A MESSAGE FROM OUR MINISTER,

REV JOHN SIMMS

Dear Friends,

I wrote last month about the season of Lent, which takes up all of the month of March this year. How’s it going for you so far?

On my shelves in my study are a number (a large number) of books, and among them is one by the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer entitled ‘The Cost of Discipleship’. Bonhoeffer was a leader of what became known as the ‘Confessing Church’ in Germany during the 1930s, a group of Christians who actively spoke out about the policies and activities of the Nazi party, and who was actively involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler. He was arrested and imprisoned for this, and was, sadly, executed only weeks before the end of the war in 1945.

I mention this because my reading this morning concerned the cost of discipleship – the difficulties that come our way as we seek to follow Jesus [read it in Matthew 10:16-42]. It does not make comfortable reading in a ‘feel-good’ society: floggings, betrayal and taking up ones cross are not great selling-points, are they!? Yet throughout history the Christian life has at times been one of struggle and sacrifice, as well as being one of joy and celebration.

I’ve discovered (or perhaps rediscovered) this year that it’s only when you resolve to go without something that the desire for it grows. When fasting from food, there is always that little voice that says ‘Go on, one biscuit won’t hurt!’; when fasting from buying music (as I am this year) it’s always then that one finds good cheap tunes that one would normally snap up; when fasting from meat, as I have done in the past, it’s then that one gets the whiff of bacon butty from the local café.

But, I found myself asking, is that true of God? Does neglect of God create a desire for God, or is it only as we feast on God that our desire increases? I think it is more of the latter. Any meaningful relationship needs proximity and contact to enable it to flourish; conversation to enable it to grow. Yes, finding time for that contact and conversation will at times be a struggle, because we all live busy lives, and because there are forces ranged against us that are hell-bent on making sure that we do not grow in our relationship with God. Jesus recognised that, but he also reminds us that, if we are determined to press on with him and the Father, then resources and strength will be provided to equip us to carry on.

Lord God, help us to hold on to you, give us a desire to hold on to you, to serve you and to love you. Amen.

John

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