A thought for November from Reverend Tom

Dear friends,

This time of year can be a sad time for some people as we enter a seasonof cold and dark nights. It can be a time to remember and then to draw strength from those memories, to give thanks for the things that we have done and seen, for the people that we have travelled through life alongside and perhaps see no longer.

We remember them in our Remembering services that are held across our churches over the last weekend in October. 

We also remember and pay our respects to those who lost their lives in the service of our country in the Remembrance service of the 10th of November. It makes it a poignant, thoughtful time of year, a time to be together and reflect.

It was hoped that the First World War would be ‘the war to end all wars’, but history has shown us that that was not to be and now, just over a hundred years later, the world seems to be entering a new and very dangerous phase. We think especially of the people of Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine and Russia at this time. I am sure that you, like me, are holding them in your thoughts and prayers.

However, by and large the world is still a beautiful place where goodness,kindness and decency still hold sway, so even though we can be presented with images of horror we can see signs of God’s goodness revealed. Look to the kindness of strangers, the beauty of creation, the wisdom that is shown by gentle people, and there we find something of God revealed. When hardship comes into our lives, as surely it does at times, we are promised that we are not alone. We are promised that the Holy Spirit of God is with us, even if we are not aware of it at the time.

A prayer for peace

Lord, we pray for active and effective peace-making at an international political level. 

May the measured voices of diplomacy constrain violence on every side.

Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy…

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Amen

God Bless, Tom