Pastor's Letter August 2012

Dear Friends

Well there is no escaping it at the moment. London 2012 seems to dominate everything and it is difficult not to get hooked, even if you are not into sport. Personally I love watching the athletics (Fiona hadn’t realised when we got married that I was someone who shouted at the tv!!) and it didn’t get much better than last Saturday evening when Team GB got three gold medals in less than an hour with Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford. I was reading the paper the next day and it was talking about the training schedule these athletes undergo in order to reach the level they are at. Mo Farah runs one hundred and twenty miles per week as well as other gym work and Jess Ennis trains for six hours a day, six day per week. These people are utterly devoted to their sport.

Paul uses the example of an athlete on more than one occasion in his letters to illustrate the single minded devotion that we are called to as followers of Christ. In 1 Cor 9:25 he writes “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever”. I am struck again as I read these words and as I see the utter devotion and focus of these top athletes, that we are called to something greater. These athletes make huge sacrifices in terms of their personal life in order to achieve greatness, in order to stand on the winner’s podium and hear their national anthem played. Undoubtedly this is a great achievement but, as Paul writes, their crown does not last. There will always be someone who runs faster or jumps further, who becomes the next star.

We, however, as followers of Christ, are promised “a crown that will last forever”, and we are called to live a life of absolute devotion to Christ. As the writer to the Hebrews says, we are to throw off everything that might hold us back and run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. It is a challenge and it demands everything but the prize is worth it.

As we enter into a new season of church life together I believe we will see some great rewards in our own lives and in the lives of those around us as we give ourselves entirely to following Jesus together. As the last line of a great hymn puts it: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all”

I look forward to being part of “Team Liberty” in the days ahead.

Much love

Jon