Chads News - 18th July 2024
18 July 2024 12:00
Dear Church family,
We’ve called this the Chads news Summer special, partly because there will be no Chads news through August, so we’ve packed into this edition all you need to know through the summer and partly because I continue to live in hope and pray in desperation that we might get some summer this year!!
Sadly football didn’t come home on Sunday night, England were beaten by a better team, never mind. We just need to add a few more years onto the song lyrics for ‘Three Lions’, it’s now 58 years of hurt (which doesn’t scan so well!) which makes you think about waiting to come home and why that song has endured more than any other football anthem. In part, because it’s a great tune, but also I believe because deep within us there is a deep longing to ‘come home’. This is recognised by philosophers as wide ranging as St Augustine, Homer, Charlie Mackesy and Jack Keroac, the human quest is one of a longing to find our way home.
That longing for home is perhaps best captured by Jesus in the greatest story ever told, the Prodigal son. Having chased all the world’s pleasures, the younger son realises that home is where he wants to be. Another way in which God meets our deep longing for home is through Sabbath, which will be the focus of our sermon series through the summer. Sabbath is much more than a day off, it is rooting ourselves in God and in family. It is stopping our work, to make home wherever we are. The summer is a good time to ‘come home’.
So whether you’re travelling away on holiday, or taking life at a slower pace through August, my encouragement to you is to really take time to consider Sabbath rest and how God might want to
With love,
Richard