Dear Friends,
We were visiting friends in Cambridge during the recent half-term break. We hadn’t seen them for several years, but we had worked closely together on an early version of what has become the Christianity Explored course. That was about fifteen years ago. So there was the joy of catching up with old friends, and the added joy of recalling the partnership we’d had in serving Christ together, and discovering that our hearts are still very much in the same place. I like to think that one of the delights of heaven will be numerous such meetings and conversations.
One of the things my friend said during our visit has stayed with me. He said that he still insists on doing the talks once a year on his church’s version of Christianity Explored. He’s now a consultant surgeon, married with a family, so he doesn’t have much time, yet he makes time for this. He said, “I have to do this. It helps to make sure that I still believe the gospel myself.” As soon as he said it, I thought, “Yes, that’s right. I feel the same way myself. I have to do this.”
I think this is a reflection of what Jesus said: “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you – and even more” (Mark 4:24, NIV). We may think we don’t have time, or we don’t have the skills or gifts required. However, when we ‘just do it’ and have a go, we discover the truth of what Jesus said: we receive far more from him than we ever give to anyone. And once we’ve done that once, we know that we can’t not do it…
Chris Hobbs, Vicar