Berwick Thought for the Week: Weather and taxes

We have all been complaining about the weather recently as storms and floods have wreaked havoc across the country.

Thousands of homes and businesses have been damaged, no wonder people are complaining about it. They are living with the consequences of the weather.

The other thing that people complain about is taxes, especially at this time of year when so many of us are completing our tax returns. This isn’t new – people have been complaining about taxes since Bible times.

I have just completed my own tax return. Every year as I do this I am reminded of the passage in the Bible where the Pharisees try to trick Jesus by asking him if people should pay taxes to the Roman occupying forces.

Jesus asks for a coin, on that coin is imprinted the image of Caesar the Roman governor. He tells them to pay to Caesar that which has Caesar’s image on it, but to give to God that which bears God’s image.

The Bible tells us that every single human being is made in the image of God. Scientists for generations have been trying to identify the God gene, the part of our DNA that we all share with our creator.

Every one of us is unique, even identical twins, but every one of us is also alike, as we bear the image of God.

I complete my return and pay my taxes hoping that they will be used wisely to benefit all people. As I do so, I am reminded to give back to God that which God has given to me, my life to be lived to God’s praise and glory and for the benefit of all humankind, each made in the image of God.

Rev Kim Hurst is the Superintendent Minister of the Lindisfarne Methodist Circuit. She was born and brought up in the North East, training for the ministry in Durham. She has been a Methodist Minister for 25 years, serving in Yorkshire, Cumbria and Malta before moving to Northumberland in 2019.