The Anglican Church of All Saints

Sunday 2nd July 2022 – St Thomas (Trinity 3)

11am Sung Eucharist – Celebrant & Preacher, The Revd Richard Frost

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Dates for Car Boot Sales for the rest of 2022, and next year 2023

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Midweek Letter

28th June

I am fortunate to live overlooking the coast, on the Southwest of Tenerife, which means that at this time of year the sun sets directly in front of me into the sea. As Spring turns to Summer the sunsets become more spectacular. The colours of yellow, orange and pink light up the vista and the sun´s rays spread out across the sky. Each sunset is unique and my favourite place to watch the dwindling light and changing sky is from my hammock. I´ve noticed that cloudy skies earlier on can sometimes be the precursor to a stunning sunset.

As the sun sets here it begins to rise over our friends in the Western hemisphere…and as it sets there it returns to rise over us the following day. We wait in the dark for the light to break forth and there are days when the clouds hide it totally. Hammock reflection has made me wonder about the “clouds” that colour and cover my personal sky, that prevent the sunlight shining through?

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross writes: People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out but when the darkness sets in, their beauty is revealed only if there is light within.

There´s no perfect life, no perfect job, no perfect childhood, no perfect marriage and no perfect set of people who will always do what we expect them to do. What we do have is a perfect God who is able to lead us through this imperfect life with unfailing strength, incomparable wisdom and infinite love. Talking about what gets in the way can be a way of enabling us to live and love with our whole hearts.

Now I´m pretty sure that we all know what healthy eating constitutes and we have access to a wealth of information around the topic so why is it that some of us struggle to eat healthily? Perhaps it´s because we don´t talk about the things that get in the way of doing what we know is best for us, our families and our communities.

Naming and having honest conversations about our “clouds” can enable us to develop resilience, courage, compassion and connection. We live in a world where expectations can tell us that being imperfect means being inadequate. Secrecy, silence and judgement can prevent us from developing resilience. We are encouraged in scripture to love each other as we love ourselves. Some of us are not so good at loving ourselves, naming our “clouds” and talking about them, owning and telling our story. Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we are supposed to be and embracing who we are. Choosing authenticity means cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable. It encourages us to exercise the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle and nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we believe that we are enough in the eyes of the God who loves us unconditionally.

Belonging to a community of faith, as we do at All Saints, enables us to connect and share ourselves and our stories. As we look at the sun´s rising and setting we are reminded of the faithfulness of God who is above, beneath and beside us. We experience a Creator God who lit the world and breathed life into each one of us. We are enabled to know more of the Son who saved the world and stretches out His hand to each one of us and we experience the Spirit of God who encompasses each one of us in our world. This coming week may we see the sunset as an opportunity to reset knowing that the sunrise brings the promise of a new dawn. Our horizons may change but the sun, the Son does not.

Judith Rigby
Congregational Worship leader