Michaelmas Daisy Sunday
BBC Radio Solent’s Tim Daykin
Lets be frank. I'm not a great gardener. Let me loose with the hedge trimmer
and given half a chance I'll prune the most delicate shrub. Wedding a flower bed
can lead to some disastrous consequences. So I'm pretty tightly regulated in the
great outdoors. I'm in charge or lawns and vegetables anything requiring rather
more horticultural knowledge is very definitely not my domain.
So imagine my delight when I typed the word Daisy into an Internet search
engine and came up with: daisy - A common garden weed usually found in lawns.
That's true - my lawn has got loads of them - mind you every now and again I
attempt to banish the little so and so's but they always seem to make it back.
You may not find the Daisy in the Bible but weeds are certainly there. They get a
mention at the very end of the Old Testament book of Job - and of course Jesus
talks about them in his parables.
My researches also revealed that Daisy is a traditional nickname for Margaret somehow I'm not too sure I get away with calling some of my friends Daisy rather
than Margaret !!!
The Daisy is of course the symbol of the Wessex Cancer Trust and that's why we
adopted it at BBC Radio Solent for our appeal. Of course we are raising cash to
support the work of the Wessex Cancer Trust - but our Appeal is about much
more than that - as important as it is.
Sooner or later the effects of Cancer touch the lives of all of us - its certainly hit
my family and in my role as a Christian Minister I've found myself sharing the
lives of people with cancer and their families more times than I can remember.
Children, teenagers, parents with young families and of course those of more
mature years.
What really amazes me is just how much love and generosity is generated from
such tragic stories. More times than I care to remember my faith in God's world
has been strengthened by the love in the lives of those walking through the
Valley of the Shadow which is Cancer.
So thanks for joining in our Michaelmas Daisy Sunday, for celebrating the work
of the Wessex Cancer Trust, for supporting the BBC Daisy Appeal - but most for
the support you give to those whose lives are being touched by cancer right now
and for those who care for them.
Bible Reading St Matthew 6 vv 25 - 34
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or
about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the
body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow
or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are
you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a
single hour to his life?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labour or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his
splendour was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass
of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not
much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What
shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the
pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need
them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.