Dear All
Remembrance Sunday
…and a rather lovely piece of news
Somewhere, amongst your collection of photographs, you may have a picture of someone from your family in uniform. This may be from recent times or from the last World War. The picture may be of a person standing bolt upright, standing to attention, full of youth, beauty and promise. Sometimes these photos are particularly poignant because they are of someone who left home to fight for their country who never returned.
This Sunday in church we remember them and, as we do so, our hearts are also drawn to those caught up in conflicts now. Our Saviour Christ is the Prince of peace and, through him, we are challenged to value not only our life but the lives of others, even those we consider our enemies. Christianity has a tough message but a message of profound hope.
This week has seen a fevered time in the world of social media. Twitter debate often seems characterised by self-righteous accusations. We are in danger of constructing a world of conflicting, distorted narratives. Faith teaches us to explore what we have in common. I don’t often say this, perhaps because it sounds a bit reductionist, but the Christian teaching of ‘loving our enemies’ is a very useful unifying message for the world. This peace building starts at home, in our families, in our church and then is ready to transform the world around us.
With best wishes and prayers,
Michael
PS Great news!
I had this message from Guy Diakese our former curate:
Hope all is well with you and your ministry at St John and St Philip.
I am pleased to inform you that, I got engaged in June, and I am getting married to a lady called Amelia (30 yrs old) on 8th December in my city of Kinshasa. We are also planning a church blessing, which will be sometime early next year. I will so much appreciate your prayers and also people’s prayers at St John and St Philip.
Every blessing
Guy
We wish Guy and Amelia much happiness and every blessing!
and
A HUGE thanks to everyone who helped out at the Book Sale. It was a wonderful effort, a great team spirit, and we broke all previous records by raising about 1800 euos for the church!!
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