A father’s love comes from his Father in heaven.
As we progressed through the lectionary over Easter and into Pentecost is was clear that the central theme of scripture was the love that exists between the Father and the Son, the Son and His disciples, the the love that should therefore exits between each of us as Christians.
The model of a Father’s love for his children comes up several times in scripture – but it is the love that God the Father has for His Son that is the shining example of what that relationship – father & child – should be.
We are often very dismissive of talking about the relationship between father and child. We claim that it is difficult and that many people have had bad experiences of that relationship.
We snark that it is a ‘made up holiday’, that only exists to make card companies money.
The reality is that mothers day is exactly the same – yet – we don’t snark at that holiday or shy from celebrating mothers – so why do we do so on Father’s day.
There are no flowers for the fathers, no small gifts from the congregation to say thank you.
There is no celebration of all that is wonderful in being a father to our children – in fact to be a father is to be constantly criticised, judged and ostracised for not being exactly what society claims you to be – and even if you are – you are still treated with suspicion and fear.
This needs to stop. We need to celebrate our fathers and to recognise in them the love of God the Father for His son.
Fr. Matthew
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Items needed for Food Bank & Church Larder: Tins of meat & fish, baked beans, soup, cereal, coffee, sugar, deodorants (especially mens), sanitary pads, incontinence pads, nappies (esp newborn to size 2).
22nd – 26th August, 10am-4pm. We are lucky enough that five people have volunteered to be leaders for our summer holiday club. We’re now looking for people who can commit to a few hours to help with things like making tea & coffee, tidying up at the end of each day and other assisting tasks. Please speak to Fr. Matthew or Julie Estep (Sunday School Leader) or sign up on the sheet in church.
12th July, 10:30am-6pm. I’m still looking for volunteers for the 12th July to meet with Priests applying for our new Mission Priest job (interviews with +Jonathan on the 13th July). If you’d like to meet the applicants or help with showing them around the parish please be in touch.