May Musings from the Vicarage

With the budding warmth of spring comes the desire to be out and about, to shrug off the sloth of Netflix nights in and embrace the lighter evenings and the activities that are always more comfortable with higher outdoor temperatures.  Whether that be mowing the lawn, playing some sport or sitting in the beer gardens in our local pub, the urge to do something other that sit indoors can be quite compelling. 

As Christians this time between Easter and Pentecost can also be a time for waking out of our winter sleep.  The promise of Easter is new life in our risen saviour but we have to want that new life and we have to work for it too.  Coming to grips with what Christ has done for us is not something that happens overnight for most of us.  In fact, if we are honest, I think most of us never fully understand how Christ’s sacrifice can and does affect what we are but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t search for that meaning in our lives. 

There was particular joy in the Lent course we ran at the vicarage in the last two months.  The overall course title was “You need to talk to God” and the discussions over 5 weeks were varied and very interesting but perhaps the best part was that everyone finished the course wanting more.  Many people have decided that they don’t want to be part of “organised “ religion but at the same time they are searching for something special, something spiritual, that will help them connect in some deeper way with their notions or understanding of what life is about. 

Bishop Nick, who will be retiring as our diocesan bishop on 30th November this year, gave a very powerful sermon in Ripon Cathedral at the Maundy Thursday service when all clergy and licensed ministers in the diocese gathered to retake their vows.  He asked us to think about how we may be tempted to moan about the woes of the national church or perhaps our own dwindling congregations and lack of volunteers to do jobs around the churches and their grounds.  He talked about our tendency to believe that all this was new and of our time.  It isn’t.  Our church was born in a time of occupation of Israel by a foreign power, the Romans.  It was raised in a time of persecution, first by the Jewish authorities and then the might of the Roman Empire.  Throughout its life the church has struggled with external pressures that tended to unify it and internal pressures that caused it to explode and splinter.  But in all this and through all this there has been the steady loving presence of our risen lord Jesus.  The Jesus that never gave up on Peter who ranged from Peter the denier of Christ to Peter -the rock on which I will build my church.  The Jesus that said on the cross “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.  The Jesus who calls each and everyone of us to “take up our cross and follow him”.  The Jesus who loves us all so much that he died for us.

Jesus is waiting, waiting for us to realise the reality of his love for us, the reality of our need for him and our love of him.  How long will you keep him waiting?

Blessings

Robb