God loves GX

 

 

This year, at the Gee Cross Fete, we were on Sam Redfearn Green with our brothers and sisters in Christ, to worship together as one body. We also heard from one Christian man about his experiences of being a Dad and knowing a heavenly Father.

Just days later, at our church Weekend Away at Scargill House, Tim Barlow the Vicar of Romiley and our speaker for the weekend reminded that our impressions of God the Father can often be tarnished by past experiences of human parents who were at best flawed and at worst abusive.

Christians believe in a heavenly Father whose love for us is limitless. Jesus described a family where the younger son asked his father for his share of the inheritance and then promptly went away and spent it on wine, women and song. When he had run out of money, he realised he would be better off as a servant in his Dad’s house than he was at the moment. So he made his way sorrily home, only to be met while he was still far off by his father running to greet him and throw his arms around him. “Let the party begin - my son is home!” was the father’s cry.

Is this how we see God- as one who longs to embrace and affirm us? Or do we see him as critical, or even distant, unaware of our very existence?

The challenge for the Church is to convey the heavenly Father’s unconditional love for all people. At the GX Fete we gave away cotton bags with ‘I love GX’ emblazoned on them. You can now see these bags being sported by young and old as they go to school, down the shops, round to a friend’s. They carry the message that God loves Gee Cross, and we do too.

If that message is to become more and more real, we have to follow up with genuine commitment to serving our community. In many small ways this already occurs. In a multitude of private conversations, of acts of kindness and service, God’s love for GX becomes real. Let’s commit ourselves to showing God’s love by some practical action today, thus making the message a reality.

With every blessing,

Mark Bennett

Vicar