Up and walked Mix. Breakfasted and set off for Gavinton Church where the service was conducted by Bill because Ann is at the General Assembly. Bill read from Isaiah, from the Revelation of St. John and from John’s Gospel.
The passage from Revelation was the message to the Church at Laodicea – “Because thou art neither hot nor cold, therefore will I spew thee out of my mouth” – I always remember it better in the Authorised King James version!
It sticks in my mind because Rachel and I visited Laodicea a long time ago. It was part of a pilgrimage around all of the Churches of the Book of Revelation and we learned that the author knew all about each of the places and used that local knowledge to play on words to give important advice for a church under persecution.
We arrived at Laodicea and got out of our bus. All that remained was a small part of an aqueduct filled with many small pipes from which water would flow into the town. Laodicea had no natural water of its own and so all water was ‘delivered’ from the coast where there were hot springs. The water which set off along the aqueduct was hot but by the time it had arrived in Laodicea it had cooled down but was still not cold. It was literally lukewarm, and hence the quotation much used by preachers down the centuries. In fact Bill, spoke on the verse, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” coupling it with Jesus’ three-fold question to Simon Peter, ‘Do you love me’ with the command, ‘Feed my sheep’ and with the promise to Isaiah that better times lay ahead: but it all depends upon our response.
We enjoyed coffee after church and then drove home, lunching with everyone after which I spent some time in the summer house, sometime watching Somerset against Surrey in the T20 competition (victory for Surrey) and walked Mix before settling down in the Granary with both dogs while Rachel went off to Berwick to attend Evensong.
On her return we joined the family in the farmhouse and had drinks with our neighbours Mark and Fiona. It was a happy evening.
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