Kilograms and I still think of human-weight in Stones and pounds. Confronted with an impossible to visualise number in KG’s I asked the nurse to provide a translation … that is when I learned that I was a ‘bit on the heavy side’ - what we used to call FAT. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
The nurse then offered me a variety of options for ‘shedding a few’ pounds … or indeed kilograms. Great fun! This sent me off reading to find proven methods of losing weight - when I encountered this comment:
You know it’s time to lose weight when you start praying and the Lord immediately shows up
Because he thought 2 or 3 just gathered in his name
You could interpret this in more than one way I suppose. For example, this ‘Fat Grumpy Vicar’ (me) is very holy as God responds instantly to my prayers... Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
But perhaps not! This biblical promise is important because it tells us that God is not into the numbers-game. It tells us that to God gathering together is more important than the numbers in which we gather. Of course we can and should pray alone but God likes it when we meet in community. Likes it so much that he shows up too. But - 2 or 3 are enough. People need time and opportunity to participate. To speak. To pray. And … to listen!
So numbers do not matter to God - but meeting together, especially to pray does.
Moving forward - let us remember to meet together in groups of 2 or 3 to pray and at the same time I will do some dieting …
David
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