The road ahead is rough not smooth.
But that is not what we are promised. There lie many trials, tribulations and fears ahead of us.
As Julian of Norwich recorded the words of Jesus in her Shewings, ‘He said not “Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be dis-eased”; but he said, “Thou shalt not be overcome.”’
…having had the demoniac run towards him Jesus now sends him away with a new mission. No longer is he to be the one of whom his friends and family are frightened and perhaps even ashamed, but instead he is to:
‘Return home and tell how much God has done for you’.
Pity may rightfully be exercised in any direction save one: toward self.
Proclaiming that the Holy Trinity is ‘Equal and Diverse’ demands that we be an equal and diverse church. This is as much a Creed as the lengthy doctrinal statement composed by St Athanasius which, as faithful members of this Church of England, we will (of course) read before we lay ourselves to rest this night on this Fatherless Father’s Day…
God is a God of love and welcome and we need to set aside the lies about condemnation which our early faith may have taught us
Good temper is like a sunny day; it sheds its brightness upon everything.
Love will bloom and will defeat hate whenever we choose to stand taller, care deeper, live kinder, love louder.
He believed that religion meant the abundant life, the full life, not a cramped and contracted one, and in the completest way, he practised this faith.
It is not only our right, it is our duty to enjoy and be happy. Pleasure does us good if gratefully and lovingly accepted
A deep unquenchable spirit of joy is at once the truest evidence that we believe in the beneficence of the Father, and that we have penetrated deep enough into life’s mystery to see how best, most economically, most courageously and helpfully to take it.
Suffolk Vicar 