The View from the Vicarge - June 2009

Does it seem to you that someone has made a mess of things?

Life seems to be getting more difficult for many despite our efforts to hold things together. Politicians don’t seem to know what to do to fix things (or how to set us a good example), job prospects are uncertain to say the least whether a lorry driver or an architect, our wealth and pensions are shrinking, and it all puts such stress into our family lives.

How did we get to this?

“What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialised themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

“If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighbourhood you’re from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you are brought up… God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.”

We’ve been going against the grain and suffering the consequences. God created a wonderful playground for us, but we can only enjoy it if we follow the guidance he sets out – love God and love each other. In other words we need to ‘downsize self’ and ‘invest’ in looking out for and serving both others and God. That’s THE solution for ‘living with the grain’ in this world. It is the way we are attempting to follow in our church community. It is the way modelled by Jesus who said: ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’ It is the way that offers a fresh start, a new life to everyone – life in its fullness.

If you want to talk about living life with less splinters give me a call.

Shalom

The above quotes are from the Bible – part of a letter that Paul wrote to the new followers of Jesus struggling with life in Imperial Rome

Revd Derek Witchell
01296 682320