Howard Writes

"Open to God’s presence"

After all the special events of the last couple of months, we can look forward to a rather quieter period in August when many people will be away enjoying their holidays.

Whether we decide to go away on holiday or simply stay at home and rest, our summer holidays are a time when we can recharge our batteries before we return to normality in September and prepare for the run up to Christmas.

If we are not careful however, we can try to pack in too many new experiences in our holiday, so that when we return, we need even more time to recover. It is also important to use some of our holiday time to pause, reflect and to recharge our spiritual batteries whilst we have time on our hands.

As Christians, we claim to put God first in our lives and to seek to discern his will. It is especially important at this particular time when we are looking forward to a new period in the life of the parish, as Paul prepares to join us as our “Curate-in-Charge” in September.

There are lots of things which both need to be done and plans to be made for the future.

In addition, our experience of parish life may be changed substantially by our becoming part of the Mission Community of Holy Trinity, St Mary’s and St James Thornham.

What this will mean for us in practice nobody is quite sure, which is all the more reason to take the time to reflect both individually and collectively.

The important thing is that we build each other up, praying together, sharing ideas together and meeting regularly together to share bread and wine. One of the very laudable messages is that of “every member ministry”.

In chapter twelve of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul explains how this should work. He is anxious to teach that ministry is not just about leadership or about being officially commissioned but includes any activity which is performed as a service to Christ. He goes on to explain that we are all different parts of the body of Christ whether we like it or not and that no one can be a Christian in isolation from other Christians.

In verse 26 he says, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.” Each one of us has been called to carry out a ministry of service and it is also part of that ministry to help to recognise, reveal and enable individual ministries in others. In doing this we may even be challenged to take on new roles that we have not even recognized in ourselves.

May we therefore spend some time on our holidays reflecting upon how God may be asking us to take on new challenges in our Christian life and may we also reflect on how others might be used in his work.

Remember too that God may speak to us in many different ways. It may be in a situation that we observe, through a book that we read or in a conversation with a stranger.

The important thing is that we are open to God’s presence in all our experiences. May we build up each other in God’s service.

"May we therefore spend some time on our holidays reflecting upon how God may be asking us to take on new challenges in our Christian life…”