Dear Friends,
I am writing with the very sad news that Warwick Trimble passed away on Sunday evening. Sandra and Sally were with him, and Megan will be arriving, to be with them both, today. A memorial service for Warwick’s life will be held at the church at 1pm next Wednesday, 12th April. Warwick will be dearly missed because as one person said to me, “He was a very dear man.” He had a huge enthusiasm for people and music and bonsai and bikes, and all that enthusiasm will be welcomed – equally enthusiastically – in God’s presence.
This weekend we are reflecting on the love of God – the lengths God goes to show love to us. Please come and join us for our Tenebrae Service 7:30pm Thursday night, our Good Friday Service 9am Friday morning (followed by hot cross buns in the courtyard) and our Easter Service 10am Sunday.
As part of our worship on Sunday morning can I encourage everyone to bring some flowers – just one or two – from your garden at home. They will be a very significant part of our worship on Easter Sunday morning.
I want to share with you a lovely article from the Times in the UK that Ella Whately shared with us at prayers last week.
The background to it is that a father in Scotland, Alex Renton, not a Christian believer, was rather taken aback when his daughter Lulu, who was attending a Scottish church primary school, was asked to write the following letter: “To God, How did you get invented?”
“We had no idea that a state primary affiliated with a church would do quite do much God!” said Alex.
He could, however, have told her that there was no God, or tried to help her write some kind of response, but he chose instead to email her letter to several churches; to the Scottish Episcopal Church (no reply), the Presbyterians (no reply) and the Scottish Catholics (who provided a nice, but very theologically complex answer). For good measure he also sent it to “the head of theology of the Anglican Communion, based at Lambeth Palace” and this was the response.
Dear Lulu,
Your dad has sent on your letter and asked if I have any answers. It’s a difficult one! But I think God might reply a bit like this –
‘Dear Lulu – Nobody invented me – but lots of people discovered me and were quite surprised. They discovered me when they looked round at the world and thought it was really beautiful or really mysterious and wondered where it came from. They discovered me when they were very very quiet on their own and felt a sort of peace and love they hadn’t expected.
Then they invented ideas about me – some of them sensible and some of them not very sensible. From time to time I sent them some hints – specially in the life of Jesus – to help them get closer to what I’m really like.
But there was nothing and nobody around before me to invent me, Rather like somebody who writes a story in a book, I started making up the story of the world and eventually invented human beings like you who could ask me awkward questions!
And then he’d send you lots of love and sign off.
I know he doesn’t usually write letter, so I have to do the best I can on his behalf. Lots of love from me too.
Archbishop Rowan
In response to a God who loves us – we are simply required to do the best we can on God’s behalf.
Lots of love from me too!
Belinda