On 19thSeptember 1970 some 1500 people gathered in a field near Shepton Mallet in Somerset for a new music festival called ‘Pop, Folk and Blues’. They had paid the grand sum of £1 each for their tickets, which included free milk from the farm and ‘food at fair prices’. It’s fair to say that the festival has grown in popularity over the years. In 2017 21 million people watched it on TV and yesterday the 200,000 tickets for 2019, now £248 each, sold out in just 30 minutes. The Glastonbury Festival certainly proves the adage that ‘Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.’
Two thousand years ago some 5,000 people and their families gathered in a field on the shores of Lake Galilee in Israel. They had come to hear a new preacher called Jesus. He wasn’t offering free milk and ‘food at fair prices’ but rather the water of eternal life, and himself as the bread of life that would quench the hunger and thirst of our souls. Like Glasto this new music of the Kingdom of God has continued to grow in popularity ever since, but unlike Glasto Jesus has never charged for entry and never will.
