Sunday 28 September
8.30am Holy Communion – St John’s, Itchen Abbas
10am All Age Worship – St John’s, Itchen Abbas
6pm Evensong – St Swithun ‘s, Martyr Worthy
David’s talk can be listened to here
Or read here
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
— C. S. Lewis
“Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cry for mercy.”
— Psalm 130:1–2, The Message
Have you ever watched the film The Way? It’s a beautiful story about a man who walks the Camino de Santiago in Spain following the death of his son. Along the way he meets an eclectic group of fellow pilgrims, each carrying their own story of loss, disappointment and brokenness. As they walk together, something begins to happen: friendship, grace and goodness slowly bring healing.
That story came to mind this week when two women stopped at our church while walking the Pilgrims’ Way. Beccy and I offered them a cup of tea and the use of the loo — which, it turns out, is sometimes all the ministry you need!
One of them said, “I’m a vicar’s wife from Dorset, and this is my friend. Her husband died recently — just six weeks after being diagnosed with aggressive pancreatic cancer. My son had been dumped by his girlfriend the week before our holiday, so my husband went with him to Italy. I rang my friend and said, ‘I’ve got a free week. Let’s walk the Pilgrims’ Way.’”
Life is hard sometimes, isn’t it?
People die. Relationships break. Plans unravel. Hearts get broken. And suddenly we find ourselves asking questions we never expected to ask.
Yet as these two women shared their stories with us, what struck me most was the hope they carried.
The vicar’s wife told me that she became a follower of Jesus when she was 26, during a season of profound despair. She cried out to God, “If you are real, show me.”
The very next day, a couple from her local village church knocked on her door, shared the gospel with her — and her life began anew.
I was reminded of this again when a friend recently sent me a Diary of a CEO podcast featuring the scientist John Lennox.
His Whatapp said: “This moved me to tears.”
It reminded me of a saying attributed to Martin Luther:
“We need to hear the Gospel every day, because we forget it every day.”
Perhaps that is why Psalm 130 begins not with certainty, but with a cry:
“Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice.”
The gospel doesn’t pretend that the depths aren’t there. It tells us that God meets us there.
I don’t know what you’re facing this week. Perhaps life is going beautifully. Perhaps, like the psalmist, you find yourself crying out from the depths.
Wherever you are, I do know this: we all need to hear and grasp the gospel afresh.
We need to remember again that we are loved, forgiven, held and not alone — and that in Jesus, even our deepest valleys are not the end of the story.
This Sunday I’ll be preaching at 8.30am BCP, and we also have All Age Worship and Evensong.
Do come if you can. And perhaps, like those two pilgrims who walked through our church this week, someone may come across your path who needs to hear the hope you carry too.
with every blessing
David
David’s Contact Details
If you would like to contact David, his email address is david@itchenvalleychurches.org
His landline telephone number is 01962 582226
David’s working days are Monday – Wednesday and services on a Sunday
for global peace
for those who are ill or suffering at the moment or for those recently bereaved
for Elisabeth and the other family and friends of Robert Darley-Doran as they mourn his passing
for the family and friends of Les Willoughby, who was a former organist of the Itchen Valley, and sadly passed away after a long illness. If you would like details of his funeral please let me know.
Evensong readings can be read here
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