Today we had our glimpse of Jesus according to Matthew, which on the whole went well and most people seemed to engage with it.  But there is one person, bless her, who thinks she knows the Bible better than the combined minds of every Biblical scholar ever.  As part of the introduction, I noted that none of the gospels is 'signed' and that the ascriptions to authors are traditional.  Immediately the flicking of pages began, as she hunted for proof I was (as usual) wrong and failing (also as usual).  But I was naughty, I pre-empted her on both the beloved disciple (not named as John) and Luke (who writes to Theolphilos but does not sign off 'love Luke') and she was left high and dry when I found myself, saying 'and any of you can come and argue with me afterwards if you like' - which caused general laughter.

Normally I leave her to her flicking and pointing, so I wonder what prompted me today to be naughty?  I don't mind people flicking around to pick up other passages or if it seems they are engaging in some way with the texts, but I guess I do to some extent resent people thinking their job is to assess my sermon and not listen for God speaking through it.

At least most people enjoyed singing that olde Sunday School song "Tell me the stories of Jesus" which may be old and twee but at least it has pretty a sensible theme and related to what we were thinking about.  Next week's golden oldie is 'It passes knowledge that dear love of thine" - so lots of Green Book brownie points being earned at the moment.