Vicars Monthly Letter

Vicars Letter August

Dear Friends,

What a summer we are having, certainly it’s changeable.  One day it seems like summer and then the next it’s like autumn.  As I type this letter the residents of Whaley Bridge have been allowed to return to their homes, there is also flash flooding in many parts of the country, gale force winds are buffeting the country, we have even had an earthquake in Cornwall!  Change indeed.

In central government, there is also a change, we have a new Prime Minister and a new cabinet.  We still have the uncertainty over Brexit, will we leave with a deal or will we leave with no deal on the 31st October.  And what will that actually mean to us, what will that mean to our everyday lives. More importantly what will it mean to those most vulnerable in society, those on benefits and those who use our foodbanks.  Society in itself seems to becoming more insular, as we seem to be battening down the hatches for whatever is to come. Change indeed.

I genuinely cannot recall in my fifty odd years, a time when there seem to be such uncertainty, uncertainty in the weather and uncertainty in our political and social lives.  Then I remember that there is one thing that is never changing, that is our relationship with God.  Through His Son Jesus I know God’s love is eternal and that He is always with us, no longer distant.  Whatever uncertainties life brings us God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit will be always with us and He will give us strength.

Whilst typing this letter a line came to me from the hymn Abide with Me, ‘O Thou who changest not, abide with me.’  So, let God abide with you and go out into our communities proclaiming the love of God and how He can and is our Rock in uncertain times.  Let us pray to God to bring stability in all areas of our own lives, to our country and indeed the world. 

Your friend and priest.

Kevin.