Dear friends,

A Camel Story

Once upon a time there was a rich man who lived in the deserts of the middle east. You could tell how rich he was because of what he owned and especially how many camels belonged to him. In fact, he was so rich that he owned not 2, 4, 6, 8, but 17 camels.

He had led a peaceful and prosperous life and so when he was very old and near to death he wrote his will, explaining how he intended to leave his wealth to his only son, his grandson and to his one nephew. The terms of the will were these. One-half of his riches should go to his own son, one-third should go to his grandchild and one-ninth of his wealth should go to his nephew.

This seemed fair. Soon after this the rich man died. Now when it came time to dividing up the camels according to the will, the three beneficiaries ran into a problem.

If half the camels were given to the son then he should get how many? 8.5 which would mean killing a camel. If a third of the camels were given to the grandson, that would mean again killing a camel so he could get five and two-thirds. And when it came to the nephew, there was no way he could get his share unless another camel was killed.

The three of them became frustrated and soon got very angry with each other. They shouted and quarrelled and argued and even threatened to go to war over the camels. Secretly they began stockpiling their weapons and plotting their battle campaigns.

Nearby there lived a very poor man. You could tell he was very poor because he only had one camel. Although he was so poor, and seemed to have no influence, he still felt he should do something to help. He wanted to stop war breaking out. He wanted to be a peacemaker. But what could he do? He decided to offer his one and only camel into the rich man's inheritance to help sort out the problem. It was a huge sacrifice. The inheritance now consisted of 18 camels.

The three sat down and did the sums. Half of the 18 would go to the son so he took 9. One third of the 18 would go to the grandson so he took 6. One ninth of 18 would go to the nephew, so he took 2. And to everybody's great surprise there was one camel left over. So, the poor man received his camel back. He had made peace by his willingness to give up all he had and it had made all the difference and he had not lost out in the end.

Jesus said, Blessed are the peace makers, for they will be called sons of God. Matthew chapter 5 verse 9.

In order to be a peacemaker, you will need to make a sacrifice. The old man made a sacrifice, by giving his camel. The son, grandson and nephew, weren't prepared to make a sacrifice, and war nearly happened.

This month we remember those soldiers who made a sacrifice, and those who are still making a sacrifice so that we can live in peace.

If you want to be blessed by God then when you have an opportunity be a peacemaker.

            Rev David Saunders.

For local enquiries relating to Week St. Mary Church matters please contact either of the Churchwardens:
Lesley Booker Tel: 01288 341221 or Linda Cobbledick Tel: 01288 341468

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For enquiries relating to Week St. Mary Methodist Church please contact:
Rev Steve Swann • Telephone: 01840 779339