Pastoral Letter

Life is so busy; children seem to have hardly an evening without some activity, working people stretch their time to include work and home and family visits and perhaps some free time, even for those who are retired the calendar gets full, either for leisure pursuits or the next appointment at the doctors! We seem to be hardly in charge of our own destiny, or at least our own diary.

The summer is supposed to be the time when we catch up; doing those jobs in the house and garden we keep putting off; having time to spare for friends or family; taking a well earned holiday away from all the usual pressures. But sadly it often doesn't end up like that. The six weeks of the school holidays flash by and September comes round too quickly. Things happen that mean our best intentions are thwarted by unexpected demands or events.

Actually the summer is but each week writ large. The weekend is that "holiday" period that goes all too quickly and we have hardly had time to do all that needs to be done, let alone time for self and God. Both of these need our attention. Self because we must be refuelled in order to continually give out at work or in the home; God because otherwise we get everything out of proportion and imagine that we can manage to live on our own, by our own resources, and without God's strength.

The danger of course is that we make time for self and time for God another demand, and so it becomes self-defeating because we just feel even more guilty that we have not made the time available. It does no good, indeed it positively does us harm to beat ourselves up over our failure to deliver time for God or self.

The congregation has begun to think about how we can encourage people to find time to meet with God in prayer without it being just another "thing to do"! We recognise that prayer benefits self as well as other people because it means we slow life down and concentrate on the important rather than demanding things of life. Look out in September for some ideas and opportunities for prayer, so that as a whole church we can set aside even a few minutes each week for God-talk and self-renewal.

Until then use those fleeting moments of relaxation wisely this summer. You can pray on a beach or at the top of a hill, or spend time visiting a church or cathedral and talk to God there. Think of it as a little holiday from the busy-ness of life, and find comfort and support before you plunge back into the daily grind.

God Bless

Peter Sheasby