Phil on ... 

The subject of Kings tackled in two sermons
At the end of November 2019 we had a great sermon from Tess concerning a biblical passage from the Book of Kings. Samuel faced a dilemma as his time as a prophet for the Jewish people came to an end. Samuel was honest enough to know his two sons weren’t close enough to God and so they were unsuitable as successors. At the same time the Jews were adamant that they wanted a King to lead them. Other nations had a King, why couldn’t they?
Samuel did the right thing. He prayed to God about the situation. He also reminded the people of the negatives associated with a King. A King would demand taxes and a percentage of land in order to become rich. It is interesting to note that God ultimately allowed the people to have a King and to experience the downsides that Samuel warned about. Perhaps this is a caveat for us today.
The ultimate expression of love is freewill and so God does allow us to take choices that are not necessarily the best for us.  Maybe Brexit is a modern day parallel? I’ll leave that thought with you!
Tess went on to remind us that we can consider ourselves as Kings. All of us have hobbies we like to do. We have gained qualifications, secured jobs, have a house and so on.  In short, there are things of which we are proud; things that have helped to shape our identity and make us feel like Kings. However, these ‘things’ can get in the way of our relationship with Jesus. Jesus is a King who doesn’t behave as humans think a King should. Rather, he served us during his time on earth and ultimately died on the cross for all our sins. In recognition of what He did for us we are called to live a life of service. So, from time to time, it’s no bad thing that we should evaluate our own lives and offer the secular things we enjoy back to God.
In the service we were given tiny cardboard crowns and invited to come to the front of the church to leave our crown at the altar as a sign of privately offering something back to God. Of course, God loves to give to us and so it should be no surprise if we get our ‘gift’ back. But we shouldn’t offer things back to God with such a thought in mind – it could be that sacrificing something is not only good for us but also opens up a new opportunity to serve him.  The important thing is to be honest in offering to give up something and then prayerfully wait.
At the start of 2020, our own minister Rev Linda talked to us about the three Kings visiting Jesus. Unlike the nativity scene, the three Kings probably visited Jesus when he was a toddler, living at that point in a humble abode rather than the stable. The three Kings showed three admirable traits - all beginning with the letter ‘C’ to help us remember that we should recognise in ourselves. They had conviction. This does not mean they had a prison sentence hanging over them! Rather it means they were fully convinced in their mind that Jesus was special. They had commitment. They had a long journey to make to see Jesus but they kept on going. Finally, they cherished Jesus as a saviour. This mirrors our own journey as Christians. We will all have got to a point where Jesus made total sense to us. Through baptism, confirmation, church attendance, bible reading etc. we demonstrate the commitment. Despite facing bad as well as good times we can cherish the fact we walk with him, that he cares for us and that we can trust him in all our situations.