Sent to me this week by a colleague: <i>God, grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, which is pretty much everyone,</i><i>since I'm clearly not you, God. At least not the last time I checked.</i><i>And while you're at it, God, please give me the courage to change what I need to change about myself,</i><i>which is frankly a lot, since, once again, I'm not you, which means I'm not perfect.</i><i>It's better for me to focus on changing myself than to worry about changing other people,</i><i>who, as you'll no doubt remember me saying, I can't change anyway.</i><i>Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up whenever I think that I'm clearly smarter than everyone else in the room,</i><i>that no one knows what they're talking about except me, or that I alone have all the answers.</i><i>Basically God, grant me the wisdom to remember that I'm not you.</i><i>Amen.</i>
"Truth" is much in the news at the moment, particularly as regards the big social media platforms; what is true and who decides that? Sometimes truth is simple to decide, where it hinges on a verifiable fact, but this is not always the case. There are "moral truths" on which we base society; thus the famous opening lines of the US constitution; "We hold these truths to be self-evident". This immediately raises questions as to why something is "self-evident"; who decides? Most, if not all, of our self-evident truths are derived from the major world religions. In the West, the concept of human rights ultimately can be traced back to the belief that all are made in the image of God and that give us intrinsic value. As religious beliefs retreat, some are starting to realise that the foundations of our society are being left exposed. This is not an argument for the existence of God, but perhaps it does show why we seem to have evolved to need faith and the problem we have to face if that is abandoned.
We are delighted to welcome the Rev Kina Robertshaw as our new rector, who was formally installed as rector of all the parishes in our benefice on April 18th. Kina was previously Associate Minister at Bromyard where she gained considerable experience of working in rural communities. Kina was born in Angola and left home at 17. She was a successful entrepeneur in the fashion industry until she started to train for full-time ministry. She carried out research on Christian entrepreneurs for a master's degree and has co-authored a book on the subject. Kina can be recognised by her broad smile, her enthusiasm for meeting and talking to people and her dog, which she takes for walks. For those who want to know more about Kina, her website is Kina Robertshaw
