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Good morning. I think it’s fair to say that one of the high points of the last year for me – in more ways than one – was my visit to Cologne Cathedral.  It is a gloriously beautiful building with an extraordinary history.  But it also has two of the highest church spires in Europe and if you’re willing to toil up 533 steps you can actually climb up to a viewing platform 100 metres in the air near the top of one of them.

So we did.  Usain Bolt can do 100 metres in well under 10 seconds.  My friend Heinrich and I took a lot longer than that – but we made it.  We were breathing hard, but very, very proud of ourselves.  And the spectacular view across the North German plain was well worth the effort.  But as I admired the view, Heinrich called me to look around the building itself.  He’s an engineer by profession and he had noticed something – the sheer quality of the stonework, the carving and the jointing in particular.  There, high above the city, in a place no-one was ever expected to look, the craftsmanship was just as fine and beautiful as in the most visible and accessible parts of the building. 

And had he not pointed it out I might have missed it.  Yet in many ways it was the most memorable part of that experience.  For me it was a tangible reminder that what we do when we think no-one can see is just as important as what we do when others are looking.

The Christian faith tells us that doing good isn’t something for public show – so far as possible we are to do good without drawing any attention to ourselves at all.  Those stone masons were a perfect example and I actually found that rather inspiring. 

Father God, be with us as we go about our lives today and keep us focussed on doing the right thing whether anyone can see us or not.  Amen