Minister's Message July/August 2010

Facing the Future

In an email I received a couple of days ago the sender quoted a line from a hymn ‘change and decay in all around I see’. It was a reflective comment concerning an ageing person facing an uncertain future with failing health.

The words come from ‘Abide with me’ written by Henry Lyte in 1847, three weeks before he died from tuberculosis. Most of us recognize this ‘change and decay’ with economic and political change this can easily discourage and drag us into despondency, for moral decay is evident in our society which makes us fear for this generation. Financial pressures, family upheaval and employment uncertainty all contribute to this oppressive ‘change and decay in all around I see’.

However, Henry Lyte was not depressed, a realist yes. The next line he pens reveals where his heart is, ‘O thou who changes not, abide with me’.

His thoughts looked beyond life’s problems to God’s peace and presence, his trust was in an unchanging God. His life was rooted deep in God and we too, in spite of life’s changing patterns and twists and turns can find real hope in trusting in God.

Whatever your circumstances today – trust God.

Jesus invites ‘all who are weary and burdened’ to come to Him, and He will give them rest. He offers rest to the restless, hope to the hopeless and peace to the troubled.

July/August 2010