On Tuesday, we passed the grim milestone of 100,000 dead in the UK. This is a tragedy for our country, but also for every individual who has lost their lives and every family that has lost a loved one. Yes, there is a hope that the vaccines should bring the Pandemic to an end, but there is a still a long way to go.
The milestone has led many to review how we as a country have done so far in responding to the crisis. There are lessons to learn not just for a future pandemic, but for the continuing struggle against this one.
But, I wonder what lessons have we learnt as Christians through this crisis? Yes our church life has been disrupted. Yes we have discovered new ways of being church online. But how has it effected the way we relate to God?
We saw in last Sunday's sermon that to be a Christian is to be born again into a new relationship with God as our Father, Jesus as our Saviour and the Spirit dwelling in us. How has that relationship sustained and helped us through these dark times?
The way we express our relationship with God is summed up in our three headings: prayer, care and share. We speak to God in prayer, we care for one another as his family the church and we share his word with one another and the world.
During February our sermon series is going to look at each of these in turn. To help me with that I would love it if people could let me know about the challenges, struggles and support they've found through these areas of our Christian life.
Over the next three weeks there will be online questionnaires on each topic, starting this week with Prayer. There are only a few questions and you don't have to answer them all, but it will help me to be more relevant as I speak on these topics if a good number of people take time to fill in the questionnaire.
