Encouragement

Yesterday, I went back to the church through which I was converted in my mid-teens. I hadn't been there for many years, but there were loads of people I knew. Some of my contemporaries looked much older, some had hardly changed since they were 18, and one I hardly recognised! Of course it was a slightly surreal experience - like stepping back 30 years - nothing had changed, and yet everything had changed: we now have children the same age we were when we met and hung around together, and yet all those years were as nothing when we talked.

But what was really encouraging was to see them still there - still faithfully serving the Lord and his church. It's the same when I go back to St John's - to be welcomed by people whom we ourselves welcomed into the church 15 years ago is just a wonderful experience.

And week-by-week, we must not under-estimate the value of just being together in church. The mere fact that you turn up every week is a great encouragement to others. And unless we're together week in, week out, we'll never build the relationships necessary to 'carry one another's burdens' (Gal 6:2), to share joys and sorrows (1 Cor 12:26) and build each other up (1 Thes 5:11).

And that's why the hardest part of being on sabbatical is being away from the St Peter's Church Family. Only a few more weeks to go!!