A letter from the Bishop

September is always a month of endings, as well as new beginnings.  As the bright colours of summer fade into the oranges and browns of autumn, shiny new school shoes make an appearance, along with fresh notebooks as we head back to our desks after a break over August.  We start again, carrying with us the feeling of a new year beginning.

 September then is always a month of change, and because of this it can be unsettling.  We reflect on or maybe grieve for that which is drawing to a close, and can feel a mixture of anticipation about what is new or next.   It is likely that we feel this even more acutely this September, living in a world which feels increasingly insecure from the perspective of fast-changing global politics and conflicts around the world that show no sign of abating.  All is changing; all feels very fragile and deeply uncertain.

 One of this country’s much-loved hymns is ‘Abide with Me’, famous for being sung at every FA Cup Final since 1927.  The words are based on  Luke 24: 29 and were written by the Reverend Henry Francis Lyte, with one of the stories about this suggesting that he wrote them in September 1847 – just after he had conducted his final church service and when very ill with tuberculosis.  He died two months later.

 Putting aside questions of when Lyte wrote these words, the fact remains that they capture the constancy of God’s presence and love, even as the seasons change, our lives change, our world changes; in life and in death:

 Change and decay in all around I see

O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

 
This then is a beautiful reminder that even though we, and indeed our world,  pass through times of change and can feel unsettled as a result, God goes with us.  God in Christ abides with us, his presence and love unchanging in our ever-changing world:

 “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.  (Luke 24: 29)