Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” (John 14 verse 1)

 

​Dear Friends,

​

I do hope you have been enjoying the hot weather that this summer has afforded us. Not only have we enjoyed an unusually hot spell of weather – but this year we also got a glimpse of the cosmic wonder of God’s creation when we were able to gaze (through darkened glasses I hasten to add) at a partial solar eclipse.

 

Alongside the joy, there have also been things that have caused and continue to cause concern happening around the world. As well as nation continuing to rage against nation in several places, nature (our sister as opposed to our mother) has been “groaning in labour pains” (Romans 8: 22) as earthquakes, landslides and wildfires – some in our own country – have been evident to anyone who cares to watch or listen to the news.

 

The events in the paragraph above have caused some people to come to the conclusion that the end of the world is nigh! I have repeatedly reminded people throughout my ministry that “No one knows the day or the hour” (Matt. 24:36) and that many people have wasted much time in trying to predict such events. The verse at the top of the page reminds Christians of how we ought to live our daily lives – both in times of joy and in times of sorrow.

 

Over the summer I have been reading a little about how the American people of the late 1940’s wrestled with their collective conscience about using nuclear weapons to end the 2nd world war. Was it right to use the tactics of the enemy – bombing innocent civilians (not once -but twice) -and did the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki really save the thousands of American lives the government said it did? And what would happen if another country had a bomb – which Russia did by the end of the decade?

 

One of my favourite Albums/CDs has always been the Eagles’ “Hotel California.” There is a track on there called “Try and love again” and among the words are…”Right or wrong, what’s done is done.” A reminder that we can neither change the past nor can we uninvent something that has been invented.

 

Despite the fact that we live in a world that has the capacity to destroy itself several times over, God calls us all each day to a new relationship with Him, with Creation and with One another. In him we have forgiveness for the wrongs of the past and in him we have the opportunity to “Try and love again.”

 

May troubled hearts find the faith to believe

 

Blessings

​

Peter

Rev Peter Barnett