Vicar's Letter
August/September 2024
This morning, I had to do a run to the supermarket to pick up a few essentials. It was only when I got back to the car that I remembered I had forgotten to pick up the one thing that I really had to get (cat biscuits), which was the main reason I had driven down to the shops. Thankfully, I remembered when I got back to the car, rather than when I got home! I am sure we have all done that, and probably more than once. It did strike me in the car as I drove back home that my forgetfulness was the sort of thing that Jesus would take and turn into a parable - the Gospels would be very different, if Jesus had been born now, rather than 2000 years ago!
I forgot the cat biscuits mainly because I was quite tired and was far too distracted by trying work out what I was going to do for dinner. We humans are very easily distracted and very forgetful, especially when we are tired. While this is certainly true when we are popping to the shops, it is equally true for our prayer lives too. All too often we can have the desire and the ambition to pray more, or to read the Bible more often, or to come to Church on a Sunday, but other things distract us. If we are tired, we can sometimes feel like we don't have the energy to pray or to go to Church - even though neither really ask that much of us. We are often so busy doing other things that we run out of time to do those things that we ought to be doing and then we tell ourselves that it is now too late to pray or read the Bible - even though, deep down, we know that that isn't true. Part of the Christian life is about setting time aside for God, of saying to ourselves: I need to focus on God, I will not let myself get distracted, I will do what I need and what I want to do! When we spend time with God, even if it is only for a few minutes, we will be refreshed, we will feel the weight fall of our shoulders, and we can get back to our busy lives renewed. Taking time out of our daily routine is important for our spiritual lives. We should remember that even Jesus found it necessary to rest and to find some time away from his friends and followers. If you read through the Gospels, Jesus if often described going off on his own, usually up a mountain, to sit and reflect and to be with God. Rest is re-creation. Rest makes us whole again.
The summer is often a time when we do relax - the warmer weather will often help to slow down, to sit and relax in a shaded garden, or sit on beach looking out to sea. I think that is why we always get so annoyed with a wet summer, as we it can be so much harder to relax indoors. While rest and relaxation play an important part in our daily, physical lives, it is an important part of our spiritual lives too. In the accounts of the creation of the world, we learn that God rested on the Seventh Day and hallowed it as a day of rest: rest and re-creation are part of our faith's narrative from its very beginnings. This is because we need rest to face the business of life, but also because being rested allows us to worship God more heartily. Being rested allows us to be more alert to the presence of God in our lives and to be less easily distracted by the things around us. So, over the coming weeks, I encourage you all to find some time to rest. So that both your daily and spiritual lives can be replenished, renewed, and re-created.
God bless
Rev'd Stephen Burge
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About the Vicar's Letter
The Vicar's Letter has been appearing in the villages Focus magazine since August 2002.
The Rev. Peter Graham also used to publish The Vicar's Letter in the parish magazine of 1964. Please see the Vicar's Letter area for these.
