Friends
It seems impossible that this Sunday marks the first day of autumn. Surely it was only just the other day that we started 2024. Where did the summer go? Where did the year go? Time, as we know, just keeps galloping on. Through good times and bad the days run by and they seem to run faster and faster as we get older.
This week, the good and the bad have come so thick and fast that they have almost fallen over each other. There has been much sadness at Windsor as we say “goodbye” to two well-loved members who have gone to Glory, and yet at the same time, three people were given notes to preach at the Local Preachers’ meeting on Thursday – truly something to celebrate.
Jesus’ ministry must have felt similarly exhausting in its ups and downs. He healed the sick, fed the multitudes, only to have them fall away when he told them he had to die – that the good times must share space with the bad. He proclaimed God’s kingdom come, and was condemned for letting his disciples eat without undertaking the full ritual hand-washing. He died, but rose again to meet with Mary in the garden. The speed of the ups and the downs, the highs and the lows, must have been bewildering.
It is no wonder that throughout the Gospel account, we see examples of Jesus seeking to take himself away from the crowds and spend time alone with God. As he walked on the hillside near Galilee, or through the streets of Jerusalem, he was reminded of the great promises of God. These promises of salvation and protection and love can be found throughout the Bible from the Creation to the end of Revelation. God loves us. He protects us. He goes before us to prepare a place. He celebrates with us in the good times and grieves with us in the bad. Nothing can separate us from his love. And while his supporting, nurturing love goes on, he continues to build his Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
Whether this autumn marks for you the beginning of a new time of exploring and studying, training and preparation, or a time of grieving and of letting go, this is true: that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” My prayer is that each of us should be able to find just a little slowing down time, to reflect on the truth of that well-loved verse.
God bless, Vicci