A message from the Rev’d Amanda Collinson

Posted by Admin on 29 June 2018, 12:40 am

Amanda Collinson

Priest-in-Charge

St John the Baptist Church

Northwood.

Tel: 01983 294913

HELLO THERE!

The summer months of July and August can bring a variety of different things for us all, but I am sure that for many of us there will be some time of excited waiting! For the youngsters of our parish, there will be the waiting for exam results and then finding out where they are going next, but for a bigger number of us there will be excited waiting in a departure lounge or terminal – be it just the ferry to get off the Island all the way through to an airport if we are going further afield.
.
So, how many of you are good at waiting? Be honest! I don’t know many people who are good at waiting, especially when it is a long-anticipated holiday – we currently have a countdown board on our living room door to our holiday….and Christmas!!! But why are we not good at waiting? I think it may be because life in general is itself so frantic that we do not like stopping and we expected this almost immediately.
.
The thing is though, we really all need to stop, to wait because we are human beings, not human doings. We need to stop, even if it is just for a bit: stop, wait a while, take a breath.
.
And when you do stop and wait what do you see? I write at my desk looking out of the window – the sun is shining, and the birds are tweeting happily in the trees. The garden is peaceful, everything seems calm…. indeed, everything seems to have stopped for a breath. And when I see and feel this, I experience a wonderful sense of peace.
.
I am sure you all can recognise the feeling of peace that can unexpectedly come upon you. It can suddenly appear when you come across a beautiful view of our Island, be it on top of the Downs or by the sea, similarly it can happen when you perhaps see a new baby for the first time, visit a new place, achieve something you have been working on for ages or simply when you receive a big genuine hug from someone who cares.
.
There are some people that feeling, that moment a ‘thin place’, where the presence of God is more apparent than at other times or places – where the gap between earth and heaven is at its thinnest. For those who don’t necessarily have a faith you may describe it simply as a place or time of deep peace.
.
Whatever you call it, we all need to experience it, to stop and rest and be. I have just printed off a line from the Psalms and stuck it on my window – “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) …. I am going to try and keep this in the forefront of my mind in the next few weeks, especially during frantic diary days but also as the countdown number gets smaller and smaller.
.
But I will also need to keep that sentence in my mind even when the waiting is over – as we join the ferry queue, whilst we wait to check in at the airport, when we lie down to rest in our holiday beds…
.
I must do it because in our rushing and excitement of waiting and then in doing what we have longed and waited for, we sometimes forget to truly experience what we are doing, to appreciate where we are. Yes, I will take some photos of some great experiences, but I will also make sure that I make memories with my own eyes, my own brain and ensure I get as much out of every day as I possibly can.
.
So, whatever it is you are waiting for, I hope it comes soon, and I hope that it is everything you have wished for. And remember don’t experience it all through a lens, truly take in the wonders around you and receive the peace we all definitely deserve.
.
I wish you a wonderful couple of months; may they be full of love, joy and peace.

.
Rev’d Amanda

See the Church section