Dear Friends,
I hope you are enjoying the holiday weekend and are able to do things that you don’t usually have time for. The Botanical Gardens are wonderful at the moment, and especially the Heritage Rose Gardens, tucked in behind the old Nurses’ Home in Riccarton Avenue.
This evening at Evensong and Benediction Fr David Stevenson will speak to us about the remarkable 14th century mystic, Dame Julian of Norwich. Fr David has been on the staff of the Norwich parish which includes her shrine, and has a story to tell about it. He is here for a couple of weeks before returning to England to take up a new appointment, and he wants to spend some time with us here at S. Michael’s. David’s parents are John and Mary Stevenson of this congregation, who are of course delighted to have him home.
Today’s Gospel is about the impermanence of our lives, our world, our human kingdoms, and the permanence of God’s kingdom. Our recent traumatic events have reminded us of this. None of the things that we count on to be there always will necessarily be so. Family, friends, work, home, land and water can be gone in a minute. Jesus was trying to tell his followers that final trust in human structures is misplaced. Nothing is permanent, nothing is lasting, nothing except God. They then wanted a sign of when the end would come. That would enable them to be in control and avoid the turmoil.
We too want signs of when catastrophic things will happen so that we can control or avoid them. Jesus tells us that we are not to run away, not to cease working, but rather to stand firm in the knowledge that all of life, all of time, our present and our future are all in the hands of a loving God who will “give us words and a wisdom… and not a hair of our head will perish.” God, who is at our beginning, is with us always, and still at our end. It is into that profound trust that we are to grow, so that we may live well with our uncertainty.
Next Sunday is the last Sunday of the liturgical year, and on it we celebrate the Reign of Christ. The work of God in Jesus Christ that we have been celebrating throughout the year is universal in its scope; it is for the good of all creation, and it is the measure of everything that is in creation. It is in gratitude for this that we and all people are called to join with Christ in the great offering of thanks and praise. As is customary, the Solemn Mass concludes with the procession of the Blessed Sacrament in the wakahuia. The preacher will be Fr David Stevenson.
As always at this time of year, my calendar is packed tight with special events. I am sure that yours is too. In the midst of the pressure we may find we have to struggle to be truly present to what is here and now, and to be truly present to the people with whom we are in contact. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that fun and play and laughter and socialising are good and necessary elements in a healthy life, quite as important as work, and that we should make the most of them.
May God bless you all.
Fr Peter Williams
