Dear Friends:

CHECKMATE

There's a picture in the Louvre called Checkmate. The Devil sitting on the left side. There's a chessboard and there's a man stationed on the other side and the man sitting on the other side has his hand on his head like he’s in desperation.

And as they were taking a tour through the Louvre, there had been a group of athletes and particularly world champions that were being given a special tour. And in the tour was the world chess champion. He comes walking by the picture and the guide explains to them, this is the picture of an artist’s rendering of somebody who lost a battle with the devil.

And so the group moved onto the next picture to see something else. But the world chess champion stayed there and he just kept looking at the picture. Soon they noticed that he was not with the group, so the tour guide came back and said, “We have moved on, are you coming?”

The chess champion said, “Well, I've been looking at this picture.”

The tour guide said, “Yes, it's called checkmate, the Devils laughing, the man's lost.

And he said, “Yes I've been noticing that….but while I've been standing here, I've kept looking at the picture, and I've got a problem.

The tour guide said, “Well, what do you mean?”

He said, “You know that I'm a world Champion chess player and I spend my life playing chess, and normal people don't always see what a world champion chess player sees. When you all walked off I looked up at the devil laughing and I looked at the man in desperation and I noticed something on the chess board. Either they are going to have to change the name of the painting or they need to change the name.”

The guide said. “So why are they going to have to do that?”

“Well, as a world champion chess player, when I observed the board, I found out the king still has one more move.”

Easter reminds us that no matter how bad things might look, it isn’t checkmate, the King still has one more move.

To paraphrase a verse from the Bible, Jesus didn’t come to rub it in, he came to rub it out.

(God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. John chapter 3 verse 17.)

               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