Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
July is the time when people start to look forward to their summer holidays. It is good for us all to have a break, to recharge our batteries and to explore new territory. We all need to take time for refreshment and renewal, and very often those times on holiday help us to see ourselves in a new light and to be filled with new hope and purpose.
I am reminded of a story from the seaside. It is early morning. On the beach is an elderly man. He walks with a cane, carefully surveying the beach that the receding tide has left exposed. Every now and then he bends to pick something up and toss it into the ocean. Another early morning stroller watches with fascination as the old man carefully scans the beach before him. It is then that the watcher realizes that the elderly man is looking for starfish. Every time he sees one lying helpless in the sand, unable to get back to the ocean on his own, he lovingly picks it up and tosses it gently back into the sea.
Curious as to why the elderly man is doing this, the other man approaches him, and strikes up a conversation with him. Soon the conversation gets round to why the elderly man is throwing the starfish back into the sea. The elderly man explains, "The starfish are left behind after the tide goes out. If they don't get back into the ocean they will dry up and die beneath the hot summer sun."
"But there are endless miles of beach and there must be millions of starfish," the other man says. "Surely you don't think you can save them all. What difference can your efforts possibly make?" Slowly the old man bends over and picks up another starfish. As he tosses it into ocean he looks at the other man and says, "It makes a difference to that one."
That deeply touching story, reminds us of a profound truth, that, just as each and every one of those starfish were precious to that old man, each and every one of us is precious to God. He values and cares for each one of his "children" and knows that his love and concern for each individual will "make a difference" to that person's life. He scans the "beaches" of human life and makes a difference to "that one" and "that one" and "that one", through his Son Jesus Christ.
As Jesus reminds us:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." (John 3:16)
Why not, then, take time this summer to reflect on God's love for you. Consider those words of Jesus. Consider just how precious you are to God and remember something else that Jesus said:
"Listen! I am standing at the door knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." (Revelation 3:20)
I hope that you will take time to "open the door" to Christ this Summer.
May God bless you all.